Edelbrock Multi-Point EFI for TBI

Dan-95Tahoe · June 24, 2003

Has anyone installed a Edelbrock Multi-Point EFI conversion kit on their TBI equipped engines? They claim 80 HP and increased fuel efficiency with the whole kit. I just don’t know if its worth $1800 for the whole kit.

americanmuscleman · June 25, 2003

I don't doubt Edelbrock's claim that they add 80hp with that kit. Your replacing the junk factory heads with nice aluminum ones, a custom cam, tuning, headers, and adding a multi-point EFI system. Those parts should easily add 80hp.

The Edelbrock system I'm sure will be smooth and well matched because Edelbrock made it.

$1800 is actually a deal for all those parts.

I don't know how mechanically inclined you are, but the hardest thing about swapping everything will be putting the cam in. Everything else should be pretty easy.

If your looking for great power without having to tear down the engine, I'd check out a whipple supercharger. Their about $3600, but will give you awesome gains.

Professor · July 8, 2003

A friend installed one on his. The programming was a bit off. The big improvement was after a complete dyno tune with Ed Wright. He is very happy with it now.

PSWired · August 7, 2003

I used the Edelbrock MPFI kit to fuel the 383 I put into my 95 Yukon. Although I like the results of the kit, I will never buy another edelbrock product due to the poor customer support I encountered when one of the injectors I recieved was faulty. You can see pictures of my 383 installation Here . It still doesen't run since one of the injectors is faulty.

americanmuscleman · August 15, 2003

PSWired, those are some really cool pictures! It looks like someone built your 383 for you (since it was in a crate). It looks like a GM performance parts motor, but your heads look ported. I've got a few Q's for ya ;)

If you don't mind me asking, who built your engine for you?

Have you had it running yet to see how it runs?

What have you done about tuning?

Did you beef up your tranny while you had it out?

Did you install a gauge cluster out of a Tahoe Limited? Was it a snap-in swap? Since the factory tach on my 95' only goes to 5000rpm too, I've wanted to swap to a newer Vortec style cluster, but I haven't ever looked at the wiring to see how compatible it is.

Looks like an awesome setup and I'd love to hear about it!

PSWired · August 18, 2003

I've had a lot of fun and frustration doing this swap, glad to see people are interested! First, the long block was built for me by a company in cali called L&R engines. Their website is www.lnrengines.com I think. The engine is rebuilt, with a scat 9000 crank, shot peened rods, crane powermax cam, vortec heads with HD springs, vlave job, etc. The only thing I regret about it is the cam is non-roller and the rockers are regular stamped steel. I think I will throw in some roller rockers eventually. Overall, they did a great job building the engine, and their sales dept was great too, even though it took longer than they said initially. The long block ended up costing $2500 to my door, not bad for a stroker!

I've had it running for about 2 weeks now. I love it. There is plenty of power, and more of it keeps appearing as I get the tuning better. I'm doing all the programming myself on my laptop, which is a tedious and frustrating process. I've got a long way to go, but I'm much better off than where I started from. At the beginning, the engine would die, sputter, barely start, surge at idle, and act uncivilized. Now there's a few spots where it bogs and it surges every now and then but it's much better than before. I'll get it right eventually.

I had the tranny rebuilt while I was replacing the engine. A local guy did it, and I'm pretty pleased with his work, although he was expensive. He put in a shift kit, vete servo, beefed up sprag, shell, and some other parts that I forget. He also added more clutches with better friction material and replaced all the electronics b/c it had 225K miles on it. With light throttle, the shifts are soft and comfy. It shifts firm, but not hard, at part throttle. At WOT, the whole truck shakes and the dash squeaks when it shifts. I like it! The tires will chirp on a downshift every now and then, which is impressive on a yukon, i think! As long as my rear end doesen't blow up, I'll be in business.

The cluster came out of a caddy Escalde and is a bolt in deal. They aren't made by GM anymore so you'll have to find one used. They show up on ebay every now and then, but they're a hot item, so expect to spend at least $150. I lucked out and got one 30 mins after it was listed for $125. But yes any cluster from a 96-99 vortec will bolt right in. You can transfer the odometer over yourself, all you need is some torx wrenches.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

-Patrick

Tjwong · August 27, 2003

Dan it depends if you will install this kit on a A4 or a manual transmission backed engine. The reason I say this is because due to the fact that Edelbrock is changing the TBI system to a MPFI system, the ECM was designed as a TBI control. There are some tuning concerns with this and there was lots of issues that Edelbrock never fixed. Such as running down the freeway at say 70 MPH, then chopping the throttle, with their system the moment you touched the throttle again sometimes it would buck and surge or sometimes it wouldn't. With a A4 truck it wasn't nearly as pronounced as with a M4 truck.

Then there was issues about idle stability as well. Some of this can be tuned out and sometimes it can just be improved upon. With an A4 tranny it was not nearly as prevalent as with a 4spd manual. I have tuned a lot of these conversions and it just takes time, and no two are alike as well. And if you are planning on installing this on a modified or a stroker motor well tuning is just going to be a bigger issue.

americanmuscleman · August 28, 2003

PSWired, thanks for the info on your setup! Sounds like its awesome, and with the bugs worked out, will run really nice!

What kind of tuning software are you using?

Thanks!

Tjwong · August 28, 2003

I use Tuner Cat along with an XTronics Pocket Programmer 2 for burning the proms and also their Romulator for doing on the fly tuning changes during dyno or drive by tuning runs.

Here is the respective websites:

Tuner Cat

XTronics

And I also use either my trusty TECH2 for datalogging or TTS Powersystems Datamaster software

Datamaster

Vetronix

PSWired · August 28, 2003

I too am using a Pocket programmer with tunercat, and made a UV eraser for the PROMS. I datalog with Datamaster and a homemade link cable. TJWong, do you have much experience with tuning these edelbrock MPFI systems? Any advice for me? I'm at school now, away from my truck for months, so I'm doing nothing but gathering information about it.