Ford F834 Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 I have not necessarily decided to go EFI… and if I do it, it will be a ways off in the future. However… there is a parts opportunity happening now and I would like to know if I should take advantage of it… I can find 300 straight six EFI in the junkyard pretty much any time I like. However, I have been told that 1996 is the only year that the 300 had sequential fire EFI as opposed to batch fire. Yesterday I went to the junkyard and saw a EFI straight six with a build date of 2-96. I don't know how rare or not this is, but I hate to pass it up if it is a hard to find one-year-wonder. So, does anyone know: -How to tell if this is the sequential fire system? -What parts are unique to the sequential fire? -Is this system worth seeking out/significantly better than batch fire? I don't really have any business spending money on this, and if I have to buy the whole thing I will have to pass. Even at junkyard prices. But if the “special” parts are a manageable amount I might do it. I have been having carburetor trials and tribulations to make my ‘68 F250 ready for sale, and the one in my ‘81 still isn't right. EFI certainly is more complicated, but might be less finicky and more reliable in the end. Much research is needed, but a guy on FB said he and a friend converted one in a day and were very happy with the outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Jonathan - I can't tell you what type of injection the 1995 4.9L's had, but I can tell you that the 1996 4.9's had sequential-fire EFI with a MAF sensor and an OBD-II port. And from everything I've read that means it is an EEC-V system. So, how to tell? Check the wires going to the injectors. If it is sequential they should be, from #1 to #6: tan; white; brown/yellow; brown/light blue; tan/black; light green/orange. And it if is batch-fire I suspect they will be tan for one batch and white for the other, but I'm assuming that they used the same wire colors for a six as an 8 in batch-fire. As for what you need, the cleanest would be to get the ECU and the wiring harnesses under the hood. The engine harness, the power distribution box, and the wiring that goes into the cab. But, you don't need the in-cab wiring, although it would be good to have the OBD-II connector that should be in the middle of the dash at the bottom. And, get the air box with the MAF sensor and the associated plumbing. Then you'll have a 1996 truck that can be maintained by plugging a scanner into the OBD-II port. But, there's a learning curve. Bill's done it and I'm getting ready to do it. In fact, I talked to Core Tuning today. And, they will probably be at the show/swap meet in Sept, so you'd have a good chance to talk to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 1995 California trucks were sequential and MAF, 1996, all are. The one thing on the 300 EFI, early models had a cooling fan that runs after engine shutdown to blow air over the injectors, later engines Ford raised the fuel pressure so it couldn't boil in the fuel rail. I don't have a 300 EFI engine to look at, I am not sure if the injectors are in the head or manifold on those. I do know that the intake is a royal PITA to work on, even worse in a van! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 1995 California trucks were sequential and MAF, 1996, all are. The one thing on the 300 EFI, early models had a cooling fan that runs after engine shutdown to blow air over the injectors, later engines Ford raised the fuel pressure so it couldn't boil in the fuel rail. I don't have a 300 EFI engine to look at, I am not sure if the injectors are in the head or manifold on those. I do know that the intake is a royal PITA to work on, even worse in a van! Thanks for the info. guys. As I suspected there is a lot to consider here... and I'm not even sure I want to pop the lid on this can of worms at all. If it's basically the electrical components and air box I might consider that purchase if the wiring is intact. I will probably go back next week on my day off and have a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Thanks for the info. guys. As I suspected there is a lot to consider here... and I'm not even sure I want to pop the lid on this can of worms at all. If it's basically the electrical components and air box I might consider that purchase if the wiring is intact. I will probably go back next week on my day off and have a look. I think it is the electrical components and the airbox/MAF sensor, plus plumbing. But, I can't say for sure since the EEC-V with sequential and MAF came after 1989, meaning the end of my catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 I'd think the presence of an obd-II port is enough to confirm sefi. Not sure of emissions requirements in your area, just be aware that air injection moved to the cylinder head with the change to batch fire EFI and paired exhaust manifolds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 I'd think the presence of an obd-II port is enough to confirm sefi. Not sure of emissions requirements in your area, just be aware that air injection moved to the cylinder head with the change to batch fire EFI and paired exhaust manifolds. It seems logical that the presence of an OBD-II port says it is an EEC-IV. However, I've read that some EEC-IV's came with a non-functional port, perhaps as a consequence of the changeover. I don't know if that is true or not, and have no way of proving or disproving it. Anyway, here's the blower Bill mentioned: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 I got in touch with the FB guy who did the EFI swap on a 1984 300 six and picked his brain a little. Here are some of the key points of the conversion: The swap was a 1995 batch fire set up, not sefi. It was his solution to the feedback carb. He said the sefi/maf type is a whole different animal. Better for adding turbo or performance tuning, but for basic stock operation he recommended I look at the speed density/batch fire type of EFI because it is way easier to find and swap. That is how he was able to knock it out in one day with good results. He highly