More work to the wife's Capri

[86caprirs]

So this year we worked on the performance end of her car. The biggest change was swapping to efi using the Fitech system. With this being a 1983 car i started by swapping fuel lines and tank from a 1990 Mustang 5.0. I installed a 255lph pump as required by Fitech. On the 5.0 i installed a Edelbrock #2121 intake and a spacer. Installed the Fitech unit and wired it all in. While the car was on jacks, I installed a 8.8" rear stuffed with 3.73 gears.

I am very impressed by the Fitech efi system that is way more superior to any carb out there.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[86caprirs]

So this year we worked on the performance end of her car. The biggest change was swapping to efi using the Fitech system. With this being a 1983 car i started by swapping fuel lines and tank from a 1990 Mustang 5.0. I installed a 255lph pump as required by Fitech. On the 5.0 i installed a Edelbrock #2121 intake and a spacer. Installed the Fitech unit and wired it all in. While the car was on jacks, I installed a 8.8" rear stuffed with 3.73 gears.

I am very impressed by the Fitech efi system that is way more superior to any carb out there.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It almost looks stock under the air cleaner



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wraithracing]

Coming along nicely!!!

I like your wife's Capri! I forgot you had the pair! Good looking car!

[Supersonic G.T.350]

That's awesome man! She's going to be thrilled! I just wonder how the FiTech might react to a more radical cam?

[homer302]

Looks good. How well did you track the costs? I mean ALL the costs, including the nickel and dime costs that ALWAYS adds up to more than the actual part. I would be curious the total hours invested and total REAL costs involved. I have no doubts that it is better. It is a 35 year newer part and the technology is decades and decades newer and it's a significant investment, it better be.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

Looks good. How well did you track the costs? I mean ALL the costs, including the nickel and dime costs that ALWAYS adds up to more than the actual part. I would be curious the total hours invested and total REAL costs involved. I have no doubts that it is better. It is a 35 year newer part and the technology is decades and decades newer and it's a significant investment, it better be.

A better part than what.. The 35 year old emissions garbage it came with or a properly tuned Performance carb? There will be plus and minus to everything but raw performance from an awesome carb is still hard to beat.

[homer302]

Yeah, I hear ya man. All these manufacturers that are so focused on fuel injection these days instead of continuing to develop the carburetor are just clueless.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

I guess as with everything else, electronics will eventually take over. It'll continue to get better as well though.

[homer302]

This is a largely stock '83 5.0. So it has no use for a "proper" performance carb whatsoever. I assume you are aware that a 2017 Honda Odyssey Minivan (which has over 100 more HP than this Capri) would simply suck the blue paint off the side of this car with 3 kids in car seats in the back sucking on juice boxes and watching Despicable Me on the flip down DVD player? All the while getting 20 more MPG. It's not really a discussion.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

Yeah but that's also an apples to oranges comparison man. The 83 5.0 wouldn't get 30+mpg no matter what you put on it, neither would it have made 275 hp whether efi suit the best carb on the market. I agree though, it's a non discussion but mainly for those reasons. Our old 4v four eyes are pretty primitive in every aspect. That Honda van in the other hand, well it may as well be light years ahead in the tech realm. I don't feel like turning this to a pissing match bro, I was just saying per the application a good properly tuned Performance carb would do a great job, doesn't mean I was referring to a 1000+cfm Dominator. There are several mild application performance carbs on the market that would do a really fine job... Even up against the EFI system.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

Moving on, 86Caprirs, enjoy your FiTech bro, I'm interested to hear your reports on the system.

[86caprirs]

You can change the settings for the cam.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

Basically it has parameters that you set, correct? Then it's somewhat adaptive after that I believe. Have you gotten to drive it much?

[86caprirs]

I love the system. The engine is a 92 5.0L with a stock cam. The carb was stock and not a real performer at all. With this system I can adjust everything on it to make it drive better or accelerate better. If I cange anything like cam or even go to a 5.8L, I just reset the unit and tune again. With the intake, fuel lines, tank and pump, and all the fittings to connect to the fuel lines, I would say the efi swap cost me $1400 including the unit cost ($1000 Canadian).

