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School me on Retrotek F.I.

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  • School me on Retrotek F.I.

    I have a customer Im building a 46-ish willies flat fender for and he purchased a Summit crate motor for it. SBC, vortec heads, dual plane intake etc... (He's getting me specs on the motor) I talked him into going EFI vs. carb and he agreed, we discussed options and decided to do a TBI conversion using all GM parts. Got a 93 454 throttle body/ecm and all the sensors, dist, coil, harness etc... Plan was I would install, build the harness and tune the stock GM ecu and be done.

    Primary reason for using all GM tbi was reliable, easy to fix, cheap avail parts should he be out of town and breaks down, he should be able to find someone familiar with tbi for help. Was going to set him up with another spare ecu, module, coil, fuel pump and wiring diagram for his trail box as well... He wants to be able to drive this thing to Moab from Fresno so this is why I suggested what I did.


    TODAY he calls and says he talked to Summit and they suggested he buy a "Retrotek-3" as its "bolt-on and go" and he wouldnt need any tuning or a laptop etc... > They originally told him that what I had planned he would have to change the cam in his motor to do... (still dont know what cam nor why they told him this) ???

    Sooooo looks like I get to try my hand at Retrotek EFI.... Any words of advise? Do these things work the ign also?


    Chris 8)

  • #2
    Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

    I'll help as much as I can! I want to see if one of these self tuners are working yet or not. I've had mixed experiences based on how mild or wild the engine combo is... but that may just be my luck


    I've used earlier Retrotek versions, tuned with a laptop they worked just fine.


    Soooo, go ahead and wire it up according to directions. Does it call for an HEI ignition, or an MSD combo, or ?
    www.realtuners.com - catch the RealTuners Radio Podcast on Youtube, Facebook, iTunes, and anywhere else podcasts are distributed!

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    • #3
      Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

      No clue... He ordered it today he says. The jeep project is so far away from being at the startup stage its really pointless to even be buying this right now IMO... :


      Put this in perspective, currently Im building the axles, then a frame, then the motor/trans/transfer go in, then the body goes on, then build a fuel cell, then wire/plumb the whole thing. (then I was thinking about starting it) Should be ready for that next spring...


      Headed over the the Retrotek website now to do some reading ...


      Thanks for responding DG


      Chris 8)

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      • #4
        Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

        I'm gonna jump on this one too, the retrotek caught my eye a while back. I'm interested to see what kind of result you get.
        Whiskey for my men ... and beer for their horses!

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        • #5
          Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

          Originally posted by Bamfster
          I'm gonna jump on this one too, the retrotek caught my eye a while back. I'm interested to see what kind of result you get.
          beware the claim of "self tuning" because largely, it's crap. Too many variables for the EMS designers to guess on each user's combo.

          In other words, if you're waiting on "self tuning" because you're concerned you won't be able to make any other EFI system work on your combo, it's not worth the wait. Tuning is easy, and plenty of us here can help... besides me, you have Matt Cramer and Jerry Hoffman from DIYautotune.com (they sell more EMS's than all other manufacturers combined), Shaun Callaway is Edelbrock's senior EFI tech, V10Mercury is Procharger's tech guy and runs/tunes his own EFI, and there are a handful of good automotive techs here too. More help than you could possibly need to get anything you want, running good.
          www.realtuners.com - catch the RealTuners Radio Podcast on Youtube, Facebook, iTunes, and anywhere else podcasts are distributed!

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          • #6
            Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

            I'll admit that I'm somewhat gunshy when it comes to EFI, BUT, the more I learn about computers and technology the more my confidence level goes up. Personally I like the Mega Squirt way of thinking/tuning but I think that would be overkill for a stock/restored 307 powered camaro. When I finally take the plunge to efi on the chevelle I'm sure I'll be screaming for all sorts of help from you guys.
            Whiskey for my men ... and beer for their horses!

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            • #7
              Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

              truth is, something close to stock is the BEST place to start an EFI tuneup. I presume it's the same way with a carb. Mild cam, mild compression, lots of vacuum - these are the easiest places to start. Once you get that going, then add crazy cam and heads. The guys I have seen doing it this way, are the ones that have the best success stories.

              we're here when you need it though.

