Mechanical Fuel Injection

[Burnout]

Looking at possibly going with a mechanical fuel injection set up on my big block but I really don't have any experience with it. I have talked with some guys I know and they said it can be hard to tune for the street. Anyone have any experience or advise on this setup. Also is there really any difference between say a Crower or Hilborn setup. With my limited knowledge they seem very similar. I am looking into used units so is there any particular problems I should look for?
Thanks
Scott

 

[adam]

check out this thread from KB a couple months back...http://http://www.killbillet.com/showthread.php?t=5865&highlight=hilborn

 

[Burnout]

Adam, thanks for the link. That is one of the better tech threads I have read on killbillet.

 

[gassersgarage]

The people I know that have tried it for the street say it's a pain. If tuned for the street, runs terrible at the track. If tuned for the track, pert near unstreetable.

Friend of mine is having his Hilborn converted to electronic. Even with a BBC, he has to sleeve down the injector throats and make his own butterflys.

 

[adam]

I can see where they could be a handfull to get sorted for the street-If I was going to do it myself, I'd probably convert one to EFI also-only I would still want to have the heads drilled & tapped for down nozzles like a 410 sprint car. I just think it looks cool having fuel lines draped over the valve covers. I love the question, "What are those, extra spark plugs?".

 

[donsrods]

No personal experience with it on the street, but have seen some accounts of people who have done it. One was a '40 Ford gasser with a hilborne injected chevy. The article said he drove it everywhere.

I had hilborne on a 301 Chevy in an Austin Bantam altered years ago. Priming was one issue, and low speed performance was horrible (even coming up the return road it didn't want to run) They are basically made for WOT operation.

With the advances in electronic fuel injection it just makes so much better sense, and I think I saw some company that disquises electronic stuff in the old mechanical setup so it looks oldtimey.

Don

 

[Unkl Ian]

I knew a guy that ran Hilborn mechanical injection on his race car.
Hilborn told him he could set it up to run well at idle,or WOT.Not both.

Technology has developed since then.Check with Kinsler.

Anyone I've seen running mechanical injection on the street,
was running a big motor in a small car.

 

[racer32]

When I was a kid (70's) a friend of mine's older brother ran Hilborn injectors on his street Nova. He only had it on there for a VERY short period of time because the car wouldn't run worth a flip. If you want to run one of the older injection set-ups look into converting it to EFI-supposed to work well.

 

[gasser55]

I built this car and set up the hilborns.Runs great on the street with no problems.It can be driven to the track raced hard then driven back home.

 

[donsrods]

Ok, don't leave us hanging..........what did you have to do to make them work?

Don

 

[Unkl Ian]

Lil' John Buttera did one on his son's Nova.

 

[mizlplix]

Burnout: It can/has been done. For racing, they usually have 3 circuits, Idle-midrange and WOT. For street, you need to do 5 or more to set the fuel delivery curve to closely mirror the engines requirements as possible.

First of all you have an engine driven fuel pump that is selected to produce enough volume at all speeds to never starve the engine in question.

Then you have a linkage operated valve to alter the flow for idle.

Then you select a main pill to set the WOT mixture.

Then you have a secondary pill with a spring loaded poppet to unload at a certain pressure to modify the fuel delivery curve at a mid range point.

Add as many spring loaded valves as you can and keep changing the springs and pills to set the opening timing and mixture.

That is the basics. Hilborn or Kinsler can recommend starting settings. GL