I'm hoping someone can answer a question and maybe a phone call. I am currently building a BBC 427 short deck, and I am wanting to run an old school fuel injection like Hilborn or Enderle. Has anyone ran one on the street, and just how picky of a system are they before it becomes unfun? Thanks, Roy
Roy there are people who have run them on the street with success. I used Allky Digger in Tenn. for all my Hilborn problems he was a great help. Contact him. alkydigger.net Pat
you gotta be really dedicated and crazy to try to run one on the street...most guys these days just make EFI look kind of like mechanical injection, and it works fine. Good luck!
I have run mine on the street for 2 years now. It runs fat but gives great throttle response. Mileage is poor, again not something I was worried about. Out at the throttle blades it is ice cold and at times will make water beads but has never iced up. I have a priming pump on it, so it starts good without any special help. In fact, it has always started something I was worried about going in. I would say go for it, give it a try. Buy a system that is all there and rebuilt already to go. Parting it together can get expensive. For me it was fun, but I think its time has come to an end. Over the winter I plan to replace it with an individual runner system which can be even harder to tune.
Found this that doesn’t show his Nova since it’s a little too new. https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/hrdp-1201-mechanical-fuel-injection-breakin-the-rules/ More info https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hilborn-mechanical-fuel-injection.1290059/
I’ll be interested in this as I have wanted to run one for years. Don’t own one yet but have passed up on several complete systems that were fairly inexpensive. They are out there. Spud Miller at Fuel Injection Enterprises kind of talked me out of it. His opinion is they are either too fat or too lean and it is very difficult to get it right. He does a really cool EFI system using your manifold. No obnoxious fuel rails. $$$$$$
Not sure of your threshold of when it becomes unfun. But I suggest you read up on how mechanical fuel injection works as a first step. It's rock solid in the intended environment. On the street, not so much. But if you like working on stuff, are patient, know it will eat up some money, and accept that even when you get it about as good as it can be, you will be leaving a lot of performance on the table compared to running carbs. And despite the cool factor, I think Flatrod17's description of his experience is pretty typical. And I'm an old school guy and usually don't discourage guys from a challenge, but a lot of talented guys have been down this road and only a small few have had what you could call success. Even though I have a mechanical Hilborn unit on the shelf, when I get to the point that I want to move on from my 6X2 carb setup, I will remove the magneto (not EFI compatible) and call Spud Miller at Fuel Injection Enterprises and buy one of his "old school" EFI stack injector conversions that have most of the EFI stuff on the bottom side of the manifold so it doesn't show.
It can be done , Like others have said , You will be constantly be adjusting , I have only played with Enderle barrel, Dealing with 8 Butterfly's different heat cycles , Check out Dirt guys that run MFI ,,, Spend the extra coin For EFI If your wanting the Vintage parts , You can get pretty creative & buy one those Holley , Fast , self learn & take apart & adapt, Best to have a ecu that you can find tune ,
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