FITECH EFI 600 Basic and Command center intall with pics, factory tank

[AnotherWs6]

Very good information about the FCC. Sounds like the products were released with out having everything 100% nailed down which is understandable. Although when we, as consumers, spend money like what these cost we expect pretty much perfection. But these things are all designed by humans and we all make mistakes.

I am certainly leaning very heavily towards it. I posted a link to your thread on LS1tech.com on a thread I started inquiring about this stuff.

You say you're starting to see an improvement in MPG. What are you pulling down now? What about before? I'm pretty much spot on 10mpg right now in my Suburban. Gas is 3 bucks per gallon and I drive several hundred miles a week. It wouldn't take long to actually start saving money if I could improve a a few MPG. Hell, 13 would be OK. I can barely get that in my Silverado which is my other driver.

[steveo3318]

Keep in mind my truck is a factory 3 on the tree with a Borg Warner overdrive. I have 373 gears and in overdrive I am pulling 75 at about 2200 Rpms or so. When I had the quick fuel 750 on I was averaging 12 to 13 but I can't keep my foot out of it on take off. With the fitech I started seeing 15 to 16 immediately. Still playing at take off. I don't have any hard data on it since I have started raising the afr values in cruise but I do know this. My truck at cruise was running 13.5 afr "their safe default afr" and was running extremely low vacuum. Like 8-10. In other words staying loaded up. I change it to 17 and it ran like crap at cruise so I started backing it down. 16 afr in my 3000kpa parameter puts me about 15.4 real data at 75 mph. This raised my vacuum to 17-18. Since vacuum is a direct reflection of fuel consumption I will say it's better but I won't know how much until I fill up again. Also this may be my mind playing tricks but I swear the needle doesn't drop as fast on road trips. And it cruises a lot smoother with the higher afr. I am sure you have but for anyone messing with afr please please read up on it before you start changing parameters. You can and will kill your motor if you don't understand them.

[AnotherWs6]

I have a decent grasp on AFR's. Sounds like you're on the right track.

How does the system recognize that you are "cruising"?? From the TPS? TPS combined with RPM?

[steveo3318]

From what I can tell length of time at certain Rpms. I am not sure on that one. They won't let me have the software tool to look that deep. That's why if your actual cruise rpm is lower than their 3000kpa cruise set point you have to overshoot your set points.

3000kpa set to 16 = 15.4 afr for me at 2200. If I run the truck up to 3000rpms the 16 afr set point will kick in and run my truck at 16afr but it has to sense it's in cruise "closed throttle" and a time limit go by. Does that make sense?

[AnotherWs6]

Kind of. But what does 3000kpa mean?

I am imagining that it has some sort of acceleration mode as well as a WOT mode? or is it just accel and cruise?

[steveo3318]

3000kpa is the cruise afr parameter. It has 3 parameters plus you can get into the closed and open loop afr parameters

[AnotherWs6]

OK. So 3000kpa is what, a vacuum type reading? And if so does that mean that that you can set 3 different vacuum parameters to dial in AFR?

Maybe this should be taken into a PM but I think that you have some good information and experience and it may help others as well.

[steveo3318]

No no no. I have a seperate vacuum gauge on my truck. Vacuum is the easiest way to tell how much fuel you are using. Your vacuum reacts instantly to your throttle. The more vacuum your pulling the less fuel your burning and more fuel you are saving. It's an old school way to know how your engine is performing and fuel consumption. Go here and it will explain their afr
http://fitechefi.com/faq/afr-targets/

[Orange Crate]

Interesting stuff,thanks for the write up Steveo. I "play around" with FI myself, read your entire post and found the 3000kpa parameter curious. If it is vacuum (or pressure) that equals about 888 inches of mercury, now that's high pressure! So anyway, just wondering how Fitech uses that function if you care to elaborate anymore. I searched their web site but they aren't going into too much detail there.

Originally Posted by steveo3318

3000kpa is the cruise afr parameter. It has 3 parameters plus you can get into the closed and open loop afr parameters

[steveo3318]

The vacuum I speak of has no corrilation with the fitech afr parameters guys. It's a visual tool I use to see how my truck is running

[Orange Crate]

I see now that Fitech is saying 3000rpm@45kpa, 3000rpm@95kpa, 6000rpm@95kpa.....ect. That makes more sense. Steveo must have been typing an answer to my question at the same time I was asking it...look at the time of the posts. Ok, all good now. Is it Friday yet?

[AnotherWs6]

I checked the link out too, makes more sense. I know what vacuum is, I just didn't understand what the 3,000 figure meant. I googled kpa and saw it was related to pressure so.....

[steveo3318]

Yeah my bad on putting the kpa behind 3000. But y'all got it now lol

[Orange Crate]

Steveo. Thanks again for the great install write up. Ya gotta love the tune-ability of FI. Yes, vacuum is a great measure of efficiency. The FI that I play with uses the MAP and the RATE that the throttle is applied to add fuel for acceleration enrichment and also for de-richment. Sometimes a MAP sensor doesn't react as quickly as desired so the added extra parameter helps keep the acceleration from going lean (depending on how fast you are mashing the throttle) and also from staying too rich during deceleration. The Fitech seems to be a very nice system for the price point they are in.

