FI recommendation for 360 Dart

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RustyRatRod said:
I agree with everything you say here......BUT here's the thing that I don't like about it. Millions of factory units operate trouble free for hundreds of thousands of miles. Get in, turn the key and go. For YEARS. New cars cost a lot of money. As long as you shop around and don't buy a POS, you get your money's worth.

So, why isn't it like that with aftermarket EFI? Don't come back and tell me it is, because it's not. Although the cost has come down some, for what everything costs to get EFI up and running, there should be a disease free hot blonde jump out of the box, install it for you, screw your brains out when she's done and it should run flawlessly for many years. Ok, maybe scratch the hot blonde thing.

My point is, for the cost outlay, aftermarket EFI should be the best and easiest thing going for our older cars. It's not. Even professionals who do installs every day and do read everything and comprehend it have far from a 100% success rate. The products are simply "not good enough" in my opinion and I'm not alone in my thinking.
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I gotta disagree on this one , fast 2.0 working pretty darn good after about 9ish yrs.
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67 gt said:
Tony I’m not blaming all installers who I blame is the companies selling these units as a easy install which they ain’t without some real planing the install. I agree some units are duds straight out the box problem is these units where built to a price so they can sell to the public. Then poor quality parts are chosen in these units which do not hold out I think not enough R&D was done on these units before putting them out to the public. Big rush to cash in I thinks !
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Fast uses all chevy sensors -----------they even use the short chevy dist. w/ a mopar end on it for their full control set up , head grinding required , I will use an MSD locked out next time !!
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
Don’t candy coat it. Tell me how you really feel! lol l very rarely drive my cars. I have tried running non ethanol, additives, and still the Edelbrock 1406 gets clogged up and I wind up R&R the damn thing and rebuilding it. I’m just tired of it.
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To be fair, it starts right up when cold and runs great. Ditching the POS FCC for an intank pump solved a lot of the initial issues. If I stop and get gas, jump back in, it starts right up. There's a 10 -15 minute window, after that the prime shot will work but no cranking shot. I've adjusted the Prime Mult and Hot Crank tune every which way to no avail. The ECU on the first TB I owned died, and I'm convinced the ECU heat soaks after 15 minutes and shuts down. So I keep a can of starter fluid in the trunk and douche the venturi's to hot start.
But getting back to the task at hand; living with FI on the Coronet for five years and with a 10+ year old Eddy on the Dart, I'll pick the Eddy carb. The Dart starts up every time, hot or cold, has never stranded me. I've driven the Dart down to LA for Spring Fling, camped with it in the Sierras at 7,000 ft. Sure, it idled like crap in the mountains, but once I got back down into the valley it smoothed out again. In retrospect, even if my FI worked flawlessly from Day 1, I still would question if it was a worthwhile investment. I drive my cars often but not daily. If its too cold, too hot, too rainy, etc. they stay in the garage. For the 2,000+ miles a year I put on each car, a carb works just fine.
SGBARRACUDA, in your case it sounds like you have really crappy gas in your area. Who knows if it might also gum up the fuel injectors on your new FI system too.
 
RBConvert said:
To be fair, it starts right up when cold and runs great. Ditching the POS FCC for an intank pump solved a lot of the initial issues. If I stop and get gas, jump back in, it starts right up. There's a 10 -15 minute window, after that the prime shot will work but no cranking shot. I've adjusted the Prime Mult and Hot Crank tune every which way to no avail. The ECU on the first TB I owned died, and I'm convinced the ECU heat soaks after 15 minutes and shuts down. So I keep a can of starter fluid in the trunk and douche the venturi's to hot start.
But getting back to the task at hand; living with FI on the Coronet for five years and with a 10+ year old Eddy on the Dart, I'll pick the Eddy carb. The Dart starts up every time, hot or cold, has never stranded me. I've driven the Dart down to LA for Spring Fling, camped with it in the Sierras at 7,000 ft. Sure, it idled like crap in the mountains, but once I got back down into the valley it smoothed out again. In retrospect, even if my FI worked flawlessly from Day 1, I still would question if it was a worthwhile investment. I drive my cars often but not daily. If its too cold, too hot, too rainy, etc. they stay in the garage. For the 2,000+ miles a year I put on each car, a carb works just fine.
SGBARRACUDA, in your case it sounds like you have really crappy gas in your area. Who knows if it might also gum up the fuel injectors on your new FI system too.
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My Dart will sit sometimes 6 months at a time and not cranked. That is probably the biggest problem. I may rebuild this 1406 one more time and sell it. Go with a new AVS-2 650. I just don’t get a good feeling about trusting FI.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
My Dart will sit sometimes 6 months at a time and not cranked. That is probably the biggest problem. I may rebuild this 1406 one more time and sell it. Go with a new AVS-2 650. I just don’t get a good feeling about trusting FI.
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Sitting like that and it has issues? Our dart sits like that too but the Holley never gives me any issues afterwards. I use marine statbil in it is about all I do to it
 
Fresh off a large purchase in the thousands that didn't work from day 1, not efi, the last thing I want to state is, my efi works fine so therefore no problem here = no problem at all, someone just had an unlucky draw from the pot, or user error.

