Hey thats cool, I deal with the public all day long and this is far from havoc to me, I hope what ever you use works great for you and factor ECU is definately not the route for someone wanting to control and see every parameter of there EFI, I have a system on my bronco that allows me to change just about anything I wish from retroteck speed, I was just expressing an economical route for those possibly not inclined to be so involved. There is anything from primitive to extreme out there.
Holley TBI
- Thread starter Bayrunner
- Start date
I would be very happy if your plan works and would hope you are able to share with us the details on how you did it. I was in the same boat several years ago. I read all this great stuff and how relatively easy it was going to be. I got some junkyard parts together and kept running into roadblocks that kept it from working then decided to just go with the complete kits that were offered from multiple places at the time and basically ran into the same problem. I then ended up with MS which really forced me to lean more about the whole system and tuning in general which I think long term was a good investment. Much of what I read and thought turned out to be flat wrong. What I read was based on carb guys assuming how EFI would work. I think my next project is going to be really cool based on what I learned. Being able to make real time adjustments while under actual driving conditions is really cool. You can easily make adjustments on the fly to try things and see where your setup runs best and the way you want it. It would be awesome if there was a plug and play system. I have my doubts that even the $3K plus systems are actually plug and play. I have yet to talk to someone in person or online that has used one of those systems. I see them working great on TV. I see all the amazing stories on their websites but no real people. Its just like carbs, for a totally stock setup they work great out of the box but as soon as you start changing things even some seemingly small things all bets are off. Problem with a self learning EFI system is even the smart ones are not that smart. They cant know what type of situations you are going to put them through.
Howell was not the one that I dealt with. I know I contacted them but dont remember why I lost interest in them. For all I know my failure may have been my fault. Things also may have changed since my attempt maybe better maybe worse. When I was still on the GM path I met one local guy that never got his running right and went MS. I had some email contact with a few people I met on forums and they never seemed to be totally satisfied. It seemed odd to me that there are all these 'companies' that offer these kits and appear to have sold many of them yet you dont ever seem to run into anyone that has one at shows and events and such. One market that many of these type of kits may be popular is offroad and that is not huge in my area or something that I have much interest in. If there is offroad groups in your area that may be a good place to look for people that have done it. I spent about 2 years somewhat seriously reading about the options for a system for a few of my projects. I then spent almost another 2 years from when I first committed to a system to when I finally had a good running car. I obviously had a day job and a life so this was not a 24/7 sort of project but during that period I was actively still doing research and reading on the subject. I have not done a lot of research since I got my project running. When I see something new I take a look but so far nothing got me that excited.
Its been a while since I did my research but I seem to recall there was a period at the end of the GM TBI's run where there were some ECU's that could be programed without swapping chips. They were not super common but were out there. Seems like it was around a $150-200 add from several of the places that built GM systems. 2-3 years ago you could buy the chip burner for around $100. Seems like some of the places would sell you a used one for $80 and buy it back for $50 when you were done. I dont remember who it was but I seem to recall more than one place offered that as an option.
The early 80's GM has a system on the Vette's called crossfire injection. It was a very unique looking intake with a TBI on opposite corners. I see them on ebay all the time because they were not known to be very good. I often wonder what would happen if you got one of those and put something like an MS on it? Perhaps the original sucked (besides overall performance sucking in the early 80's) was that the electronics were not quite advanced enough yet. At least it would be unique, not just another SBC with a holley 4bbl. Not that there is anything wrong with that I just pass by all the sbc's (and 5.0 fords) I see at car shows because they all look the same. I look for the more unique setups and based on the crowds around some of the cars that have unique engine setups it appears to be gaining in popularity.
Last year I missed getting my EFI car to one of the affordable local shows due to a failed new oil pump but this year I plan on getting there and proudly displaying my EFI setup in the hopes that I can meet some others that have done it and talk to some that are thinking about it. Only downside is mine is in a otherwise stock looking Cadillac so not a lot of modified minded people even walk over to the Cadillac section.
Later when I have time I will start a new thread with some of the basics I learned when I did my project. I am curious if maybe it was just me that did not understand some the concepts till I got some hands on experience.
Howell was not the one that I dealt with. I know I contacted them but dont remember why I lost interest in them. For all I know my failure may have been my fault. Things also may have changed since my attempt maybe better maybe worse. When I was still on the GM path I met one local guy that never got his running right and went MS. I had some email contact with a few people I met on forums and they never seemed to be totally satisfied. It seemed odd to me that there are all these 'companies' that offer these kits and appear to have sold many of them yet you dont ever seem to run into anyone that has one at shows and events and such. One market that many of these type of kits may be popular is offroad and that is not huge in my area or something that I have much interest in. If there is offroad groups in your area that may be a good place to look for people that have done it. I spent about 2 years somewhat seriously reading about the options for a system for a few of my projects. I then spent almost another 2 years from when I first committed to a system to when I finally had a good running car. I obviously had a day job and a life so this was not a 24/7 sort of project but during that period I was actively still doing research and reading on the subject. I have not done a lot of research since I got my project running. When I see something new I take a look but so far nothing got me that excited.
Its been a while since I did my research but I seem to recall there was a period at the end of the GM TBI's run where there were some ECU's that could be programed without swapping chips. They were not super common but were out there. Seems like it was around a $150-200 add from several of the places that built GM systems. 2-3 years ago you could buy the chip burner for around $100. Seems like some of the places would sell you a used one for $80 and buy it back for $50 when you were done. I dont remember who it was but I seem to recall more than one place offered that as an option.
The early 80's GM has a system on the Vette's called crossfire injection. It was a very unique looking intake with a TBI on opposite corners. I see them on ebay all the time because they were not known to be very good. I often wonder what would happen if you got one of those and put something like an MS on it? Perhaps the original sucked (besides overall performance sucking in the early 80's) was that the electronics were not quite advanced enough yet. At least it would be unique, not just another SBC with a holley 4bbl. Not that there is anything wrong with that I just pass by all the sbc's (and 5.0 fords) I see at car shows because they all look the same. I look for the more unique setups and based on the crowds around some of the cars that have unique engine setups it appears to be gaining in popularity.
Last year I missed getting my EFI car to one of the affordable local shows due to a failed new oil pump but this year I plan on getting there and proudly displaying my EFI setup in the hopes that I can meet some others that have done it and talk to some that are thinking about it. Only downside is mine is in a otherwise stock looking Cadillac so not a lot of modified minded people even walk over to the Cadillac section.
Later when I have time I will start a new thread with some of the basics I learned when I did my project. I am curious if maybe it was just me that did not understand some the concepts till I got some hands on experience.
random hero
Active member
Bayrunner":832u41w9 said:
couldn't u just run an msd box that will pull timing according to the amount of boost at a certain rpm
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