Better engine?

[RICK LAKE]

olddog There have been 5 tests or more about this issue of Carb verses EFI systems. In every case the carb mays more power in the top end from 3-10 HP. The only system that was not tested against the carb was a large throttle body setup like the TWM 58MM. This is the ONLY setup that can match a carb of the 850cfm and up rating. Believe me I have done the homework on this. I run a 1,200 cfm throttle body on my old 452 and 482 motor over the last 8 years. The only thing that a MAF adds to the system is getting a tighter A/F ratio. The biggest MAF I have seen in the last couple of months is a 108mm. Most throttle bodies are in the 90MM range unless you go to the Accell 2,000 cfm with a dominator base. Drivability goes to the EFI system, even with a nasty high compression motor. There may be a advantage of wet verses dry intake manifold. My feeling are that you have a wet sytem(intake) with a carb( say 850cfm ) That is feeding just one cylinder for all it will take. You don't get the same over load of A/F with a EFI system. The injector is either batch fired for sequential fired. I have the latter, but have been told that my system goes to batch over 3,000 rpms because there in no advantage any more because of the speed of the motor. I think with a custom polished intake manifold you could close the split but again the carb will still stay on top. Look at what Nascar does with a 390 cfm carb and 350+ cubes. I think EFI would be in trouble on this one and loose bad. Rick Lake

[RICK LAKE]

RalphSchmalph Ralph I have no problem with a windsor in a cobra even a small one. I have not looked at the prices between the bigger and smaller motors. They both come with the same warranty. You have not said what you are going to do with the car. Street, Racing, 1/4 mile, Show and shine, everything. IMO get the bigger stroker for starters. It will give you about 400rwhp and that's alot of a cobra. You have not said which trans you are going to run or rearend ratio. This also needs to be taken into account. Try for a 500ft torque motor in your car. You can run a lower gearing, cruise on the highway in the 2,200-2,400 rpm range. This motor will have to work a little easier to push the car down the road. Gas milage will be better with the right motor even if it's more cubes. It will not have to work as hard. Hal Copple runs a 390+ windsor and does everything. He might give you a little better inside info on this than me. Sorry I'm with the FE motor guys. I like all the torque I can get. This also keeps the RPMS lower and extends the motors life, even racing. I just got 8 years out of a 452 motor and limiting the RPM's to a 6,200 MAX range. Most times it was 6,000 rpms. That's all you need. Get an overdrive transmission and keep the rearend ration to 3.50 or less. You want to put a rev limiter on the motor of MAX 500 rpm over the max HP reading. You are just wasting motor after this rpm. There is no more power to be had. Rick Lake

[olddog]

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

olddog There have been 5 tests or more about this issue of Carb verses EFI systems. In every case the carb mays more power in the top end from 3-10 HP. The only system that was not tested against the carb was a large throttle body setup like the TWM 58MM. This is the ONLY setup that can match a carb of the 850cfm and up rating.

Rick I do not doubt what you say for a minute. You have way more experiance than me. I have mostly read on subjects that interested me.

By theory, as you mentioned, dry air running through the intake will flow more air, and you can polish it up without the problem of fuel dropping out.

All the factory EFI stuff was designed to give cars and trucks good low to midrange torque, and most of the aftermarket was designed with the same goal. I have no doubt this stuff just will not flow well at high rpm.

I think my mass flow system (designed to look like a carb) is rated for 1200 cfm, and it is on a Vic Jr single plane intake. I wonder how well that intake will flow dry air as it was designed for a carb. It would be interesting to see how this EFI compares with a carb.

I do think that in theory the EFI, if designed for power, should do better than a carb every time, but since most EFI systems were designed to lug passenger cars around the streets with good low rpm torque, it just may not be practical to find an EFI system designed for high rpm power. On the other hand, in theory a bumble bee cannot fly, so maybe I'm full of crap.