EFI conversion reliability

I'm wanting to put a EFI throttle body conversion on my Dart with a 5.9 Magnum. I'm planning on driving this around the country so I'm concerned about the reliability of these systems. I really tired of carburetors after 45 years of dealing with them. I've use one setup that being an older Fast EZ on a customers car. We were really happy with the outcome. The two setups that I'm looking at are the Fast EZ 30226-kit and the Fitech Go Street.
Any real life experience logging many miles on these???
Thanks

Have you done any mods to the 5.9? I only ask because I swapped a 5.2 magnum and used a 1995 engine harness and ecu and it starts and runs like new. Cost was 50 bucks.

It is the 380hp crate motor with a dual plane manifold.

I've got about 800 miles on a Holley Sniper kit using their fuel pump. It's performed great.

Whoever's kit you go with though you should do an in-tank pump installation with some kind of baffle. This is especially important if this is a cross country cruiser.

For a little more change, the Edelbrock multipoint setup can be had for less than 2K. It features a single plane manifold. A specter tank from Rock Auto and you have MPFI computer controlled ignition and solid fuel delivery. With all the fiddly bits you'll need, It can come in comfortably under 2500.

No experience with it though. And, I don't know whether or not it batch or sequential fire.

At any rate, my research indicates that adding computer controlled ignition adds around $500 to any of the TBI setups.

Also, from what I've seen personally, the TBI's don't really like dual plane manifolds and you may need a single plane to be completely optimized.

Keep in mind though, I'm in Denver where single plane manifolds are basically useless with carbs if you want to do anything but buzz to the track.

The last one I wrenched a bit on was the single plane Magnum 380 crate engine. Wouldn't idle, stinky exhaust and weird part throttle behavior with the appropriate Holley, dialed in on a dyno. Fitech installed perfectly with a Tanks Inc. setup. The guy drives like a grandma and complained about the top end. Answer ended up being you need to drive it like you intend to use so it can learn, even if you only do WOT to impress your friends. The guy is very happy now, and even did the Central City Hill Climb, which is a reliability run with mostly traditional hot rods. Lots of flat head Fords.

Another guy is fighting with getting a Fitech running properly on a dual plane (mild 350 in a C-10). He sent the unit end for repair under warranty because of strange behavior, hasn't gotten it back yet but the guy is bummed because FiTech recommended a single plane intake to him and the current one is beautified to the tune of 40 hours of polishing and clear coating.

More info to digest. Good luck

I put ez efi on my duster. Before the efi I put about 8500 miles on it, with a Holley 750. After the efi I just don’t feel as comfortable. Originally I had it on a b engine performer. I tried a torker that I had, only thing I noticed, it sounds different, and I think gas mileage got worse. I had the ez efi sitting on the shelf a while, bought it second hand. But when I put it on they still seemed kind of popular. Now it seems antiquated compared some of the others It has the handheld unit, I can upgrade to the touch screen but it almost seems like it would make more sense to just switch to the sniper. I do have the tanks inc. tank. That I like, and I like the easy start and idle of the efi. That’s about it.

Thanks for the replies.
I plan on using an in tank fuel pump with a return line and regulator.

Shabby or loose wiring or connectors are the most common issues when things go bad.
There's nothing more annoying than getting stranded by a lousy connection somewhere.

BcudaChris I'm over in Grand Junction. I've been running dual planes on my street motors for years with no problems. The one EZ setup I did was on this 472 Hemi crate motor with a dual planes. The setup behaved very well. Started right up. Great idle. Crisp throttle responce. Ran great. No smelly exhaust and burning eyes. No fowled plugs.
I understand that on a race motor a single plane is the way to go.

True but being a retired Master Electrician wiring and connections usually aren't a problem for me.

I'm more concerned with failure of the pump, injector or controller.

I've been running a classic f.a.s.t box since 2009. It was 10yrs old tech at that time. Never left me stranded. Cheap walbro 255 pump hanging on the frame rail, noisy but keeps working.
Street car.

I have >3000 miles on my Fitech conversion with no issues.
Definitely drive my car more now, I'd be more concerned about driving with a carb.

