Bentwings
Member
I was really just pulling numbers to show that cost wise it’s an investment. Reliability? Convenience? Some performance improvement? More efficient?
I’ve weighed this on one of my Streetrods for several years. There simply isn’t a way to cost justify it. My rod will gradually appreciate in value as long as it remains in good shape. 4 sp OD and or port EFI probably will make little difference in value or saleability. For me the car is an incredible daily driver. I’ve already put 15k absolutely trouble free miles this year on it with a “quadrajunk” as we say. Mpg is no better that the original got 42 years ago.
Now my semi classic 94 Buick RoadMaster Wagon got 20-24 mpg some 5-600 pounds heavier and with 40 less hp, yet it could eat the el Camino’s lunch 0-60. However it’s now been in the shop off and on for 6 months with mysterious EFI issues that simply defy solutions. I sure would hate to see this in a boat. This car is all original with nothing but OEM parts used. it’s left my stranded twice in only 5k miles in two years. I have a laptop, software and connection cable dedicated to this car for deep scanning the computer.
Newer boats have EFI and I’m sure they are well thought out by factory engineers. As long as they are operated correctly they are probably very good. But these things age and with that comes a host of issues. Water and corrosion being a couple of them. More so in boats than cars. My boat gets a daily bath in condensation in the summer. I’ve already had water in the fuel tank even using non oxy premium from the fuel dock. I don’t know how many fuel/water separators I’ve gone through. I buy a dozen at a time. I’ve pumped the tank
Too.
So should you go through with this be sure you understand the EFI system and have at least a scanner capable of reading codes.
I looked back on the previous posts (please forgive spelling, I do check but it self corrects...sometimes )
You noted looking at different systems. I favor port injection as I think you can get more even fuel distribution as you don’t have to deal with wet flow in the manifold. A couple mfg sell port EFI. They generally run about $1800 but do require a high pressure fuel pump. They usually have some kind of mini fuel tank that your motor’s standard fuel pump supplies, regulated by a float. Then within this is the EFI high pressure pump. I like the Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 system. They use OEM parts so they are relatively easy to service. They have a forum on their site.
https://www.edelbrock.com/pro-flo-4-efi-system-for-1986-earlier-small-block-chevy-engines-35760.html
https://forums.edelbrock.com/forum/pro-flo-efi/pro-flo-4
I’ve weighed this on one of my Streetrods for several years. There simply isn’t a way to cost justify it. My rod will gradually appreciate in value as long as it remains in good shape. 4 sp OD and or port EFI probably will make little difference in value or saleability. For me the car is an incredible daily driver. I’ve already put 15k absolutely trouble free miles this year on it with a “quadrajunk” as we say. Mpg is no better that the original got 42 years ago.
Now my semi classic 94 Buick RoadMaster Wagon got 20-24 mpg some 5-600 pounds heavier and with 40 less hp, yet it could eat the el Camino’s lunch 0-60. However it’s now been in the shop off and on for 6 months with mysterious EFI issues that simply defy solutions. I sure would hate to see this in a boat. This car is all original with nothing but OEM parts used. it’s left my stranded twice in only 5k miles in two years. I have a laptop, software and connection cable dedicated to this car for deep scanning the computer.
Newer boats have EFI and I’m sure they are well thought out by factory engineers. As long as they are operated correctly they are probably very good. But these things age and with that comes a host of issues. Water and corrosion being a couple of them. More so in boats than cars. My boat gets a daily bath in condensation in the summer. I’ve already had water in the fuel tank even using non oxy premium from the fuel dock. I don’t know how many fuel/water separators I’ve gone through. I buy a dozen at a time. I’ve pumped the tank
Too.
So should you go through with this be sure you understand the EFI system and have at least a scanner capable of reading codes.
I looked back on the previous posts (please forgive spelling, I do check but it self corrects...sometimes )
You noted looking at different systems. I favor port injection as I think you can get more even fuel distribution as you don’t have to deal with wet flow in the manifold. A couple mfg sell port EFI. They generally run about $1800 but do require a high pressure fuel pump. They usually have some kind of mini fuel tank that your motor’s standard fuel pump supplies, regulated by a float. Then within this is the EFI high pressure pump. I like the Edelbrock Pro Flo 4 system. They use OEM parts so they are relatively easy to service. They have a forum on their site.
https://www.edelbrock.com/pro-flo-4-efi-system-for-1986-earlier-small-block-chevy-engines-35760.html
https://forums.edelbrock.com/forum/pro-flo-efi/pro-flo-4
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