Best EFI for a 408?

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sport74

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I have a magnum based 408, Edelbrock heads with 2.02/1.60 valves, an air gap intake, 10.65:1 compression, and a hydraulic flat tappet cam 247/253 @ .50. I am trying to determine the best EFI for the money. I know this is kicking a hornet's nest, because everyone has their own favorite. Please respond with your experiences as well a what you like / dislike about the particular system you have / had. Thanks FABO

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The most important thing with aftermarket FI is customer support. I have a Fitech unit and the problem I have had, they helped, but there is so much info they don't tell you. You can't have progressive linkage with the 2 throttle body setup. They never told me. They don't give you any idea about what the parameter readings should be. Maybe others can chime in with their experiences. By the way I have a 472 hemi with a moderate build and prior to FI had 2 four barrel carbs. It ran pretty good with carbs but always looking for improvement.
 
The "EFI in carb" setups are probably the easiest to adapt, but MPFI is better but youll have to change your intake. Id get the one that had the most tunability or the autotune function built in, and also that fit our budget. You could easily spend more on this part than the entire motor.
 
I have the Holley Sniper on mine, only have about 500 miles on it, and I'm pretty happy with it. I went with Holley thinking they have been in the Efi business a while and would have good support. I had an issue with the wrong O2 sensor being shipped with my unit. I bought it through Pace and they were great to get with Holley and handle it right then. But the Holley customer tech line is not so good. I had a fuel pressure issue and after many calls and lots of hold time they determined it was too high and sent me a warranty regulator out at no charge but it was a painfull experience working with there tech support to it resolved. Well over an hour of hold time when you call, vauge support and different answers for the same question based on what tech you get. Email is also an option for them but when I used it I never got a reply back (they say they'll reply within 48 hrs) and ended having to call. They have a forum which has good info. You have to register and get appoved to post (which took over a week) but questions are answered very quickly once you are approved to post. Like I said, overall I am happy, runs great, and issues have been minor but if you are needing support, be prepared..
 
From what I've read the Magnum style stuff works well for the Dakota R/T guys, you'll probably want at least an old Mopar M1 style intake manifold an engine of that magnitude though. Looking at the heads your using, they should have the Magnum style intake pattern so this would be the way I would look into.
 
Thanks for the input. I guess I should have clarified a little more to begin with. I'm looking for a unit around 1000-1500 max, that has a self learning feature.
 
The Fitech is self learning and even keeping it after school hours and trying to teach it, it simply refuses to learn how to run a big gen 2 Hemi.
 
Port injection is the best if you have the manifold, and the Holley HP has been very successful with my customers. Most just start with my free startup tune and let the system learn from there. I like some manual tuning ability so you can compensate for a radical cam at idle.
 
Self-tuning systems (TBI or port) use vacuum and O2 reading to try and adjust the tune. At idle, camshaft reversion can cause a false lean and the low vacuum confuses the algorithm. But some self-tuning systems allow you to adjust parameters manually if you have a laptop. This works GREAT. Holley allows this - even with the Sniper. When I sell a Holley self-tuning system to a low vacuum customer I include a startup tune that has the idle parameters set for manual adjustment and I include instructions on how to do it.
 
@sport74
Did you end up picking an EFI system? If so, which one? How is it going? If not, why did you decide against?
 
The Fitech is self learning and even keeping it after school hours and trying to teach it, it simply refuses to learn how to run a big gen 2 Hemi.
Hey, my hand held has punch up settings for tuning a hemi just like my wedge. It`s a fast 2.0, has provision settings for nitrous, e 85, and forced induction. The fast people at (compcams) "service" has been fantastic. I even have Daves personal phone #, he gave it to me when I was installing my set up. I had a problem that was my own doing, AND HE WALKED ME THRU IT .! They are a little more expensive , but comes w/ about everything needed . The only thing I don`t like, is there is no way to unplug the throttle body to get it out of the way when changing intakes or working on the engine. I imagine they have a plug setup that can be incorporated into now tho.
 
F.A.S.T. IMHO. And Multiport is much better. But of course it’s more expensive and there’s the intake mods, etc. But you can do some much with it (vastly superior in tuning details to begin with)

At the very least, I would strongly recommend finding a local tuner or someone/business that will help you with analyzing and emailing you tunes ... that would be best way regardless of which manufacturer. Unless your experienced with tuning. I’ve watched and read thread after thread on car forums with people struggling after popping TB ,self-learning units on.

Sorry - NOTE. I’m not even sure if the TB units you can even up and download tunes from laptop or through handheld and laptop. ... I would think so these days. But I know with FAST XFI 2.0 (multi port) you can. I can download the tune and log at the track (or garage at home lol ), email it to our tuner, and in 3 minutes I have an updated tune emailed back, downloaded and running. It’s a trip.

My wife has XFI sportsman on her street 57 Chevy and it’s heaven ... all in with intake work I think it was about 2800$
 
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F.A.S.T. IMHO. And Multiport is much better. But of course it’s more expensive and there’s the intake mods, etc. But you can do some much with it (vastly superior in tuning details to begin with)

At the very least, I would strongly recommend finding a local tuner or someone/business that will help you with analyzing and emailing you tunes ... that would be best way regardless of which manufacturer. Unless your experienced with tuning. I’ve watched and read thread after thread on car forums with people struggling after popping TB ,self-learning units on.

Sorry - NOTE. I’m not even sure if the TB units you can even up and download tunes from laptop or through handheld and laptop. ... I would think so these days. But I know with FAST XFI 2.0 (multi port) you can. I can download the tune and log at the track (or garage at home lol ), email it to our tuner, and in 3 minutes I have an updated tune emailed back, downloaded and running. It’s a trip.

My wife has XFI sportsman on her street 57 Chevy and it’s heaven ... all in with intake work I think it was about 2800$
I can tune my own w/o a laptop, to my satisfication . A fuel rail set up would be better, but I`m having no problems w/ what I`ve got. Sure is nice being able to change everything by punching diff tunes into the handheld. I still am experimenting a little tho.
 
I can tune my own w/o a laptop, to my satisfication . A fuel rail set up would be better, but I`m having no problems w/ what I`ve got. Sure is nice being able to change everything by punching diff tunes into the handheld. I still am experimenting a little tho.

Cool! It’s sure handy and better than old days of re-jetting, experimenting, re-jet, etc.
 
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