Do you expect to unwrap new car parts, bolt 'em on in an afternoon, and go terrorize the streets that evening? If that's you, forget about converting your carbureted car to EFI. On the other hand, if you're the tinkering type who loves to learn, fuel injection will be the single most interesting and powerful conversion you'll ever do. By “powerful” we mean the potential to meter fuel to a 1,500hp twin-turbo engine and the different ways EFI can optimize and monitor your fire-breathing engine setup. EFI probably won't turn a high-compression race engine into a daily driver, but an advanced EFI package, properly tuned, could make it streetable enough for no-drama boulevard cruising. Did you notice the caveat “properly tuned?” Hope so.
The previous two stories outlined the significant hardware investments you'll need to make in order to convert any engine (a Pontiac 455, in this instance) to multipoint electronic fuel injection. Now that our fuel system, induction, and electronics are installed and working, it's time for the real fun to begin. The FAST EFI controller is designed as a universal system capable of running virtually any internal combustion engine, so obviously it needs to be tuned specifically for our car. Some folks choose to drop their cars off at a tuner shop that's usually equipped with a chassis dyno and a smart guy with a laptop.
If the tuner is reputable (ask around), it's a foolproof option, but the downside is foregoing any knowledge of what he did. If something goes wrong down the road, your EFI system is as foreign to you as Detroit's OBD-IIs.
We don't claim to be expert EFI tuners, but we wanted a good working knowledge of our EFI system. It's time well spent familiarizing ourselves with the device that's fueling and sparking $6,000 worth of Pontiac motor. And like anything else, you'll learn fastest by digging right in. There's probably more potential in our tuneup, but it already idles and drives nicer than its formerly carbureted self after a few afternoons spent tweaking with our laptop. Next month we have plans to cruise the LeMans to a local tuner to find out just how “on” our tune really is. We skipped over some of the nitty-gritty driveability functions in the software and focused on the basics to get you going.
Click here for part 1--Inject The Unexpected
Click here for part 2--Playing The Fueled
