A CHANGE OF HEART

[FE3X CLONE]

And "crappy" J heads IIRC.

Yep, although I do believe he's worked them over pretty good and they are not "as cast". But he's also running a very mild generic 214/224 camshaft as well.

I had the same combo in my 455, just without the head work and all I ever got out of it was a 13.9. Just shows how much working with the heads and tuning, tuning, tuning will do for ya.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It is a daunting task to add EFI to a engine that never came with it to begin with. With a Chevy, the engine lasted long enough to have a fairly large amount of EFI engines produced, while the Olds V8 had very few produced. The only one that comes to mind is the analog (modern systems are digital) EFI system used in the original 1975 Cadillac Seville. If it were me and I was hell bent on EFI, I would get a Holley Pro-jection kit. By the time you are done piecing together a junkyard TBI or junkyard TBI + Megasquirt setup, you could have just bought a complete kit. However, if this is not your daily driver, I would advise against it because of the complexity and cost involved versus a fairly limited improvement in performance. Also, remember that EFI engines tend to like wide LSA cams when compared to carburated engines.

Please remember too that TBI EFI is not in the same league as a proper multi port system when it comes to getting all that EFI can offer. TBI is sort of like a glorified carburator when compared to port injection since it lacks the close mounting of the injectors and instead relies on a wet flow intake manifold like a carb does.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

It is a daunting task to add EFI to a engine that never came with it to begin with.

It's actually very easy to add EFI to any engine. Its the tuning that's daunting.

This is why the LS based engine swap would be easier in this sense because GM has already worked out all of the bugs in the system and has it tuned to run properly. With an aftermarket EFI setup, you have to start from scratch and figure out what the engine wants.

As far as the Holley Projection setup, I'd stay away from it. There are a lot nicer systems out there for not a lot more money, including the Megasquirt.

 

[Blake442]

Holley Pro-Jection sucks sh*t... Stay away from it!

 

[kad5118]

i usethat advise and keep it in the back of my mind it seems like the 4.8 will pay for its self at the end

 

[kad5118]

i usethat advise and keep it in the back of my mind it seems like the 4.8 will pay for its self at the end

 

[DrRansom442]

"But i not really sure how it would effect the value of my 442 cutlass as well"

the words "in the crapper" come to mind. Why hack up a semi-rare car with a another boring Chebbie swap? Plenty of plain-jane Monte Carlos out there. EFI on an Olds sounds like a daunting task but really does factor in some cool points. If the car is a cruiser though ... are the gains all THAT real?

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Look at it this way.

Let's say you drive the car 3,000 miles per year.

We'll assume the Olds 350 with a carb will average 15mpg.

We'll also assume the 4.8 EFI will get 25mpg.

If you do the math, the Olds will cost you $578 buying 92 octane (if you really need that much) at $2.89/gal. The 4.8 will cost you $343.20 at the same fuel cost.

So that's a difference of $235.80 per year of driving. So how many years will you have to drive the car with the 4.8 before you regain your costs involved with the swap?
The same goes for the cost of converting the Olds to EFI. It's not going to repay you in just a few months but more likely years.

 

[beermonkey9417]

If you do the math, the Olds will cost you $578 buying 92 octane (if you really need that much) at $2.89/gal. The 4.8 will cost you $343.20 at the same fuel cost.

So that's a difference of $235.80 per year of driving. So how many years will you have to drive the car with the 4.8 before you regain your costs involved with the swap?
The same goes for the cost of converting the Olds to EFI. It's not going to repay you in just a few months but more likely years.

WHERE THE F^#K CAN YOU GET GAS @ $2.89/gal?!¿!
Sorry, I live in Cook County, IL... 😢

 

[FE3X CLONE]

WHERE THE F^#K CAN YOU GET GAS @ $2.89/gal?!¿!
Sorry, I live in Cook County, IL... 😢

Ohio. I just filled up tonight with 92 octane in the truck. $2.89 is a little on the high side but its pretty much been hovering around the $2.65-$2.95 mark for a while now.