CFI upgrades

Topic: CFI upgrades (Read 2270 times) previous topic - next topic

CFI upgrades

April 15, 2009, 01:52:35 PM

i am about to put a 302 and a 4 speed in my 56 chevy truck

i am getting a complete CFI setup off of an 85 Crown Vic because i want the look of a carb with the economy of FI.

i was wondering if there are any upgrades that can be done to help in the power department.

CFI upgrades

Reply #1 – April 15, 2009, 02:02:17 PM

About your only choice would be to locate '84-'85 LSC Mark VII and use that system(remember LSC)... I believe it gave something like 170Hp vs 140 for the CV setup... Also the '84-'85 AUTOMATIC Stangs used a similar setup, guessing one of those would be hard to find, unless someone just happens to be setting on the parts... No matter what you use, headers and a free flowing 2 1/2" exhaust system will free up 20 or so Hp...

A SEFI system would give another 30-40ft lbs of torque at low speeds, would be useful in a P/U...

CFI upgrades

Reply #2 – April 15, 2009, 02:07:04 PM

what are the differences in the two setups?

CFI upgrades

Reply #3 – April 15, 2009, 04:33:58 PM

I guess you found a way to make that old chevy truck cool! LOL just playin ,always here about Chevy in a Ford bout time we started fighting back. Wish I had a vette to shove a 351 in. Yup boys I made this Vette all it could be I stuck a 351 in it!

CFI upgrades

Reply #4 – April 15, 2009, 05:01:04 PM

I'm not really sure of the differences, other than the LSC/Stang setup uses a different computer with larger throttle body and injectors(52lb[grey top] vs 46lb[blue top])... I'll guess the cam is a bit more aggressive as well... Otherwise I don't think there are any differences...

BTW the CFI injectors are low resistance units and a SEFI type inj should not be substituted(all the stock ones are far to small anyway)...

CFI upgrades

Reply #5 – April 15, 2009, 05:03:51 PM

Also look for '84-'85 LTD LX or a police LTD from those years, thats where I got mine.

CFI upgrades

Reply #6 – April 15, 2009, 05:51:45 PM

i can get the setup off the crown vic for $200 including the engine....

CFI upgrades

Reply #7 – April 15, 2009, 10:24:23 PM

If its a good engine I suppose that's a good deal, I'm just used to buying complete cars for that much...

This four speed you're talking about, is this a earlier transmission like a toploader??? What flywheel you planning on using??? It's important cause the '81 earlier 289/302/5.0 & all 351s uses a difference balance and those flywheels cannot be used on a '82-up 5.0...

What you gonna do for clutch linkage/cable???

CFI upgrades

Reply #8 – April 15, 2009, 11:21:18 PM

i am going to use a flywheel from an 80's ford truck.

i'm going to build a clutch pedal that goes through the floor and has a rod to push the clutch fork

CFI upgrades

Reply #9 – April 16, 2009, 12:35:21 AM

split the cfi in half by removing the phillups screws on the bottom.

use a small cyl hone to bore the upper half out as in to port match the lower half.

remove the injector screens and repalce them or leave them out if you can offer a secondary external filter

remove the freeze plug on the top of the fuel pres regulator, rotate the allen screw inside to increase the pres to ~45psi. 1 turn cw = @3psi iirc.

You could experiment with swapping butterflies from an old carb with larger ones by honing out the lower half of the CFI.

insure you have the correct tps voltage,(less than a volt dc)

install a fuel pump from a supercharge 3.8 L into your existing pump hosing which offers about 30 more LPH fuel flow.

CFI upgrades

Reply #10 – April 16, 2009, 02:03:03 AM

so CFI is actually more adjustable than the setup on my 88 bird?

CFI upgrades

Reply #11 – May 24, 2009, 02:09:37 AM

anyone care to answer that last question?

CFI upgrades

Reply #12 – May 24, 2009, 04:03:29 AM

anything is adjustable. You could burn a chip for your thunderbird and probably out do a cfi setup 4 to 1 without any major modifications.

If I were really wanting power and the look of a carb, I would get a carbed lower machined with EFI injectors setup with a carb throttle body setup. You still can't beat the simplicity of a carb if you live in a warmer area though.

CFI upgrades

Reply #13 – May 24, 2009, 04:06:46 AM

not sure what you mean by that question.
everything has its up's and downs.

the CFI offers the same look as a 2bbl, picking the CFI from a v8 car gives you a bigger air flow into the intake.

if you split it in half, you can hone it out and install even larger buterflies from a carb.
Most 2bbl intakes can be matched up to flow the same, take into consideration the port size on the heads tough.
CFI systems are typically restricted of air flow, wish they were not because they offer a simple and easy to work on fuel system. If there were a stock 4bbl CFI, Id be leaning that way. I thought chevy did on on a car ,, 4 injector TBI system?????

the fuel presure regulator is adjustable on all CFI units.

technically a chevy 2bbl tbi offerse more of a carb look with a much much much much lower profile like Dodge and better fuel delivery.
downside is the fuel pres reg is in an odd ass place as well as a couple other things I dont really like about it.

Id bet you could find these all day long easy enough.

CFI upgrades

Reply #14 – May 24, 2009, 11:07:02 AM

can you burn chips for CFI computers?