Anyone here run fuel injection?

[volk68]

Just curious how many of you are running a fuel injection setup on your Charger and if you are, which setup are you using, and what are your impressions?

[yellowcuda]

Jonathan runs it on the car in this picture...can't remember what the setup is, but I will ask him this afternoon and re-post.  I can tell you that he LOVES it and claims that it is sooooo much easier than messing with carbs. 

[Crazy Larry]

Great thread because I have been curious about fuel injection myself.
I have seen the advertisments in Mopar Muscle and the others. I was talking to some guy a few months back and he claimed it absolutley lowers your horsepower output - but I thught the difference is so minimal that you never really feel it.

If anyone has fuel injection, how much does a typical conversion cost?

It would be a great summer project (not that I don't have enough in the planner right now )

[Blown70]

fuelairspark.com XFI system.

IIRC with speaking to Johnathan that is what he was running.  Not sure though.

[defiance]

I'm running MegaSquirt setup.  Much lower cost than most of the competitors, but a lot more work involved.  Of course, the positive side of that is that with more work comes more capability of working on it if anything breaks 
www.msefi.com -- www.megaquirt.info
I absolutely love it, myself.  The ECU costs around $300 to buy pre-built (around $220 or so if you're good with a soldering iron, and you build it yourself).  The components have to be obtained seperately, but it's flexible enough to handle about anything you can put together for it.  I ran a holly pro-jection throttle body for a while, then pulled the injectors, modified my manifold, and switched it to port injection.  Took about 30 minutes to reconfigure the ECU to handle the VERY different setup
It also does timing control if you have a compatible ignition (if you've got a mopar factory elec ign, you can just add a $30 GM 7-PIN hei module to make it compatible - The mopar unit doesn't accept advance inputs - then lock down the distributor).  I've yet to find a function available on an aftermarket system that it doesn't do, and the guys that work on it are actually making some nice strides toward more 'OEM' style applications like traction control and such.  And when new advances are made, you can just download new firmware and update.

[volk68]

I'm running MegaSquirt setup.  Much lower cost than most of the competitors, but a lot more work involved.  Of course, the positive side of that is that with more work comes more capability of working on it if anything breaks 
www.msefi.com -- www.megaquirt.info
I absolutely love it, myself.  The ECU costs around $300 to buy pre-built (around $220 or so if you're good with a soldering iron, and you build it yourself).  The components have to be obtained seperately, but it's flexible enough to handle about anything you can put together for it.  I ran a holly pro-jection throttle body for a while, then pulled the injectors, modified my manifold, and switched it to port injection.  Took about 30 minutes to reconfigure the ECU to handle the VERY different setup
It also does timing control if you have a compatible ignition (if you've got a mopar factory elec ign, you can just add a $30 GM 7-PIN hei module to make it compatible - The mopar unit doesn't accept advance inputs).  I've yet to find a function available on an aftermarket system that it doesn't do, and the guys that work on it are actually making some nice strides toward more 'OEM' style applications like traction control and such.

I have heard about the Megasquirt setup, and have even visited their site and forums, but it looks like you have to be really well versed in EFI to really get it to work.  The one thing I noticed about the forums is that seemingly no one with a big block had everything "tuned" correctly.  I believe I even remember seeing your story there.

I would love to know more detailed information about your tuning experience, as well as what your total cost was on the project, where you got your fuel rails, etc...

[yellowcuda]

We have what some say is a big block, we haven't had any tuning problems at all. It actually runs so much smoother and better than our other big block with carbs.

[Arthu®]

I was talking to some guy a few months back and he claimed it absolutley lowers your horsepower output - but I thught the difference is so minimal that you never really feel it.

Why would it lower your hp output? If it does this only means that is getting less fuel to the cylinders than the carb. If it lowers it, why would one ever want it? The real advantage of EFI especially MPI oppossed to SPI. Is that you can very well control the fuel/air mixture, This can make it faster than the carb version but most importantly makes it more fuel efficient.

Arthur

[defiance]

Yeah, tuning was a nightmare for me ..... .... ... until I realized that my injectors were the problem.  I started off running a throttle body, and fought it for months.  I finally gave up and handed it over to a shop, and they discovered that the left side pair of injectors were injecting about 50% less fuel than the right side.  So, one side of the engine would run lean while the other was rich.  I took it back from them after they finished up the manifold work for the port injection (they were bieng slow ) and tuning was suddenly a breeze!  Well, comparatively, at least

[volk68]

What was your total cost on your conversion?

[yellowcuda]

Blown 70 is right: F.A.S.T. is what we are running. (Fuel Air Spark Technologies)  Besides fuel lines it comes ready to go.  We have no 0 problems with it.  As a matter of fact we had the car in for dyno and Year One had their car there, they had put an XL system on and had so many problems they were switching over to the FAST system.  They have a website  www.fuelairspark.com  .  The system is expensive, I think ours was around 5000.00, but we feel worth it.  The system hooks up to a laptop and will show you as you are driving what your output is and what is happening and where.  You can then change readings to what you desire. 
Feel free if you are interested to call and talk to Jonathan about the system, he said he would love to tell you about it.  He has spoken to several members here about big blocks, hemis, bodywork, etc.  His cell is 770-403-8357, he is in his garage tinkering now, anytime is fine.  We are eastern time though so remember not to call us at midnight
Here is a picture of what it went on:

[defiance]

Well, it's really difficult to estimate, since I built it one way first, then went back and rebuilt to a different route (throttle body redone as port), but I think the actual cost in the final setup was around $2200.  That includes several hundred to have the manifold modified for the injectors, and fuel rails built - if you can do that yourself, it'll save a chunk.  I'm no good with a welder and don't have access to a nice drill press, so I paid instead.

From what I'm seeing, FAST and Megasquirt look to offer similar features, just ms is a whole lot more work, and fast is a whole lot more money.  I honestly can't say I'm certain I'd go MS again, free time has gotten much harder to come by lately   But I can say the end result is WELL worth it, as long as you have the time