The vacuum with my XE274 cam on my 428 and 875 idle rpm at 3300 ft elevation is about 10".  Just as a point of reference.  That is similar to others that I have talked to with the same cam.

How about the Pavement Pounder or the Exterminator (getting rid of mice and rats)?

Did you get your timing problem resolved?  With the Fitech timing control, get a helper and have them hold the rpm at 2200 ish rpm.  It will help to stabilize the timing off of idle.  Have your helper read the timing from the handheld and compare it to what you are reading on your timing light.  For example you had said your handheld said 18 while your timing light read 13.  In that case, you would rotate your distributor until both your handheld and your timing light indicated 18 degrees.  That should help to get your timing synced up, because in that previous example you would be about 5 degrees lower everywhere in your map.  I'm not sure if you set your adjustable rotor up as in the Fitech instructions or phased it with another cap with a hole in it.  When I phased mine in correctly, it was different than what Fitech stated in their instructions.  As you play with the Fitech more, it may make sense to alter some of the breakpoint settings to more accurately set where all of your timing advance comes in and what MAP setting you do most of your cruising at.  I'm not a Fitech expert but am running a 600 power adder version on a 428, so have learned a few things over the last couple of years.  Let me know if there is anything I can help with.   

I'm 37 and currently own two FEs.  A 1967 Galaxie convertible with a 390 and a 1972 F-100 with a  428.  As stated earlier by Barry, there are still a lot of old pickups out there with FEs.  I live in Montana and a lot of those old pickups still survive.  I have four young kids and at this point, they get a big kick out of taking the older vehicles out for a spin.  I believe as long as the older car interest is still out there, the FE will be fine.

Quote from: unclewill on June 30, 2017, 08:51:14 AM

The "self learning" EFI starts with a too rich base map for safety and leans itself out through time.  The FiTech computer allows for fine tuning for most parameters - I suspect most TBI retrofit systems offer the same.
Anyone who is unclear on why EFI trumps a carb on ANY engine needs only to drive their vehicle from sea level to 8000' of elevation without opening the hood.

So whats the problem with carbs at altitude? Jet change? Power valve change? Your statement is simply untrue. No hood needs to be lifted with a carb equipped car to correct for altitude. I have made countless trips over Tioga Pass, Ca. [alt. 9945'] in 3 different carb equipped cars and not once did I need to lift the hood to adjust for altitude. All 3 cars have 3310/780 Holleys and ran just fine. No puking black smoke, no loading up, no stumbling or flat spots, all ran fine. A carb will respond in kind to atmosphere or lack of as fuel delivery is directly related to the amount of air flowing thru the carb. Less air...less fuel, its that simple.

My experience with carbs is that they are not that good at big changes in altitude.  If I take my Galaxie from Billings (3300' in elevation) up over the Beartooth Pass (10,947' in elevation) it definitely is a rich pig at the top.  Do I have to change jets to get over the top? No, but if I was to be in that elevation full time, I would definitely have to re-jet.  The same goes for dirt bikes, snowmobiles and everything else I have run in both low and high elevations and also at the temperature extremes.  Over a small elevation range (1,500 feet or so), it's not as big a deal.

Also, I am still getting some drive time on my Fitech on my 428 with a XE274 cam, but it seems to do fine with 9.5" of idle vacuum and cam lobe center in the 106-110 area.  The efi has definitely helped it to run a lot better in those areas just under the powerband of the cam.  I can cruise down the street in that 1500 to 2000 rpm range and it is plumb happy now.  I am definitely not anti-carb, but liking the efi so far. 

Here is the other one regarding the fuel command center.

Knowing what I know now, I would not use the fuel command center again unless they got their venting figured out. The first generation FCC had a rollover ball in the vent assembly. The FCC also has a Holley style float and needle and seat assembly in it that is supposed to work like a carburetor application. Their theory is that you can use the existing mechanical pump to feed the FCC. Since I am wanting to retain the two factory tanks, that was a selling point for me. One of their big selling points is that a return line is not necessary and that the fuel pump in the FCC is pulse width modulated and the vent would take care of any fuel heating or expansion. It all sounds very good in theory. However, I had situations where my pickup would just stall and die and you couldn't get it started back up. If you left it for a half hour or so, it would fire right up like nothing had ever happened.
 The FCC would vapor lock. Here is what I think happened. I think the rollover ball in the vent was too big and didn't allow for enough venting to happen. In PWM, the pump would heat up the fuel and the FCC would absorb any additional engine bay heat. Since the vent wasn't working properly, the FCC would pressurize and keep the float suspended, which shuts your fuel off from the mechanical pump. I finally got mad and decided to "fix" the FCC. I was past the point where I could return anything, so I modified the FCC to be a surge tank. I drilled out the vent assembly and removed the rollover ball. I also removed the float assembly. I used the old vent port and added a new port to the FCC. So now I have an input port that receives fuel from the mechanical pump, an outlet port that pumps EFI pressure fuel to the throttle body, a return port that takes excess fuel from the throttle body back to the FCC and a return port that takes fuel back to the tank. With this modification, the FCC is way cooler and I have not had any stalling problems.
 Supposedly the newer generation FCC redesigned the vent assembly and got rid of the rollover ball design. The newer generation FCC might work plumb fine, but I haven't done much additional research on it after my "fix". Knowing what I know now, I would have started off with a cheap surge tank and used a Bosch 044 pump.
 Just make sure and study up on the FCC before you pony up the dough to use it. Let me know and I can share pictures of what you find in the FCC.