cs and csi comparison?

twistinglane

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A basic newbie question - but didn't locate much with search of forum. How do original engine CS and CSI cars compare for drivability and also for upkeep/potential problems. Thanks - a pointer will be appreciated if good discussion already exists...
Paul
 
A basic newbie question - but didn't locate much with search of forum. How do original engine CS and CSI cars compare for drivability and also for upkeep/potential problems. Thanks - a pointer will be appreciated if good discussion already exists...
Paul

it is pretty difficult to answer in a well documented way, because seldom you have the chance of owning both versions

considering that you ask about stock examples, and that obiously both cars are in the same condition, i would say carbureted version has more chances to be repaired if the stock carbs fail, you can rebuild them or go for webers,
in my experience it was impossible to find a replacement for the iddle valve of a friend's csi

for me it is much more important a non rust car with good interior trim parts, mechanically almost everything can be repaired
 
They both have their issues, CS with their carburetors to maintain and CSI with the injection gremlins to chase. Both can be maintained and tuned with the help from the forum members. +1 on DeQ, get either one with as little rust as possible.
 
My euro CS was originally carbed. Once they were adjusted I had few problems. Even took the car to high performance driver's schools. When I needed to go faster, to keep up with the slower cars I put in a 3.2 liter reworked engine with period FI. Except for adjusting the idle a couple of times I have not touched it in almost 15 years. Running Petronix distributor and never touched that in 15.

Steve
 
In an old thread I started, I asked about curing a flat spot I had on acceleration, as my cs still has the original but rebuilt carbs on. I tried everything from cleaning out all the easy to get to jets, air correctors, ect..ect.., even picking the revs up to 3/4k them putting my hands over the top of the carbs to try and force the blockage out, but that didn't work either and still had the flat spot. So on a recent service, I cleaned the dizzy, rotor arm and thought I'd just check the timing for some reason, don't know why but thought I'd check it, and it was a mile out, so after I'd reset it and ever so slightly advanced it, hey presto, no flat spot and it goes like a rocket now!! The carbs look like an almighty job and scarey, but IMO, you know where you are with carbs.

The other side of the coin, my friend in on his 3rd ecu for his 74 csi, when its going, it goes well, but when the brain decides to have an hissy fit, then the joyous job of finding another ecu for a 40 year old car which has a worst survival rate than a dodo begins. Problem with the injection ecu is that you never know when it will pack up, and if it does, you can't realy blame it seeing as its 4 decades old.

Injection cs's are in a small way maintenance free, where carbs do need adjusting somtimes on a regular basis, but at least you know where you are with carbs.
Performance wise, if a carb car is set up correctly, then the performance is just as good as an injection, and with a carb, there's always scope for a lot of improvement where there isent with injection .

My next project is a set of triumph Daytona motorbike carbs on a gas flowed cs head, race cam and dynoed valve springs. The Daytona has a triple carbed engine, so 2 sets on a cs head will be superb.
 
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