[Barry_R]

We did an EZ-EFI engine a few months back. I posted this on the FE forum back then - but it fits into this discussion. It still worked out pretty well and serves as a good example of the stuff we can build these days. The only factory Ford part on this one is the timing pointer....

The engine is a 454 cube FE destined for a Cobra. The customer wanted a lightweight engine with good driveability, decent power and visual "punch". For nostalgia reasons he wanted to stick with Ford FE factory dimensions as to stroke and relative bore size.

We used a Pond block with a 4.250 bore, coupled with a custom 3.98 stroke steel crankshaft courtesy of the incomparable Adney Brown at Performance Crankshaft. The Scat H beam rods and 10:1 Diamond pistons completed the rotating assembly. Heads are our Stage X Edelbrocks with the 2.200 intakes and 1.710 exhausts. Cam is the same custom hydraulic roller we've used in the past - .594/.598 lift, 234/240@.050 duration. Rockers are bolt on T&Ds, damper is Romac, ignition the standard MSD billet (THANKS to the forum for getting me some of these when the supply dried up!!!)

The visuals come from the TWM injection system up top. It is an angled unit for Cobra hood clearance, with short polished trumpets. Injectors are 36 pounds, no IAC this time, and an adapter connection was used to couple the TPS to the EZ-EFI wiring harness. The controller was a FAST EZ-EFI multiport kit. We'd used - and reported on - this system before on an Edelbrock multiport intake. This was our first try with the Weber lookalike independant runner setup - prior IR engines used the more sophisticated (means expensive) FAST XFI or Big Stuff III systems. The EZ-EFI has no ignition functions at all - a normal curved distributor is used.

The engine fired fairly quickly with no real drama. Just like before, the EZ-EFI did its thing, learning as it ran - but only after reaching a temperature of 180 degrees. The initial map loaded into the computer was very rich. And again we noted that it took a while to get and correct data at each load and RPM point - maybe 30 seconds to a minute was required before the computer moved the mixture to the target A/F ratio. Not a big deal holding steady state at various loads at modest RPM - but kinda nerve wracking holding the new engine at 5000 RPM for a solid minute. The carry away message here is that if you install one in the car you should expect to require a fair amount of driving to get the system calibrated.

Actual power and torque were reasonable and in line with expectation with peaks of 541 HP and 550 TQ - Its worth noting that we had to wrestle with the idle settings on the TWM a bit - I'll blame that on my own lack of familiarity with the fairly complex linkage setup - but we eventually got a really nice 900 RPM idle that varied by only SINGLE digits on the digital tach. Pretty cool.

Also worth noting that the customer has had subsequent control box issues - not sure whether they were related to the unit itself or installion - but Comp/FAST did replace at least one control box. Keep your receipt...

Youtube link below. Turn it up - she does sound pretty good!
427 based 454 EFI FE Ford - YouTube







Barry Rabotnick
Survivalmotorsports.com