About to start building a new rig; money is always a factor as I have two kids In school (college soon). With that said, my motor purchase comes first so I'm trying to decide which route (EFI or carb motor). Manufacturers and dealers still seem to have both options available at this time, but I wonder if it's a mistake to even consider a carb motor if I'm buying new? I'm a shade tree mechanic/gearhead at heart, so I always like to tinker with my motors. Has anyone else purchased a new MM recently and wondered which option (EFI or carb)?

Subscribed, I also am interested in this thread.

I would say if you have the knowledge and/or equipment and resources to troubleshoot or replace EFI components after trouble shooting go that route.

If you have mechanical experience and can turn a wrench, but fail to grasp the electronic realm, go carb.

If you have no mechanical experience and plan on having the dealer do repairs, go with either one.

Carb only

Carb would seem to be a safe route since most (maybe not all) issues have been seen with documented fixes. With a carb model again, most of the known good combos have been documented for power, response, and longevity (if possible). With that said, EFI is obviously the new norm., so as time passes will fixes, tweaks, and power gains follow for stock EFI? The motor I'm looking at is the Briggs 37 EFI, so if I've read things correctly they're not self mapping nor can they be custom mapped? Does this mean that a person would need to replace the Briggs EFI with an aftermarket to be a more effective gearhead when they want to make power?

To me it is about dependability, turn the key, go hunt, turn the key and get back. It seems to me the less complicated the better. I understand the evolution of design dynamics, my question is are these developments putting reliability at risk. Remember MMT is a small percentage of the mud motor market. How many motors have to repaired due issues and we never hear about them? There is something about putting the ECM in full control and it has not been on the market even a year now. Call me old fashion, or traditionalist but the jury is out on whether I will go EFI on my next motor. I'm more worried about props flying off, shafts breaking, broken reverse pins, tiller torque, gear reduction ratio changes, 3 blade props, etc. I remember when most of the content posted on this site was about how fast you could go. Today it is a matter of figuring out whether it is worth the risk of the new engineering of these motors. I was fine on how my Gen1 ran, and my Gen2 was plenty fast and performed very well. I just don't get changing that. Now EFI costs us how much more?! Give me the old design all day.

FYI, if anyone has a low hour PD Gen 2, carb motor, PM me as I might be interested in buying it.

I swore up and down I wouldn't put a mikuni on my PD. I was all in for EFI. Well after a few trips back and forth to the nearest service rep (2.5 hours) for miscellaneous shit I realized that if I were to go the EFI route I'd probably be more likely to have to make a road trip for a repair if something takes a crap. At least with a carb I'm able to tinker with it if I need to. The biggest deciding factor for me was the price. I had no problems with the cost of EFI.......until I found out I had a little one one the way. Suddenly the $500 carb got alot more appealing

So let's throw this one out there then; what is the best bang for the buck on the carb models? In my situation I'm looking at new motors, so the difference between carb and EFI models is around $500. What (if anything) could I put on a carb 35 Briggs that would bring it to life for at/near that amount?

If you do a Google search for mudmotortalk EFI vs Carb you'll find a few threads debating the "bang for your buck". They're quite...extensive to say the least.

A mikuni carb setup can be had for that 500. Good luck deciding, as the choice between the two from an objective point of view (someone that doesn't hate carbs and doesn't ride the efi bandwagon) can be a toss up. They both offer the same end result (better fuel delivery, more power, better idle), they just do it differently. There are pros and cons to each. Like brick says, do a search.

To hot rod or not to hot rod, that may be the real question! I'm old school by mileage but new school also as far as fuel delivery goes. Injection has been around a long time now and it works. Works very well... In my worthless opinion I'd think a fella might be slightly off his rocker not to buy a new engine WITHOUT getting fuel injection!!! You didn't say you may wanna build a badass mud racing motor, if you had you'd want an old non CDI motor, if you want to beef it up a little someday it's a sure bet that headwork and a decent exhaust would certainly compliment the EFI. There are already options for modifying now. Stock carbs SUCK, don't kid yourself $500 is cheap anti frustration medicine!

A carb kit is not a pita. I put mine together from two sources. A mud buddy dealer and amazon. Depending on your set up u May or may not want a rev limiter and governor block.
Mikuni is about 275
flange adapter is 20
Black Death intake is 110
k/n filter bout 40
Rev limiter 125
gov block 20
Throttle cable 20

My 23 was a little cheaper than this as the carb was cheaper than a hsr 42. I paid 350 with shipping and another 20 in jets to dial it in for a fully functional mikuni kit I pieced together and I put a better carb on than the one that comes in the MB kit

EFI, all day, every day. Never fails to start, runs smoother, uses less fuel, and has more power all over the RPM range than a carb. It's seriously a no-brainer unless you're wanting to buy something in order to build a hot-rod.... Than your reliability generally goes out the window.

If you live north of Arkansas, consider that EFI might be a better choice for you because it is less affected by cold weather.

I live in central Arkansas but hunt north of my location often; only carb ice issue/hard start issue was over 8yrs ago. I camped that night on the river to be within a few minutes of our hunting area inside a refuge/wma, and it was under 25 degrees that night.

I live up here in wi summer temps 80s 90s end of duck season can be below zero. A jet change takes 10 mins or less loosen clamp losses 4 screws and pull bowl off and change jets. Mikuni has jetting charts for pilot and main so if you have a baseline for one temp setting you can change if there is a extreme temp change from one season to another. It all depend on if you like tinkering with your stuff. I've done all my own Mods it's something I enjoy doing. I would go efi if I didn't know how to turn a wrench and just wanted stock.

Maybe u haven't seen all the ones with exu problems getting fixed lately

It's just like anything else...

If you're around more of them, you're going to see more of them broken.

Keep your carb. That's fine. I prefer my fuel injection.... On basically everything.

I didnt read all the posts so maybe i missed this BUT...do you plan on keeping it stock or modding it in the future? If you are doing mods, what is your budget?

I went with a 35 carb and added AFTERMARKET EFI (along with exhaust, cam and head work) and couldnt be happier. I went that route because the 37EFI if too new for me to be comfortable putting mods to it and my rig has too many options (too heavy, also run heavy loads) for bone stock.

No, he added, cam, headwork, and an exhaust along with the aftermarket efi kit. There wasn't an option to have the briggs efi system tuned when he bought his motor. Still aren't any readily available options that I'm aware of.

Been doing some thinking, plenty of reading, and tons of talking .... I really think I may go the carb route for now; as stated originally, I like to tinker and/or modify things so this gives me options to include aftermarket tunable EFI later if desired. So with that being said, if I decide to get heads done is it good to season them first (run em for some time before having them done)?

Yes. 50 hours seems to be the most suggested route.

Thanks for the quick response; also, thx to Bug as well since we spoke about the same.

I think you will be happy with that decision. It just offers a lot of flexibility for you. That being said, in maybe 6 months or a year or 2 years there may be that flexibility with with the 37 EFI but if you had to decide now carb is proven and offers flexibility of upgrades.