411 383 Carter Carbs

[irienz]

Here is a short history of my experience with EFI conversion. My car was converted from stock carb to a Holley single point injection system in 1986 by Martin Barnes in London. I was very happy with it; the car was quieter, more responsive and more civilised (but no more economical). I imported the car into NZ in 1987 and for a period it continued to run well.

Problems emerged and were diagnosed as a component failure in the Holley unit. However a replacement component did not resolve the problem. A local tuner recommended and installed a Link engine management system to replace the Holley. However it could not be made to run consistently - the idle would move about for no apparent reason (and I discovered that trying to stop a 411 in traffic when the idle suddenly sticks on 2500 rpm is a bit challenging). The tuner gave up and replaced the Link set up with Holley Commander 950 (from memory) but, while an improvement, it was still insufficiently stable in operation. After seeing whether another tuner could set the Holley up acceptably, on his recommendation, I fitted a Holley Avenger 670 cfm. I have had no further trouble with fuelling - the only thing I now miss from EFI is seamless cold running.

I never categorically determined the reason for the EFI instability but most likely explanation was probably insufficiently stable voltage in the car's electrical system. As I understand it, EFI systems require absolutely steady voltage readings as their reference points and any instability (never an issue for a carb set up) destabilises the settings in an unpredictable manner. That is why I gave up and installed a more modern carb.

Chris Browne