Soooo, to recap,

Simon ran very well. There were some issues with shifting in reverse. I have already determined that it is clutch related. I 'tightened' a bit the pedal BUT, I still have to put the pedal to the... glass (?) to avoid grinding in reverse. This clearly needs more work. I was already aware of the issue. See here.

Handling was very good considering only the front was done. I took some sharp turns that I was not expecting to catch with it. IMHO, a rear rebuild and it will be golden.

Motor ran quite well. Slight popping out the tail pipes when decelerating off the throttle. Probably moot once the EFI is in.

Cooling stayed for the most part at 210 max. Tho on the highway on the drive back, instead of dropping, it crept up a bit. That was weird. All day, when cruising at 60+ MPH it would drop to the thermostat level of 160 (I know, I know - on my bucket list). However after an hour of driving in the cool evening at 65 MPH, it edged to 215. It was a bit erratic. I found an air leak in the surge tank tube and purged again. Some bubble came out and about a quart of coolant went in - I am not sure that was the issue, however. The water pump looks new.

Other tine issues:

• the wiper arms need to be adjusted down as the wiper door is compressing the upper one against the windshield
• the fan for climate control is not working
• passenger side door panel needs work - the lock button keeps falling off.

All in all - not bad.

 

So. Time for the next step: EFI

Let’s start with the easiest: the temp sensor



fabricate a bracket for the sump and high pressure fuel pump. I opted for Edelbrock. I had some left over aluminum brackets from a seat install. I won’t paint them yet. First seeing of it works well. It does.




Out with the old.




on with the new. As there is not fuel bowls here, I am not worried about heat screwing up the carb. The floats are in the sump. No need for the insulating spacer.

 

Hip bone connects to the... but bone.... Which side is up ?

I was expecting drilling this would be a nightmare. It turns out it was super easy !!!!









At around midnight I was finished. Too late to test tho.

 

Good luck with the EFI. I just switched my 454 with a mini-blower over to a FiTech unit. Install was easy. Still making tweaks but it runs really well!! Hopefully yours does too!

 

Sooooo. Got some testing under the belt but more testing and tweaking will be necessary.

The first fire up took a few tries. I was concerned that I had screwed something up... but the fifth time was a charm.

Interestingly, my Edelbrock carb fired up faster In fact, even after a few random hours of driving, my carb tune wasn’t so bad. The EFI seems to be better rounded. When you mash the gas, there is no lag or bog or any other issue. The power comes on smoothly.

What does annoy my is the racket the IAC makes. (This might be a tune issue.). When cold it makes a loud vacuum leak sound. It never goes away totally, but I suspect that‘s because of my 160 degree T-stat. I have a 195 somewhere but can’t seem to find it back. There is also the occasional pop out of the tailpipe. I think on deceleration. The correct thermostat might fix this, but I’ll have to check the plugs and see if the ignition is not occasionally dropping a cylinder.

 

Another weird development... there now is a squeal in the Bluetooth radio that matches the RPM. No doubt I’ll have to figure out a filter of some sort.

Also seems to be happening only in Bluetooth mode; not in radio mode.

 

Yeah, the IAC in my FiTech is loud too. Better after it warms up.

 

Back in the day when we only had am/fm radio’s you could purchase a filter that you spliced into the coil wire between the coil and the distributor. They worked great filtering out the noise on fm.
Then they developed “resistor” spark plugs and there was never a problem again.
Some plug wires can also cause interference with the radio.

 

Chalk one up for carbs.

 

LOL, right! Now if only there were some advantages to FI...

 

I was just being silly. I have seen some very looong and drawn out debates on carbs vs FI; I was poking some fun at that.

FI fits my application, and I ain’t going back. However, the IAC noise was unexpected. That being said it might be a user issue. Now that I have a Griffin radiator and a large electric fan, I need to put a stock thermostat back in. As I understand, the IAC is coolant temp contingent.

 

Is your FI self learning?
What is the IAC?

 

LOL, I know I was agreeing with you.

the reason I went FI was because I am running E85. However there are not a lot of E85 stations near me and I want to be able to fill up on whatever was available and adjust the FI to compensate for different octanes on the fly. Try doing that with carbs at the gas station. “Hold on a second here while I drain my float bowls and change my metering plate and jets”.

 

IAC = Idle Air Control. It’s how the FI adjusts the idle RPM. It doesn’t open and close the butterflies it allows a “vacuum” leak and adds more fuel to compensate. Basically it adds air and the injectors add fuel to raise and lower the RPM.

btw, mine really whistles when I get on the boost.

 

so performance wise, do you like the EFI better than the carb?
any seat of the pants improvement on acceleration?
Many people debating carbs and EFI compare a "well tuned" carb to the EFI, but I feel like most people try to eliminate the bogs and stumbles and call it good, most times with the carb being richer than necessary. This is especially true when modifications are done; that certainly isn't as good as EFI. In my case, I have an A/F meter, and it seems the carb inherently has large swings in A/F ratio.
Do you think you were running rich at all before you did your EFI upgrade?
Do you have any comments on the gas smell that can come from an overly rich carb compared to the EFI?

I've got a 1972, also without any cats, and I'd really like to reduce the gas smell and the vapor canister just isn't cutting it.

