Edelbrock Pro Flow 4

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BergmanAutoCraft

FABO Vendor
FABO Vendor
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Location
Hampstead, NC
Several have made inquiries about this system. I’ll share my experience after being an early adapter to the FiTech disaster.

The PF4 is a great system as it’s sequential multiport with timing control. No other bolt on system is like this. Edelbrock has been in the efi business a long time.

in my case I used their rail mounted regulator to clean up the engine compartment. I also flipped the rail around and painted the intake.

The next issue is the TPS. The supplied unit didn’t return to zero at idle. If it sits at 2% or more at idle, it can have a negative effect on idle, parking, stalling. Edelbrocks answer is to buy a sensor from Standard Ignition. Are you serious???

Next issue for A body guys which I’m sure isn’t their intended market is the distributor is too tall. I disassembled mine and shortened the lower housing and the shaft. We broached the shaft and ran the lower housing in the latch. You couldn’t tell it was modified but it’s 3/4” shorter now.

Last and largest issue is timing. Once the timing is synched and the curve was set, I immediately noticed something was wrong. I set my normal curve 20 initial / 30 total. The total timing was determined on the dyno before installing the engine. No power and popping through the exhaust. Some other mopar guys had the same issue. After thinking about it I figured out the rotor is out of phase. Meaning the synch of the spark and injection is off. Advancing the timing puts the rotor too far away from its respective terminal causing the issue. I wound up slotting the reluctor to align the rotor with number one terminal at the middle of the timing sweep. Bottom line is, it was free and it fixed the issue. Starts and runs great, tons of torque. Why can’t a huge company like Edelbrock get it right?

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Nice write up. To answer your question, the larger the company, the less oversight/quality control is done. It’s just the nature of supply/demand.

Same reason Comp catches all the crap for cams going flat. They sell a million of them so can’t check every batch of cores that come thru.

You have to rely on your suppliers and they inevitably let you down as the same thing happens. Business picks up & quality goes down.
 
Just like the intake manifold not clearing the distributor. I had two manifolds that needed massaging for the distributor to fit in the block. I also have 2 engines that have this timing issue. I guess I’ll be making the same adjustments to fix mine too.
 
I’m curious about your comment about the FiTech disaster as I have a new-in-the-box basic FiTech unit I hope to use on my 273 going in my 65
 
Just like the intake manifold not clearing the distributor. I had two manifolds that needed massaging for the distributor to fit in the block. I also have 2 engines that have this timing issue. I guess I’ll be making the same adjustments to fix mine too.
My intake was fine
 
I’m curious about your comment about the FiTech disaster as I have a new-in-the-box basic FiTech unit I hope to use on my 273 going in my 65

I purchased FiTech when they first came out. I wasn’t new to retrofitting efi as I was a DFI dealer in the 90s and even made a stand alone efi kit from a TBI Tahoe setup for a buddies 72 Monte.
That said, the benefits of a good efi system far outweigh carbs. The lack smell, clean oil, mileage, starting and torque being the most obvious.
I used the 600hp NA kit. I used an in tank Walbro pump that draws 11 amps and is a super popular pump.
FiTech decided to use very under gauged wire in a single Deutch connector. This was the first problem as it didn’t take long to melt down. Subsequent units separated the battery feed and fuel pump supply using larger gauge wire and high current handling connections.
Once you got through figuring that out, I had already done this with Weatherpack connectors.
They next issue created a dangerous situation occurred on a customers car and my own. The tach driver failed. This takes the signal from the coil for RPM signal. Without a signal, the system can’t start. The customer car was on a test drive in a suburban area, not terrible. My failure happened on the track at Lime Rock. Luckily I wasn’t hit and I was able to run off the track safely. It’s that event by itself that will prevent me from EVER buying anything from them. They took both systems back and repaired under warranty. Even mine that had the wiring mod done was taken back and wiring harness updated. I can go into other instances but I won’t. I think it’s obvious these systems were a great idea and pushed to EFI retrofit market forward. However, when their systems came out they were HALF the price of comparable systems. Just my .02!
 
@BergmanAutoCraft
Would this fit under a stock flat Barracuda hood?
I really REALLY want this but it's gotta fit under my hood...!

Thanks

Jeff
For those that wish to compare the relative height difference between their existing combo and the ProFlo4 this photo shows the vertical height measurement from the top of a cast rocker cover rail to the very top of the throttle body - 6.340” (apologies for the poor focus)

View attachment 1715417852
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Several have made inquiries about this system. I’ll share my experience after being an early adapter to the FiTech disaster.

