So I have a 92 Dakota with the 5.2 liter and an automatic trans. I've had on and off fuel injector problems with one cylinder wanting to miss after heavy acceleration. I'm considering converting the motor over to a carb setup. 1- There's a little more performance mods out there as far as intakes and manifolds go. 2- i will eliminate another portion of the early electronics plagueing my truck with problems. so my question is what kind of benefits can i see out of this and what may not be as desirable. im also open to suggestions on different parts or carbs that would work with the truck. and also just to add the truck is only 2wd and is used for fairly light duty work and daily driving but also tows a trailer occasionally when needed.

 

Few benefits to you.

You'll lose some of the automatic adaptability that EFI has.

In regards that one cylinder - have you checked the plenum gasket? How old are the injectors? Have you swapped injectors with another cylinder to see if the problem stays with that cylinder or moves to the other one?

How old is your fuel filter? How about the cap? The rotor? The wires? The plugs?

But don't forget, you get to a) figure out how to do the ignition also (the coil's driven off the same ECU that does the injectors); b) figure out how to get OD and lockup on the torque converter (that's fairly easy); c) figure out how to get the tach working right (it's using 2x pulses per revolution off the ECU; connect a V8 coil to it, and you'll be seeing twice the actual RPM!).

RwP

 

plugs, wires, cap and rotor were all replaced about 2000 miles ago and that one injector was replaced about 1000 miles ago. once i replaced the injector it ran rough for awhile at first but then started running smooth for the most part but only wants to miss after i stomp on the gas when trying to get around someone. my only guess is that the regulator isn't letting enough fuel through because the fuel pump and filter were replaced at the same time as the wires and plugs and all that. and swapping to a carb is not a for sure thing yet, just an idea i had that would allow me to add a little more performance to the truck and opening up more roads in the future

 

The thing is, whereas you CAN tune a carb to peak at a small higher power level, it's peaky when you do that.

For day to day, carbs suck compared to EFI.

"it ran rough for awhile at first" tells me that there's something different about that injector. Try swapping with another cylinder's injector, see if the misfire moves with the injector or not.

Could be as silly as the O-ring isn't sealing properly ...

RwP

 

Done a compression test? Cylinder leakdown test?