EFI Controller - What's good

[The Dreamer]

Electromotive TECIII vs HalTech E11 vs FAST ECM

I have been looking into different EFI control units as I planned to build an EFI 351 stroker. I know EFI is costly and complicated, but lets assume we are pass that debate. Right now I’m planning, but I don’t want to pursue an option and be surprised by its characteristics (limitations) down the road. Here is a little background. My first choice was the Electromotive TECIII which runs about $3000 with sensors, but it also comes with a direct fire, wasted spark ignition system. The HalTech E11 cost about $1800 with sensors. Although the E11 doesn’t have a direct fire ignition standard, it is an option (I’m not sure how much that option cost). The E11 also has a feature neither of the other two have and that is an barometric pressure sensor (I would think that would be a valuable engine correction parameter). The FAST ECM cost about $2700, but you get wide band O2 sensors for that price. I don’t believe he TECIII or E11 offer wide band O2 sensors.

Ok, here are my questions. The TECIII O2 sensors read 13.5:1 to 16:1 where as the wideband on the FAST ECM reads 10:1 to 16:1. Is this a significant enough difference to affect operation and tuning of the engine? Are the benefits of wideband O2 only used during tuning which tuning with a dyno with wideband O2 could provide? Also, the direct fire ignition is nice, but I have read that as long as your ignition works (and MSDs, Mallory, etc work) you will not see any additional benefits. This is especially true, as I will be building a stroker where rpms will be kept relatively low (below 6500-7000) and used mainly for the street. Would you agree with that statement? I would also appreciate any comments you would have on your experiences with the ECMs mentioned.

Dreamer