Choosing Carb over Fuel injection – Why I did it?

Regular Guy Garage is dropping a 347 stroker into a 1986 Mustang Notchback, and against the current of nearly every build video out there, he’s doing it with a carburetor instead of fuel injection. His reasoning — no sensors, no wiring harness, no computer to fight with — has resonated with viewers who own everything from Chargers to Firebirds to Camaros. Watch to hear the full case for going old-school.

In an era when nearly every engine build video ends with a laptop plugged into the car, one builder went the other way on purpose. His reasoning wasn’t nostalgia — it was simplicity. No sensors. No wiring harness spaghetti. No tuning software crashing at the worst possible moment. He explains the decision on a 1986 Ford Mustang Notchback project that’s about to receive a serious engine, and by the end of the video, more than one lifelong Ford loyalist in the comments admits, somewhat reluctantly, that he’s not wrong.

A 347 Stroker, the Old-Fashioned Way

The engine going into this Notchback is a 347 stroker — a Ford 5.0-liter small-block bored and stroked out to 347 cubic inches, a well-worn recipe among Fox Body builders looking for real torque and displacement without stepping up to a bigger, heavier block. Rather than pairing that stroker with a modern EFI setup, the host tops it with a Holley carburetor, a combination that trades some of fuel injection’s precision for a build that’s easier to diagnose, tune, and repair with basic tools. For a project car rather than a daily driver chasing emissions compliance, that trade-off is exactly the point.

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No Sensors, No Wiring Harness, No Computer

The host’s stated case for the carburetor comes down to three things he explicitly doesn’t want to deal with: sensors, a wiring harness, and a computer to tune. It’s a philosophy built around mechanical simplicity — a carbureted engine can, in theory, be diagnosed and repaired with a wrench and a basic understanding of fuel and air, without a laptop, a tuning license, or a trip to a shop with the right software. That doesn’t make it objectively better than EFI for every application, but for a builder prioritizing simplicity over precision, it’s a coherent, defensible choice rather than a purely nostalgic one.

A Garage Full of Agreement

One commenter lists an entire fleet in support of the decision: a 1969 Charger, a 1968 Firebird, a 1967 Tempest, two 1967 Mustangs, and a 1964 Mustang, adding that there’s ‘no point in avoiding good cars from being snobby.’ That’s a genuinely brand-agnostic collection — Mopar, GM, and Ford all represented — which reinforces that this isn’t really a Ford-versus-everyone argument. It’s a carburetor-versus-EFI argument that cuts across brand loyalty entirely, and the range of cars backing up that one comment says as much about the debate’s real battle lines as anything the host says on camera.

The Holley 750 Double Pumper Club

Another commenter gets specific about his own build, running a Holley 750 Double Pumper with mechanical secondaries in his 1984 Trans Am, calling it ‘nice and simple’ with ‘no extra wires, no computer tuning.’ The Holley 750 Double Pumper has been a favorite among budget stroker builds for decades precisely because it delivers strong fuel flow for a big-inch small-block without the complexity of vacuum secondaries or electronic tuning, echoing the exact logic the host applies to his own 347. Comments like this one function as informal peer review, confirming the build philosophy from someone who’s already lived with the results.

Foxbody Culture’s Quiet Corner

The 1986 Mustang Notchback sits in a specific, often-overlooked corner of Fox Body culture — less flashy than the hatchback GT that usually dominates Mustang build videos, but popular precisely because it’s cheaper to find and just as capable as a project platform. One commenter mentions picking up two Foxbodies of his own, one carbureted and one fuel-injected, essentially running the same comparison in his own garage in real time. That kind of firsthand, side-by-side experience is exactly the audience this build speaks to: people who don’t need to be convinced carbs work, because they’re already living with both options parked side by side.

It Sounds Better, and That Matters

Buried among the practical arguments is one that has nothing to do with diagnostics or repair costs: ‘carbureted engines sound better,’ one commenter states flatly, as if it settles the matter on its own. For a lot of builders, that’s not a throwaway line — the mechanical clatter and induction noise of a carbureted engine genuinely differs from the more muted character of a well-sealed EFI setup, and for a project built around personality rather than daily-driver practicality, that difference in character can matter as much as any spec on a build sheet. It’s a reminder that not every build decision on a project car needs to be justified purely by numbers.

Respect Across the Aisle

What ties the whole comment section together isn’t brand loyalty — it’s mutual respect between owners of wildly different cars who’ve all landed on the same conclusion about carburetors. Camaro guys, Mustang guys, Mopar guys, and at least one self-described mechanic with decades of experience across tractors, trucks, and boats all show up to back the decision, several explicitly praising the host’s humble, non-judgmental tone. For a debate that could easily turn into brand warfare, the actual comment section reads more like a support group for people who’d rather turn a wrench than plug in a laptop.

The Build Still Has a Long Way to Go

By the end of the video, the 347 stroker is still just one piece of a larger Notchback project that’s clearly going to take months, if not longer, to finish. That’s typical of Fox Body builds run on a hobbyist’s budget and timeline rather than a shop’s — the carburetor decision is one of dozens the host will have to make along the way, but it’s the one that generated enough discussion to turn a routine build update into a genuine debate about first principles. Viewers checking back in on future updates now have a specific reason to see how the simplicity argument holds up once the engine is actually running.

The Idea Travels Beyond Mustangs

The carbureted-simplicity argument doesn’t stay confined to muscle cars, either. One commenter mentions doing a 5.0-liter Ford swap into a BMW E36 chassis for a drift build, explicitly citing the same love for the video’s message. That a Fox Body Mustang carburetor debate resonates with someone building a European drift car shows how far the underlying philosophy travels once it’s separated from any one specific platform — simplicity and repairability are arguments that hold up regardless of what badge is on the hood.

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