Experience converting to EFI?

[oldskoolboarder]

Hello

Newbie here.  I'm the proud owner of a '68 Barracuda by way of Mecum last week.  Got a great deal (I think) and love the car.  The previous owner had a custom built 360LA dropped in and it's been dyno'ed at 450 HP.  I was lucky enough to receive the JMS Racing Engine reports on it as well.  It has a 750 Holley on it as well.

It's been over 30 years since I've driven a fuel hungry machine and the sub-10 MPG takes a bit to stomach, mostly because I want this thing as a daily driver.  The owner mentioned that his next upgrade was an EFI.

I'm curious if anyone here has done the conversion and if that improved your mileage at all.  I know it's not cheap, but TBH, even a 50% improvement would be worth the effort to me.

Thanks in advance.

[1 Wild R/T]

50% I think you'll find unless the carb is very badly out of tune  20% is optimistic... EFI will help drivability, cold weather, high altitude it'll compensate, but huge mileage gains not likely...

FWIW I converted my Challenger to EFI years ago... It was only on the car for about 1 year as I fought with low quality aftermarket parts & a control package with no ability to log parameters... It the time I was working on modern EFI systems daily & while I could have & likely should have adapted modern OE components I made the mistake of trusting all the great reviews of a system printed in a couple magazines... Problem is magazines are supported by aftermarket parts suppliers.... And if they wrote a scalding review of a new high $$$ system advertising $$$$ might go elsewhere... A few years after I bought my EFI kit it became common knowledge that the system had problems... Currently I'm building another car, this one will have OE EFI, an OD trans & quite a few other modern features....

[oldskoolboarder]

Yeah, that's why I'm asking around.

Seems that the only 'reviews' I find are the ones for EZ-EFI and E-street and those tend to be from magazines, as you've noted.  I've yet to find actual reviews from owners that have kept them on there.

The previous owner claims 'double' but I find that dubious, even 50% seems high.  At 20%, makes more sense to look at tuning.  I do know that it runs rich so I'll have a better feel after I have that handled.

[Chryco Psycho]

Having done EFI conversions it is worth doing , the engine will start & run far better & the tenability is un matched being able to adjust everything every 250 rpm or 2" of vacuum .
 BUT the cost is $4000 or better & actual fuel savings being maybe 15% it will take a long time to see the upside & start saving $$
 Crab tuning or going to a Proform carb will get you a long way as milage should be higher than 10 IF you can keep your foot out of it

[oldskoolboarder]

Thanks for the feedback.

Overall, it seems most suggest carb tuning vs the EFI at least to start.

This is meant for street, not racing, and I'm pretty good about avoiding lead foot.

What's the pros of going w/ the Proform carb?

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Thanks for the feedback.

Overall, it seems most suggest carb tuning vs the EFI at least to start.

This is meant for street, not racing, and I'm pretty good about avoiding lead foot.

What's the pros of going w/ the Proform carb?

Going to a Proform was one of my better decisions on my car. It is an upgrade over a Holley. It is more tunable.

I have some questions though. Is your car an automatic or stick shift? Do you know if the Holley on there now is a double-pumper, or vacuum secondary?

[Chryco Psycho]

The Proform is a far more accurate & tunable carb , work with what you have & see what you can get out of it , look at a Proform if you are still not happy , the Proform will perform better

[oldskoolboarder]

Yeah, I'm taking this slow and working on the carb tuning 1st.

Got a hold of previous owner and he admits the prev mech ran it rich for break in as the car only has 900 miles since restoration/rebuild.

Other info that might help posters provide more pertinent feedback:
360LA
Tremec 5-speed with scatter shield (converted from automatic)
Rebuilt 8 3/4 3.92 rear end
Custom built Holley 750 double pumper
Comp cam (waiting for details on that)
Front wheels - 215 70R14
Rear wheels - 255 60R15

I dropped at my local shop today just to have a safety inspection.  They work on all my late model cars but I know the owner has some muscle cars and races, so I know they can at least take a look.  Admittedly, I only recall seeing older GMs though.  Today, there was a covered, LONG car on the floor w/ a tall tail and I immediately knew what it was.  Underneath was an orange Superbird owned by the senior mech, who also said he owns a 70 Cuda 440 Six Pack.  I think I'm in good hands.

[MJS73]

Best money I ever spent:

[Chryco Psycho]

Awesome visual impact too 

[Strawdawg]

It's definitely awesome

[dfrazz]

Best money I ever spent:

Mike, can you provide the details on your set up (where you got the 6-pack EFI, what brand, manifold, and how hard/long was it to install)? 

[anlauto]

Just installed a Holley Terminator system on a customer's car....WORKS GREAT

[67vertman]

Mike is not the only one..........     



on the Dyno....



P.S. This setup is NOT CHEAP!  but worth every penny.

Link to Mikes build.  Mine is on here somewhere too.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=67945.msg724416#msg724416

[dfrazz]

Just installed a Holley Terminator system on a customer's car....WORKS GREAT

So $9,000 for Mike and Ron's 6 pack EFI which is wicked looking!  Alan, what was the cost of the Holley Terminator set up?  I know its only a 4 barrel but would still like to know. And is it just drop in setup?