Quote:
Originally Posted by psybock
I don't know if this will help you, but if you go to www.mass-floefi.com they have a EFI setup that uses an OEM mass air sensor. I haven't heard anything bad about this setup, but by no means should you consider me an expert! This is the system I'm planning on putting on my car when it gets back from the shop. One of the things that I like about this system is that I don't need to carry a laptop around with me if I encounter big elevation changes on long road trips. |
Here we go again... why is it that when people ask a basic "which EFI?" question on a forum a first-time poster appears and offers up the Massflo system even though they haven't yet used it but claims they will be buying it soon? This exact scenario has happened numerous times on several message boards. If you are a legitimate consumer fine, but in all the other cases it turned out to be thinly disguised vendor spam.
Massflo is based around a Ford EEC-IV system combined with a translator box to use a GM MAF sensor. The EEC IV is a good system, and I like the fact they are using a lot of easy to get OEM parts... but some of Massflo's marketing & system info is way overrated and their customer service has been combative when pressed with "real" questions about the "no tuning required" marketing plan. Yes, out of the box it will run on their provided canned tune and the O2 sensor will tweak the closed loop long term trims for cruise & light load, but to get maximum performance out of your particular engine it must be tuned to your particular engine-- which will require buying TwEECer or a similar software package that allows reflashing of the ECU.
Anyways, moving on.
Why not use the factory LS ECU? GM did a great job with it, and it offers lots of tuning options & resolution that is well beyond the range of probably 95% of the aftermarket ECUs out there. Granted it doesn't offer some of the aux output controls the aftermarket boxes have (such as boost solenoid control, progressive nitrous control, transbrake control, on-ECU wideband O2 closed loop support, etc) but when it comes to actual driveability & tuneability options the factory ECU is ahead of the aftermarket options. Just buy a seat of EFILive and you're good to go.
I will admit that there are a lot more "pitfalls" and additional layers of complexity to the factory LS ECU compared to say a FAST, Gen VII, or most of the other aftermarket ECUs which are much more simplified and user friendly when it comes to tuning options/tables in the software.
All that being said, for your application not being forced induction (which stands the most to benefit from a wideband capable ECU) and already based on the GM LSX system... if it were me I would put a factory LS ECU on it and use EFILive. I'm fairly certain a factory MAF will max out in front of a 454 cube engine, but you can run the LS ECU speed density to get around the MAF sensor flow limitations.
I would compare the costs of a factory ECU setup + an EFILive setup to say a FAST XFI and see where you stand. Either will do the job just fine.