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  •  » MSD Atomic efi

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    12/16/2013 9:34 PM  #1

    retired 65
    I FYI 24-7

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    From: nixa, mo.
    Registered: 4/02/2013
    Posts: 336

    MSD Atomic efi

    Is anyone using the MSD Atomic efi or have any feed-back on the system?  Thanks

    "when I drop something, it always goes to center of the car"
     

    12/17/2013 11:05 AM  #2

    Bolted to Floor
    Senior 24-7 FYI Addict

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    From: Houston, Texas
    Registered: 4/01/2013
    Posts: 1,918

    Re: MSD Atomic efi

    I haven't had any experience with them personally but the quote below is from Barry R with Survival Motorsports. His response in a thread about atomic EFI and several others is copied and pasted below from FEPower.net
    Hope this helps.

    Barry R
    I have some obvious bias here...but can provide some answers, and have a fair degree of experience on these too...   

    The 445 package would be well suited to your needs.  They pretty much always make 500+ lbs of torque, and normally deliver power between 475 HP and 525 HP at 650ish elevation depending on intake and heads.  At your elevation you can expect less, but should still be within the intended range.

    I have had some mixed luck on EFI conversions.  The high end Big Stuff 3, and FAST xFI are expensive, challenging to wire, require a lot of user input, and have always worked as intended. 

    My experience with the self learning systems has been less enjoyable.  I installed one MSD Atomic with worked nicely on the dyno - no report yet from the customer.  It seemed to be a very nicely designed and structured kit.  I installed a EZ-EFI with multi-port injectors in the manifold and a single 4 bbl throttle body in a stroked 428, which ran well and has been running well for a long time now.  I did two installations with TWM/Inglese stack type intakes and the EZ-EFI controllers - both ran OK on the dyno, but both were undriveable in the cars and have been replaced by xFI systems so that we could manually target certain parts of the fuel mapping.

    So far the MSD Atomic looks like the nicest self learning system - it also has a simple spark control function - linear curve only.  FAST recently released a version 2 of the EZ-EFI that is said to address some of the shortcomings & limitations of version 1.  There are others I have not had the chance to try yet - I wish they'd let me go into the mapping with a laptop to adjust the VE tables on the self learning systems - I think I could get them into a usable range pretty quickly and then let the system take over from there.

    Either my heads or a set of modified Edelbrocks will reach your goals.  Off the shelf Edelbrocks would meet the number at sea level but might fall short at altitude.  I am out of castings right now, and it's looking like I will not have any until year end at best.

    We machine and build short blocks, long blocks, and complete engines on site here at Survival.  We deliver a nice part, but tend to run long on lead times.  The vast majority of machining is done in house - bore/hone/deck/balance/dyno - on fairly new equipment.  We do have several 390 block cores in stock.  Pricing is done per quote, and is market competitive.


    Here is a link to the thread this quote originated in

    http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=1442.msg12549;topicseen#msg12549

    John  -- 67 Mustang Coupe 390 5 speed
     

    12/17/2013 1:47 PM  #3

    MS
    Forum Originator

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    From: Canyon Lake, Texas
    Registered: 1/24/2013
    Posts: 11,734

    Re: MSD Atomic efi

    I have one on my car.  I got it running on a brand new engine and then set out on a 2,000 mile trip the very next day.  It performed great.

    Do not believe the marketing hype about not requiring a return line to the tank.  Once you plunk down $2,400, then you get the paperwork stating if the temperature in your driving locale gets above 80 degrees you will have to have one.  BTW, the MSD return line kit is $450, but just consists of a fuel pressure regulator and some hose and fittings.  You would benefit from just putting the fuel pump in the tank.  Then no return is needed.  If I had not been in a real time crunch to get my car ready for the bash, I would have put in in the tank. My external pump makes noise as the gas in the tank heats up from driving, and I have not addressed that issue yet.  It still runs fine, but just sounds like it is ready to self-destruct.

    All that aside, the thing performed quite well.  There is one thing they tell you you have to get the injector duty cycle above a certain percentage at idle for it to perform at its best.  Well, it ran perfect out of the box and my attempts, per their instruction manual, to get the idle right only made it not have a good idle.  That said, I should have bolted it on and left it alone as it was running fine.  If it runs fine, who cares what the handheld screen tells you the injector duty cycle is.

    I am sure that I can get with the MSD tech line and have them help me get it back to the original setpoint, when I get the correct round tuit for that.

    It starts by just hitting the key, and you can change the idle from the driver seat, and it has zero hesitation or other ill manners when driving. And that unburned hydrocarbon smell is totally gone now that the carb is gone.

    You can only run the spark advance control if you have certain MSD distributors.  They recommend not attempting to connect to the advance right up front and wait until you have everything running and dialed in.  I have not gotten to the point where I am willing to take an operational system apart to attempt to "make it better" with the computer controlled advance. Car runs fine as-is.

    Bottom line.  If I wanted an EFI system on my car, I would buy one of these again.  It works well.

    Money you enjoy wasting is NOT wasted money... unless your wife finds out.
     

     

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