[BigCountryx]

Originally Posted by steveo3318

I don't use it to scare people. Being from 57 they didn't care about decibels and its a lot louder than most on the tracks today. To many sue happy people out there. But yes it will get anyone's attention with a quickness��

Originally Posted by steveo3318

Don't let me catch someone crossing a train track to slow cause they scared of bending their 26 inch rims. I have made a couple turn the tires to smoke that was dicking around.

Just struck me as funny.... cool setup

[88Stanger]

Steveo Thanks for all your time and effort to report all this great data. i was playing with going to FiTech and well now i am for sure. Again thanks for your help. Wife is going to love this. lol

[88Stanger]

Steveo, thanks for the write up. FiTech should pay you some money, im sure i am not the only one that has bought their system until reading this. lol I just bought the 600hp power adder with FCC. i excited to get it and install it, I have a question that i am not completely understanding. You mention that you had to run a vent line back to the tank? I have an aftermarket tank under the bed. I obviously have a carb now and am converting to this new FiTech EFI, but im concerned with what or why you needed to run a vent line. Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by 88Stanger

Steveo, thanks for the write up. FiTech should pay you some money, im sure i am not the only one that has bought their system until reading this. lol I just bought the 600hp power adder with FCC. i excited to get it and install it, I have a question that i am not completely understanding. You mention that you had to run a vent line back to the tank? I have an aftermarket tank under the bed. I obviously have a carb now and am converting to this new FiTech EFI, but im concerned with what or why you needed to run a vent line. Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

You do have to run a return line if you run the command center. If the float sticks in the command center it will overflow fuel from the cc tank and out the vent (to wherever you have that going). If you have it going to the ground instead of back to the tank, on a long enough drive you could theoretically pump your entire fuel tank out on the street (and that is if it doesn't catch on fire under the hood).

That pissed me off immensely when I did mine because of how they advertise it as a "returnless" system.

[GR8-68]

Awesome information here guys, thank you. I have been thinking of going to efi just was not sure of which system was best to use, I was actually leaning towards the holley system but you all may have just convinced me it would be best to go to fi tech.

John, are you using yours on the ls swap ?

[GR8-68]

I was thinking of this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BXH3RVM...=IWCXJWHYPJRXY

Along with this

https://www.amazon.com/Holley-825011...R03QF12SZCDTC1

Or would I be better with this ? I see the FCC is sold separate from the kit, so do you have to run the FCC ? What is pro's and con's of running and not running it ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B1FYSV4?psc=1

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by GR8-68

I was thinking of this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BXH3RVM...=IWCXJWHYPJRXY

Along with this

https://www.amazon.com/Holley-825011...R03QF12SZCDTC1

Or would I be better with this ? I see the FCC is sold separate from the kit, so do you have to run the FCC ? What is pro's and con's of running and not running it ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B1FYSV4?psc=1

I don't know anything about the Holley stuff (except its considerably more expensive, or at least was).

The FCC lets you run the EFI with your factory mechanical fuel pump. Its an easy way to run EFI without messing with your existing fuel system much. If you already have an EFI fuel pump (I think it needs around 50 psi IIRC), then you don't need it. I was still using my in-cab tank so used the command center.

It would better and less expensive to not use it if you don't have to. Much cleaner installation as well.

[NC_John]

Originally Posted by GR8-68

John, are you using yours on the ls swap ?

I am not. I am going to keep the factory EFI and controls. They work really well.

One nice thing about the FiTech setup was how clean it could look. This is how my engine looked when I was running it (I spent a lot of time sanitizing it).



Nobody knew it was EFI unless they saw the command center in the corner (can't really hide it under the hood) and started asking questions.

My FiTech used to struggle a bit on mine but I think that was mostly due to the rumpity-rump cam. It used to idle inconsistently - sometimes high, sometimes low. It would probably "self-tune" a lot better on a milder build. Overall though, the truck ran worlds better with it. The throttle response alone felt like it added another 100 hp- it was that big a difference.

[steveo3318]

What nc John said the vent line is really a return line in case of emergency. Just make sure you have a two way vented fuel cap. IT WILL BUILD PRESSURE IF NOT!!!

[GR8-68]

So as of right now I really have not invested anything so I can go either way with what I want / need to do. I had planned to go with a Boyd rear tank and a electric pump, by the sounds of what I am reading though it would be best to use the FCC just for the return line aspect of it.

[steveo3318]

That's 6 one way half a Dozen the other. I used the fuel command center because I have the factory behind the seat and don't care to replace it. It is brand new. Now that being said if I had thevrear tank I would of went with either an inline pump or in tank pump. Yes they are louder but don't clutter up the engine bay. In reality with the FCC I now have two points of failure instead of one. Either my mechanical pump or electric pump could die. With an in line or tank you drop the mechainical which I am all about one less item to worry about. I don't see any issues in my near future but if I HAVE to put a rear tank in I will most likely ditch the FCC and go in tank. The FCC has never given me any issues other than overheating one time and that was my fault for not lowering the idle flow parameter. Once it cooled down and I set the parameters never another issue what so ever. This info is really only based on engine bay appearance!!! I might of been saying go FCC if I had the inline pump after hearing in whine forever. I will say in tank or FCC now that I think about how loud a in line is. All three have to have the return in the end.