FI Tech "Go EFI 4" Self Tuning Throttle Body Injection Install Thread

Did you happen to make more than one pass? If so, how consistent was the car with the efi now?

 

Sorry. Yes, I actually made 3 passes within an hour. It's a Wednesday night T&T so it's not crowded, but I do work early the next day, and usually run 4 passes. The 3rd was a .000 reaction time, so left on a high note.

I spun very slightly on 3rd pass, but 115mph for all three and 9/100'S difference from 1st to last.

Sorry if pic is sideways...no idea how to correct it using my phone.

It seems my converter took a dump on me today...I guess the 4200# race weight + 4000 stall + 3.08 gears = Torque Converter Death in my case.

I'm going to have the Turbo 400 freshened up, go with a slightly tighter stall, and put the 3.90 gears back in and see what happens.

I think I have the WOT AFR in check now...unfortunately won't get to have a 2nd T&T day with the same converter....

 

Here you go Bob...got weary of balancing my monitor on it's end. p

 

Finished the tank install.



Rather than show you the pics this time, Reference the camaro site that has great pics and details:

http://www.camaros.net/forums/33-camaro-tech/263481-tanks-inc-efi-fuel-system-install.html

The only details on our cars would be the venting system. I elected to use the factory vent system rather than the roll over valve. I hooked into the middle line on the car from the supplied T fitting from the tank that connects to the tank and pump. I capped the other two driver and passenger side stock lines off. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the venting set up. ***edit 4/20***took the car on the first long drive yesterday. Started having issues with car stalling. After a few minutes, car would start and run again, then stall again after a few miles. I figured out that the tank was not venting enough. I disconnected from the factory vent line and installed the roll over valve supplied by tanks inc. I went for a long drive today - no problems. Fixed.

I did add an AN fitting to the supply line to make a nice leak free attachment that is easy to disassemble in the future if needed:

I had to get a little creative to plumb in the nitrous fuel solenoid, but nothing a few fittings from Home Depot couldn't fix.



I decided to do as others have done and use my stock 3/8 line as the feed and then ran a new 3/8 return line back to the tank. I contemplated using the stock 1/4 return line that was originally used for the carb, but everything I found online said this was a bad idea.....

The universal sender from Tanks was ok, but i think if I was to do it again I would buy nice tube type I found. No set up needed, just drop in and go: http://shop.classicinstruments.com/sn38t
Had a scare when I put gas back in it.....I knew I put at least 15 gallons in but the gauge only read 1/8 tank. I checked it with a meter after install and all was good so I had no idea what could be wrong. It was just stuck. As soon as I started driving the needle moved up near full.

Thanks for the suggestion on the cork gaskets rel3rd. Didn't want to wait so I bought some cork gasket material and made my own. Seem to seal great and don't try to squeeze out when you tighten the sender or pump down like the neoprene ones.

Took the car out for a quick runs tonight. First run was rich, as expected. The unit learned and leaned it out, and by the third run it looked pretty good. Mid to hi 12s AF at WOT in the higher RPMs. My biggest problem now is traction. 3:73s, t400, 295 50 radial tires.....any full throttle in first gear breaks them loose, even if I try to roll slowly into it.

Still regretting not trying the RobbMC powersurge.....just a little bit. I would have been interested to see how it worked, and I think it would have been easier than the full tank install. The tank install took a fair amount of effort, but happy it is done and that I am back on the road with my car......I have missed driving it!


All buttoned up:

 

My EFI 8 is supposed to be shipped today. And since someone wants to buy my carb and fuel system I ordered a new tank and pump also. Supposed to be here Wednesday.

 

Sweet! Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

I took my car buddy for a ride in mine this weekend. He has experience with an older Holley FI system. He was very impressed with drivability and crispness of the unit. Then, I romped it....smokey burn out, then pedaled it hooked, then barked them into second.....his comment "amazing". Still hoping to get it to the Dyno in the next few weeks.

 

Did everyone using the in tank fuel pumps use the orange wire directly for the pump? When I planning on using my old pump Fitech told me to use the orange wire for the pump relay.

 

The orange wire in the Fitech harness for fuel pump control is only like a 16ga or maybe a 14ga wire. To me that size wire has no business being in a run that will end up at likely 12-14 ft in length and supplying about 15 amps (or more) of current. I used a relay with an inline maxi fuse and a run of 8ga wire to power the Aeromotive 340 pump in my install. I then setup the FITECH controller to run the pump at 100% all the time. If you have your heart set on using PWM control for the fuel pump you will have no choice but to run the orange wire direct to the pump (please add an inline fuse) If you do some searching you will see a couple of install pics on the net where the orange wire melted in the connector for the Fitech wire harness. That said, there must be plenty of installs that have not had that problem. The fuel pump chosen will determine the current needed for operation so look at the fine print for what you use. Something else to consider, do you really want to pull that much current through the controller for the fuel injection system? I did not.

 

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in here. I have the FiTech MeanStreet 800 system on my 470-powered '72 Skylark and I'm using the RobbMc PowerSurge fuel pump. I haven't had a single problem with it. I have a stock gas tank with the RobbMc half-inch pickup going into -8AN PTFE hose to a RobbMC 550 mechanical pump. From there it's -6AN to the PowerSurge, and -6AN from the PowerSurge to the FiTech and -6AN from the FiTech return line back to the PowerSurge. I'm using the factory fuel return line for the PowerSurge vapor line. I have the FiTech fuel pump control wire connected to the PowerSurge. I was running the PowerSurge with my Quick Fuel 880 carburetor before installing the FiTech system, so I was already pretty well set fuel system-wise when I got the FiTech.

