Edelbrock E Street EFI Install

[Justin@WH4x4]

Tired of dealing with the unpredictability of my old worn out Holley 600cfm Carb, I decided to give it a rebuild. Everything was dialed in, timing adjusted, floats were set, etc. It ran great for the next few weeks, then out of the blue began to act up again. It would nearly die when I came to a stop, it was running very rich, leaned it out as much as possible, still rich. Every now and then, it would run great, then more issues. My 73 Bronco is my daily driver, so fed up with the carb I began looking into a Throttle Body Setup. Johnny here at our shop is running the MSD Atomic EFI and has been very happy with it, however we (Wild Horses) are also an Edelbrock Distributor. I had heard great things about the Edelbrock E Street EFI on Street Rods, but had never heard of anyone in the Offroad World, or our Bronco Community running this setup, so I decided to take one for the team.;D I picked up the Edelbrock E Street Basic kit, which includes the Throttle Body, ECU, Harness, O2 Sensor, and a 7" Android Tablet. The tablet can be used to view your Air Fuel Ratio's, RPM's, Air and Coolant Temp, Amps, Fuel Pressure, tuning, programming, video, music, pictures, navigation, browsing the internet, etc. I was hoping for a straight forward install, better performance on and offroad, better fuel economy, throttle response, and of course reliability. I can honestly say that after installing and running this setup for a few months now, I am very pleased with the results. Here are some pics and the install

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

When preparing for the install you'll need a four barrel intake manifold, Electronic Ignition (HEI Dizzy in my case), high pressure fuel lines, fittings, a fuel pressure regulator capable of at least 60psi, a high pressure fuel pump, fuel pump relay, and a fuel filter. Also you will need to get either weld the O2 bung in your exhaust, or have it professionally done. If you decide to take it to a shop, Edelbrock provides a bung "plug" which allows you to do it in advance, and plug it until your ready to complete the install. Edelbrock also has Fuel Sump Kit that allow you to retain your stock tanks, and pulls directly from the mechanical fuel pump to their sump in the engine compartment and then to the throttle body. This kit makes life incredibly simple and works great, but I decided to mount the pump inside my tank. I'm running a Return Style setup on my 23 Gallon Sherman Tank, and it is my only tank. I went with Edelbrocks High Pressure In Tank pump, which is a 255lph pump capable of up to 110 PSI, Russel AN-6 to Twist Lok Fittings, Parker Push Lok Plus Fuel Lines, a Russel Fuel Filter, and a Return Style Professional Products Fuel Pressure Regulator. The Parker Push Lok Plus lines are nice because you simply push them onto the Russel Twist Lok fittings and your done, no clamps needed and it looks clean. First things first, disconnect the battery cables, dropped the tank, installed the pump, mounted the relay on the inside of the frame rail near the tank, dropped the exhaust, cleaned it up, drilled and welded the bung in place, and reinstalled.

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

Next thing was to remove the old Carb, and mount the throttle body to my Edelbrock Performer Manifold. I then mounted the ECU to my firewall on the passenger's side, and the fuel pressure regulator to the drivers side firewall. This allows you to run your fuel lines from the tank directly up the frame rail to the regulator, through the regulator to your throttle body, and from the regulator back down the frame rail to the tank in back. It's clean, simple, and worked out well for me. I ran the fuel lines and added all necessary fittings from the tank to the regulator and to the throttle body. Hooked up my stock throttle linkage to the Throttle body, and attached all vacuum lines to the unit. Make sure you have a 180 degree thermostat, I changed mine just to be sure. Installed the O2 sensor and coolant temp sensor. You must also make sure that there are no exhaust leaks or vacuum leaks of any kind, I addressed these issues as well. Once this is done, it's time to route the harness from the ECU to all the correct locations on the throttle body, and sensors. This was a piece of cake, everything is labeled, so it's plug and play. Attach the two wires to the battery, one to the hot, and one to negative, and one wire to the HEI distributor. You will need a fuel pump relay for this system, failure to use one will be bad news, so get er done. Last step is to hook the battery back up, turn on the tablet and answer 3 questions which consist of what engine you have (302 for me), What Cam(Mild/Race), and What Fuel Setup (Return or Non Return). It will load the correct MAP for your settings, and tell you to Start your Vehicle. Mine fired up on the first crank, and idled a little low until it reached 160 degrees, then you adjust the Idle using the tablet. I set mine at 880 Rpms.
WOOHOO! Time to drive. This is a self learning system, meaning you just have to drive it. Don't stress the first couple of days your driving, the more you drive it the better it will run. The ECU needs time to learn, adjust, etc. I called the Edelbrock a couple of days after the install asking them about a cold start issue, (Nothing major, just took a few tries to start) they told me that "the system is learning, tommorrow it should start right up", and sure enough it did. The throttle response is insane, and the power increase has been great. It will be a night and day difference for you guys running a two barrel carb. Fuel economy has definitely improved as well. How much? Heck I don't really know, but I do spend a lot less time at the pump. I heard it said that adding EFI will turn your old carbureted vehicle that you hardly ever drive, into a vehicle that you want to drive all the time, and I can certainly agree with that after running this system. All in all i've been very pleased with this setup and hope this helps someone out down the road. Hope to see you on the trail or at Wild Horses!
-Justin

 

[flint_knapper]

come on, what was the total for components.
I like the looks, I know I can't afford it .

