460 EFI build

[Terrell460]

I have a 1990 Ford F250 with a fuel injected 460. Im planing on rebuilding the engine with performance parts and turbo charging it. I want to update the old fuel injection with a new ECU that i can program for different situations. I was thinking of going with an XFI unit from FAST. anyone have any experience with XFI or any other performance ECU's? i would apreciate any advice.

 

[5.0Flareside]

honestly the easiest and cheapest way to do a perfomance 460 is to carb it. unless you have the E4od. since the 460 never came with maf all the systems are aftermarket add ons. and aftermarket performance addons=expensive. so get a 4 bbl intake and carb drop a HUGE cam in it with aftermarket heads and long tube headers and a good free flowing exhaust and you should be happy.

 

[Terrell460]

ok ill have to look into it. i wanted to keep efi cause im getting great mileage with it now and im doing a body off restoration in a couple years so im already dumping a lot of cash into it so im not to picky on money im putting into the engine. but a carb would make life a lot easier and i wouldnt have to fabricate so many parts.

 

[5.0Flareside]

if you get a good exhaust and a good intake and free flowing heads you can still get decent mileage out of a 460. wont be 10+ or anything but be almost as good as your getting now. what are you getting for mileage right now?

 

[Terrell460]

right now with a throttle body spacer intake and fre flow exhaust i get around 20 on the high way with the stock efi.

 

[5.0Flareside]

throttle body space is a waste of money and time to install it. what is your gears in the rear end and what size tire cause 20 highway just seems way way to high for a 460.

 

[Terrell460]

i have the stock rims and tires so 31's and ya the spacer is a pain. i gotta 4.10 rear end and a 5 speed manual transmission. 5th gear is extremely high is what saves me.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Are ya absolutly positive its a 460 and not a 351? From what your describin that sounds like a 351 and thats still really high. Ive got a 302 EFI with a 4 speed and 3.50 gears with 31s and the best thatll do is 18.

 

[Terrell460]

yeah its a 460, ive had it for 10 years and have done all the maitanence myself. like on an average i probably get like 18 but when i replaced the sparkplugs and few ruff sensors it got 20 on a trip in nevada. i went like 68 mph on average. it has 2000-2200 rpm at highway speed. and i think the epa rated my ford for 16 in the first place. and one last thing i did that a lot of people cant do is i took the cataltytic converter out. that was a huge gain

 

[blackhat620]

I have a 1990 Ford F250 with a fuel injected 460. Im planing on rebuilding the engine with performance parts and turbo charging it. I want to update the old fuel injection with a new ECU that i can program for different situations. I was thinking of going with an XFI unit from FAST. anyone have any experience with XFI or any other performance ECU's? i would apreciate any advice.

Welcome to FTF.

Fuel injection is definitely the performance leader across the board and installing a custom tuneable ECU is the way to go. The FAST system and the Accel GEN 7 are the two most popular on the track, with the FAST system getting more use by the pros. Both of these systems are at the top, and offer a large programming ability. The large programming ability is both good and bad. The good is it lets you fine tune everything for your engine, the bad is that it has a fairly high learning curve and since you can control every parameter you must understand what you are doing. There is a plug and play system that is a step down from the FAST or Accel system and it is the "Tweecer RT" www.tweecer.com. It is not as adjustable as either the FAST or Accel system but it has a much shorter learning curve and fits the bill of many DD vehicles.

If you want full tuning capabilities go with the FAST or Accel, but if you do not have the time to learn proper tuning, then go with the Tweecer RT. BTW you could not pay me to switch from EFI to a carburetor.

 

[conanski]

Couple things here. There was a MAF 460.. California trucks got it in '95 or '96. With a TweecerRT or Moates chip any OBD-1 mass air computer could be used to control a 460 along with injector and MAF wiring from a donor vehicle as long as the truck doesn't have an E4OD. If the truck has that tranny then you need an mass air/E4OD truck computer but not necessarally the 460 version. This would undoubtedly be the least expensive route to take, OBD1 mass air computers and wiring harnesses are available pretty cheap and the tuner is around $500. I have a TweecerRT and as far as I can tell it provides access to all EEC functions, I'll add I'm presently using a 3rd party software with it that does provide access to things the included sw doesn't. Tuning with a device like this is a steep learning curve but there's almost no limit to what can be done.

 

[Terrell460]

Im going to college for auto restoration so i have time and reason to learn how to work with the software because i will more than likely have to deal with it in my business anyway. Would FAST and accel give me some directions on how to start working with their ECU's and programs? or is it something that i would have to learn all on my own?

 

[blackhat620]

Im going to college for auto restoration so i have time and reason to learn how to work with the software because i will more than likely have to deal with it in my business anyway. Would FAST and accel give me some directions on how to start working with their ECU's and programs? or is it something that i would have to learn all on my own?

FAST has an extensive online Tech Support with software downloads, Forum, install instructions, FAQ, and if all else fails you can contact tech support directly and ask them your questions.
www.fuelairspark.com/TechSupport/Default.aspx
www.fuelairspark.com

 

[Terrell460]

Ok cool sounds like i could handle that. I just need to get a more adaptive system so i can put turbos and put more performance parts in my old pickup and EEC-IV doesnt seem to be very accepting of change. Thanks for the help and if anyone has any suggestions on things like fuel injectors, ignition, forced induction or mechanical parts i would greatly apreciate it.