People dropping FI setups like hot potatoes

What would you choose if you had the money

  • Fi setup

    Votes: 29 35.4%

  • Carburetor

    Votes: 47 57.3%

  • Who cares, i ride donkeys

    Votes: 4 4.9%

  • I like polls

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • Total voters
    82
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MOPAROFFICIAL

MOPAROFFICIAL

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Seen quite few come up for sale lately. I myself have experience with them and basically they are finicky and out of nowhere become unreliable.

One guy even told the story of his random no start, too common, in his sale thread.

Good ol carburetors...
"parts" instead of "gremlins"
 
Last edited:
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Seen quite few come up sale lately. I myself have experienced with them and basically they are finicky and out of nowhere become unreliable.

One guy even told the story of his random no start, too common, in his sale thread.

Good ol carburetors...parts instead of gremlins.
Click to expand...
Yep. They are a good idea in theory. I had a old Holley analog set up on a Rat motored tool truck. It worked good. At least it was easy to adjust by just turning a knob or two on the control box. It crapped out and I went back to a carb. No issues there.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Seen quite few come up sale lately. I myself have experienced with them and basically they are finicky and out of nowhere become unreliable.
One guy even told the story of his random no start, too common, in his sale thread.
Good ol carburetors..."parts" instead of "gremlins"
Click to expand...

Hello,
Any particular brand or model you see up for sale in this trend?
Most current models of FI Or the older ones being more problematic?
Thanks in advance,
Happy Mopar :)
Arron.
 
I once saw a FITech selling for $300. I was very tempted, just didn't have the money for something like such.

Id be willing to give it a shot, but more or less because I'm interested in control systems and programming. I already have chased my gremlins with my modern Charger, can't be much harder than a car with 5 or more computers!
 
I have no experience with it and at one time thought it would be a great upgrade for my Dart. I'm aware that many use it and swear by it. I've since changed my mind due to a combination of things, and will stick with my carb. The nail in the coffin for me was a buddy who took his Camaro on Drag week 2019. He had an issue on the road, the car died and would not run at all. Thankfully he was at the track and not stuck on the road! He had to have a control box overnighted to him for a total of $900.00. The car was as reliable as an anvil otherwise. I'm pretty sure if my carb acts up I can probably pull a couple small inexpensive parts from my tool box and get where I need to be. Who's gonna carry a spare control box? My opinion. Not intended to fire up the happy EFI users!
 
The biggest problems with EFI are the owners who install them. EMI/ RFI is likely the biggest culprit, followed closely by things like ground loops

I'm not sure I agree that they are going like hot potatoes, or dropping like flies. Remember, there are vast more numbers of DIY EFI now than there was just 5 years ago. I cannot even name all the brands, Holley, Edelbrock, FAST, FItech, Megasquirt, some small companies I don't know about or cant remember. And remember, some classes of NHRA and NASCAR are now EFI, both Holley
 
I'm a carb guy. Not that FI isn't great on newer cars, but anything 25 yrs or older I'm a carb guy. I can do just about anything to it just about anywhere.
 
Speaking of grounds....My wife bought new in '05 a ford focus that I have had the misfortune to upkeep for her.lol
It's not that bad or maybe I'm used to it ....idk... but I have to clean cables and even added a ground because it would idle down with electrical load....like fans switching on or lights and heater blower going. Added an 8 gauge ground wire to the fender about 3 weeks ago and it went smooth....no idle change, did the mounts for the 7th or 8th time too..notorious on those to go out. Now 3 weeks later...I have to clean and re tighten the grounds ,again. We live by the beach..... but for some reason, only the focus has that problem. Grounds and signal wire isolated from eachother and other wiring IS most important.
 
I have had both, and I sold my Fitech, went back to a carburetor. I work on fuel injected vehicles every day for a living, but NONE of these aftermarket systems have near the R&D development of a OEM system. Mine worked well, but was zero improvement over my carb, in power OR Mpg. A carb is stone axe reliable, there is lots to fail in any EFI system.
 
Yes a lot of problems have to due with the installation using poor wiring techniques
and not understanding ground loops. Also aftermarket systems tend to be not as robust as OEM who spend lots on engineering and reliability. Old cars should be
simple as a stone axe,if you want to complicate your life why not just buy a new car.
 
The Fitech I have on my '79 Trans Am has been flawless. There should be an IQ test before people can buy one of these kits. I think 90% of the problems people have with them are sloppy installs and really stupid post-install tinkering.
 
Im thinking about efi for my dart. Thing is,i will be pirating a tbi setup from a chevy truck. Bulletproof. Except the fuel pump,but cheap to fix.

Edit:
Wife will be driving it,easy to start and should be dependable.and nothing to tweak.
 
I’d like to one day try one of the newer set ups from Holley and the Edelbrock. But not yet. Until then, a carb is just fine.
 
90 percent have problems and the other 10 percent are the car shows who install them and testify a perfect install with zero problems.
 
Put FiTech on my dart. Had issues.

Turned out I had caused most of them. Pinholes exhaust gas leaks that didn't matter to a carb, and some electrical issues completely of my own making.

Since I fixed that, no trouble at all. Would take it over any carb, any day of the week. Most parts stores are more likely to have EFI parts on the shelf than carb stuff these days. Need jets? Mail order. Need to replace a leaky gasket? Mail order.
Need a GM throttle position sensor? In stock. O2 sensor? in stock. Idle motor? In stock.

It's true that these aftermarket TBI systems are not as sophisticated as OEM systems but they still work very well if you know what you're doing.

Just my $.02
 
Howard1784 said:
90 percent have problems and the other 10 percent are the car shows who install them and testify a perfect install with zero problems.[/QUOTE

My car doesn`t fit either one of those , fast 2.0 has been on for about 7ish yrs ,(??) so far , so good !
Gotta admit my car isnt as fast as it should be --?? so far .
Click to expand...
 
Matt loves EFI. He's done a lot of LS builds with EFI. I just got done with one on the 51 Chevy truck on the 95 S10 chassis I built. I must admit, it runs pretty darn good out of the box with no tune yet. It will be about the best I've seen or read about.

I've not seen anyone on here or any other site talking about how good their EFI conversion runs. Every EFI conversion I've seen or read about seems to have "some" issues.
 
I will likely install the Edelbrock Pro Flo on my Mach 1 restomod. It already has an in tank pump, return line, etc. Just waiting some to see if there are issues with it. So far, it seems folks are happy with it.
 
Sold my FI last year at Mats.....had been in the box for a couple of years....only had a few hours run time....did not like it....I guess I am stupid based on the previous comments...lol
Tried to drag race with it...holley 750 dp was faster and more consistent....

called their tech support and told them the problems.....did not fix it...I fixed it....took it off..
 
I agree that most FI problems ar caused by the installer. I have seen them installed by not so knowledgeable ppl. And by very knowledgeable ppl. Guess which ones have no trouble. Kim
 
well...if you follow the instruction and the **** does not work correctly....is it the installer fault....suppose to be self learning....just install and fire up.....i guess not...
 
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