looking for truth about carbs..., do they really ruin your engine? Options

[pete914]

so,
i know a lot of people on here must be running carbs with stock a stock cam. everyone knows about Dr. 914's advice about putting a carb on your engine.
i've posted on here before that i'm thinking about moving my 1.8L to a FI setup from the POS carb that's on there now. reason being i don't want to ruin my engine as i need it to keep chugging (around 92k on there now) for another 3 years until i'm out of school. However, this is going to be quite an undertaking in that i will have to remove the gas tank, fuel lines, find wires that have been cut from the exit on the firewall, as well as install the FI system having zero experience.

right now (i'm a student spending my savings) i just want reliability. If i put a single (appropriate sized...what is the appropriate size?)carb on the car am i still risking wearing out my engine "twice as fast"? i feel like a single weber would be a plug and play option and allow me to save a little $ and a lot of time in the installation. again, performance is not my main goal here.
i have access to a garage and the full gambit of tools, ijust don't know if i want to spend the time and headache installing an FI system (although i do love working on the car). i feel like i might be getting in over my head especially because there isn't anyone in the immediate area to turn to if things head south.
thus far the work i've completed on the car is minimal:

adjusted valves
switched tranny mounts
switched alternator and harness
installed heating system

that's pretty much my experience, period.
whaddya think?

your opinions are appreciated.

[Brando]

When tuned properly the stock FI systems on our cars are very reliable.

That being said, you need new or known good used quality parts. It's when components start to fail or you do not perform regular maintenence that the system runs poorly.

You'll see an improvement over that single carb, which is the worst thing you can put on that engine; and that's been said many times.

As for injection systems... Stock L-Jet is very reliable with parts abundant and inexpensive in comparison to D-Jet. There's also programmable systems such as Megasquirt or Minisquirt, SDS and Weber Redline.

Do your research before choosing a system.

[pete914]

awesome,
thanks for the input, ill look into those, i was under the impression that the L-jet stuff is actually harder to come by than the D-jet...seems there is some difference of opinion on that. i have a "complete" system for $100 if anyone is interested.
thanks everyone.

When tuned properly the stock FI systems on our cars are very reliable.

That being said, you need new or known good used quality parts. It's when components start to fail or you do not perform regular maintenence that the system runs poorly.

You'll see an improvement over that single carb, which is the worst thing you can put on that engine; and that's been said many times.

As for injection systems... Stock L-Jet is very reliable with parts abundant and inexpensive in comparison to D-Jet. There's also programmable systems such as Megasquirt or Minisquirt, SDS and Weber Redline.

Do your research before choosing a system.