PBnf

The May/June issue of Street Thunder magazine has an article on adapting coil per cylinder, LS2 engine management and electronic throttle to LT1's, LT4's and L98's. It shows greater horsepower and torque across all RPM's. As a bonus for LT1's and LT4's you get to do away with the troublesome Optispark forever. Every engine gets the benefits of a single coil per cylinder and the increased computing power of the LS2 engine management system. A company called EFI Connection in concert with TPIS developed and sells the system. The internet address for EFI is:

eficonnection.com.

I don't know the price of the system and I don't have any relations with any of these companies, but I thought it might be something all of you might want to look at. If you can get a copy of the magazine they have a review of the system and of the installation, which they did on a 396ci LT1. I hope this does someone some good.

Paul

Tom400CFI

1. I don't know what it costs either, but I can't IMAGINE that the cost/hp is anywhere near the "sane" area.
2. The electronic throttle on my C6 sucked a big a**. And the one on my '05 CTS-V does too. I would NEVER downgrade from the mechanical throttle linkage to the highly annoying electric throttle system, unless it was PROVEN to me in advance, that it can and will "behave" just exactly like or (somehow) better than the mechanical system.

The Coil on plug certainly has it's advantages, but the rest of the system? I'm skeptical.

LTxDave

I agree completely about the electronic throttle control. People that say they can't tell a difference must have grown up driving video games.

2012 coupe

$2320 with out the electronic throttle. 1993-1995 LT-1.

The Green Rocket

For those with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cccYWADbHPw
That is when the eficonnection system makes sense. You need to be at heroic power levels or it isn't justified.

I'm still running my original opti (yes, its a low mile car), although I did replace the cap and rotor once = a loose rotor helped to create carbon tracking in the cap.

Some guys will probably rant about the price, but I think we should all be glad that someone is making interesting parts for the LT1/4 engine.

Thomas

Tom400CFI

Now you're talking.

STL94LT1

You can buy alot of optis for that price, or maybe even a set of the new AFR Comp heads.

And for the electronic throttle body, my C5 has one and I hate it. For me it is a real disconnect form the gas peddle to the engine.

Tom400CFI

People who say you can't tell a difference are lying to themselves. It is terrible. In my C6 I could depress the gas pedal and release it completely...before the engine RPM changed one bit. When the engine DID repsond, it was slow and lazy going up and back down. Older cable actualted engines respond like lightning by comparison. Makes rev-matched down-shifting SO much more fun and rewarding, when the engine actually does something when you jab the pedal.

LTxDave

Yeah, I sold my 06 GT for just that reason. If it was the only car I owned or if it wasn't a 5 speed I could have probably gotten used to it, but going from it to the GS and back really screwed up my driving technique. My wife's Grand Prix has the electronic throttlebody. It has the same features that i hated on my Mustang, but its an automatic so its not unbearable.

pcolt94

I don’t doubt it. Transistors, diodes and gates are fast in themselves. But if you have enough semiconductors and gates all summed together and add a little software and coding to it, it can turn out to be a real delay in a time factor one in which a person can actually see the difference in an event.

Probably for normal driving and without scrutinizing it, it can pass by us with out a noticeable effect.

DVNCI

I'll probably do this kit when I go forced induction so I can run the LS computer.

The LS computer is FAR more advanced than the LTX computer, much faster, allows real-time tuning, etc.

But I will NOT do the electronic throttle - you can keep a mechanical throttle which to me is important, why ruin a good thing. The electronic throttle is advantageous in it's own right but not for what I use my car for.

And the idea of getting rid of the Opti is reason enough. Sure you can buy several Opti's for that price but would you really want to?

DVNCI

And by the way, does anyone know anyone using this? I would love to talk to them.

LTxDave

What do you base this on? I'm not asking to be a smartass, I'd just like to know. I was under the impression that the late model LTx computers were fairly good.

jaa1992

Because the LSx computer has to deal with a lot more than the LTx computer its faster, more memory and a lot more "stuff" in the box.

The 96 LTx computer is close, but just like PCs car computers become faster, more powerful each year.

DVNCI

LOL - no offense taken. With all the crap people spew on the Internet it's good to make people back stuff up!

The late model LTX computers are definitely good, but they are 16 bit.

The LS computer is 32 bit, which basically means it's exponentially more powerful.

I forget the number exactly but the LS computer can process millions more calculations per second than an LTX computer, which is one of the reasons you can do real-time tuning with it.

dclafleur

well 32 bit would be 4294967296 memory positions whereas 16 bit would be 65536..

DVNCI

What he said!

vettekid12

ok i know this thread is old but i just read it. i have the l98 tpi.. so how would this kit work with this motor since it has a distributor. and where can this kit be purchased

1963SS

Wow, decreased throttle response for only $2000.00. Let me find my checkbook. Just wait until they get steer-by-wire developed. Mercedes is working on it and so is GM. Now that's scary. Steering wheel not attached to the wheels. Only attached to a variable resistor.

DVNCI

What's even worse is I have read SEVERAL articles lately that talk about how the manufacturers really have to use software now to differentiate themselves, not so much the "hardware". Mercedes and BMW are the prime examples.

Some of the "by wire" type stuff makes sense, I see why they have done it and it makes sense to do it for a lot of reasons. It allows them to "program" the car much easier, for safety reasons and so on. They are already doing this with the electronic throttle stuff and steer-by-wire will allow them to do the same thing: "program" the steering for different ratios, driving conditions, etc

A lot of the issues with the electronic throttles isn't the throttles themselves - it's the torque management programming. They put progressive delays in there to lessen driveline shock and so on. If you turn the torque management stuff off (which you can do in the HP Tuners software for example) it feels crisper and more responsive. That being said, I'll take the mechanical throttle please.

For the "average" consumer the by wire stuff is probably the way to go, we all know they have to build/program vehicles for the lowest common denominator - but for enthusiasts and shade tree mechanics like me it means I'll probably never own a "fun" vehicle much older than a 2000 or so!