Welcome to the next installment of the

Topic of the Week

The subject of the week is EFI retrofits.

Have you taken a GM TBI setup and put it on top of that AMC V8? Something similar? Or did you do a junkyard howell-type jobbie on your 258. Want to?

Step up to the microphone!

Let's try to keep this to fitting on AMC/Jeep engines.

Well instead of going through all the hassle of sorting out a wiring harness and finding the parts in a yard, I just got the junk for my 258 from Howell:D It's spendy but I had money at the time and fuel injection is worht every penny. The TBI that came with the kit was from a '95 S10 I think...anyways it was off of a 4.3 liter V6. If you can find all the parts the only other thing would be getting the computer reprogramed. I think that Howel will do this but I'm not sure.

My dad also has the howell kit for his 304 and it is basically the same, but it uses a 5.0 or 5.7 TBI instead and a different computer as well. They both purr like kittens being hung by the tail;)

I have the holley TBI kit for my 258. Works well if you know how to tune an ECU. If you dont, its a PITA (better off with the howell)

I blew up the computer in my howell tbi kit for the 258 last year. I put a motorcraft 2100 on but would like to return back to fuel injection. If I go to the local pick and pull and find the gm 4.3 computer will i need to get it reprogramed or should it work as is???

It would probably make your engine run....but it would probably be far from optimal. How did you blow your computer up?

My water tight box that I seald it up in wasnt so water tight.....
Looking at my computer I guess I could get a junkyard unit and take out the chips from my howell computer(they are still ok its just majorly corroded on the board where the wireing harnss plugs in) and plug em into it.

Originally posted by jeepin801
If I go to the local pick and pull and find the gm 4.3 computer will i need to get it reprogramed or should it work as is???

You're in luck. You don't need to look for a 4.3 computer specifically. Just about any TBI computer will work as long as the last three numbers in the part number are 747. GM used the same computer in almost all of the TBI applications and customized them for each engine with the PROM chip. You have that from Howell so just use your old one in a new computer.

I went the http://www.customefis.com route when converting my 401 to GM TBI. Planning to do a writeup on the swap but waiting until I have it "finished". In the meantime you can see my comments (and a really bad pic) here:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51190

Offroad performance has been fantastic :D but to be honest the real motivation for me is the 5,000 to 8,000 feet change in elevation that I may encounter on some trails out here in CO. Rather nice having a computer monitor and adjust that fuel mixture for you on the fly :D

a 401 w/ some sequential fuel injection would be cool. I didn't like the gm tbi on a gm small block, can't imagine it's much cooler on a different motor. I guess bobo fuel injection is better than a carb.

This thread is sucking wind.
a friend once told me about a TPI lower manifold than could be used with AMC motors. Anybody know where to find that?

thanks for the info on the computer now i have a better start on where to look for one...

Originally posted by Sundowner
This thread is sucking wind.
a friend once told me about a TPI lower manifold than could be used with AMC motors. Anybody know where to find that?

It's John Wilson's too, this guy is great. I have yet to buy anything from him but my next profect will all but require his services.

Check it out.

http://www.customefis.com/images/pefipass.jpg

He even tells you how to do it for yourself if you like.

http://www.customefis.com/amcport.html

Port injection was my initial plan and John was finishing that manifold pictured above while we were discussing my system. I bought the manifold (Torker) and was going to either use injector inserts from http://www.force-efi.com/ to convert it or just send it to them and convert it. John's approach should work fine, I just wanted the separate inserts for a little cleaner look. Money ran out and I changed horses in mid-stride in favor of the TBI approach. John built my wiring harness with port in mind though, so when the time comes for the port setup it should be an easy switch. Check out some of that Force hardware when you get a chance... sweet work but spendy.

Spend some time and read ALL of the info on John's website. It's an excellent resource. I combined mine with an HEI and Delco alternator swap which really cleaned up the engine bay, but that's probably another TOTW to come :flipoff2:

:beer:

TONS of TBI knowlege is avalible at http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/forumdisplay.php?forumid=17
I'm a moderator there. I got a TBI for $35 shipped to my doorfrom somone over there. I need to make an adapter for it, get a TBI comptuer, and figure out the wiring this summer. I also have a TBI 305 1989 Firebird.
www.pawinc.com has Holley TBI adapters for $12. Anywhere else won't be less that $40. Don't be too surprised and tell them that Summit racing wants $50 for the same shit or they might raise their prices.

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FuelInj_pics/517-1.jpg (http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFIA/517-1.html)

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FuelInj_pics/17-41.jpg (http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFIA/17-41.html)

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FuelInj_pics/17-45.jpg (http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFIA/17-45.html)

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FuelInj_pics/17-46.jpg (http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFIA/17-46.html)

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FuelInj_pics/17-47.jpg (http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFIA/17-47.html)

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FuelInj_pics/517-2.jpg (http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/FMS/FMSFIA/517-2.html)