Hi aarvig,

Your premise that the old style push rod engine is carb based and modern engines like the Coyote is EFI is wrong. Any engine can be EFI now. One possibility is to go with a tunable EFI system. Personally, I think the bottom line will be a little cheaper with a push rod engine except high dollar name crate engines. You are paying a premium for a Ford Racing full dressed version. Also, the variety of engine displacements for the push rod style is amazing (302, 347, 351, 363, 393, 408, 421, 427). You can find something that will fit your budget as well as your specific power need. What I'm referring to about the variety is getting a 408 for instance and putting a mild cam and good heads which will be a monster without pushing any reliability limits. The real advantage of the Coyote is it's simplicity since it is a complete matched system. It's also one of those engine that you put in and forget it. If you want to modify you might be able to add a more aggressive tune but forget the type of mix and match adaptability I eluded to above with the older style. I suppose you could go one step further and say that the Coyote would be more likely a candidate for a dealership working on it if something did ever go wrong with it much like an OEM daily driver with a comparable Coyote in it. You might ask yourself: if I was driving cross country, what would I like to have under the hood?

Good luck and interesting discussion.

WEK.