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

A few more things that I forgot to mention: If you buy all your parts in advance, plan out your runs for your fuel lines, placement of your ECU, Relay, O2 Sensor, etc. Thoroughly read the directions and understand the kit, you could definitely knock this out in a Saturday. For you guys that want to save certain settings on the ECU, one for the rocks, another for the dunes, or the street, there is a feature that allows you to do just that. When you drive it to the trail, upload that specific map, and your running in optimal RockCrawler Mode. I currently use the tablet for navigation, viewing my guages, and programming. I plan to upload movies on it so that I can keep my two year old occupied on trips to the trail, in hopes that he'll let me borrow it back when I need it;D For the more experienced EFI guys, this system is also manually programmable-meaning you can set the parameters however you want, adjust the AFR, injectors, and so forth. Here's a few more pics

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

come on, what was the total for components.
I like the looks, I know I can't afford it .

For this setup (EFI kit, pump, regulator, lines, fittings) Right around $2,400. The base kit is $2200.

http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product/EdelbrockE-StreetthrottleBodyEFI

or this kit with the fuel sump included

http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product/EdelbrockE-StreetUniversalEFIBaseSystemFuelSumpKit

 

[welndmn]

Very nice!
I saw you can add a tune for long term storage as well, kind of like an anti theft where you can make it not start.

 

[croft75]

So was it on a stock motor or a newer roller motor ?

does it matter?

 

[camp9k]

Nice! Great post Justin and thanks for being our test pilot on this system! Since you drive this rig everyday keep us posted on how its running long term.

John

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

Very nice!
I saw you can add a tune for long term storage as well, kind of like an anti theft where you can make it not start.

Thanks Mark, I wasn't aware of that, but good to know. It was good seeing you the other day too!

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

So was it on a stock motor or a newer roller motor ?

does it matter?

I installed this on my my previously rebuilt 302 that runs a pretty rad cam. Not sure the exact specs on the cam, so I programmed the ECU for a Race Cam setting, and it runs best at that setting. It shouldn't matter what motor your running it on, just program it accordingly, and your good to go.

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

Nice! Great post Justin and thanks for being our test pilot on this system! Since you drive this rig everyday keep us posted on how its running long term.

John

No problem John, I'll certainly keep you all posted. So far, so good though. You should stop by the shop sometime and say hello, and show off your Bronco. I'm still looking for a set of bumpers too, if you ever get tired of yours ;D

 

[stus70brc]

Thanks for sharing Justin! I'm headed that way too! Pics soon!!

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

Thanks for sharing Justin! I'm headed that way too! Pics soon!!

Very nice!

 

[bronco t]

Nice write-up... Any idea if this EFI setup can or could pass smog in California.

 

[Dutton]

I have a quick question. I am running the Dakota digital dash in my bronco. This system uses the oil pressure port and the main coolant temp port for the digital gauges. Any ideas on how to make the EFI system and digital gauges work? Great post too. Thanks for the information.

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

Nice write-up... Any idea if this EFI setup can or could pass smog in California.

Thank you, and that's a great question. I never gave it much thought due to the fact that I have a 73. I'll look into that tommorow and get back to you.

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

I have a quick question. I am running the Dakota digital dash in my bronco. This system uses the oil pressure port and the main coolant temp port for the digital gauges. Any ideas on how to make the EFI system and digital gauges work? Great post too. Thanks for the information.

Thanks again for the interest. Not sure how to make it work with the Dakota setup, but I would imagine it won't be a problem. I'll call Dakota tommorrow, look into it, and post the results for you. Great question btw, the Dakota Gauges Rock!

 

[DirtDonk]

Most intake manifold setups have at least two different coolant temperature ports you could use. On those that don't, or where both are already occupied by senders (like for an electric fan) you could get a thermostat housing cover with threaded port in the top like this:http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product/Thermostat_Housing

For the oil pressure, it might take some extra finesse. There were actually pressure sender tubes with two ports, rather than the usual single port (like this: http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product/Oil_Pressure_Sending_Extention ), but I don't know what the application was and have only seen them on rare occasions.
You could either make your own additional pipe thread hole in yours (or a new one ) or make a "T" out of some typical brass fittings and tubing.
Tapping into one of the other oil galleries is probably not an option, but on some later model engines there is a plugged port that looks suspiciously like an oil gallery port there near one of the engine mounts.

I've done the old "T" routine on other engines to get both a gauge and an idiot light to work, but haven't done it on a Bronco yet.

Paul

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

I have a quick question. I am running the Dakota digital dash in my bronco. This system uses the oil pressure port and the main coolant temp port for the digital gauges. Any ideas on how to make the EFI system and digital gauges work? Great post too. Thanks for the information.

There are only two sensors that need to be installed, one is the coolant temp, and the other is the O2. As Paul stated earlier, the coolant temp can be tapped into from at least a couple different places on most manifolds, so compatibility with your Dakota Digital should not be a problem. I apologize for the mixup. I was going off memory(and it was 2am) so I just checked on my rig and confirmed.