by fordconvert » Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:59 am
If self tuning systems are really out there at this stage of my life I may pay a few extra bucks to save myself the hassle of tuning but till I see it myself I aint gonna believe it. There are just too many variables if you really want it to work right. Getting it to run good, maybe but optimum performance and fuel economy? I suspect that tuning stage at the factories even today with all the technology at the big makers still takes a human on a test drive to do some tweaking. My first EFI system was a Holley projection from the early 90's. Simple bolt on TBI. Simple ECU with 5 dials on it. Plug it in and turn the dials till it ran right which took about 10 minutes. Worked great. Made good power. Used a ton of gas.
Most projects have that duh or oops moment. On a new engine break in that can be a very bad thing. For starting a new engine you for sure want to stick with a known working fuel system. With non stockish carbs and EFI you will often make simple mistakes that can at the least mess up your break in or even trash your new motor. Ideal would be to get the bugs out of a new system on a beat up old motor you dont care that much about. Swapping that then working system that you are now comfortable with to a good motor should not take much tweaking and you wont be re rebuilding your motor. I have seen many shops with an old beat up 4150 and a q jet sitting on the shelf in the dyno room just for that first start. After the break in is when the customers choice of fuel systems goes on.
TJ H
'66 Mustang coupe {her toy}
Stock 200, DurasparkII/HEI, AT, Scarebird 5 lug disc with SSBC power MC kit.
'73 Cad Eldorado Convert w/Megasquirt TBI{my toy} '97 Tahoe {her DD} '05 Hemi Magnum {my DD}