The performance and fuel mileage are amazing. The car is always cruising around the 14.7 air fuel ratio and I can go through a lot less fuel. I would fill the Capri every 4 days when driving to and from work driving like an old lady on highway speeds. Now the same driving everyday I can go almost 9 days on a tank. I admit I am not great with carbs. I became a Ford technician in 1992 when all cars turned to EFI so that is what I am used to. The 4180 carb on the car was so rich that my tail pipes were black and the plugs were just as black. I could have went with a Holley performance carb on my intake that I have, but after seeing the efi units out there, why use a carb?

It is my car so I do what I want regardless of what people think. I have made it look like a stock 1983 Capri with a 5.0L engine in it. The wife is really happy with the car now and when I go to car shows I get a tonne of questions on the efi unit. A lot of people that have gone and bought this unit after seeing what I can do with the control over the engine. I am building a 1973 Fast back Mach 1 that I am going to use this unit on a Coyote 5.0L when someone builds a carb style intake for it.

[86caprirs]

Basically it has parameters that you set, correct? Then it's somewhat adaptive after that I believe. Have you gotten to drive it much?

Yes it is a self tuning system but every engine is different. So things like accel pump setting and cold start setting need to be adjusted. There is a wide band sensor in your exhaust system. I have at least 600km of drive time on it and the only issue I had was my fault. I forgot to plug in the fuel filter line all the way onto the fuel filter. After I plugged it in she fired right up.

[homer302]

Yeah but that's also an apples to oranges comparison man. The 83 5.0 wouldn't get 30+mpg no matter what you put on it, neither would it have made 275 hp whether efi suit the best carb on the market. I agree though, it's a non discussion but mainly for those reasons. Our old 4v four eyes are pretty primitive in every aspect. That Honda van in the other hand, well it may as well be light years ahead in the tech realm. I don't feel like turning this to a pissing match bro, I was just saying per the application a good properly tuned Performance carb would do a great job, doesn't mean I was referring to a 1000+cfm Dominator. There are several mild application performance carbs on the market that would do a really fine job... Even up against the EFI system.

Exactly! It's Far from a 550HP drag car or whatever which may be outside of what a EFI system like this can handle.
I am so tempted to do this to my also 100% stock 5.0 '84. That is why I was wanting to know about the total cost. I really, really, really want to do it.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

Do it bro, what are you building? The system seems very adaptive. It might be the best decision you make for your car. I'm just not willing to pull the trigger yet unless I can do something capable of a twin turbo setup. That's my end goal. It's going to take time... And plenty of money but that's what I want for my 20th.

[86caprirs]

Honestly this will be the best thing ever is switching to EFI. Most of the parts I bought were used parts like the fuel lines, fuel tank, and the Walbro fuel pump. Even the Edelbrock intake I found used and it was in perfect condition. Most people would replace the fuel lines in the car with just EFI grade hose from the front to the back but I figured that if Ford made lines for the Mustang to handle 400 hp, it will work for what I need it to do. The new parts like the gaskets, EFI hose and the AN fittings were a must of course.

So to get an exact cost on the efi conversion will depend on if you buy new or used. The Fitech unit was $1000 Canadian which I see go for $795 US from Summit Racing and maybe cheaper directly from Fitech.

If you go to the Fitech owners group on Facebook, there are a couple guys running dual 1200 hp units on drag cars and even old school 8-71 blowers with the efi units on them. I have seen some turbo set ups too and even a boat engine with the unit on them. Most of the issues I see on the group (and don't let it scare you) are old guys or guys that don't know how to work on cars, they wire things wrong or do not follow instructions. They get pissed off quickly and say that the Fitech is garbage. I had only one issue with my car and that was when it over heated from an air pocket in the cooling system, the system was in learn mode. When the fitech shut the car down to protect the overheat, it learned to adjust for overheat but stored the protection info. So even when it cooled down, it learned and stored bad info which I could not start my car. I had to clear all that learned info and start again on basic set up. Then the car fired up right away again.

[86caprirs]

Here is the website http://fitechefi.com/products/

And if you are on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1138882606178838/

Check it out and see what you think. The moderators have cleaned the Facebook group up of all the toxic members causing problems and giving false info. You guys are smart and will be able to see through the crap.