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java230
java230 UltraDork
7/17/19 8:06 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

Because the engine was just resealed and reinstalled..... I really don't want to pull it. Also the EFI could drop onto any SBC in the future.

I think IH and "engine performance" shouldn't really be in the same sentence. But its rated at 100% duty cycle at 3600rpms. The heads flow badly apparently, 

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
7/17/19 8:42 a.m.

In reply to java230 :

Don't do it.

I know the siren song of cheap EFI and am here to tell you that with the Fitech it just ain't so. That unit  (too big for your needs IMHO) is for sale because the owner could not get it to work on his application. It might have been the engine, it might have been the owner's lack of skill or it might have been a defective Fitech. But the odds of one of those three wrecking a Fitech install is high  and hard to sort.

 

Get a 2 barell holley and bolt it on. Drive and never worry about not returning because the EFI quit.

Floating Doc
Floating Doc GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
7/17/19 8:58 a.m.

I'll preface my comment by noting that I hate carburetors, but have a couple of points.

First, the Fitech systems are developing a poor reputation. I wouldn't consider one.

Second, carburetors are established technology. If you're out in BFE and have problems with your system, parts and knowledge are widely available. It's not the same with the aftermarket FI systems. You can free a stuck float by tapping the carb with a rock.

If you're driving it locally, and it's not hard to get it home if it breaks, then FI looks good.

If you're going to be traveling in the truck, my suggestion would be to keep the carburetor. Will it be the best mileage, power, or drivability?

No, but you need something that's just going to work.

 

Greg Voth
Greg Voth Dork
7/17/19 8:59 a.m.

I've been considering the sniper unit for my Barracuda.  They seem to have the best reviews.  

 

For your particular project since the motor is already out, looking at going efi it's already bagged etc.   I would probably consider a truck LS and auto combination for a number of reasons to include potential resale.  

Flynlow
Flynlow HalfDork
7/17/19 9:06 a.m.
Floating Doc said:

Second, carburetors are established technology. If you're out in BFE and have problems with your system, parts and knowledge are widely available. It's not the same with the aftermarket FI systems. You can free a stuck float by tapping the carb with a rock.

You know what doesnt have floats to get stuck in the first place?  Fuel injection cheeky

java230
java230 UltraDork
7/17/19 9:20 a.m.

In reply to NOHOME :

Its for sale because he broke an ear off..... But he wants too much $$. For cheap Summit gets decent reviews as they support it. (IE not going FiTech if I am buying new). Holley seems the best and if I buy new I will go that way. 

I know the FiTech isn't meeting your needs. But honestly I feel better with unnamed sensors than jets. I just dont know carbs. It looks to be a 2 barrel on it now, and the cover on it says Holley, but I have zero idea whats under the cover, just looking at pics.

 

In reply to Floating Doc :

I too hate carbs. We just DONT get along. 

 

In reply to Greg Voth :

Motor and trans are bolted in now. LS swap is likely in the future, but a ways away. I need running and paint first. 

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
7/17/19 10:13 a.m.

Why are people so worried about Efi?  It’s not as if it’s some new technology. 

Sensors are very reliable. 

And if you get a pre assembled system, with the finished wiring harness, that takes out most ham fisted installation problems. 

As a bonus, they are far more robust to fuel and environment.  

Besides, unless you get your carb from a NAPA store, if it breaks, parts are not common in the field any better than efi. It’s been around 30 years since an oem sold a new car with carbs. 

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
7/17/19 11:40 a.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

I will agree with most of what you say if you preface it with "OEM"

No aftermarket component can come close to meeting OEM standards. Most hit the price target by not even bothering and living with the percentages. It is baked into the business plan.

 

I lived through the first EFI on an outboard fiasco when Mercury started installing it back in the 80's. They experienced 100% failure due to mounting the MCU on the engine where heat and vibration killed every single one. There was a months long backlog to replace them and they started selling extension cables so the MCU could be mounted inside the boat. Try telling a boater that he has to sit out the season because the new $12,000 engine you sold him needs a new computer.

Fitech seems to be the first to try doing the MCU on the engine since then.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
7/17/19 11:47 a.m.

So what breaks? 

It's one thing to assume that the bottom line is so important, but I can assure you that OEM fuel injection systems are far less expensive than aftermarket ones.  

Sure, 30-40 year old injection systems have reliability problems- heck, OEM systems had problems, too, in the 80's.  We are well beyond that now.  If the wires are routed right, and the computer is inside, there's not much there to break.

So I'm back to the question - in aftermarket systems, what is breaking?  And compare that with carbs.  And the idea that carb parts are somehow more available out in the middle of nowhere when you break down...  I'm trying to figure that out.

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
7/17/19 12:43 p.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

In the case of the Fitech, the temp sensor, the O2 sensor and the injectors are all china knock-offs of GM parts. You can theoretically improve your Fitech if you replace with OEM GM parts

The standard advice is to not bother with the Fitech temp sensor that comes in the package since it is not going to work anyway.  I actually confirmed this and it read 15 degrees low. The new version of the Fitech software actually has a routine so that you can calibrate their sensor.

The injectors seem to fail in a mode where they flood the engine with fuel. Never a good thing. Firmware bug in the early models also encouraged this to happen. Part of the reason I am into day two of a new firmware download.

 

 

 

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
7/17/19 12:50 p.m.

In reply to NOHOME :

So that's Fitech, which isn't what is going to be bought.

But does one crappy system mean all of them are bad?

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
7/17/19 1:49 p.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

I am going to guess that Holley has more structured quality system and a reputation that is of value to them, so maybe a better bet.

