Thanks Al..

[novi2krt]

I must admit.. I am belated in this...

I wanna thank Al for setting me up with the parts needed to make a "late model EFI" conversion using 76 OE equipment.

This is all part of the reincarnation of my company to follow a path towards it's original intent. Custom EFI conversions.

Ol' Ugly will be one of my test mules for the sake technological advances in EFI and EFI tuning.

Al managed to round up all the equipment I needed to blend with the latest in EFI controllers. I have a friend performing what conversions are needed to use an updated IAC motor, and TPS.

I want to show the strengths that EFI can unleash with my 507 in my tow vehicle. WIth it's raised compression and #10 cam I have been limited in turning with carb and distributor in order to balance full towing power and mileage. NO MORE!!!! I can tune for BOTH in the same program, and down to a 1/4 of a degree of timing and exact control over air fuel targets and fuel curves.

I can't wait to post up pics and test results of this monster "unleashed"!!!

My site is back up, though a temporary page for now.. a new site to come. Anyway.. check it out and watch for updates with new projects and ideas to be added as time and thoughts progress.

www.performanceinjection.com

btw.. this is Ryan Vowell from the old forum! LOL

[Gorf]

SWEET! EFI Rox0rs my world. I am in the midst of my conversion on my Hearse. Can't wait to get it all finished. I'm doing a budget build up so it is slow while I dig the right parts out of junk yards. LOL

[novi2krt]

Cool!!! Maybe with more EFI interest... a new forum section can emerge for it! LOL.. a man can dream... hehehehe.. hey.. where did the hybrid forum go for us non caddy chassis owners? LOL

You gonna use the OE controller or what you usin' for a ECM on your setup?

[Gorf]

Al and a lot of the other members wanted the forums condensed down a bit so we are here for now. If more interest builds for other forums we may go back.

I am using all MegaSquirt for my EFI. It has worked really well in the past. Since my 500 isn't built to the hilt I am just using one of the 600CFM plenum style throttle bodies off of a GM 454. If I had to flow more I would probably pop for a new aftermarket throttle body, and maybe weld my own bungs into the intake manifold and go multi-port. But for now this will work well enough and accomplish everything I want.

After the last round of burning 100 dollar bills trying to get this Quadra-crap working right, I am ecstatic about going EFI.

Be sure to document your process! We will add it to an EFI How-to here in the forums.

[cadillac512]

Hey guys
Thanks for posting EFI stuff on here.I'm sure you know I have the Model T,but I also have a Malibu wagon/472 and an '87 F150/500 (tow vehicle for the T).I would really like to install EFI on the pickup but I am not nearly familiar with it enough to jump in yet.It must be very reasonably priced for me to do it or I'll have to stick with the Q-jet (sorry Gorf, they work pretty well for me but I've had 30+ years of practice,lol.) :P
I really think the truck would like it though.....
Terry

[Gorf]

Price really boils down to how hard you are willing to dig in junkyard for the right parts. For a little bit more money you can get the parts off of Ebay, and for a ton of money you can buy a ready to rock and roll system from Summit or from Jegs.

Basically you need:

Throttle body
Injectors
feedback sensors
EFI controller

In it's most simple state you need only block/water temperature sensors, a Manifold Air Pressure sensor, and an air temperature sensor. Almost all of which are cheaply available off the shelf as standard GM sensors.

If you are making factory style power you can score a good throttle body off of Ebay that will flow 650cfm pretty reasonably (300$). Plus you can get them equipped for plenum injection which is a whiz to swap out as the injectors are mounted in the throttle body. So in this case it acts just like a carb, juel and air are delivered from the same point. You can go the next step and mod an intake to do plenum injection, but honestly I've never needed to go that far.

Last of course you need a EFI controller. This is where there is a lot of debate. Personally I like to use MegaSquirt. There is a TON of information about how to build one, and how to tune and set them up. Once you bench test it, you literally slap it on your car, crank the car over a few times so it can get adjusted, then it just starts up. Once it's idling you reset some things on it and away you go. For a non-techy person that may seem a little intimidating, but there is scads of information on the MegaSquirt, and thier forums are chocked full of gear-heads that have made it work really well. Including many applications that are over 1000HP. The MegaSquirt does not do spark control. That is coming in the next version. But for those of us with HEI, you probably won't notice a big difference. Overall, you will be out about 200$ for the MegaSquirt.

