I am considering an aftermarket injection for my nailhead. I know that there are several on the market. Has anyone had any experiance or know which might be best for this application? I am sure there might be a post on this forum but I can't locate it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Freddiezee
When you remove the carb from a nailhead and install FI , dont expect spectacular power increases....I converted a 6 cyl. jeep engine to factory multi port FI and the power was basicly the same.... :Brow: the mileage was no better either... and the system was a whole lot more complex....finally after driving the thing for several years with a high speed miss that was impossible to tune out , I took it back to a carb and the miss disappeared and the engine ran smooth as silk.... :Brow: I am a factory certified mechanic... and i would not do that mod again.... too much expense /hassle.... I am not , not saying dont do it....:Brow::laugh: I am saying be very , very carefull and look before taking the plunge .... If I were to go insane and go to FI again.... I would go with one of the ''wet'' systems with the doc dual plane modded stock intake... a system that could be easily programmed.... with a well designed air cleaner and exhaust system to go with it....one that would work with a ordinary distributer...... and not require a computer to fire the ignition.... that way I could run heat in the manifold for more complete vaporization of the cat pee gas.... any system you go with will add a bunch of wires that will clutter up the engine bay.... so you will have to hide that someway.... you will have to change the fuel pick up system.... fuel pump and all... possibly the tank too..... personally,,, I can make a engine run just as good and get better mileage and not be near as complex.... :Brow:
X2! But if you still want to spend a lot of time and money, I know where there is a used Hilborn injection setup for sale. I have no stake in the sale. I am assuming a 401 or 425.
I have a FAST ez efi on my nailhead and love it!! It's a throttle body set up,,mine doesn't control timing,,the newest version does control timing which I think is a good thing,,and is following the trend of what people want when converting to efi!!! There is some wiring involved,,its not complicated at all,,its very basic,,,you just need to do a quality installation,,use quality supplies!! My engine fired instantly the first time with the efi,,and has fired instantly everyone since!!!
Quadrajet has been out over 15 years before EFI and has managed to be proven the next best thing if not better than EFI. Alot cheaper too.
There is a lot of things about a nailhead/th400/posi diff. combo that if you just tinker with it and take it further than the factory did, is really surprising ..... for instance , if you set down and really detail out the stock distributer , you can make it go as high rpm as a nailhead needs to go with out missing a lick.... same way with the th4.... you can tinker with clutches, governor, switch pitch, converter, ect and come with a really tough, performing trans....and a posi properly set up with the good gears.... yep.... and with all of that , if you run as light as possible by doing your home work and knowing what it takes to just barely drop into the very top your weight class... I have seen guys that would make a run and then when they came back down the strip , would have to put a couple of gallons of fuel in the car before running again to make class... now that is cutting it fine....but that is what it takes.... also seen guys lube the front wheel bearings with vaseline to cut rolling resistance :Brow: but do not , do not do that on a street driven car....:laugh: but such as that is what i am talking about ,, thinking outside the box.... heck,,, I did not know there was a box....:laugh:
Yup, and back off the drum brake adjustment, loosen the alternator drive belt, Make sure that there are new springs in front, Install a clutch fan or if legal, remove the stock fan. If you are running a manual gearbox, lose the 90 gear oil and fill with ATF.
