Fitech/TBI systems - mine so far

[Jack91]

Its been great! Changed the basic settings only. Havent even set the IAC steps. Works out of the box. This system, still unlearned, and not set up properly (in the middle of moving and no time) performs better than most "set up" carbys. If youre on the fence about it, take the plunge. Even if it does crap the bed, at least it looks good!
Wont be any worse than the holley it replaced, which was brand new and overfueled like nothing else, with no warranty, a million jet, powervalve, gasket changes and probably 5 rebuilds with no improvement.

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Ignore the vac advance. I was waiting to get a longer piece of hose for it.

[4vxc]

So you're running a normal efi pump and return line not that other setup from fitech?

[Jack91]

Correct. I made a custom tank for the car about 6 months ago with efi in mind, so already had a sump point, return barb and gauge sorted out. I made allowances for an in tank pump back then, but the 044 isn't that loud, and easily accessible and I had one laying around from a previous project. The fuel command centre is not only a total rip off, but tonnes of people are having issues with them. If you were going to go this way, I'd reccomend an inline 7psi carter or holley pump feeding the FCC, then all you're dealing with is a surge tank with a pump in it. I'm pretty sure that another company are selling similar setups as the fitech that have less issues. Probably edelbrock or f.a.s.t.

[Jack91]

One thing to be very wary of is the power for the fuel pump. Instructions say to run the supplied wire straight to the pump, so as to utilise the ECU's PWM capability. Basically limiting the power getting to the pump based on the engines needs at that time. Its supposed to prolong pump life by keeping it cooler. However, keep in mind, fitech rates their pump circuit at 15A, and a Bosch 044 will run at 14A +/-1A. Plus the fact you'll be running it 5+m to the back of the car, you'll be well over fitechs ecu rating and the capacity of the wire. So in short, use that wire to trigger a relay, and keep pwm disabled (that's how it comes), or you'll be playing with fire. Literally. I'm sure some people are doing it the wrong way, and I'm sure they are getting fuel pressure issues, burning out pumps, or frying ecus because of it. And if they haven't yet, they will.
Pretty lengthy reply to your question mate, but just putting up that info if someone cones looking for it, as it took some doing to get the figures.

[4vxc]

good info, thanks
I'm looking at fitech or sniper, however there seems to be a lot of people complaining about 02 sensor issues with the Holley and noisy injectors.
Are the fitech injectors noisy?

[Jack91]

Haven't heard about the injectors yet, but can't say mine are noisy. People complain about 02's and coolant temp sensors with the fitechs also. Remember that some people trying to install these are too stupid to work out a carby, so theres a good chance the o2 is in the wrong spot or their issue was self inflicted. Widebands are also somewhat of a consumable, especially running race gas which I'm sure is the culprit in a lot of cases. Leaded gas, which race gas has a lot of, will stuff it real quick. Fitech supplies a stupid "clamp on" o2 install kit in the box. Basically 2 hose clamps, some rolled sheet metal with a nut welded on it. Using this would also be asking for issues I think. Idea obviously is that you just drill a 20mm or so hole and put this thing over it. The supplier mentioned a couple of cases of stuffed o2s due to bad installs.

[Jack91]

Holley's tech support is in a whole other league as fitech, who are apparently terrible to deal with. Only reason I went with fitech was that my last new holley carb bricked itself and no warranty. I also had it in my head that fitechs were manufactured in the USA. I was wrong, but everything's made in China anyway, no matter the brand

[4vxc]

I wouldn't use that dodgy o2 clamp setup
If the o2 sensors are not great quality I'm sure you could use a Bosch sensor

[Jack91]

Thought I'd give a bit of an update after some driving and fault finding. I sightly change my tune on the capabilities of this system. Once you unlock the advanced programming section and start playing with it, unless you are a lot better than me, you will make mistakes. The car developed some problems, which were an easy setting to change, however, changing 2 settings out of 1000 fixed one problem, but created another. Its also erratic while trying to learn. Problems appear and disappear at random while its trying to work itself out. I won't go into too much detail, but I just want to leave this on this note for anyone thread mining or referred by google:

Despite the marketing, this is not plug and play. Even if it is running perfect, its still not as good as a sequential, mpfi system, so don't expect that. There is a severe lack of information, when you buy the unit, and from the internet. If you have some knowledge, I doubt you'd ever get stuck, but this is, in no way, a beginners system. It is tremendously powerful, but the amount of people who know how to reach its potential is very, very low. If you have a half decent carb setup on a mild na engine, my advice is to not go this route. In saying all that, if you are willing to put a lot of time and patience into this, you will be very impressed. Just don't expect it to be a1 out of the box and never give you any issues, as it seems to learn them by itself. Don't get.me wrong, I love it, but I am upset at the lack of info and the how complicated the advanced settings are.

[cs123]

Was tossing up betwen Fitech and Sniper. Just ordered a sniper.

Haven't played too much with these setups but I think you can "over think" things a little which can lead to fiddling too much with the setup. Perhaps reset to factory and do a relearn?

Does the fitech allow you to ramp down how aggressive the auto tuning is. I'd suggest turning it off or turn down how aggressive the auto tune is after a week of driving.

Agree that it is not as good as a MPFI system but for $1000USD for the sniper you get a pretty good setup IMO. I'd definitely use one over a carb.

[Jack91]

Yes you can, and I actually disabled it all together, which has fixed severe problems, but there's still a rich area at wot 3500-5000 rpm. Learning would fix that, but it does tll much at once.

I think sniper will be better. Its the same system, but better software and support.

I was in a bit of a pickle today, the car is being driven 2000+kms by the new owner next week, so granted, I was trying to make it perfect in a couple of hours.

I said it all the way through the engine build, and even more so now, I wish I had of put in an au xr8 Windsor with factory injection

[vulgarwolf]

I'm in the process of finishing off a sniper kit on my 83 bronco.
Very happy with it so far, i'm even able to still run on LPG while finishing it off....

Had the motor fired on fuel last night and the return line just running into the petrol tank...quite impressed with the kit...was running extremely rich..until temp hit 160 and it started learning...the mixtures sorted themselves on...a little tap on the loud pedal was extremely responsive

[happy1]

Interesting to see how much more available these mono-point carb replacement systems have become. Great way to modernize some old over fueling carb bomb based car ;-)