Fuel Injection

[DMH]

Hi guys. has anyone had an engine from american speed with fuel injection rather than carbs. do you think it makes a difference, were there any difficulties with it,
and was there a great difference in cost. thanks. dave.

[ultimarich]

Hi Dave,

My engine is an American Speed unit and was originally supplied with fuel injection but was then converted to carbs. I am led to believe that there were one or two problems burning pistons, hence the reason for the change.

Am sure some of the other guys may have a bit more detail.

Rich

[k wright]

Gail discouraged me from getting the injection so I went with a carb.

[gtrclive]

If you want fuel injection that works then you have to pay about 3 times the price of the edelbrock system.
EDELBROCK $2000
Kinsler with ECU $6000

if your thinking of just an upgrade for the sake of it then just buy a modified Holley
Carb Shop / Chuck Nyton / Speed Demon, etc are all good for modified engines.
But if you want FI the Kinsler is the real thing.
The C5R lemans corvettes have Kinsler.... oh yes I my next car will have it to.

[davefiddes]

I would ask if AS will fit a Holley C950 system. These are very popular flexible systems that will work great on typical Ultima sized Chevys(400-550bhp). There is no difficulty in finding support online and I've heard of several happy users here in the UK with them. Installation might be a little more complicated than a carb in that you need to provide a swirl pot for the high pressure pump to draw from and there's a bit more wiring.

If you do go the EFI route then judging by what others have found you'll get: better fuel consumption, better throttle response, smoother idle and much better part throttle operation (where an Ultima lives most of the time). I'd definitely consider getting this installed as part of the original engine build as it will come all set up ready to use and most of the tuning work will be done. Fitting it later is a bit more complicated.

Take advantage of the strong pound while it lasts

The issue with the Edelbrock system is that the injector sizes that they can supply are too small really for >400 bhp engines. People haven't done the required maths in the past and been burned. The Holley system can be spec'd for up to 800bhp systems out of the box. I know of someone running a 1500bhp twin turbo mill with just bigger injectors and a different intake manifold.

The Kinsler system is great if you are made of money and race all the time. Good for scaring people into going the carb route too!

[Allen-GTR]

Another thing to consider with the Edelbrock EFI system is that is prefers a 180 or a 195 thermostat. I know most of the engine guys want to stay with the 160 degree thermostat. The lower thermostats can cuse the surging mentioned earlier. I wont say thats the ONLY reason it will surge, but I think its probably a major cause...

I found this information in the install manual for the Edelbrock EFI system.

Just a thought...

Allen