Bret's EFI & O/D transmission

[Bret]

EFI under the bonnet!

Starts hot or cold on the first turn of the key.

OD transmission,
Before:

After:

As you can see it's a much more comfortable ride at freeway speeds. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

Looking good, Bret!

Guys, I've gotta give kudo's to Moss on this one:

In March 2006, I sold the kit to Bret...when he got around to installing it just now (about 1-1/2 year later), he found a bad EFI unit...he contacted Moss (I wasn't near a phone or computer)...their tech guy talked with his mechanic &, without checking with me to verify the sale (usually they confirm with me that I handled the transaction), he shipped Bret a new part & notified me he had solved the problem.....he didn't even contact my sales guy there at Moss - he just acted to solve Bret's problem....new part shipped on 14th & Bret's driving on 16th!

That's why I like & use Moss!

 

[Stewart]

Hows the power compared to the zs carb? I wonder what the fuel economy is going to be like as well. I really need an od tranny.

 

[Nunyas]

I'm wondering the same: Is the power delivery as smooth as they make it sound? How does it compare to a single ZS? Do you still have the same tapering off of power as you climb up in RPMs?

I reckon the power delivery would be smoother at the low end, but the curve would be pretty much identical to a single carb on the high end due to the limitations of the intake manifold.

Did you put that manifold on that you'd gotten? The one with the single carb style intake and early style exhaust manifold.

 

[Bret]

Other than the drive home (on the freeway) I really didn't have a lot of time to play with it yesterday because of time constraints. But I'm off today and will go out & do a proper shake down before it gets too hot.

But first impressions where pretty much as advertised. Easy starts (warm or cold) and the throttle response is crisp & instantaneous and steady throughout the entire RPM range. Bumping up the timing a little – the performance is a little better but nothing earth shattering. After adjusting my lifters my mechanic pointed out that my car’s camshaft is quite worn and ready for replacement. Talking about this we think the car would see the most performance gains by using a fast street cam.

Anyway the biggest difference between the EFI & the ZS thus far is the ease of starting and the fact that it is so smooth & steady. Heck even at freeway speeds with my foot all the way down on the throttle the ZS seems to top out, whereas the EFI doesn’t seem to struggle at all & in fact seems to want to keep going beyond the Red Line if I would let it.

That said I did observe a couple of anomalies. At speed it ran flawlessly but after I got off the freeway I noticed a couple situations where I went into second that it seemed to bog down a bit. In both cases I was performing a power-shift – where I maintained pressure on the throttle to keep the RPMs up (~3000 to ~4000) and up shifted (1st to 2nd) & down shifting (3rd to 2nd). However if I was being a little more reserved and actually let completely off the throttle it seemed to work fine.

If I had to guess I’m figuring there’s something in the ECU that monitors engine temp & throttle position that regulates fuel, that I might be confusing. Another thought is that like many modern EFI’s they are very finicky about how hot or cool the air is that is drawn into the throttle body and adjusts the fuel accordingly.

But again this wasn’t noticeable at freeway speeds.

 

[Bret]

One of the coolest things that I’ve got to mention is the O/D transmission. At freeway speeds it’s actually quite pleasant to be cruising down the road at 75-80mph with the flow of traffic and not have to worry about someone in an SUV running over me.

Surprisingly the EFI compliments the O/D tranny quite well. So nice to have the confidence to actually pass slower cars. Flick the switch out of Overdrive and I’m back in Fourth gear turn on the turn signal, check the right lane and press the gas! Whoosh (that fast) – I’m passing on the left like any other vehicle would.

 

[Bret]

Ok, just got back from running a couple of short trips around town I got a pretty good feel for how it performs at street speeds and in stop & go traffic.

All & all I think she seems pretty nice I didn't observe any bogging down when I shift into second but it just dosn't seem like it pulls the same. But I might be imagining things.

That said I'd really like to see how she performs with a fresh camshaft. Other than that I didn't see any problems and I still want to have my mechanic have a look at it because it just seems a little different. But again it might just be in my head.

 

[Nunyas]

... Easy starts (warm or cold) and the throttle response is crisp & instantaneous and steady throughout the entire RPM range...

That's nice to know. I've driven stock modern cars where the OEM computers are too slow, IMO. For example, my friend has a Pontiac Sunfire ("sport" model with an auto-trans), and there is a very noticeable delay between pressing the gas pedal and the engine responding, ~especially~ with the car in gear and idling. I ~always~ end up giving it too much right foot because nothing happens when I first push it, and of course by the time the car responds I have so much pedal used I end up laying rubber. Maybe that's an anomaly of mordern automatics, but what ever it is, I hate it.