NOTE: This was originally written by Sporto in early 2013, and the EFI conversion has been a success. These articles from then are just getting published today (2017), life has a way of doing that.
Well 2013 has been an interesting (if not sad) year thus far. However as I sort through the pending life changes, career concerns and toddler drama, one thing remains constant in my mind, and that is my eventual Bronco upgrade project. During my commute to and from work, I find myself thinking about how I am going to go about implementing this latest upgrade. This has been ongoing for the past 14 months or so, and I have not even turned a wrench yet.
No blog post of mine would be complete without some backstory to bring you up to speed with how important this project is to me. Well here it is…
Back in 1991, I graduated from college, and I was accepted into the Marine Corps’ OCS program in Quantico, VA that was to start that fall. I spent the summer working in Ocean City, NJ making money and getting a tan. Sometime during that summer I was exposed to a late 60’s Mustang that had an Electronic Fuel Injection kit from Holley installed and it was running perfectly on the stock 289 V8. I was impressed right away with how smooth the engine ran, and how much power the stock engine was able to produce. It was then that I immediately knew that I wanted the same for my Bronco, and I was not going to stop until I upgraded my Bronco to EFI.
At the time, the only viable option for EFI was to use an aftermarket throttle body injection system, that was the Holley kit that I had seen earlier. The idea of using a donor setup from a late model Ford 5.0 was something that I did not consider as it was too complex and/or expensive for me. I was more adept at installing a stand alone DIY kit. Upon my return from the summer job and while waiting to ship out, I called up Summit Racing and dropped the 900.00 (a lot of money in 91) for the entire Holley Projection EFI kit. This to me was the “end all be all” for my truck, and I was excited to get it installed…The only question was when was that going to happen.
Early Holley Projection Setup
A month after I took delivery of the kit, I was neck deep in mud and grime in the woods of Quantico, and from there my life just accelerated to a ridiculous pace. I was off to Fort Sill OK the following summer, and then to Okinawa, Japan for another year or so. Finally in 1994 after returning to the States, my schedule cleared up enough for me to make a run at getting the EFI installed. I was stationed in North Carolina, and my Bronco was still back in PA. I did manage to get a paint job and some other improvements done via phone and mail while away (not email as it was not readily used at the time) deployed so I was happy with what it looked like and how it ran at the time. So in the summer of 94 I flew back to PA on leave for a few days, loaded up the Bronco with my tools and EFI kit etc… and drove it the 500 miles to coastal Carolina. It had no problems with the trip,
The conversion and installation was relatively simple. The analog unit was really just a GM TB injection system that would fit any standard 4 barrel manifold. The rest was just getting the fuel lines and wiring installed. There was not 02 sensor or anything else needed to make this kit work.
Initially it ran great, the tired 302 had a lot of added power and response, and from that point on, I was sold on EFI for my rig. However after a few weeks of driving it started to give me trouble. It would just cut out after a long run, and leave you stranded by the road. I would have to get out, undo the fuel line and relieve the pressure and reattach it. My knowledge of EFI was very limited back then, and there was no discussion boards or blogs to refer to and share my experience with other people in the know. Holley to their credit had an excellent help line, and they did everything they could to assist, but I was still on Active Duty and I could not mess around with a vehicle that was intermittently failing, so I gave up on the EFI, uninstalled it and put my 4 barrel back on. The truck ran this way for the next 19 years….
Now, in 2013 as knowledge and parts are more available, I am researching the Ford ODB-1 SEFI from the late 80’s as a means to accomplish my EFI dream! I picked up the whole setup, from an 86 Mustang for 100.00 and I am going through the learning process of how to install this and make it work on my Bronco. I will keep this blog updated as I go, and I will try and share as much information as I can in the process.
Sporto
Above: Upper Plenum, Throttle Body, IAC and EGR from a 1986 Mustang GT 5.0 with Speed Density Computer
Above: 1970 Bronco with Edelbrock carb and Durspark ignition, getting ready for tear down.