 

(Full disclosure: I bought my carb used, rebuilt it and did an electric choke conversion on it. Also, on the EFI, I only have about 50 miles of road testing. Some tweaks may be necessary, such as reinstalling a 195C thermostat. Where did I put that thing ?!)

Yet, even at this early stage I am pleased with my EFI.

My carburetor was absolutely running rich at idle. Working around the car was annoying; it reeked. I had tried leaning out the carb IMS, but the idle quality suffered too much. I checked and rechecked the float level - nothing to be done short of drilling out the bleeds. That problem is 100% gone now with EFI.

Overall, my Eddie 750 CFM was running reasonably well and my issues were very mild. It would start up immediately every time; quicker than the EFI, in fact.

The EFI, of course, starts up every time with no throttle input whatsoever. (That is one of the reasons I bought the EFI: to make it -proof for my more civilized half.) Surprisingly, I do have to crank it a bit longer than I am used to with my carb, but no effort whatsoever is required on my part to start it up (other than key the ignition) or keep it going as the engine warms up. Just turn it on and go.

On hard braking and coming to a full stop, with the carb, I sometimes stalled (again, no float work seemed to change that; spring-loading would have been the next step). That is gone.

On deceleration I would get some pops out of the tail pipe. I still get some random pops out of the tail pipes, but they are milder. I will need to go through my ignition and check all my plugs.

Carburetor throttle response was good. WOT, for the turd that my engine is, was reasonable. With the EFI, throttle response and WOT seem about the same, maybe? But the onset of power is muuuuuch smoother ! It used to be I had to be much more careful bringing it up to WOT. Now it comes on smooth, strong and clean. There are no hesitations and power is uninterrupted and sustained.

The IAC can get noisy when cold and, if you accidentally get near stalling, you can hear it struggle a bit to keep the engine running. (Better the ECU than me ) A 195C T-stat might quieten things down a bit.

I will yank a couple of plugs today to see what they look like. #curious #anticipation

EDIT: Incidentally, I went cheap and did not replace the plugs when I went over to EFI. I shoulda

 

Yes - I had that and it is gone. I cannot smell when the engine is running. It used to be very in-your-face. Now I'd be comfortable smoking behind my car

 

I was watching some car videos on YouTube yesterday evening and all the while hoping that my son does well in Med-school. Those early De Tomaso Panteras look awesome. I changed my mind, kid. Forget the Lambo Countach. They are a fortune to buy and maintain. Panteras are cheaper on both counts.

Anyway, that made me feel like taking the corvette our for a spin. It struck me that this was the first time that I took the car out simply because I felt like a relaxing ride.

The EFI still does not fire up as fast as my carb. I am thinking that is because the annular discharge injectors are above the nearly shut throttle plates. With the carb, you reset the throttle plates and choke by fully depressing the gas. This gives you a shot of gas that reaches the bottom of the plenum. My guess is that little squirt shortens the crank-to-fire-up time. I miss the immediacy. On the other hand, once my EFI is running, it is running and I don't have to worry about it.

The ride was enjoyable but thoughts about the next steps already started cropping up in my mind.

Vibration
That RPM-related pesky vibration still seems to be there although milder. I do not think it is from the drive train, but will check that this evening (weather permitting). I'll take it to 70 MPH and step on the clutch. I am reasonably sure it is coming from the engine. Nonetheless, I will verify. I will also need to check the plugs. Maybe one is not firing properly? When I think of my old Chevelle, I never noticed any such vibration. I have found memories of cruising in OD at 90 MPH like on a cloud. (It was an automatic.)

My suspicion is my turd of an engine. (To be fair, compression is good; oil pressure is good as well.) However, it seems like it was super-cheaply cobbled together. A couple of timing chain cover bolt holes were stripped. The timing chain cover was missing the timing tab and was leaking through a weld. There is also what seems like a leaking rear main seal. The cam had a lobe missing - I put in a TRW replacement. The heads are 882s. Peering from underneath: the cylinder bores looked fresh... but the rod bolts were oddly matched. That scares me.

My guess is the vibration comes from over-boring, replacing the pistons and not balancing.

All of this to say. I think:

1. I will never get this to run as smoothly as I want.
2. It certainly does not have performance worthy of a Corvette.
3. This is not worth investing in at all

I am looking at the entry level of Blueprint's engines. They seem to have more than enough grunt for what I am looking for. Time to save my nickels and dimes. The T-5 can wait.

Other stuff that is bothering me:
I really need an OD
The rear suspension is squidgy and spoils the work on the front
I think I needs 17-inch rims to make this feel modern
The paint is reasonable, but there are quite a few chips
The front speakers clearly cannot take the grunt of the head unit. (I hate pulling the dash)
Speaking of dash... for some reason the center console bulb is on... but no light shines through
Brake booster yoke needs to be extended
Clutch Z-bar needs to be drilled with extra holes

 

About 25 years ago, my neighbor traded an all original, one owner, late 60's, Buick Skylark GS for a De Tomaso Pantera.
I've always wanted one and would dump my C3 for one to rebuild in a heartbeat.
Beautiful cars.

 

Ok. Well I discovered that my valve covers are leaking and that new plugs would HAVE BEEN a good idea.