EFI alternative

[FormTA]

So, I have been watching and flowing Luke on YouTube for years (thunderhead289). His chanel is awesome, he can bring any dead car back to life, it's amazing. Anyway he can tune any carb to perfection, knowing this he went a step further and created the carb cheater which uses an wideband oxygen sensor and a air valve (idle air control valve) with some electronics to maintain you set air fuel ratio. Basically get your carb close and this will fine tune it. One crank and a cold engine with a carb will come to life. And it can be installed in an hour or less.

I thought some of you guys may be able to use something like this. I plan to buy a couple just to have around as you can adapt them to just about anything.

It's cool it's just a gut trying to help others out and the price is really reasonable, that is before someone buys his company and mass produces it.

If you like old cars and revivals, check out his YouTube.

Oh, I have no affiliation with him, I just think it's cool and he's a good guy.

[b_hill_86]

Interesting. So from what I can gather it creates an electronically metered vacuum leak? Similar to the factory cruise setups in our cars.

[aussieta]

i have been watching these as well
there is little technical information
is it actually a carb running on low fuel pressure, or a throttle body injection
or does this bolt onto your existing carb

[aussieta]

he just released a new video explaining it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p59VxY19oB8

[FormTA]

Yes it is a precisely controlled vacuumed leak and will work with any standard carb. He actually designed it when he put a lawnmower carburetor on the 302 in his maverick.  As long as you can install a wideband you can run it on anything that is carburated.

[b_hill_86]

Haven’t gotten to watch the new video yet but I did try to do some research on it last night and found this thread on a mustang forum where his partner chimed in and talked about the system a little.

https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/thoughts-on-carb-cheater-by-thunderhead289.1212205/

It’s interesting for sure. Some pros and cons like anything. It would be kind of cool to be able to integrate with something like a progression ignition distributor but then again that may be a bit pricy for what you get. I really want a PI distributor though.

[scarebird]

meh.

[aussieta]

so only works if you are running rich
i was hoping it connected to the fuel supply as well

[FormTA]

If you watch the video, he explains how it also can increase fuel. By increasing the air, you have to close the throttle blades to maintain the rpm which inturn increase fuel. He says it somewhere when he says it's a self fulfilling prophecy. The real place this shines is the data logging. It can show you where and when the carb is outside optimal range with in turn gives you direction of where to tune. I.e what circuit, idle, cruse or full throttle. Then if you want to enlist the box to help fine tune the over all operation, you can.

Not, meh to me. I'm not a good carb tuner or plug reader. I think this would totally help me. And, I could move it from vehicle to vehicle (as long as had a wide band).

[aussieta]

wideband data loggers
https://www.zeitronix.com/Products/zt2/zt2.shtml

https://www.zeitronix.com/Products/Zt-4/Zt-4.shtml

[roadking77]

I mean no offense and confess I did not look at the videos. If it works and guys can use it then fine. However my q jet is properly tuned and runs beautifully. I pump the gas a couple of shots and it fires up. Sometimes it takes 2 hits on the key but thats it. I think people are spoiled with modern cars and with the efi the motor turning over with on click. My car can sit for months and still fire right up.

[b_hill_86]

I mean I agree to an extent Kerry. The guy said it’s not a magic fix for a poorly tuned carb. I also have fairly easy starts with my Qjet. Truth be told, when I ran a Holley for a short bit it would fire like fuel injection. This is kind of a cool idea though to fill in the gaps of an already properly tuned carb. I’d be curious to see some lo term testing with and without that system to see what differences might be present.

[5th T/A]

I debated if I should respond to this or not. I am almost afraid this could turn into a something like a debate on what is the beast type of oil to use. I think there are pros and cons to any of the options offered. I can say for my daily driver, I absolutely want modern fuel injection, that starts and runs flawlessly on a freezing cold winter day.

[scarebird]

I mean no offense and confess I did not look at the videos. If it works and guys can use it then fine. However my q jet is properly tuned and runs beautifully. I pump the gas a couple of shots and it fires up. Sometimes it takes 2 hits on the key but thats it. I think people are spoiled with modern cars and with the efi the motor turning over with on click. My car can sit for months and still fire right up.

An irony is that most cars a decade or newer you actually get about a second lag starting them as the secondary direct injection pump needs to pressurize before it will start.

[FormTA]

I'm actually shocked this isn't getting more love here. I figured with most of these car being carbureted folks would think it's cool since, like stated above it just fills in the gaps and helps starting too. No skin off my back, my car is efi so.... although my formula is still carbureted.

[jonathonar89]

I would recommend a Progression Ignition distributor first.  They just updated their product with data logging capabilities and it’s a drop in distributor.  This would probably be a better/proper tuning aid.

https://progressionignition.com/

After the timing system is set up, look into a dat logger to see/tune the carburetor.  Innovate is probably the most popular.

https://www.innovatemotorsports.com/lm-2-basic-kit.html