"With a laptop computer, the engine's performance can be monitored and adjusted at any moment," says Rohrback.
And while tuning can certainly bring out horsepower that was buried in an inadequate air/fuel mixture, fuel injection doesn't necessarily increase horsepower to a great degree.
"If the airflow through a carburetor and throttle body are roughly the same, then the engine will make roughly the same power," says Rohrback. "But the tuning capability of EFI nets more power in the long run. The fuel curve can be easily optimized through the entire rpm range, producing noticeable increases in torque and power."
That is essentially what we found on World Products' in-house engine dyno. Horsepower peaked at 567 at 5,500 rpm, with torque registering at 559 ft-lb at 4,800 rpm. A similar, yet carbureted, version of the Motown 454 is offered by World Products with a rating of 530 hp and 540 ft-lb of torque.
We should note, too, that the camshaft in our engine was a one-off ground for us by Comp Cams.
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Combustion chambers are CNC-machined and have a high-swirl design. The valves are Manley S
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Valvetrain consists of Manley 1.550-inch valve springs, 10-degree chrome-moly retainers, a
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Topping off the 454 is FAST's fuel injection system. Our engine features a prototype throt
Compared to World's carbureted 454, the power numbers indicate a healthy jump, but the numbers don't tell the whole story. Overall, the power curves were more robust than initial runs with the carburetor and start-up idle were superb-must-have drivability traits as we hit the road with our Camaro. The more robust power curves reflect seat-of-the-pants performance improvement in the vehicle.
Torque registered above the 500 ft-lb mark from 3,000 rpm on, and horsepower hit 400 by 4,100 rpm and crossed the 500 threshold by 4,700 rpm. Both power curves show strong, progressive arcs that are easily duplicated on the street with the same pump gas used in our tests.
World Products' Bill Mitchell was pleased with the dyno results of the first-time fuel-injected Motown 454.
"They are great numbers, but I think we're only scratching the surface. There is a lot of potential-more than we had time to explore with the deadlines for getting the engine ready for the Camaro," he said. "We'll definitely be playing with this a lot more."
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The EFI system seen our 454 will soon be available from FAST for a variety of bolt-on appl
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Wilson Manifolds also made our engine's billet aluminum fuel rails and welding bungs into
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FAST also supplied the engine's 36-pound injectors-components that will be part of FAST's
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The fuel injection system is operated-and tuned-through FAST's Engine Control Unit. It's a
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We backed up the ECU with FAST's Data Logger, which will eliminate the need to have a lapt
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With FAST's ECU and Data Logger already plugged in, an option we'll consider for the futur