The PF4 is a great system as it’s sequential multiport with timing control. No other bolt on system is like this. Edelbrock has been in the efi business a long time.

in my case I used their rail mounted regulator to clean up the engine compartment. I also flipped the rail around and painted the intake.

The next issue is the TPS. The supplied unit didn’t return to zero at idle. If it sits at 2% or more at idle, it can have a negative effect on idle, parking, stalling. Edelbrocks answer is to buy a sensor from Standard Ignition. Are you serious???

Next issue for A body guys which I’m sure isn’t their intended market is the distributor is too tall. I disassembled mine and shortened the lower housing and the shaft. We broached the shaft and ran the lower housing in the latch. You couldn’t tell it was modified but it’s 3/4” shorter now.

Last and largest issue is timing. Once the timing is synched and the curve was set, I immediately noticed something was wrong. I set my normal curve 20 initial / 30 total. The total timing was determined on the dyno before installing the engine. No power and popping through the exhaust. Some other mopar guys had the same issue. After thinking about it I figured out the rotor is out of phase. Meaning the synch of the spark and injection is off. Advancing the timing puts the rotor too far away from its respective terminal causing the issue. I wound up slotting the reluctor to align the rotor with number one terminal at the middle of the timing sweep. Bottom line is, it was free and it fixed the issue. Starts and runs great, tons of torque. Why can’t a huge company like Edelbrock get it right?

View attachment 1715721466

View attachment 1715721467

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View attachment 1715721469

What does the distributor hit? Windshield wiper motor?
 
I purchased FiTech when they first came out. I wasn’t new to retrofitting efi as I was a DFI dealer in the 90s and even made a stand alone efi kit from a TBI Tahoe setup for a buddies 72 Monte.
That said, the benefits of a good efi system far outweigh carbs. The lack smell, clean oil, mileage, starting and torque being the most obvious.
I used the 600hp NA kit. I used an in tank Walbro pump that draws 11 amps and is a super popular pump.
FiTech decided to use very under gauged wire in a single Deutch connector. This was the first problem as it didn’t take long to melt down. Subsequent units separated the battery feed and fuel pump supply using larger gauge wire and high current handling connections.
Once you got through figuring that out, I had already done this with Weatherpack connectors.
They next issue created a dangerous situation occurred on a customers car and my own. The tach driver failed. This takes the signal from the coil for RPM signal. Without a signal, the system can’t start. The customer car was on a test drive in a suburban area, not terrible. My failure happened on the track at Lime Rock. Luckily I wasn’t hit and I was able to run off the track safely. It’s that event by itself that will prevent me from EVER buying anything from them. They took both systems back and repaired under warranty. Even mine that had the wiring mod done was taken back and wiring harness updated. I can go into other instances but I won’t. I think it’s obvious these systems were a great idea and pushed to EFI retrofit market forward. However, when their systems came out they were HALF the price of comparable systems. Just my .02!

Dang! That's really too bad on the Fitech. I bought mine back in 2017, decided on this vs the sniper just reading reviews back then. My setup is 600HP na with timing control, Tanks,inc. with walboro 255 pump, on a relay (Fitech fuel pump wire triggers relay) I have the system setup to control timing from day 1.

Ive just begun driving it, although it's been fired many times, so fingers crossed it all stays well.

In retrospect I would've bought the proflow if they were priced as they are now back then.
 
Dang! That's really too bad on the Fitech. I bought mine back in 2017, decided on this vs the sniper just reading reviews back then. My setup is 600HP na with timing control, Tanks,inc. with walboro 255 pump, on a relay (Fitech fuel pump wire triggers relay) I have the system setup to control timing from day 1.

Ive just begun driving it, although it's been fired many times, so fingers crossed it all stays well.

In retrospect I would've bought the proflow if they were priced as they are now back then.

the PF4 is a different animal entirely. Truly modern operation with zero hiccups.
 
Spot on. I have the Edelbock system installed on my 427 Windsor (560 ft-lbs of torque pretty early) Mach 1 and it just works. This coming from a dyno tuned Quickfuel carb. I mean night and day for a street car.
 
Resurrecting an old thread. After Edelbrock locked my thread about the phasing issue last year...I receive a new distributor from a customer to shorten for an A body. Guess what, they changed the shaft to accept a Ford rotor. What a coincidence!!

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Sounds like edlebrock used their customers for R&D as well.
 
They have a sticky post about distributor phasing which was posted by the moderator within the past couple weeks. My comment about the guys issue confirming there is a phasing issue has gone unanswered. Go figure.
 
The sticky is from a BB!

Do you take in PF4 distributor mod work?
I do not know which distributor I have. I bought the system in 2019. Brian Hafliger dyno’ed the engine with his distributor and carb.
 
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