Another option that you do have is to buy a GM EFI controller that has been remanufactured to work with your application. This will be a wee bit more expensive, and I think there are guys on this board that can do it. I've seen them on Ebay for 500 - 1000$. I've heard good and bad things about them. I can't comment too much as I have never run this type of system.

And of course there are systems like the Holley Pro-Jection system. These are $$$ and frankly I'm not really impressed with them. They use what is called "static map fuel delivery" That means that you tell it a max fuel delivery, and a min fuel delivery, and it kinda hard-codes that into memory. It makes some minor changes as environment changes require, but all in all for 2500$ it's pretty brainless. As opposed to MegaSquirt where instead of using a lookup table for fuel delivery, it aactually calculates fuel delivery requirements in real-time. Consequently MegaSquirt has an effective RPM range of up to 17Krpm's. In comparison to Holley's system which (from personal experience) can barely manage 10Krpm's offers a fair amount of proof of the efficiency of the system.

As I am doing my conversion and cadillac512 is doing his, we will be sure to try to document the process. Hopefully it will give you a good idea of what to expect. My build-up is going to be a budget build-up, so cost factor is what is important to me.

Hope all this blathering helps.

[cj2/500]

Gorf, We already had this conversation on the old board, but if you ran one of my quadra-JET carbs that took me 3 hours each to prepare, you'd think you were driving a well engineered injection system :!: Imagine the look on your face after the test drive. :shock: :o ever seen the movie mimick? In order to figure out what the creature was doing they had to figure out and understand what it was that the creature was trying to immitate. That is the biggest problem in automotive technician training today. They are no longer teaching carburetors. That would be like teaching computers without first learning how to type. (which I can't do) :lol: btw, good job with the board. There has been alot of criticism and condemnation without first waiting for improvements. I liked the old board for it's simplicity (which I need ) :!: but I also like the bells and whistles here! I just need to learn them. One of my favorites is the emoticons. It saves so much time trying to get someone to understand your intent rather than having to type text to explain that you're just teasing and being friendly. (especially when you can't type anyway) :lol:

[cadillac512]

Gorf-
Keep blathering! I need all the info I can get.I'm going to do an EFI system and it will be done the cheap way like you said yours will,so keep us updated with specific info if you can! :D
Dave M-
I love Q-jets.I have 'em on the Malibu/472 and the F150/500 and I know how to set them up to perform just like you say.I learned carbs in the '70s and it's been great knowing how all the circuits and airflow affect tuning. I just want to learn cheap EFI so I can play with stuff lurking in the junkyards today."If ya' can't do it CHEAP you're not impressing anybody."
That's a quote from a guy at my local track who builds inexpensive stuff that kicks butt. :)
Terry

[cj2/500]

Here's an idea .:idea: using the big block ford intake adapters, bolt on a 88-97 460 EFI system. The tps&iac problems don't exist and the stuff is readily available. The ms would be the simple&easy way to fire it but a hybrid distributor could allow you to utilize the factory ecm&wiring from the p/u. These systems don't have data stream, but they have a good code procedure and are extremely reliable. besides that, they're one of the neatest looking port fuel injection systems out there! 8) Currently, I have a 76EFI system set up w/ the gm tbi ecm and a chevrolet tbi dist adapted to fit the caddy. the injectors are grouped 4 per driver on the stock tbi wiring. not done yet, may even be a disaster but if it's not I'll have what is likely the most reliable port fuel adaptation around. we'll see :!:

[PeteR]

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum, and I have just converted my 425
into a megasquirt EFI. Works really nice, but tuning is still
in progress. :D

/Peter, from Sweden.

[cadillac512]

I'd wondered about 460 parts,but never thought about swapping the whole system onto the Cad.That sounds plausible-hmmm more to think about!
Dave M- are you using high impedance injectors? How much current will the drivers stand?
Terry

[~JM~]

Hey cj2/500,

Sent you a message.

Please check your message box when you get a chance.

Thanks
~JM~

[novi2krt]

Caddy512 -

The system/route I will employ isn't the most budget oriented, but is about the most tech. advanced on the market right now. Full real time tuning, ultrafast processor speed, closed look wide band, data logging, If I get itchy I can eek out a lil extra mileage by running it as sequential injected.

