[DeTomaso] efi horse power gain

Kirby Schrader kirby.schrader at gmail.com
Sat Aug 8 18:29:01 EDT 2009


Darn it, Chuck! I was just going to sit here and listen to what others  
had to say!!!
:-))

EFI is EFI. Lots of different systems and honestly, I don't know that  
one system is _that_ much better than the rest. I have heard horror  
stories about some systems and good stories about other systems. Lots  
of folks talk FAST these days, but my opinion is that it's because of  
the software, the ease of use and it's the 'latest'. But then again,  
maybe not... I honestly haven't used such a system and have only  
listened to 'those who think they know'.

And then, the question... What EFI? You can have EFI just replacing a  
carburetor or you can do an individual runner/throttle body system  
with EFI. Or even port injection.

Different things. After all, a good Weber setup with individual  
runners is a good system, too! Good throttle response and mid-range.  
It's just that Webers scare a lot of people off.

I have a fuel only Haltech F9a in my Pantera. I still use a  
distributor for the ignition. Yes, it's an OLD system, but it works  
well. I installed it back in 1998 and I really like it. I have no plan  
to change it, even though a new harness and ECU would be fairly easy  
to implement.

I tuned the Pantera by seat of the pants tuning over months of driving  
to work and back and track events. When I eventually did put it on a  
dyno, we couldn't get any more out of it. So you CAN do it without the  
dyno. It's just faster, safer and easier on the dyno.

I have an all singing, all dancing Electromotive TEC3r in my GT40.  
Mike Trusty recommended and supplied this system to me. It handles  
everything. Fuel, ignition, EGO, radiator fans, A/C clutch, etc. etc.  
Getting my head around the software has been a challenge, but it's  
working very well now. Electromotive has a 'novel' way of implementing  
things. It's a 427 Windsor iron block with B351 aluminum heads and has  
a very mild solid roller cam and did 430HP/439TQ on the dyno and a  
VERY hot day.
I am happy with that. Someday, a better cam will be installed. Maybe...
Oh, I should mention that I went through absolute hell trying to get  
it to run right. In the end, I had a defective harness. I replaced  
that and everything has been peachy.

Speaking of cams, IR EFI will tame down a 'radical' cam to the point  
where you wonder what happened to the 'radical' cam. Your rumpity,  
bumpity idle will disappear and it will sit there and idle almost too  
nicely.

Bottom line? I don't know that you will get an overall HP increase.  
Maybe if you had a bad carburetor setup, then yeah... you'll see an  
increase. In fact, some guys have seen slightly less than a carburetor  
with EFI at the very top end.
If you go with IR, you _will_ see a very nice bottom end and middle  
range increase.

Otherwise, EFI can be a hassle (but doesn't have to be) in the  
beginning to tune, but once it is there, you never touch it again. At  
least, that's my experience.

One thing I will say... It's pretty annoying to have people tell you  
what you SHOULD be running and how your system is a piece of junk and  
blah, blah, blah... And then when you get down to it... you find out  
they don't even have a system on their car.
To those dudes... I say, meet you at the track!

:-)

I like what I've got and that's my story.

Now then, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Later,
Kirby




On 8 Aug 2009, at 8:46 AM, Charles Engles wrote:

> Dear Boyd,
>
>
>                 Perhaps Kirby Schrader would comment on this.   He  
> had one of the Haltech EFI systems installed on his already healthy  
> engine back in the mid nineties and he has first hand experience  
> about the before and after performance.  He was very happy with the  
> change.
>
>                            Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "boyd casey" <boyd411 at gmail.com>
> To: "De Tomaso List" <detomaso at realbig.com>
> Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 10:50 PM
> Subject: [DeTomaso] efi horse power gain
>
>
>> Can anyone tell me what kind of horsepower increase one could expect
>> from the addition of a quality professionally setup sequential efi to
>> a Cleveland  engine?
>>
>> Boyd
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