I understand the Howell system with EBL upgrade very well.
But , that being said, bolting adapter plates to a 4 barrel manifold
and then bolting a 2 barrel injector body to them, either the Holley or the
GM one just seems like we are going the wrong way. It is a good system as
is, but personally, for me, there is room for improvement.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Oregon

OK, I am going to try again. I am in Chaumière in my back yard because we haven't had electric power for four days and the house internet is also down because Spectrum won't put a little generator on the amplifier and won't let me run power to it......

Now, what this started out about was that I am one of a very few people that got to run the very same engine with carburetor, TBI and port fuel. The real differences were too small to measure. Test engines are always run on the matrix was developed when they were in the phase 2 prototype stage. So, they were all production intent parts, but hand assembled.

This means that in spite of the advantages that an ECU could provide, these improvements did not express themselves.

Now, when we put that same engine in a vehicle for driveablity testing, then things changed, but honestly, not a lot. It was not until the knock sensor and ECU controlled distributor that real changes appeared and even then they were never seen in the test lab unless some off the wall crazed engineer went looking for what might happen when you get to places in the A/F/T load matrix that were not well defined. Engines are largely sold on the basis WOT horsepower, think about that. If we ran our coaches the way that engine was run on a dyno (maybe my dyno), there are two things that would happen (if you survived), your fuel rate would be very discouraging and you would probably be in a jail somewhere. So, can an EBL ECU and controlled spark fix this? You bet it can. A lot of this showed up in the early EPU road load testing, but the manufacturers answer was just to adjust the tuning to the EPA driving program and call that good. A wonderful demonstration of this was a car that I owned. It was a 2.3 Thunderbird turbo-coupe. Around town, that car was an absolute dog to drive, but get it out of the EPA driving program and it was a rocket ship. This was before the secret modification that the engineers all knew about. (That is a two beer story all on its own.) We also owned a 2.2 minivan that wore out the camshaft before it needed boring. If my son hadn't destroyed it with a lack of required maintenance, I might still be driving it.

An, no Bob, the longevity of the modern engines is not a result of the new controls. It is a result of the the fact that the US OEs were getting their respective asses kick soundly by the foreign companies that paid attention to materials and a manufacturing standards. Chaumière's engine had over 75k on it when #7 piston shed 120° of rings and this prompted me to break it open and replace the worn things. If I had had a real build book for the engine, I could have replaced that one piston and put it back in... (Hint, I didn't)

So, why EBL, a knock senso and new distributor? She runs so well as she is with the cam recommended by Dick and a carburetor that a friend that speaks fluent Rochester trimmed for me, that I just can bear to mess with it (and I have a limited budget). There is a knock sensor, and the wire it lead up and labeled, I just havent done anything with it yet.

I will allow that a lot of my recent interest has been repairing the damage related to the failed control arm putting us in the ditch at 60 MPH and the related damage. Not all of that has been managed to my satisfaction yet, but it will be. We feel we owe her that much at least.

One of my mentors along the way told that I should know that, "A waterman and his boat, they take care of each other - you know."

Matt - signing off from my person internet cafe

Okay, the Howell fuel injection is the greatest think in the world, I get it. Now to anger a few, I’m using the Fitech fuel injection on 2 of my vehicles, one being my 73 Sequoia, and have had no problems once I figured out the return line. I know I won’t be able to change anyone’s mind on this topic, but for the cost of the Howell system, I can buy 3 Fitech complete systems.