recommended that I buy a whole donor, not piece it together from a junkyard. He said all the little details will nickel and dime me to death, and it's better to just have the whole system available. He said I would need a manual trans donor to get the right computer. For a clean install, he said to extend the ECM wiring about 18" so the power distribution box can sit on the fender and the ECM can mount under the dash with the harness threaded through the factory firewall hole. Two wires need to be tied in: engine temperature and oil pressure. Very important: the straight six requires a 60psi fuel pump, not the 45psi ones used on the V8's. The notch in the tank that orients the sender is wrong, and he had to snip a new notch with pliers. He used OBS gauges modded to fit a bullnose cluster, but agreed that I could probably fit a 1986 EFI 302 sender with the higher pressure pump. He said the pressure regulator fuel lines, connectors and fittings are all very important. You need a 14 ga or better wire on a relay to power the pump. The later models had a rollover switch for the fuel pump which he decided to delete. That's the main gist of the discussion, he said he really likes it, especially being able to go out in -5*F weather and just hit the key once and it starts and runs. For me, I got my question answered. Just pass on the 96 sefi even though it is quite an uncommon find, evidently. I'm better off revisiting the idea if/when I can find and deal with another donor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I got in touch with the FB guy who did the EFI swap on a 1984 300 six and picked his brain a little. Here are some of the key points of the conversion: The swap was a 1995 batch fire set up, not sefi. It was his solution to the feedback carb. He said the sefi/maf type is a whole different animal. Better for adding turbo or performance tuning, but for basic stock operation he recommended I look at the speed density/batch fire type of EFI because it is way easier to find and swap. That is how he was able to knock it out in one day with good results. He highly recommended that I buy a whole donor, not piece it together from a junkyard. He said all the little details will nickel and dime me to death, and it's better to just have the whole system available. He said I would need a manual trans donor to get the right computer. For a clean install, he said to extend the ECM wiring about 18" so the power distribution box can sit on the fender and the ECM can mount under the dash with the harness threaded through the factory firewall hole. Two wires need to be tied in: engine temperature and oil pressure. Very important: the straight six requires a 60psi fuel pump, not the 45psi ones used on the V8's. The notch in the tank that orients the sender is wrong, and he had to snip a new notch with pliers. He used OBS gauges modded to fit a bullnose cluster, but agreed that I could probably fit a 1986 EFI 302 sender with the higher pressure pump. He said the pressure regulator fuel lines, connectors and fittings are all very important. You need a 14 ga or better wire on a relay to power the pump. The later models had a rollover switch for the fuel pump which he decided to delete. That's the main gist of the discussion, he said he really likes it, especially being able to go out in -5*F weather and just hit the key once and it starts and runs. For me, I got my question answered. Just pass on the 96 sefi even though it is quite an uncommon find, evidently. I'm better off revisiting the idea if/when I can find and deal with another donor... From what I have found out, if the truck has the cooling fan, it is one of the older 45 psi pumps, the 60 psi pump was to solve the heat soak problem, Chevy did the same thing with their 454 EFI engines as the injectors are buried inside the nice ram tuned runner plenum. You may be able to buy pumps that will fit the earlier hangers and the final control is the actual pressure regulator on the fuel rail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 From what I have found out, if the truck has the cooling fan, it is one of the older 45 psi pumps, the 60 psi pump was to solve the heat soak problem, Chevy did the same thing with their 454 EFI engines as the injectors are buried inside the nice ram tuned runner plenum. You may be able to buy pumps that will fit the earlier hangers and the final control is the actual pressure regulator on the fuel rail. As of 1987 through 1989 all the F-series trucks used the same fuel pump, regardless of engine. I don't know how many psi that is, but there isn't a diff between 6 and 8. But after 1989 I don't know. (There's that need for a 1990+ catalog again.) As for the diff between SD and MAF, my understanding (I haven't done it) is that if you are going with a fairly stock engine that SD works fine. But I'm not sure I agree with the extra complexity statement. Yes, there are more pins in the connector, but you don't really need all of them as you don't need all that much more in the way of I/O. Both take the same # of O2 sensors w/o a cat - one on the six - although with a cat the MAF can use two. And there's the four or so wires to/from the MAF. Plus six wires to the injectors instead of two. But, other than that there's not much difference. And with MAF you are set for whatever changes you want to make. Another difference is in the use or not of a power distribution box/center. Bill can tell us, but somewhere between 1990 and 1995 they introduced the power center that sits on the driver's fender. I think the it is a good thing, but it does require a few changes in the electrical wiring to accommodate it. And it is the combination of power distribution center and style of EFI that can make it a bit more tedious to find the donor vehicle. In other words, up to some date the trucks will be SD but w/o PDC. Then from that date until the change to MAF they'll be SD and PDC. After that date they are MAF and PDC. I'm not trying to talk you into anything, but I am trying to get my head, and yours, around the options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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