              -scott
              www.realtuners.com - catch the RealTuners Radio Podcast on Youtube, Facebook, iTunes, and anywhere else podcasts are distributed!

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              • #8
                Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                as far as the cam goes get the specs. i usually recomend a lobe separation of 112 degrees or greater for idle vaccum.

                i will not coment on the retrotek stuff cause i havent seem one that works the way they claim.

                if you need any help when you get this underway i could set some time aside to drive up to fresno one sat just let me know.

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                • #9
                  Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                  Originally posted by shaun callaway
                  as far as the cam goes get the specs. i usually recomend a lobe separation of 112 degrees or greater for idle vaccum.

                  i will not coment on the retrotek stuff cause i havent seem one that works the way they claim.

                  if you need any help when you get this underway i could set some time aside to drive up to fresno one sat just let me know.

                  Thanks for the offer Shaun. Hopefully by the time I get to this point on this Ill be self sufficient. If it came to taking you up on your offer, Id haul it down to you so you could look at it on your turf. (I find it easier to work out of my own toolbox, Im sure most people feel the same)

                  Reading the installation manual online it appears to come with a wideband O2, is set to tune +/-30% on the VE table and can be manually tuned just like a "normal" system. Can also be configured with a returnless modulated f-pump as well.

                  Now I need to mess with the BBC stuff on something. ;D


                  Chris 8)

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                  • #10
                    Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                    put a return line in.

                    tune it befor enableing the closed loop function (dont just let it try it by itself) this way when it does make changes its not going from one extreme to another.

                    i would look further into the wideband. its not just a sensor that gets plugged in it needs some type of signal converter. i highly doubt the built one in. (i could be wrong) mostlikely a norrowband gets plugged in and you have the option to run a wideband by routing one of the extra analog wires to the harness. next you want to see what wideband they recomend because this is what they automatically set as a wideband calibration and they are all somewhat different.

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                    • #11
                      Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                      actually if you have a dyno up there i woould much rather come up there due to the fact that i dont have a home shop i work with i usually just go where ever someone needs me lol. unless you want to do a bunch of street tuning.

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                      • #12
                        Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                        Actually I would love to have a dyno. :-[ Looking at options right now for that as well... I did some datalogging in our 89 tbi suburban on a trip to Texas (towing a trailer) and found there were alot of VE cells I simply COULD NOT populate no matter what I did. It became REAL obvious that having a way to load and hold at a specific point in the VE table is required to set it up properly. :-\


                        Anybody got an extra 30k they want to get rid of??? ;D ;)


                        Link to install guide. http://www.retrotekspeed.com/product...ion_pdf-52.pdf

                        Shows install of wideband and tuning procedures about halfway down. Might be an interesting read for you. It APPEARS that if the thing works as claimed it could be a pretty cool unit. Im interested to hear yours and DG thoughts on this. The instructions made me feel a little better about working with it. (being able to tune it conventionally)


                        Chris 8)


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                        • #13
                          Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                          30k what kind of cheap dyno you lookin at hahahaha brows craigslist and stuff you may be able to find a used one that was well kept. dont get a dynojet if you want to do tuning they are great for the bragging number but you need a realistic dyno. plus if you can make big numbers on a mustang or superflow dyno then your golden for when that guy takes it to his local dynojet. lol trick of the trade hahahahaha

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                          • #14
                            Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                            ok just as i suspected they are using someones but whos can you find this out.

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                            • #15
                              Re: School me on Retrotek F.I.

                              Originally posted by dhondagod
                              It APPEARS that if the thing works as claimed it could be a pretty cool unit. Im interested to hear yours and DG thoughts on this.
                              Without getting myself into legal trouble....

                              I know these guys from prior work experience. you aren't interested in my thoughts at all. At this point I'm quite sure we're simply trying to make lemonaid from the lemons your friend just bought. But like I said, with coaxing it should be made to work.

                              Form a marketing standpoint, I think what they're doing (and others) is absolutely disgusting. And that's all Forrest Gump has to say about that. ;)
                              www.realtuners.com - catch the RealTuners Radio Podcast on Youtube, Facebook, iTunes, and anywhere else podcasts are distributed!

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