honestly thinking about ditching tbi

so here is the deal.
when i THINK the TBI fuel mangement is running great, it shits on me at the track, and honestly im sick of it....... BUT before i get rid of it, can anybody recommend something more along the lines of an mpfi system..... ive looked into tpi setups, but im running vortec heads and i honestly dont want to spend $400 on a lower aluminum intake just to mount some ancient fuel injection. it would be fine if the whole setup was ~$200 but, its not. Screw a carb..... my nightmare.

im really good at wiring so retrofitting something to work is fine with me; hit me with ALL options..... expensive or cheap, i just want to see everything thats out there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shawn1989

so here is the deal.
when i THINK the TBI fuel mangement is running great, it shits on me at the track, and honestly im sick of it....... BUT before i get rid of it, can anybody recommend something more along the lines of an mpfi system..... ive looked into tpi setups, but im running vortec heads and i honestly dont want to spend $400 on a lower aluminum intake just to mount some ancient fuel injection. it would be fine if the whole setup was ~$200 but, its not. Screw a carb..... my nightmare.

im really good at wiring so retrofitting something to work is fine with me; hit me with ALL options..... expensive or cheap, i just want to see everything thats out there.

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If you can't tune it, it won't run well, regardless of what kind of EFI it is. I am not even a fan of those "self-tuning" setups.

I am running a holley stealth ram on vortec heads with their HP efi system. I got a smoking deal on this system used. They are extremely pricey for my budget. But with that being said I believe they have a good balance of user friendly software and a decent system controls. I knew zero about tuning and still have alot to learn, but for the most part I was able to get my truck drive-able.
I agree with Fast355 even with Holley's fuel learning and management system. Getting it running right and the most out of it really boils down to the tuner. Not the engine management system.
When I started down this road I was set on using a mega-squirt II and pricing together a stealth ram intake I had a budget worked up in the $1500 to $1800 ball park to reto fit a 69 c-10 truck with efi. The hp system fell in my lap. MS seems like a good system and would take a bit more to set-up as far as mechanical/electrical, skill/knowledge and EFI tuning. However I think it can compare to holleys system as being able to produce power and get decent drive ability.
Outside of that a factory speed density ecm, harness, moats setup, and holley stealth ram may be the cheapest. With a possible larger learning curve when it comes to tuning (factory ecm scares me, I need to just bite the bullet and build a project car my wife would live it!)
IMO to have Holley ECM adjust your fuel real time is a super nice feature, but at the end of the day... knowing how to tweak HP and torque out of your fuel curve may only be work a few extra HP (unless you are way off base). All the gain is knowing how to tune your timing table... That is something that you can't just learn over night.
I believe Fast has a aftermarket set-up, but I can't remember if it controls timing or not.
Then there is EFI connection, which it basically buying a harness to use a LS ECM on a old small block. Sequential injection... Coil on plug... Seems really interesting to me... However that leave you having to learn how to tune a factory system again.
That is all the systems I have looked into... and the best descriptions I can give.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by riche

I am running a holley stealth ram on vortec heads with their HP efi system. I got a smoking deal on this system used. They are extremely pricey for my budget. But with that being said I believe they have a good balance of user friendly software and a decent system controls. I knew zero about tuning and still have alot to learn, but for the most part I was able to get my truck drive-able.
I agree with Fast355 even with Holley's fuel learning and management system. Getting it running right and the most out of it really boils down to the tuner. Not the engine management system.
When I started down this road I was set on using a mega-squirt II and pricing together a stealth ram intake I had a budget worked up in the $1500 to $1800 ball park to reto fit a 69 c-10 truck with efi. The hp system fell in my lap. MS seems like a good system and would take a bit more to set-up as far as mechanical/electrical, skill/knowledge and EFI tuning. However I think it can compare to holleys system as being able to produce power and get decent drive ability.
Outside of that a factory speed density ecm, harness, moats setup, and holley stealth ram may be the cheapest. With a possible larger learning curve when it comes to tuning (factory ecm scares me, I need to just bite the bullet and build a project car my wife would live it!)
IMO to have Holley ECM adjust your fuel real time is a super nice feature, but at the end of the day... knowing how to tweak HP and torque out of your fuel curve may only be work a few extra HP (unless you are way off base). All the gain is knowing how to tune your timing table... That is something that you can't just learn over night.
I believe Fast has a aftermarket set-up, but I can't remember if it controls timing or not.
Then there is EFI connection, which it basically buying a harness to use a LS ECM on a old small block. Sequential injection... Coil on plug... Seems really interesting to me... However that leave you having to learn how to tune a factory system again.
That is all the systems I have looked into... and the best descriptions I can give.

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Believe it or not all my stuff runs factory EFI. Even my heads/cammed/headerd full bolt-on 2003 4.7 Dakota with an ECM that could not be tuned was factory EFI although it had an aftermarket unit to adjust the MAP signal to trim fuel (which also monkey'd with the timing, not ideal at all, but it worked well.)

On the cheap side, seeing you already have Vortec heads, install a factory Vortec EFI system using the '7427 PCM modified for MPFI. Your existing TBI harness can be re-purposed with a few wiring modifications.:thumbsup:

dave w