First, I am still a newbie to EFI but since my stuff is now running....I have some experience. So since there hasnt been any posting to this section in a while, I thought I would chime in by giving an honest summary of my experience with setting up a EFI conversion. Now my conversion was one of extraordinary difficulty (injectors above the blower only (wet-system), E-85 fuel, converting from mechanical FI to EFI using Megasquirt) so it was tricky. But, I am convinced that anybody can take an off-the-shelf EFI system and convert a carb to EFI. It just takes a little time and money. You dont have to be a computer and/or electronics whiz (although it doesnt hurt to at least be computer savy). However, if you have a high performance application or challenging conversion, I highly recommend you get an expert like Matt, Scott, Peter, Richard or the like. Believe me, its worth the money to pay for their expertese. I found Megasquirt to be fairly simple on both the hardware and software set up. I have no experience with FAST, Bigstuff, holley, etc. so it would be unfair to rate them but I am sure they all have strengths and weaknesses. Next, do your homework. You need to read up on manuals, web-sites, forums, books, other resources. Ask a lot of questions. I looked back on some of the questions i have posted here and cant believe how stupid some of them were, but how patient the folks on this site were to answer them and help me along. EFI means more wires, an ECU, sensors and the like. The set-up is undeniably more complex and expensive than a carb. But, I am convinced that tuning is more simple. The great thing about EFI is that you have more control. The bad thing about EFI is that you have more control. There are a lot more variables and that provides a lot more information and tunability but that means there is also more that can go bad too. A bad sensor, wire, etc. can drive you crazy but when everything is working, its really cool to be able to tweak the system at all RPM levels. Lastly, be willing to learn. Read the manuals and play with the variables. Dont be scared to tweak things. You are not going to damage anything unless the motor is under a load so start out simple and progress through it by following the manual and recommendations.
ed
ed
Comment