The reality is my efi does work fine, minus a user error and the wrong hose supplied with the in-tank pump, efi rated but not submersible.

I should have known better, and did, just lazy, and the manufacturer should have known better. Both cases had nothing to do with the efi.
So there's a case for both scenarios, in the same, well, case.

Imo, the problem is three-fold.
First, rarely do people start threads or initiate feedback when everything works well. Ever call your credit card company to let them know they did a bang up job on your latest statement?
People typically provide feedback and reach out when things go south, and it can seem louder than the positive.

Second, companies market stuff as a complete kit, or a perfect solution, and pay advertisers, magazines, shows, to promote their products as perfect. See how easy it is to install, with a huge shop, a lift, air tools, lighting, heat, tools out your butt, access to the company's spokesmen and techs, big paychecks and hot wives. So easy.

Third, there is no way to definitively determine the success rate of a product, or any inherent issues, unless you work at the company, and they're not sharing that data.

This is the bigger issue, imo, especially if they don't share issues, resolutions, improvements, etc.

I was trying to think of a similar example to adding efi to an old muscle car, I know people add shoulder belts, some even power windows, and it can become a big hassle, especially if the instructions or support sucks.
Heck, I just bought a sway bar from a well known maker, found nothing but good feedback, yet no one mentioned the instructions suck big time.
And no hot babe in the box.
 
Had lots of EMI issues with my Fitech when I had the old supercharged engine. The blower used up a lot of real-estate and as a result a lot of the wiring was jammed behind the blowers case right next to the distributor and ignition wires. This caused a lot of issues and error codes. The car would be idling and it would just die (like you shut off the ignition switch). I would check the error codes and there would always be a "RPM noise" code. I made a few mods that made the situation better like shielding and twisting the magnetic pickup wires but I would STILL occasionally get a RPM code. I have since replaced my supercharged engine with a 418 stroker. While the engine was out I took the time to get rid of almost all of my engine compartment wiring. I routed all of my lighting and fan wires through the frame. Additionally we made a panel for under the dash and moved my Mallory 6AL, voltage regulator, starter relay and wiper motor resistor there. I also installed two 12 circuit fuse blocks (one switched and on un-switched) for adding accessories. Since doing this my Fitech fuel injection (with timing control) has worked flawlessly for the last 2 years. These systems (Fitech or Holley) are VERY SENSITIVE to electrical interference. Anything you can do to keep it way from anything that's radiating emi is highly recommended. Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
I ran a Holley Sniper on my 470 race engine. That was a pretty trick engine with Jesel belt drive, Jesel distributor, belt driven oil pump, Wilson intake, etc. Pump gas engine that made a best of 780 hp. The Sniper worked just fine on that engine. Killed a bit of power when compared to a Dominator carb but that wasn't a big surprise. I've helped a bunch of local guys install and tune these Snipers over the past few years. Biggest issue is that a lot people assume they know what they are doing so they don't read the instructions. EFI isn't the same as a carb. Digital signals require a lot of attention inside an engine bay. Hook up the wires wrong and the Sniper won't run.
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It’s funny but today I was looking for some skirted banjo’s and maybe some 16 hole sleeves and I see that Braswell is now making an EFI to carb conversion kit.

He isn’t doing that because he is stupid and wants to lose money. He is doing it because there is a market for it.
 
AndyF said:
I ran a Holley Sniper on my 470 race engine. That was a pretty trick engine with Jesel belt drive, Jesel distributor, belt driven oil pump, Wilson intake, etc. Pump gas engine that made a best of 780 hp. The Sniper worked just fine on that engine. Killed a bit of power when compared to a Dominator carb but that wasn't a big surprise. I've helped a bunch of local guys install and tune these Snipers over the past few years. Biggest issue is that a lot people assume they know what they are doing so they don't read the instructions. EFI isn't the same as a carb. Digital signals require a lot of attention inside an engine bay. Hook up the wires wrong and the Sniper won't run.
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@AndyF where in Oregon are you?
 
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