DIY_EFI Digest Tuesday, July 27 1999 Volume 04 : Number 435 In this issue: Trip computer? TPI into a 86 4x4 Suburban. See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the DIY_EFI or DIY_EFI-Digest mailing lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 10:39:10 -0400 From: Barry Tisdale Subject: Trip computer? I owned a Dodge Omni, early '80s carb version, which had an aftermarket trip computer installed. It'd give you MPG, time to empty, miles & time to destination, etc. Info needed by it was wheel rpm, time & fuel flow. Flowmeter on fuel line to carb gave it that info. Question: are there any units available for FI engines, where a fuel flowmeter wouldn't be of much use? Could you get *any* sort of accuracy calculating from rpm, bpw & throttle opening? Maybe 2 flowmeters, one on supply rail, one on return line, subtract out from in? Any thoughts from anyone? Thanks - Barry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 07:59:49 PDT From: "David Sagers" Subject: TPI into a 86 4x4 Suburban. I'm in the process of doing a similar conversion, except mine is a '92. There is a lot of work to do, but many resources for the parts & information. How far along are you? Have you decided to go with a MAF or a MAP system or will you use what you can find? You might start with http://www.fuelinjection.com/ These guys specialize in complete conversions or just parts depending on what you want. The complete kit from Fuel Injection Specialties is a whopping $2400!! You can save yourself some major dollars by just shopping around, in fact by watching the ads on: http://128.196.140.199/classifieds/search2.cfm?type=sale&which=part you can usually find complete TPI systems. Before you buy many parts do some research and decide what you want or you could end up like me and have lots of extra parts around that you won’t be using. For instance, with a 350 you probably don’t want to buy the huge 58mm or 1000 cfm throttle body, stay with the smaller version and driveability will be a lot better. Also consider that many of the “speed parts or the week” are made for high revving IROCs and Z28s, a 4x4 is a different story. Read all the info at the Fuel Injection Specialties web site. They can even help you figure out which cable you’ll need for the tranny, throttle and cruise control. I’ve called them a couple of times and they are good to talk to on the phone. Here are a few items I learned along the way. The center head to manifold bolt angle changed in about ‘87. If you use older heads with a TPI intake, the bolt holes in the intake will need to be elongated, since you engine is already built just plan on this modification. The injectors give a better spray pattern if run at fuel pressures somewhat above the factory settings, try 50 to 55 vs. the factory setting of 45. For a 350 start out with the 22 lbs injectors and bump the fuel pressure. On my ‘92 I have to change the mounting brackets for the A/C for the TPI, Fuel Injection Specialties can tell you what you need for your application. Filter your fuel with a good high pressure filter made for the higher pressures in an TPI. DO NOT use a filter made for a carbureted system or a TBI system!! They can burst and create a deadly fire. Don’t fight with the factory wiring harness, buy one from Painless Wiring, see their web page at: http://www.painlesswiring.com/ This harness connects everything from the VSS, to the tranny lockup, to the fuel pump relays, etc... Again, read everything on the web site, but when it comes time to buy the harness, buy it from Summit, you’ll save a couple of hundred dollars. Painless even recommends that you buy from one of their dealers instead of buying from them. Once you own the Painless harness they have very good tech support. But before you buy make sure you know which type of system you are going to use. I don’t mind continuing this conversation on line, in fact maybe it’ll revive this board. However, if you want to you can contact me off line. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ End of DIY_EFI Digest V4 #435 ***************************** To subscribe to DIY_EFI-Digest, send the command: subscribe diy_efi-digest in the body of a message to "Majordomo@xxx. A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace "diy_efi-digest" in the command above with "diy_efi".