I have over 100,000 miles on a holley projection, installed in 1996 has had one pump in the first year, one tps, one oxygen sensor. I know others have had disasters with these but I think you need a modern charging system to keep voltage high at idle, and good connections. My install is on a dual plane, frame mounted pump below tank, and the key in my mind is the 100 amp at 950 rpm neville alternator, it never low voltages at idle not the joke 100 amp factory case junk. One other item, I used the factory tank pickup, it runs dry all the time when low and the pump has never failed from that, it is a walbro. Low voltage kills these systems, I will go Holley for my next install.

If I was serious about getting far from home >300-400mi with an aftermarket EFI, I would consider carrying a spare unit. As costly as it seems, you're up a creek if you do have an issue and nobody will have parts on-hand to get you going again.

My Hemi swap isn't really in much better shape from that aspect, but I do have many factory Mopar quality parts on it. That said, I have about 5,000 trouble free miles on it.

I have four years and over 8000 miles on my system. No it's not a plug and play system, like you are looing for. But mine has given me no problems so far.

F&B throttle body with FAST EFI ECU.

Ya that was always in the back of my mind out of town, I carried a regulator, pump and a afb carb, a distributor, ballast, control box and some line always.

I run a Megasquirt MS3X system that I assembled myself from a kit, had to solder all the resistors on the board etc. Its has been on the car 3 years now and has been great. I honestly would be more concerned about an MSD box or something of the like failing on me. Failing MSD boxes were one of the things that pushed into an EFI system that ran everything with sequential fuel and coil on plug ignition. I have several thousand miles over these last 3 years on the megasquirt system. I have completed 3 drag weeks and for 2018 I averaged a 10.69 ET from my little 416 small block Barracuda. I am more confident than ever with the reliability of EFI.

I would carry a spare fuel pump, my car is set up with two of them that are staged and moving the secondary pump to become the primary pump only takes a few seconds. My pumps are external though and I feel they are not as reliable as an in tank pump setup. I have 1200HP of fuel pump for my 600HP engine, its overkill but the redundancy is nice for a street car. I have had one pump failure and I was down on the side of the road for about 2 minutes. Unknowingly my fuel filter had become clogged and the pump was working too hard and it died. I am more aware now and have not run into that problem again.

Megasquirt always interested me. But does it have any advantage anymore with with some of the stuff Holley is offering now?

Megasquirt will save you a lot of money if you want all the features for sure over the holley stuff, it seems that there is a lot of online help with those systems too. If you understand the systems it is hard to beat, my son uses one on a turbo BMW M3 swap, but he grew up in the digital, computer age so it is easy for him.

When Megasquirt first came out, they were really the only ones on the market that could be basically endlessly customized and they were by leaps and bounds cheaper than anything else on the market. Like 100-200 for a kit vs 2-3k for anyone else. Prices on their competitor's stuff has some down in recent years and the other aftermarket stuff has more options for custom installs than ever before. Now it has basically boiled down to the trade off between cost and ease of installation. The basic MS kits can still be had for quite cheap, but you will be soldering the board together yourself for the cheap kits, however if you spend more you can get machine assembled systems. The learning curve is much steeper with them and support is by way of a forum rather than factory support through a supplier.

EFI & overdrive are an amazing combination. Sounds like several of you havne't pulled the trigger on overdrive yet, as you don't use your cars much. My '68 is a daily driver (factory EFI- reflashed for 408 Magnum & OD)

Overheated/worked fuel pumps can be a reliability issue. Cavitation can exacerbate that problem on poorly designed systems.

Field serviceability on these old cars is hit & miss depending on what breaks and what you brought with you. Look at how many new cars are sitting on the side of the road...

If I had to, I can change both my pumps without dropping the tank. Having an OEM quality fuel system with field serviceable fuel pump/s, spare sensors and the tools and knowledge to troubleshoot them are critical, but so is a cell phone and a flat bed tow truck.

I don't think reliability is an issue. I used to carry around a spare ballast, ecu, cap and rotor with the stock setup. Now all I need is a laptop. Good parts and a In-tank fuel pump setup are key to reliability. I would go with FAST or Holley sniper over FiTech. The two FiTech systems I worked on were not that great

I was going to ad this earlier but I didn’t want to derail your thread, speaking from experience, I would do overdrive over efi. I did over drive conversion on 2 old cars and I found I drove them way more after.

I'm planning doing both the EFI and a 5-spd tranny.
I'm thinking I'll go with the Fast. Do have limited funds available.

I did OD several years before EFI which was several years before boost. I strongly second the vote for OD before EFI if you need to do it in stages. My Charger still runs a 750 double pumper but has a 5spd in it. I have no desire to put EFI on it, but the extra gear was 'mandatory'.

