1967 500 - Buster - Main Restoration Thread

Any info on how that system does ignition control with a stock distributor? Maybe I misunderstood it --

 

Yes I will be using that as well so I don't have to change out the stock fuel tank or get another fuel pump.

Laters,
Jeff

 

I believe that their computer will control the standard coil and receive the input from the distributor. Here is a picture of the wiring diagram:



Laters,
Jeff

 

So, I see the note in red about locking out the advance mechanical bits -- makes sense. It might also be happy with a simple crank sensor.

That throttle linkage kinda looks like both butterflies work together, not progressive like a carb? Can't quite tell from the pics. The spray patterns in the videos make it obvious they aren't using any standard injectors. Very interesting.

 

Here are some photos of the "carb" from the shop:


Laters,
Jeff

 

HEY jEFF, so have you gotten the FiTECH system installed and If so how do you like the response fom it ????? Jeff shes looking super keep up the good work ./ANDY

 

share some info when you get a chance.

 

Ok well hello everyone! Status update. The fuel center came in so now everything is mounted and tested. The motor seems to run fine on the base programming but no serious testing was done. The rest of the week will be spent testing and tuning the motor and programming. I will let you all know how that goes.





Laters,
Jeff

 

Excellent work. Just to pick a nit, do you need a hose clamp on that high output from the reservoir? It could be tragic if that popped off over a hot motor.

 

To be honest I was thinking the same thing but the hose ends and hoses are made for each other and are of the same type of connections OEM's use so for now no I am not going to add any. It is hard to know from the pictures but those hoses are really connected to the hose ends extremely well.

Laters,
Jeff

 

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW <.>all the ins and outs of this mod/ Andy

 

Ok well this sucks! After spending the better part of two weeks working with the the technical support folks at FiTech we are ripping the system out of the truck and going to try and replace it with a FAST system. Long story short the unit is very susceptible to RFI (radio frequency interference). We tried everything but eventually had to replace the MSD billet distributor with something else (did not make me a happy camper but decided to live with it) to finally clear all the RFI errors in the computer. After that we could not get the air/fuel ratio to stay stable. The reason given by FiTech is that "well you are using a heavily modified single plane intake and that is preventing gas atomization so raw fuel is pouring down the manifold, past the valves and cylinder, out the exhaust which is causing the O2 sensor to misread the mixture". Sounds like a bunch of BS from a company that said this unit would support 600 HP because we all know that to get that kind of horsepower you need a dual plane intake, ah yeah right. Did I mention that I used to have a simple (although heavily modified) carburetor on the motor with no issues except for cold starting? One would think that an injector could atomize the gas better than a carburetor but perhaps not? Ok so I am a bit miffed

So anyway we are just in the final stages of confirming with FAST that their system will work with the FiTech fuel control center, which works great. Once we get the final ok we will be ordering, installing, tuning, etc that system.

Laters,
Jeff

 

Real sorry to hear that ,I hope the FiTech people will atleast except the unit back ,,sounds like a lot of B.S,they tried to feed you,the FAST unit has a lot of good feed back keep us informed /Andy

 

bummer man. still if the fuel supply unit works well its not all bad. you are paving the way for a lot of us. keep info coming.

 

That confirms the suspicions I had about the unit.
With an EFI you have to get the fuel curve very close in open circuit (no O2 sensor input) or the O2 will work against all efforts to tune.
FAST and Holley, and Quick Fuel all make good systems, I haven't worked with other aftermarket ones so I can't comment on them.

 

Just a quick update. FAST said that the FiTech Fuel Center should work just fine with their products so we are moving forward with the FAST system. I will let you guys know how round two pans out

Laters,
Jeff

 

The Fuel Center is similar to what is used on some diesels.
In a high horsepower application that setup will likely yield higher than optimal fuel temperatures at idle and low speed, you might want to look into a pump controller.
High fuel temps bring two issues to the table.
First is that gasoline expands when hot, so each injector pulse is delivering less gas. yeah, the viscosity goes down a bit, but the overall effect tends lean.
Second is that hot gasoline evaporates at a prodigious rate.
That is why coolers get installed on return lines.

 

I was wondering how you made out with refund with FiTech ,as I wanted to purchase on but if the company does not own up to product warranty
, I will look elsewhere as it a lot of money to put out, and have you had better tuning on the new unit
Andy

 

Well it appears that these fuel injection swaps are not quite as easy as they are made out to be if you have a heavily modified engine. So the FAST system is finally working but it took several tries and many calls to FAST technical support to get it done. The shop owner finally had to pull some strings and get a guy that he knows and met before that also works a FAST to go talk to the support folks and tell them "Hey this guy is not a idiot and is very experienced. If he is telling you there is an issue, then there is an issue". They finally swapped out the computer and things started working much better. The biggest challenge is that I have a huge cam and single plane intake that make it very difficult to control the idle until the engine is warm. To this I responded "No sh*t, that is why I wanted to convert to fuel injection in the first place " We also ended up re-doing the fuel system since the FiTech Fuel Control Center was not working as expected with the FAST system, although in retrospect it could have been the faulty FAST computer that was causing the issues all along. I guess we will never know.

Now comes the big issue. I have gotten several estimates on doing up the bodywork and paint. Either there is a lot more damage than I realized or the prices for this sort of stuff has gone through the roof in the past couple of years. All of the quotes were in the $18K - $20K range. Unfortunately with my current job I can no longer do any of the body work like I was planning to do. I simply no longer have the time or easy access to the shop. This makes it really tough. I absolutely love my truck and sorta feel like it is a rescue dog that was saved from the gas chamber and that I need to do whatever it takes to make it all happy happy. However at those prices would I be just plain stupid not to find another 1967 Ranchero that was already all done up? Brian (shop owner) has already said that they would take care of combining two Rancheros to make one great one (for instance my motor/drive train into the pretty body, interior stuff, etc). What do you guys think?

Laters,
Jeff

 

seeing Buster online here it doesn't appear that bad off as far as body ,but maybe it's more what lay beneath,these cars do have a way of rotting ,anything can be saved but 20 grand WOW ,I WOULD LOOK AT THE OPTIONS OF ANOTHER BODY ,The cost has gone way up on body materials and supplies and the EPA has these shops on a tightrope,with environmental waste,not being able to do a large portion of the work yourself,is very costly ,Having it all done in a shop it's not hard to see a tall Bill ,I paid over 6000.00 just paint,after I worked on mine for short of two years ,so .the right deal will arrive for Buster ,I believe that like you said caring as much as if it was a live companion ,Glad you got injectin sorted , goodluck /ANDY