The reason I bought the Fitech is because Holley was two years late(r) in going to market. As it turns out, it was a moot point because I decided to paint the car before I installed the Fitech so it sat in the box for a long time. I would have bought the Holley given other circumstances.

For that matter, I would have kept the factory EFI except that it does not tolerate cams or other engine mods and would have required a new wiring harness that cost as much as the Fitech, plus no user access to the tune unless you go MS. At the time my thought process is that I really did not want to be bothered with learning EFI theory.

 

Still siting here wishing I had bought a Holley Street Avenger carb!

AnthonyGS
AnthonyGS HalfDork
7/18/19 9:36 p.m.

In reply to alfadriver :

So you go MS to control fuel.  What controls ignition?  

You can upload and edit EEC IV tunes now with everything in the car, have datalogging etc.  

Not to belabor the point but you do realize digital tech has probably increased faster than any tech on the planet in the past 30 years.  You don’t think these modern EFI offerings have better CPUs and better data acquisition and comm rates than an EEC IV? 

All of these systems use OEM off the shelf generic sensors.  You can get any  non-chinese knock off brand you like.  

 

NOHOME
NOHOME MegaDork
7/18/19 10:30 p.m.

One of the things that is frustrating me with the Fitech and I imgainge the same is the case with the Sniper is that the glossary or EFI terms seems to be different than the OEM industry. 

 

While this might not matter to a purchaser who has to deal with an exponential learning curve anyway, it does matter in that EFI skilled techs will not be able to help much because the terms used for controlling the TBI injection are not common to FORD or GM systems.

java230
java230 UltraDork
7/18/19 10:46 p.m.

To throw another wrench.... There is a semi local guy who builds GM tbi units to retrofit to IH stuff. He sells them with a electronic dizzy and fueling parts for 1400$..... With his tune for the engine on them..... 

Stefan
Stefan GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/19/19 12:57 a.m.
AnthonyGS said:

In reply to alfadriver :

So you go MS to control fuel.  What controls ignition?  

You can upload and edit EEC IV tunes now with everything in the car, have datalogging etc.  

Not to belabor the point but you do realize digital tech has probably increased faster than any tech on the planet in the past 30 years.  You don’t think these modern EFI offerings have better CPUs and better data acquisition and comm rates than an EEC IV? 

All of these systems use OEM off the shelf generic sensors.  You can get any  non-chinese knock off brand you like.  

 

Um, you do know what he does for a living, right?

I suspect he knows more about Ford EFI systems than you do and EFI systems in general.

jus’ sayin’

Stefan
Stefan GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/19/19 1:03 a.m.
AnthonyGS said:

In reply to alfadriver :

So you go MS to control fuel.  What controls ignition?  

You can upload and edit EEC IV tunes now with everything in the car, have datalogging etc.  

Not to belabor the point but you do realize digital tech has probably increased faster than any tech on the planet in the past 30 years.  You don’t think these modern EFI offerings have better CPUs and better data acquisition and comm rates than an EEC IV? 

All of these systems use OEM off the shelf generic sensors.  You can get any  non-chinese knock off brand you like.  

 

Ignition can be as simple as a vacuum/centrifugal advance distributor and Jacobs or MSD ignition box/coil.  

Or you can control ignition with MegaSquirt as well.  I did that on my 924 using an MS1 to control the fuel and the Ford EDIS distributorless ignition system.  Worked a treat, passed emissions sniffer test without issue on a lumpy cam and ITBs, header and a basic cat. 

A lot more tuning involved though, so you have to be able to use the stock ignition curve and slowly make changes to the fuel before you touch the ignition.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
7/19/19 6:52 a.m.
AnthonyGS said:

In reply to alfadriver :

So you go MS to control fuel.  What controls ignition?  

You can upload and edit EEC IV tunes now with everything in the car, have datalogging etc.  

Not to belabor the point but you do realize digital tech has probably increased faster than any tech on the planet in the past 30 years.  You don’t think these modern EFI offerings have better CPUs and better data acquisition and comm rates than an EEC IV? 

All of these systems use OEM off the shelf generic sensors.  You can get any  non-chinese knock off brand you like.  

 

MS into a 36-1 EDIS systems is incredibly easy, 4, 6, 8 cyl, doesn't matter.  I would not be surprised that someone has developed an EECIV housing that has an MS in it.  I'd probably go that direction- the wiring is good, shielded, the module is in a safe spot....  

Although, the easy button is to recalibrate the EECIV for your changes.  Given that the system is a mass-air system, changing cams is possible without major changes- the Mustang aftermarket is part of the reason Mass-air was chosen in the late 80's for all Ford products.  

And yes, I'm quite aware of the developments in EFI, more specifically, Ford's systems over my entire career.  For what it was required to do, the EECIV did it pretty darned well, especially when we looked into any other system that was available on the market, like Bosch.  I did some training on both the low speed and high speed EDIS systems that pre-dated what was in your Mustang, but then started my calibration career developing electronic throttle in Taurus SHO's wiht the EEC IV.  As a matter of fact, if you will recall the Indigo show car and the Aston Martin DB7- both of those ran on TWO EEC IVs, which were mostly identical to what is in your car.  They both ran and drove great- the Ford V12 was the next biggest project I calibrated on the EEC IV.  

On the other hand, I would not say that powertrain ECU's have progressed any faster than any other tech out there.  They still do the exact same thing with virtually the exact same sensors.  What power and memory has brought was horribly written and terribly HUGE code that runs cars.  Way, way, way more complicated than it actually needs to be to do it's job.  Back when your car was developed, the number of characters in the name of each term mattered.  Now we get just stupid names with logic that is impossible to follow on a page because there's so much of it.  IMHO, Phones have developed a lot more than our computers have.  But they are starting to go down the bulk path instead of the fast and lean path, too.

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