The Great EFI Debate

i have used my powers of observation & conversation with my fellow Mustang people The decision is based on the costs involved. Yes,I scrounge around to build NICE but "thrifty". It is YOUR MONEY. Get the most for it.Young people with tight money and a street car will be happy with a carb. Have fun

 

We all have our budgets and have to live within them but the question posed in this thread has to do with the switch from carb to EFI and requested input in that regard. Many of us on this board have been wrenching on cars since the days carbs were standard fare on NEW cars. Some are dare say carb experts even. I don't think you will get anyone who will declare that carbs beat EFI across the board. For the simple reason they can't. For someone who wants a car they can hop into any day of the week, any season of the year and twist the key and head down the road, a modern plug-n-play EFI set-up is almost assuredly the way to go. Not everyone wants a race car. The set-up you recommend is great for weekend spirited fun and all but a high rise intake is certainly not the best design for cruising and daily driving. Part throttle performance at low RPM is not the best, for example. There is a reason factory carb engines used low profile, dual plane designs. There is also a reason carbs are no longer put on new engines.

This is all coming from a guy who in the mid 80's was bashing all the incoming fuel injection stuff. Hell, I bought a '83 GT because it was the last carb'd mustang and no way in hell would I ever buy one with EFI! Ha!! Fast forward a few (lots of years) and I just put EFI on the new stroker engine in my 65. Times change. Tech evolves.

The OP here just got a '65 convertible for which he is looking to have a reliable, fun cruiser for he and his family and all the changes or mods considered are in that vein. That in mind, a simple EFI system swap makes a lot of sense especially when it seems he doesn't do wrenching himself but has a mechanic do the work.

 

I built my set-up with the intent to leave it plugged in a while, if not permanently. I routed the wiring in such a way that it is hidden in my custom center console so I can either hide it or have it out or at least easily accessible if I wanted to use/view it. In the case of a FiTech system it will be learning for a while so best to keep it there to monitor things was my thought process.

 

Here's a couple quick shots. Excuse the dust. Need to get out in the garage this weekend and clean things up a bit! Plus I promised Chris some pics too so I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend!

All the wiring for the entire engine compartment runs through that single wiring port. Originally EVERYTHING came via that single braided line but when I converted to EFI I had to make a path for a lot more wiring so that black braided run out of the underside of the aluminum port became necessary. There is also (can't see in this one pic) a 7 pin male connector on the firewall that I have stuff run to so I can easily check voltage/ continuity etc. for some key underhood stuff. So much easier and better than having to strip back shrink tubing etc. at the actual points on the engine.

Ignore the wire nest by the distributor and the messy plug wires. I haven't trimmed everything to length yet and the plug wires are just my start-up set I need to make and install the actual ones.

Inside I simply ran the long handheld lead through console (custom built see my build thread for more) and into the rear section under the armrest portion. I simply routed the lead back out through the hand brake opening so I can have it lay on the seat next to me or wherever. Once things are finalized I can pull the wire back and store it inside the compartment.

 

Yeah!....Where are my pics?!....

 

Uh. Yeah. Sorry. I forgot. What do you want to see?

 

PM sent

 

this may be old news, but for those running FiTech efi, I found a great youtube channel and also a forum dedicated to FiTech tuning. This guys videos are straightforward and seem to address a couple issues I am having with mine. I have yet to implement, but this guy has given me the knowledge and confidence I needed to be able to tweak my system for the couple issues I am having (takes 2 tries to start, and engine stumbles or stalls when pushing the clutch in to come to a stop). Hopefully this info will be useful to someone else besides just me.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzmIbvVBQx_-h2QHh5SaHLA

https://fitechefituning.com/

 

There are lots of good sources out there for information. Quite a few guys have very helpful Youtube videos. The couple things you mention you are fighting are very common on new start-ups and can be easily corrected. If you can't work it out let me know and I can share some tips. The one thing I was not able to get resolved to my satisfaction just yet after some 700+ miles is a rich condition that causes, at times, some pretty healthy exhaust "popping" on deceleration. On later and earlier more advanced ($$$) FiTech systems you could access more parameters that supposedly help but my software (in the handheld at least) does not show them. I hear I can download software that will let me get into it deeper. That's a winter project for me. Might also help you as I think I recall you bought your system quite a while ago as well.

 

Mega-squirt

http://megasquirt.info/

 

Stormy, is that you? lol