Should carbs be a show-stopper for my 914 search?, How bad are they really? Options

[BigDBass]

In my apparently endless search for the right 914, I've come upon decent candidates which I then discover have been carburated. I've basically treated that as "nothing to see here, move along", but.... what if one finds what is otherwise almost the ideal match in condition, price, color, original parts, location, except for lacking stock fuel injection?

References usually say just that it's an expensive proposition to convert back to if you manage to acquire the necessary parts. How difficult and expensive is this? What all is involved?

[lapuwali]

The chances are better than even that it has a stock cam in it. You have to completely disassemble the engine to change the cam, and few people do so because of the expense involved, esp. if they have to pay someone else to do it for them.

If the stock EFI comes with in the box of parts, even if it "doesn't work", then I'd certainly consider such a car. The usual causes for "EFI doesn't work" are fixable with a bit of patience and very little money. Often, it's something as stupid as one broken wire. If you're not afraid to learn how to do the necessary rewiring, or you're willing to pay for a new FI harness from Bowlsby, then swapping back to FI shouldn't be a big deal.

That said, any car the PO swapped to carbs should be very carefully inspected, and you shouldn't take the PO's word for anything. A carb swap on an otherwise stock engine shows a lack of patience or sense on the part of the PO and/or his mechanic, or an unwillingness to spend more than the minimum amount of money to maintain the car, which doesn't bode well for the rest of the car. You're very likely to have to do quite a bit of maintenance on the car immediately to make up for shoddy maintenance work in the past. Count on doing things like replacing all of the suspension bushings, all of the wheel bearings, rebuilding brake calipers, etc. These are all things that are commonly ignored by people on the minimum maintainance schedule.