Salmonson63

I have done lots of research and reading on the topic of fuel injection vs carb. I understand the basics of each system and I really don’t want to start a surface level discussion with this thread. I want to compare these two fueling systems through a specific application and look at specific pros and cons.

My Application:
I currently have 6.0L LQ4 Short block that I am going to be putting in a street strip 69 Nova that currently has a carb’d SBC in it. I consider this car a street/strip car but it is really only a friday night occasional cruiser and at the track much more often. I guess where i’m heading is gas mileage isn’t a concern, driving it in the winter isn’t a concern since it stays in the garage all winter. Now being a mechanical engineer I really like data and logging and being able to tweak and tune myself as down the road, changes will be made to the motor and a NOS kit may be installed.

My current opinion
I think at the moment I am going to put a quick fuel carb on it with the new MSD box, and call it a day. Then down the road add 02 sensor monitoring/logging for tuning. This will give me the ability to tune the car myself and handle modifications to the engine and let’s not forget this is an easier swap as I can reuse my current fueling system.

Now deep down in my heart I really want to go fuel injection to get the logging capabilities and many of the features I want I am really looking at the Megasquirt 3 Pro. My fear with taking the plunge into FI is not being able to tune the car without paying a large dyno bill. This doesn’t sound like something I want to do everytime I make a motor modification or want to run a little binner nitrous shot. I feel like this will be a budget killer and really create an unnecessary snowball effect.

Considering all of this I am interested to hear your thoughts as this is different than most applications. This is not a daily driver and will never be a daily driver but if there is a real advantage to EFI that I am missing that will help we with drag racing then I am all ears.

Thanks in advance for any responses/discussion!

a05c

If you go injected, you more than likely won't have to do much tuning unless you're making changes.

So budget for the system (holley or other manufacturer) and budget for an initial tune.

It helps to be able to read plugs, and making the engine happy. Since you didn't specify if you're going to be doing any future plans it may need retuned after you make changes.

gametech

iTrader: (1)

The biggest difference for me is the ability to make tuning changes to the motor with a keyboard, versus getting fuel on my hands swapping jets or airbleeds. I have done both at the track, and my keyboard has never gotten lost in the grass like fuel jets have. Then again, the battery has never died in my fuel jets, so there is that. As for your dyno concerns, MANY fuel injected drag cars (maybe most) have never been near a dyno. That aspect of the tuning process is absolutely no different than tuning a carb. Whether you add or subtract fuel via a jet size or a VE table, it still needs to be the right amount of fuel.

stevieturbo

EFI...ease of tuning and making adjustments

In terms of overall performance one way or another. For a drag application probably not a huge difference either way.

But full electronic control can offer other benefits too.