[Diy_efi] Project underway...

[David Allen]

  Don, Richard (who owns this car) explained that the motor was freshly 
built in 1965 by Red Farmer's engine builder and has less than 10 hours on 
it. You're correct it has a Mercury crankshaft, which has been lightened and 
knife-edged.  We're unsure of the exact compression ratio or of the 
camshaft.  The CR is likely 8.5:1 or better.  We're really looking for 
drivability more than power, this car's main purpose in life is to be unique 
more than fast!
  He bought the motor in a pickup that had been barn-kept for a long time 
(unsure).  They ran the engine when he got it, but the distributor and carb 
were bad.  It idled high with constant shooting and flaming from the 
exhaust. They couldn't tell how the cam would idle because of the carb and 
dist.  Richard has a stock cam if the one in it is "ludicrous" and can not 
be tuned for any sort of drivability.  Interesting about the timing, will 
take some of the PE timing advance out of the stock calibration before 
running it hard, for safety's sake.  I know this will take some time and 
patience to tune. This is a first for me; I've put EFI on turbo engines, 
boat engines, and re-tuned several factory-EFI setups but this a flathead 
motor is new territory.
  At this point it has not been started in about 10 years. Will post newer 
pictures as the project progresses.
Thanks,
David

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <don.broadus at exeloncorp.com>
To: <diy_efi at diy-efi.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 8:38 AM
Subject: RE: [Diy_efi] Project underway...


> Outstanding job ! Thanks for sending the pictures. You mention it is a 255 
> cube so it must have a 4 inch stroke Mercury crank to get those cubes. 
> Some hot rodder has gone through the engine it sounds like. Flat heads 
> don't take a lot of timing. you are not gonna get big Horse Power numbers 
> with an unblown flathead, 250 HP would be a lot. Most hot rodded flatties 
> run 2 150 CFM Carb's
> a 4.3 TBI can easily flow more than that. Keep us Posted, this is a great 
> project.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: diy_efi-bounces at diy-efi.org [mailto:diy_efi-bounces at diy-efi.org]On
> Behalf Of David Allen
> Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 12:45 PM
> To: GM-ECM; diy_efi at diy-efi.org
> Subject: [Diy_efi] Project underway...
>
>
>  I'm working on a project with a friend, converting a 1940's Ford 255CID
> flathead V8 from carb and points to a TBI/ 1227747 setup.  The electronics
> hardware side is done.  The engine has an afermarket distributor with a
> conventional VR pickup coil.  This is connected to a standard HEI module
> that is firing an MSD box. In the pictures the advance weights are still
> present, but they have been removed and the advance bolted so the ECM can
> control the timing.
>  Here's where I want you guys' thoughts.  The intake manifold has a huge
> plenum, look at pictures linked at bottom. We're using a 4.3V6 throttle 
> body
> and injectors.  Do you think the injectors flow enough for accel enrich to
> keep from bogging when you open it?  It is a very mismatched setup on the
> engine/ cam/ manifold but this is what we have to work with.
>  We'll be using Cats RT Tuner and a wideband to adjust the VE tables. 
> This
> has been a fun project so far, but the real fun will be making it run
> correctly. It will be an open-loop calibration, tuned for drivability 
> first,
> power second.  Any thoughts?
> Thanks in advance,
> David
>
> http://68.209.87.173/FlatheadEFI/