Thinking real seriously about adding fuel injection

100% agree. I've spent many hours tuning, buying and swapping jets and parts, rebuilding my BBB carb over the years. After several years and eventually with the help of a wideband O2 sensor I got it dialed in as perfect as possible. That tune only lasted for that spring/fall with the weather it was tuned in before I had to mess with it again to keep it on tune. Eventually that all gets ridiculous. You'll never match EFI all around performance with a carb.

 

I never took the time to update and thought I would. The reason I was considering FI was because I was having an issue and thought it was a carburetor problem and I thought if I was going to invest any sum of money to repair that I would take the money and invest it towards a FI setup. I started trouble shooting, pulled all the plugs as suggested.
I had 1 maybe 2 that was suspect but since the car wasn’t missing at idle I didn’t think It was a plug issue. While the plugs out I ran a compression check and all was good. Everything I looked at looked new. Keep in mind car was recently purchased, so I did a complete tune up for peace of mind and car runs great again. I did not find any issues. I just thought if it was a plug issue it would be Steady miss not just an issue while under a load or acceleration. So right now I’m with Larry let more technology be developed and if a problem arises later that will need a major investment in repair of fuel delivery then look at fuel injection then. As for me and this issue I feel better having got to know the car a bit better. Number 5 spark plug probably was a contributing factor to the problem I was having.

 

Did you ever end up going with the EFI setup, and/or did you sort out the issue you were having? Thinking about going the Holley route myself.

 

You should be able to pull a plug wire and still not have it stumble off the line with a BBB. Sure, it will have a miss but it won't fall on its nose. It sounds like it was over lean, probably due to a vacuum leak in either the base gasket or the adapter or cap/line loose/cracked.

 

I didn’t go to Fuel Injection. I have since had the issue arise again and it was a plug issue again. It was after a lot of idling and caught in traffic. I may visit FI again but for now the car and myself was improving greatly at the track and I hated to mess with the combination.

 

I'm about an hr north of you i live up in mansfield area.......if you want bring that thing up and let's find the issue......I have lots of spare parts.

 

X2 on the ignition. If you have a good one then something's wrong with it. I never met a non-cracked spark plug that couldn't be fired by a nice easy MSD 6 ignition. I've cranked on thousands of miles on all manner of 455's and never had a problem with the ignition while the MSD was on. I would have to say I can't understand an engine "losing its' tune" in such a short period of time.

How big is the cam? Are you shifting at 6000+ rpm? If not the SP1 you have will be a better choice for street drivng. The SPX is a waste and only worth 10 HP or so above 5500 on a fairly mild build. The SP1 would be way better at anything below 5500 and the difference won't be noticed above. This may help some of your problem because the SP1 will have better signal to the carb and add some torque in the low end and midrange because of the longer runners.

With the self-learning electronics in the current batch of bolt-on EFI setups you can't go wrong for drivability and mpg. I'd say the EFI would be within a few HP and very close in ET on a BBB going down the strip but throttle response in typical street situations would probably be better than carb. If you don't think the current EFI setups are not way better than they were even a few years ago then I'll assume you are using a cell phone or computer from 10 years ago because they are "just as good". I can't really see where a 550 or 600 HP setup wouldn't work great on your car.

If I still piled on the street miles on like I used to do I'd have some kind of EFI on one of my cars right now. Of course I'd take it to the track for some before and after comparisons too. Maybe even some chassis dyno time too. Right now I'm sticking with my Thermoquad and Q-Jet.

 

Sorry, but that's wrong. There is no "holding back technology" . Tech is a run and shoot war and the companies involved are running and shooting as fast as they can. The idea that they are holding back so they can sell you something next year is just wrong. There will be something newer and better to sell you next year no matter what.

I can't speak to the vintage muscle car market in this regard, but I bet as long as there are two competitors (Holley and FITech?) they are doing the best they can as fast as they can.

 

Agreed. TBI was outdated in 1987. Spending 2k to avoid tuning a carb isn't a great investment.

 

Ben I will keep you in mind, I am going to make some improvements to the car over winter and would appreciate the chance to learn and pick up some knowledge. I plan on trying some different tracks around me. I’m in the center of the state so I am close to many....

Larry I have some suspicion the ignition system could be better. The motor currently has an HEI in it with DUI module & coil with the advance locked out. Plans include changing to an MSD billet. I am planning on upgrading it to the setup on my 482 build, an 8517 distributor and MSD 6AL2 box. Also I will be upgrading the charging system as well. I have experienced some low voltage situations when running electric fans & lights at night. This car has been satisfying my desire to run at the track and also attend some cruise ins & shows. Current plugs are NGK BP7ES....

 

Nolift, I have tried to keep shifts at 5500 for now, if i change out the intake I do have an SP1 with a Holley flange that I could put on I just haven’t ran my course with the SPX yet as I don’t think I have seen the full potential of the current configuration.

 

Cam card of current cam...

 

I'd be glad to share wh

 

I'm not interested in throttle body fuel injection either.

 

I think I have been running a Fitech longer than anyone here. I went there because there is no such thing as a good street carb for blow through applications. I have also done a few other Fitech's on blow through 455's. For my application I will never go back to a carb.

If you expect to put on a Fitech or Sniper or whatever and have it fix a car what is not working you are probably wasting your money. In order to do FI you must have top notch fuel system, perfect electrical system, strong ignition system, perfect exhaust with no leaks.

You can expect the following with the FI: better starts, really nice mid range and drivablity, once you get into it they are really easy to tune. I do not worry about throttle body size as it is really less important with FI.

 

X2 on the change to hotter plugs. I'm running the 5's at 10.9:1/TA heads.

You'll be waiting a long time if you think somebody's going to build a sequential system for a BBB. However, get some adapter plates and come up with a dual signal(crank/cam) distributer and there you go. Maybe the distributer from the Pontiac version could be made to fit?

https://www.edelbrock.com/edelbrock...bb-chrysler-rb-413-426-440-engines-35920.html

TA should consider adding bosses for port injection to the SP1 for a much better street/strip intake. Not saying the SPX won't work good at lower rpm, just saying that you may be leaving something on the table in this situation(5500 rpm max). Even TA recommends their SPX for shift points 6500+.