Since I bought some exhaust hangers and exhaust pipe clamps; I regularly get an email flyer from Jegs. In today's flier; They have just what I need , No need for the laptop when I tune the Roadmaster ! $999.95 (what a bargain!)
I've had my eye on this for a few months, and plan on doing a 2x4 setup on my 'Nail rebuild when the time comes.
You get out what you put into it . . . (Re: Just what I need from JEGS) Dear James, 322bnh, Deadsled59, SteeveeDee, and V-8 Buick EFi wantabees, . . . . . I understand your desire to get rid of some of the frustrations of carburetors and the wish that the machine could "take care of itself." My trusty wagon's 2013 engine started out with a self-tuning EZ-EFI 1.0 setup. It did what it claimed when the engine finally was working correctly, but the tunes were very crude and the engine was hard to control. Since this engine can generate a lot of torque and power, this ended up being really dangerous. I was frightened to get into the garage because the low speed control was so bad. I finally hooked up with Richard Nedbal who is a really neat guy who did is graduate research as part of a team developing the first electronic fuel injection systems in the 1970s. Their goal was to try to meet exhaust emissions without a catalytic converter. They weren't able to do that but their systems ended up being used by major auto makers like Ford. After that Rich went into the semiconductor business and eventually into the silicon valley software business. He retired a few years ago and started up a EFI dealership to keep myself busy: http://www.fastmanefi.com/ Rich recommended the FAST XFI Sportsman system that is now in my trusty wagon. It has self-tuning capability, but you can also adjust it with a laptop. I had Rich professionally tune the engine and it immediately became much more quiet and manageable. However, cold starts were still a bit rough. So I decided to see if I could do this sort of stuff myself. It was more a problem for me than most guys. The tuning software is of course for PC and I'm a Mac guy. Still, I'm stubborn and I actually managed to get the PC software to run on my Mac laptop. With it, I was able to further adjust the cold start parameters and the car starts so much better than before. More importantly, when I would take my wagon out, the family would hide because of all the noise. Now my wagon with her big-block is actually quieter than another wagon with a carburetor and nothing more than a Chevy 350! Sorry if this seems like more effort than you would consider, but when it comes to electronic fuel injection, you really get out of these systems what you put into them. I could hardly drive my wagon with the self-tuning system. I still have some problems to iron out, but now I can really enjoy her as I had intended. At least for me all the extra effort was well worth it! Some food for thought! Cheers, Edouard
Edouard, It was my attempt at a joke. I enjoy my software free Buick. I have an original type Carter four barrel, that is trouble free. Also , I have the original to the car Rochester that also was quite dependable. I wouldn't be changing from the very dependable original type Carter. Unless it was back to the Rochester. Thank you for your interest. And for your suggestion. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
car craft just did a test on holley's snipper EFI. $1000.00 plus other mods you need. made a hair less tq and hp, but said better for cold start issues. if you have the choke and carb set right cold starting shouldn't be bad. i drove a car with a EFI NOT the holley one, didn't care for it at all.
I needed a wink! (Re: Just what I need from JEGS) Dear James, gsgtx, and V-8 Buick lovers, I was a bit surprise by your post! I suppose I needed a wink to be sure it was a joke! No doubt when carburetors work they are very effective. Unfortunately, the Carter that was originally fitted to my trusty wagon didn't work very well. She had another carburetor for most of her life that was working well. Alas, my Dad didn't get the make and model at the time so when it died I couldn't replace it. When I tried to go back to the original Carter the troubles came back. Actually that is very much the experience I've had comparing self-tuning with an expert human tune. The tuning problem doesn't seem so difficult for a machine to master, but thus far, the algorithms aren't that good. What has really amazed me is how much better the engine runs when all the EFI settings are carefully dialed in. I've learned that gasoline engines aren't nearly as fussy as we imagine. They run under a widely varying set of conditions. That's why a carburetor was perfectly adequate for about a century. Nonetheless, if you can set those parameters more carefully, the engine will reward you with much better control and much less noise. It is an effect that only someone who has had an engine in a "before" and "after" condition can attest to. Cheers, Edouard
Adding to the above post, carbs weren't generically built and 'plopped on' from the factory, obviously. When a major aspect of an engine or vehicle changes, the carb's operation changes. Modifications are often physical and permanent. They still work just fine for modern engines. I get better mileage and reliability with carbs on aftermarket performance engines than factory made EFI cars, but my time is really expensive.....so there's that. (And just because I am able to daily drive a radical beast and keep it maintained doesn't mean I'd turn the keys over to an apathetic bean counter or idiot 16 year old kid, lol) Major changes to the industry are; A. Longer service intervals and warranty periods being more demanding on physically wearing components. B. People more often travel across greater geographical areas, including altitude and temp extremes. C. Keeping maintenance and repair work in house is better for the OEM's (planned obsolescence). D. Gas isn't the same anymore. I'm sure I've missed some important factors.
Re: I needed a wink! (Re: Just what I need from JEGS) Edouard, I love my modern computer-controlled cars. In my opinion, operating machinery is what computers do best. I must however, point out that my 383 '62 Chrysler 300 (that I retrofitted to 335 hp Plymouth Roadrunner engine specs) with a Carter AFB once started instantly at 17 below zero, and ran about as well (although I'm sure with considerably more exhaust emissions) then my modern, computer-controlled engines do. Come to think about it, my 413 dual-quad '62 300H ran really well too. It is my belief that most younger people today are using the mechanically-controlled emission cars of the late '60s and early '70s as their reference point. For the record, my three Black Beauties (all '55 Buicks, one Special and two Centuries), ran great hot or cold.