I'm finishing the build of the car so now is the time for both.

Same exact situation for me. The cost for the 518 was $2500, Fitech was $2000, so I did the OD 2 years before EFI. The benefits of OD can't be emphasized enough. Makes the car so much more enjoyable to drive. EFI is nice, but no comparison to having OD.

Oh I hear ya all. We put a 518 in my buddy's 70 Cuda vert 2 years ago. Then I drove it the 800 mile trip to Reno for HAN. With the top down all the way.
I've done several TKO conversions and I don't really like that setup.
Was thinking of doing the T-56 but don't want to build a new tunnel so I'm bellying up to the bar and doing the Passion 855. Just put one in my Buddy's 70 Challenger R/T this summer and it is really nice.
Think I'll put a 518 in my 72 SSP beings it has a 727 now.

A518 in my Charger, makes it nice to drive, EFI next, already run the tanks inc intank fuel pump.

FWIW I really dislike the TKO in my Charger. If I had ever driven one before having mine I would have done a Passion 4spd OD since the 855 wasn't really available.

A huge margin on price, even the full boogie Pre assembled MS3PRO units are way cheaper than holley and have as many or more features. You do have to make your engine wiring harness and I think Holley offers a universal one at a cost. I don't see making a harness as a downside though.

I originally wanted Holley but the price pushed me to look into the megasquirt stuff because I had seen some people using them with great success. There is lots of Drag Week and Bonnevile record holding cars that have run on the DIY Megasquirt kits from DIYAutotune.com.

That is gorgeous man! Are you able to get those results at small block displacement levels and 230-ish duration? Maybe his unit is having problems..

This guys is running an airgap style intake on 383 cubes, a cam in that range, a Davis Unified HEI, headers and auto.

https://fitechefi.com/faq/what-is-better-a-dual-plane-or-a-single-plane-manifold/

On the Fitechs I've heard about some people having problems and other people not having any problems so I don't know what the deal is. I've heard nothing but good about the Fast units. I've decided on the Fast with the Tanks Inc. fuel tank. Going to order them after my trip.
I haven't had any experience with aftermarket EFI on a small block, just that 472 Hemi so we'll see how it goes on my 5.9.

I think the short version on that is quality control.

To me, it seems like they got a bit too large too fast and simply scaled production. It takes a lot of effort to mass produce something with any quality. Even a blind squirrel might find a nut.

There are also questionable components within them, the first thing anyone experienced with FiTech will tell you to do is throw away the provided coolant temp sensor. It's inaccurate and can't be trusted....it's also one of the simplest components in the entire system, it's a stinkin' thermistor. A "quality" replacement is about $9 at retail pricing. To me, if they cheap out on that, what else did they cheap out on? Low end injectors? O-rings? Internal electronics? Oxygen sensors?


That said, I have installed one for a family member and it's been running excellent for a few thousand miles now. I would probably use one on one of my own vehicles, but I would for sure buy brand new and ensure I had a warranty of some sort. In the same breath, I'd be tempted to try a Holley Sniper kit...

First I've heard about this, what are people using for a replacement?

There are a bunch, Delphi TS1007 is what I used. Looks like it's about $10 on Amazon.

There are dozens of posts on the FiTech owners facebook page about the topic.

I had to replace the temp senders on both FiTech systems I worked on, They read about 30 degrees low.

Please do keep Moparts informed on your 5.9 efforts moparmarks! I'm not sold yet, as I'm a bit of a carb geek but I'm genuinely curious because my experiences.

Especially given we both have thin air to deal with (I'm originally from Glenwood so am familiar with Mesa County). West Slope is definitely hotter/colder/dryer, but our minor elevation difference is a wash I woul think.

That said, my theory (quality issues aside) is that what I've experienced with the dual plane is more related to the density altitude/dual plane/high overlap combination and that the self learning algorithm has some trouble with the conditions. I'd like to see one dialed in on a dyno around here. I may have that opportunity in the spring.

I've suspected my temps are low, always around 140-160.
What sensor did you use, the 1 posted above doesn't show up.

I used TS4052SB from Napa

Thx!

Sometimes things work out, that NAPA sensor is $16.
And just today I got a $10 off a $15 purchase coupon in the mail.

Sorry, I dropped a digit. TS10075

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CGM9O2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1