 

Some of the same thoughts I had Ken. I did some research. The pump I use should use 15 amps at max flow and pressure. The wires that are attached to the pump (cannot be replaced) are 14 ga. The SAE wire size chart says for 18 amps you can use 14ga for 15 ft and 16ga for 10 ft. I know that our normal inclination is overkill (your 8ga is ) but I think that I am going to go with the engineers on this one. Will absolutely use fuses. Also going to run this by my niece who is an electrical engineer for an automotive OEM and see what she thinks.

OK, just talked with the engineer and she said if it is 14awg it will be fine. Even at continuous duty.

 

That is great to hear Chris. I am sure others will to be happy to learn that the powersurge is a viable option.

 

I am using the FI tech orange wire to power my fuel pump. I just looked it up - the GP6 fuel pump from tanks inc requires a max of 14 amps at 60psi. I think I will be ok but I am going to install an inline fuse this week. Good heads up. Thanks.

 

I will go with Ken's overkill a bit and use a 10AWG wire to the pump to reduce voltage loss. Already have that wire from old pump. Sure hope the unit show up soon.

 

Glad to hear you upped the wire size. 14ga may be adequate in a perfect world but add some heat, a bit of oxidation and of course a bit of Murphy's law action and 12ga would be the minimum I would run with 10ga being more than enough. I just happen to live by a place called parts express and can drop in and buy about any wire I want by the foot down to at least 4ga.

If I understand correctly there is a self resetting circuit breaker in the Fitech fuel pump circuit. (30 amps?) If the pump is inside the tank I still feel better with the relay and letting it run full tilt all the time. BTW what size wire is that on the pigtails from Tanks Inc? Looks like at least 10ga.

 

At most the wire that comes off the fuel pump is 12 AWG. No doubt wire size is one of those things that overkill does not hurt. The other thing is to do a real good job with all wire splices and ends. I try to use nothing but the stuff I get from MAD electric. None of that insulated crap you find everywhere.

Well there is the problem of all the extra weight from the heavy gauge wire. :laugh:

 

Critical electrical connections (high current in particular) should get soldered. I have a butane iron ive owned for 25 years and it's one of the best tools I've ever purchased. Crimp connections are ok for most stuff but good crimpers are a must and using a blob of dielectric grease on/in the connection will keep down corrosion in all but the most aggressive environments.

I don't lose much sleep worrying about that wire weight. Now the night I had to have my buddy meet me about a mile from my home with a tow strap because my fuel pump quit... I did NOT sleep too well that night. In that instance the Denso Turbo Supra pump I was running wired with 12ga copper from battery to relay to pump melted its inline fuse holder. Not sure what happened? I did find the pump frozen when I pulled it. When I replaced it with the Aeromotive 340 that's when I ran the 8ga stuff and used an inline maxi fuse holder. I even ran a dedicated ground wire from the battery back to a copper ground lug that I tied the stereo amp and fuel pump into at the rear of the car. It might sound a bit extreme but my inspiration for this was a similar setup I saw in a Turbo Regal years ago and the owner swore it solved a rash of fuel pump,issues he hard fought with.

 

FWIW IPC standards does not allow solder in high current applications. I'm no longer certified but I still use their standards as good practice.
Solder is not a good conductor compared to copper and will create heat at high current connections where there is not a good mechanical connection between the copper cable and connector.
I have seen the solder melt out of a connection.

The better method for environment protection is to use adhesive lined shrink tube over a good mechanical connection. It also acts as a strain relief.
That's what we use in our automotive and marine wiring.

The second problem with a soldered connection is if the solder creeps up the wire or cable beyond the connector it becomes a point of mechanical failure if the wire or cable sees vibration or continuous flexing.
I can't tell you how many times I have had to trace a continuity problem where the wire broke under the insulation just beyond a soldered connection.

Never use a butt connector to splice a heavy current carrying cable. They will get hot.

Paul

 

I agree with you except what would you use to splice heavy current carrying cable? No solder, no butt connector? What's the next option? I'm sure you don't mean to use wire nuts and electrical tape p

 

I'm going to guess his definition of high current and mine are a bit different. Having spent a couple weeks (100 hours as I recall) in a precision soldering class during my time in the Army I get his points but don't think they exactly apply in our application. With proper wire sizing our connections SHOULD never get hot enough to disturb the solder joint. And with an automotive application that has a rare connection failure it will generally coast to the shoulder safely while an aircraft won't generally have that luxury. I'm guessing Muller is talking power transmission or aircraft applications...

In all honesty I realize we are overthinking some of this but there are an awful lot of cars on the road with wire nuts and tape in them. I would try to steer some of our faithful readers away from that and toward better practices as the little computer in an EFI system lives in a relatively tough environment as it is. You don't need to add hurdles....

 

As someone with horrid wiring practices in his EFI converted cars, I can certainly say you can get away with A LOT without issue. Wiring size on "high" amp drawers (anything over 10amps automotively IMO) is one place I wouldn't skimp on though. Good size wire from the 140amp alternator to the battery, good sized wire to the fuse panels, and good sized wire to the electric fuel pump(s), electric water pump and electric fan (along with appropriate relay's). Connectors are amazingly forgiving. I'm curious to hear the answer from an educational stand point.