Re: Efi

[RGSchmitt]

Hi Kevin -

The EFI manifold sure looks nice. A little over
a year ago, I did some research on "home built"
control electronics. Quite a well-organized
group with several commercial suppliers of kits
and parts - MegaSquirt. Seems promising.

Bob

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by RGSchmitt

Hi Kevin -
The EFI manifold sure looks nice. A little over a year ago, I did some research on "home built" control electronics. Quite a well-organized group with several commercial suppliers of kits and parts - MegaSquirt. Seems promising.
Bob

Thanks Bob, I remember the discussion, but had forgotten the name of the Co/product. It is something I will investigate when the time comes, because I gather a replacement for my obsolete Motec ECU would be about $2k.

[lansdownplace]

I wasn't aware that such options existed for earlier engines, although I did test drive a 5.9 'home'[ injected car that was really gutless at one time. Surfing the web I see Edelbrock do EFI kits for the pre '91 5.9l engines which are pretty much plug and play but are infinitely adjustable with your laptop or their gizmo that comes with the kit. Out of interest I posted a question on their forum and the answer I got seems to indicate that you don't get much (if any) improvement in BHP of torque compared to a well tuned engine. I presume you get better milage and cold starting but what are the other advantages that would make a conversion worth while from a an investment point of view.

Paul

[Peter.Kent]

Over the years a number of us have tried bolt on Efi ... and then reverted to carbs. There have been several forum threads on the subject. I`d be interested if any body has now run the conversion for as much as 10k miles/ 2 yrs. Peter

[irienz]

I ran EFI on my 411 for in excess of 10 years but, about a year or so ago, went back to a 4-barrel carb (Holley). The original EFI installation (a Holley single point kit which bolted on to the carb manifold) was done by Martin Barnes in London in about 1996 and was very successful. The car was far more responsive, started and ran well in all conditions and was noticeably quieter and more refined. However I started to have a few problems after the car had been in New Zealand for a couple of years and it never ran as well again after it was fiddled with and some failed components were replaced. I tried using a later Link ECU to control the Holley injectors and, after a long and frustrating period of attempts to get that to work acceptably, installed an new Holley Commander 950 kit with ultimately no better results. No one could get it to maintain stability for any length of time. Eventually I gave up and went back to a carb.

Having had the experience of a good EFI, I still miss its responsiveness, refinement and easy running hot and cold. However I would be very wary of going down the EFI path again without a proven solution though. In addition, I suspect that the greatest benefits require a proper multi-point system (like the new Edelbrock system - the one I would now be tempted to go for). I did not think that the old Holley system, even when working well, gave more power ultimately or even noticeably better fuel consumption.