I have run the FAST standalone on my Dakota long enough to not feel comfy with out having all the fun and features of the big standalones is all. I will have information and pictures on the setup on my website once I get all the parts back in my possesion after having the various tweaks to them finished.

www.performanceinjection.com if you want to see the Jensen Interceptor setup that we just finished in SanDiego. We used Big Stuff 3 on that one. And I will be using it on my Caddy powered Chebby truck here. As well as a few other projects for friends around here.

Not the cheapest method, but about the most versatile. And if you use a 4L80E, it can control trans functions as well.. now I wish I had one! LOL

nah.. my TH400 and GV OD/UD is awesome.

[radcad]

Found what I was looking for thanks to all.

[sizanjdf]

Im interested to see pics of your truck and photos...I have been thinking about putting a cad motor in my truck, but would like to keep the fuel injection and computer system and not have to rewire the whole truck! Im interested to see what you have come up with....

[fleetwood472]

I am in the middle of building an EFI setup for my 472. I am using the 1227730 Speed Density ECM from a 90-92 Camaro, firebird. You can find these ecms in alot of other gm cars also. It seems pretty simple to adapt the hardest part looks like tuning it but even that shouldnt be too hard because you can use the tuner cat program for these ecms. I am using gm coolant and air temp sensors, tps from a mid 90's caprice with an adapter. The IAC motor is from a 2.8 liter and the housing for the motor was turned down to fit the stock cadillac EFI throttlebody, the injectors are going to be bosch 30lb high impedance injectors which also have to be turned down a little bit to fit the caddy fuel rails. The distributer is from an 81 368 v864. The reason I like this system is because you can get the ecm for about 20 bucks from the junkyard the area where you spend some money on is a chip burner which I got off of ebay for 50 bucks. I think it should be a really nice system because it also controls the ignition so no more messing with weights and springs for the advance and no more vacuum advance. - Justin

[76Eldo_convertFI]

Man am I glad to see interest in this. :D Keep the info coming guys, maybe just like the big nickel blocks themselves, this will be the next wave of tuning & performance.

I'm interested in changing the stock ECU on my 76' Eldo but need to maintain it legal to pass smog emission tests. Next thing would be mods to the stock manifold. Seems to me that the injector ports "bungs" have very sharp edges on the underside of the manifold that can't be good for the flow of fuel. I was thinking of chamfering them slightly, do y'all think this is a good or bad idea? :? I also think that the stock throttle body flows well enough for most folks needs, am I wrong here?

Those of you who have successfully converted to Megasquirt should post your success stories on their forum. Sure would help those of us on the fence about converting to make up our minds. Maybe even share you configurations & tuning.

[Terrible One]

I was thinking of converting my '76 to EFI...not sure where to start though

[richie49]

Hello everyone ,real glad to see this topic again.I have a problem with the height of the throtle body so my question is can the throttle body be mounted with an adapter to slant the body to the side or rather frontwards.Does it have to be level? I an curious about maybe mounting two of the smaller ones off of a 350.using a home made adapter.I saw a adapter wiring setup that splitts the signal off of two throttle body so the computer works correctly.Thought maybe to try that since most on here agree that the small body wont feed the 500 enough. Im thinking of going with the computer and wiring off a chevy.

[DaveM]

Terry
I am using new stock replacment low ohm injectors.. stock I mean 500 caddy injectors..My haltech will run low ohm injectors.. I think most aftermarket systems will run them...In 2000, when I was looking for a computer to run my car, I found kalmaker... but at that time his system did not run low ohm injectors... so that when I got my haltech from AL...
But Kalmaker takes early 90's , GM- ECM's and wrote software and interfaced it with a laptop....now he has a driver box to run low ohm injectors... you have the dependabilty of GM computer and can get a spare ecm at the bone yard... all gm sensors... the key to his system is the software and interface harness....If anyone looks farther into this , please let us know

[Terrible One]

Well I have made up my mind. Going to do a throttle body setup. Megasquirt, here I come!

[Fourateecid]

Hey Ryan this is Dan aka IronFoot500, when u get ur fuel injection setups smoothed over for the old mopar engines give me a e-mail. I would like to fuel inject my 360aka 408 stroker in my roadrunner. Sorry caddy guys.