New FE build BBM block and heads

[jkg2101]

855

i did EFI on my pantera. i ended up with not the best system. It was 10 years ago. i know a lot about it if anyone has questions. although it offers interesting opportunities for knowledge and tweaking, after 3 years I removed it and added a 750 holley carb. It runs every bit as good as the EFI ever did.

Others have been more successful with EFI. I will admit that.

The challenge with EFI, in my opinion, when it is working, is that it is hard to set your goals. In other words, i can set the target AFR to 13.8 or whatever, but who says that is what is best for this particular engine? need time on a chassis dyno to really do it great. vary rpms and loads, and then you have to add in environment (intake air temps) and things to really be great. I am amazed at how much data a new car uses to optimize the fuel and ignition.

The big car companies have the resources to make EFI really work great. For me, the self tuning never was all that spectacular, and a lot of the same principles go into tuning a carb, which is less expensive. definitely i was discouraged because there were some technical problems with my system

bottom line was that i spent a lot of my driving time trying to tune the EFI instead of having fun. it was tough to finally admit defeat and switch to a carb

As far as webers, i thought about that a lot. Really would love to do one day. just they are super expensive. and then there is the theoretical issue that they actually may limit CFM on a big cube engine compared to a big carb. Lots of discussion on that topic on the pantera forum a bunch of years ago. i dont't know.

[Dimis]

Originally Posted by jkg2101

855

i did EFI on my pantera. i ended up with not the best system. It was 10 years ago. i know a lot about it if anyone has questions. although it offers interesting opportunities for knowledge and tweaking, after 3 years I removed it and added a 750 holley carb. It runs every bit as good as the EFI ever did.

Others have been more successful with EFI. I will admit that.

The challenge with EFI, in my opinion, when it is working, is that it is hard to set your goals. In other words, i can set the target AFR to 13.8 or whatever, but who says that is what is best for this particular engine? need time on a chassis dyno to really do it great. vary rpms and loads, and then you have to add in environment (intake air temps) and things to really be great. I am amazed at how much data a new car uses to optimize the fuel and ignition.

The big car companies have the resources to make EFI really work great. For me, the self tuning never was all that spectacular, and a lot of the same principles go into tuning a carb, which is less expensive. definitely i was discouraged because there were some technical problems with my system

bottom line was that i spent a lot of my driving time trying to tune the EFI instead of having fun. it was tough to finally admit defeat and switch to a carb

As far as webers, i thought about that a lot. Really would love to do one day. just they are super expensive. and then there is the theoretical issue that they actually may limit CFM on a big cube engine compared to a big carb. Lots of discussion on that topic on the pantera forum a bunch of years ago. i dont't know.

Dude, you're makin' a lot of sense.

I agree with you 100%, on the whole, these cars see such little driving that messing around with EFI is often not really worth the effort, or expense.

Don't get me wrong, I still often find I'm talking myself out of moving to an EFI. While the theory suggest I'll have a better engine package with the more precise fuel supply EFI provides blah, blah, the practical reality is the controlled leak of carbs suits equally well, without the headaches for my particular application.

As for webers, I'll admit I'm also tempted. However, yet to bite the bullet.
While the "theoretical issue" about limiting CFM on a big cube engine, may be true, I don't believe it matters.
We are unlikely to be driving our cars at that end of the RPM range where it would matter. ie: Top end, flat stick on a circle track.
We are more inclined to be driving it with varying, transient throttle inputs ie: low & mid RPM, and that is where webers IMHO would be advantageous to a single carb, even more so on a large cubed engine.
I've no data to back this up, but that is merely what I suspect I'd see.
Its all about combination and being fit for purpose.

[jkg2101]

great minds think alike

i am pretty sure when I get my 289 cobra, i will build a small block with webers. that is really the car for it in my opinion!

It's good and bad that the cars I had on my walls back in my youth are now the hot collectibles (cobra, shelby mustang, ferrari testarossa)

The only one that hasnt completely gone crazy with price is the 70's era lotus esprit. unfortunately, when you learn about them, they are not much of a car for a performance-minded person. no offense to anyone who has one. i would still take one if someone handed it to me.