Freddie There are plenty of new EFI set ups available now,,,FAST EZ-EFI,,,Holley has 3 different systems available,,(from a basic system,,to one that would almost run NASA),,,MSD has the Atomic,,,and there are a number of others I can't remember at the moment!!! You'll find lots of opinions on going to EFI or not,,,its your car,,,build it how YOU want!!! Personally,,about the only thing I would do with a carburator,,,is throw it in the dumpster beside the typewriter!!!!p
I have personally just swapped a efi 4.0 in my wrangler in place of the 4.2 and loved it and wouldn't run a carb jeep ever again. It was a lot of wireing but thier is a way to hide everything. Their is a place for efi as their is a place for carbs. I just got back from Ohio and we spent 3 days on the flow bench and one day was just on flowing carbs and getting them to react the way you want. I love carbs and I agree with doc where you can get a carb to due what ever a efi can due but efi is a wonderful thing if your open to it. I run a blow thru carb and not a FI setup. I was looking at building a megasquirt setup but on the list to do's. Thier is so many systems to choose from and depending how good of a tuner that ez efi might be a great choice. A good friend ditch the fast XFi for the accel setup and loves it. Everyone is different but your patients, knowledge and tuning abilty will depend if EFI is for you. With a good tuner efi is hard to beat. I tune my carb with 02 sensors, magnifying glass for the plugs, temp gun, vacuum gauge and seat of the pants. The availbilty to adjust injector pulse width and ignition spark to the milli sec is hard to argue with efi. Just a fyi my CSU built carb, with a ev hat and msd 6btm,MSD dist and coil was almost $2200. You can build a efi for that no problem, I say go for it and have a blast and learn. I wish i would have and maybe it will be a winter project. I would like to build a nice aluminum intake first with injector provisions. I love the old engines with new technology.. Paul Turbo Buick Nailhead
And I agree with everything that Paul has said,,,, the reason that I prefer a carb over efi, is not the fi , its the blasted complexity of the whole system... When I was going to basic mechanics school , they taught us that if you had a driveability problem with a engine, 9 times out of 10 , the problem was electrical....:Brow: and that has been true.... and the same with efi....add to that what I was taught by the mechanics in the family that the more stuff you add to any system, the more chance for something to fail....:Brow: So,,,, my mind set is KISS....keep it simple stupid....:Brow::laugh: and then there is all the wires, wires, wires.... clutter under the hood.... and forgive me, if I am wrong, but I just dont get it... in 1959 we had cars that would get 20 mpg or slightly more with no special tuning.... then there came the 80's with all the efi and gadgets and the engines are like my truck , at the best get 14 mpg. and you can tune all the day long and still get no better.... use twice as much fuel but pollute less,,, horse puckey.... no,, this old fossil prefers the carb...:laugh::laugh:
Hi Doc, My Buchev will never have anything but a carburetor. My daily driver on the other hand, will be fuel injected. My Dodge Magnum 5.7 Hemi starts instantly, would eat most of the mid-60s muscle cars alive, and has gotten as high as 28.5 MPG on the highway with the AC operating. It's the first passenger car that I have ever owned that will pull a 4,000 lb trailer comfortably on cruise control. At 110,000 miles it just got it's second set of new plugs. As was the case the first time, it didn't really need them, but with Aluminum heads I think it's worth it to pull the plugs and re-anti-seize them every four years or so. At $1.76 per plug, I would just as soon install new. The doggone thing has been bulletproof. I'm not trying to sell Dodges, rather to show that these new cars may be complex, but have reliability that we never dreamed of 40 years ago. Yup, I know - there will be comments about crappy plastic intake manifolds, etc. But that's a "do it cheap" issue that has little to do with the electronics. BTW: Any English majors here? Why is seize an exception to the I before E rule? It's not after C, and doesn't sound like A.
Great thread for me, guys. New here and haven't introduced myself yet. I have a '65 Rivi survivor with 115k on the original, untouched 401. I want to make it a 'road car'; not interested in racing type mods but want better mpg, driveability and comfort (engine RPM's at todays highway speeds). My interests in that direction are EFI and OD trans, with the right rear end gears. I know that I could buy alot of gas for the price of these 'mods' but own a couple of classic vehicles with updated drivetrains and love cruising them out on the 'big road'. I've always loved the '65 Riv and finally got one to enjoy and restore/modify. A Rivi purist I am not, obviously. Steve
I was thinking of doing this myself. I've been reading up on the options and i'm about set on yanking the transmission for a built 200 4r(or beefing one up myself) and trying either a holley terminator or the fast ez efi setup. Neither seems real cheap, but i think it would make the car much easier to start and drive to work every day. I plan on making it a daily driver. I personally wasn't looking for hp gains out of the efi as much as i was hoping for 2mpg and the easier starts on a cold morning when it's 10 degrees outside. Of course i didn't want to sacrifice any hp/torque in the process either. I'm probably going to pull the trigger on something in a couple of weeks, so i can give a little feedback then.
It's an exception like protein, caffeine forfeiture, codeine, and heifer. You gotta' learn the exceptions as well as the rules. Part of the rule is also the EYE sound as in stein, Einstein, Eileen, and Heidi. I'm not an English major but I had an "grammar Nazi" for a teacher. Ed
