cliffhaas Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Hi everyone! I had posted only once before with a no spark problem and this community was quick to offer help. A little background; the truck was purchased without my seeing it first hand. I found it in CA and had someone inspect it. It has about 10K on a rebuilt 5.0L motor and AOD trans. I have receipts for each. The work however was done 10 years ago and it has spent most of its time parked. I quickly became frustrated with chasing issues on the weekends rather than driving it and was always afraid it was going to stop running while out somewhere. Since my hope was to have a vehicle to enjoy as opposed to a true collector type vehicle I made the decision to do something relatively drastic. I had recently built a 1970 f100 with a 460 and was happy with the MSD ignition I used in the project. So hoping the entire MSD line was going to offer the same experience, I went about removing the Ford EEC-IV system in it's entirety. In its place I installed the MSD Atomic TBI FI system, a big cap MSD Pro Billet distributor, Street Fire Ignition, and a Weiand dual plane high rise manifold. I was able to leverage the OEM fuel pump and plumbed it to new AN lines with the addition of an adjustable FPR on the return. After a little playing around with timing curves and a few small setting adjustments the truck starts immediately and runs well reliably. Now this means I have a lot of EEC-IV related parts I would like to get to a new home. I will post that list in the appropriate board. Thanks again for the help when I needed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Wow! You are the 1st that I know to do this and report back with good results. Please report back as time goes by as I am certain others will welcome the updates. Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMUBullnose Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Wow! You are the 1st that I know to do this and report back with good results. Please report back as time goes by as I am certain others will welcome the updates. Congratulations! Congrats indeed! That's awesome. I have been toying with the idea of putting EFI into my '84 F-150. I'll keep an eye out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffhaas Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Wow! You are the 1st that I know to do this and report back with good results. Please report back as time goes by as I am certain others will welcome the updates. Congratulations! Will do. The tricky stuff was as you might expect; timing curve, TV and throttle cable and the truly small tweaks to the tuning. The Atomic system is exceptionally easy to install and offers a lot of tunability. playing with things like the IAC count, the virtual power valve and accelerator pump can keep you playing around without being a big issue or hurting reliability while you play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffhaas Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Congrats indeed! That's awesome. I have been toying with the idea of putting EFI into my '84 F-150. I'll keep an eye out! I looked at a couple of different FI systems and settled on the MSD Atomic for a couple of reasons. The brand has a good reputation and support is always available; the system integrates directly into the ign/Dist to allow it to control the timing if you want it to but you don't have to do so; the setup and tuning are easily done through a handheld that comes with the kit and does not require a laptop. I have the handheld in the cab mounted to the dash so I can see monitor the systems gauges and if I want to make changes can do so on the fly at any time. I think my other option would have been fitech if I didn't go with MSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 I looked at a couple of different FI systems and settled on the MSD Atomic for a couple of reasons. The brand has a good reputation and support is always available; the system integrates directly into the ign/Dist to allow it to control the timing if you want it to but you don't have to do so; the setup and tuning are easily done through a handheld that comes with the kit and does not require a laptop. I have the handheld in the cab mounted to the dash so I can see monitor the systems gauges and if I want to make changes can do so on the fly at any time. I think my other option would have been fitech if I didn't go with MSD. Nice! Thanks for posting, good to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 I looked at a couple of different FI systems and settled on the MSD Atomic for a couple of reasons. The brand has a good reputation and support is always available; the system integrates directly into the ign/Dist to allow it to control the timing if you want it to but you don't have to do so; the setup and tuning are easily done through a handheld that comes with the kit and does not require a laptop. I have the handheld in the cab mounted to the dash so I can see monitor the systems gauges and if I want to make changes can do so on the fly at any time. I think my other option would have been fitech if I didn't go with MSD. Ok, so that is a throttle body system, not a port or sequential system? Sounds interesting, if I hadn't already gone EEC-V MAF/SEFI on my 460. Do you know if it will integrate with a transmission control system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffhaas Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Ok, so that is a throttle body system, not a port or sequential system? Sounds interesting, if I hadn't already gone EEC-V MAF/SEFI on my 460. Do you know if it will integrate with a transmission control system? That's correct, it's TBI not port. If I were building for performance or felt it was worth while as an investment I might have gone to an SFI system but all I wanted was a reliable driver for days at the beach or weekend rides in the mountains etc. The price for everything including what I thought were expensive cables and brackets etc all came to under 2k. I don't see any option for electronic transmission integration. Just the Holley style linkage and TV cable for the trans. It was a fun and interesting project. I think the next time I do something like this I may buy a wrecked late model Mustang GT and swap the whole drive line system in. Of course that's a much bigger investment in both time and money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 ...all I wanted was a reliable driver for days at the beach or weekend rides in the mountains etc. The price for everything including what I thought were expensive cables and brackets etc all came to under 2k. They installed one of these Atomic systems on an old Buick wagon on an episode of Roadkill a while back. They do review the kit a little bit for those that are interested. Starts around the 18:30 mark I think. I have to say I'm jealous as I really wanted to install one of these MSD kits. The only thing that held me back was the cost. I think it's worth it, but I was trying to stay within some kind of a budget at the time. Maybe I can install one later on. In any case, thanks for posting the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Well done! That looks good and should be very reliable. And, it should give you good of MPG. Please let us know how you like it after you driven it a while, and what kind of MPG you get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts