Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Clifford EFI Questions, anyone running it?

Anyone here running the fuel injection setup on their Clifford intake for GM 250 or 292? I got a Clifford intake with a 1404 Edelbrock setting on it(500 CFM) and my 250 works awesome. Since I drive my truck very often in the dead of winter I was wondering if the efi would preform a bit better in the cold than my manual choked carb? For $1300 it is tempting, especially if I could gain a more stable idle in the cold and save fuel(Traveling farm to farm it idles alot). I'd like to hear from anyone who has this setup, both good and bad. I have a leaky header so I'll have the intake off soon to fix it, and would make a change then if I am going to for inspection next month.

I'd like to know also. They are claiming some big increases in HP and torque with just their Fuel injection. Has anyone gone full tilt with their head, hydraulic cam, Fuel injection and exhaust yet. If so what is the word?

Clifford is too much money for there EFI.
Better off looking elsewhere for EFI.

They do not make much HP & they do not hot rod there engines with EFI,most tech people there are not very well informed it seems.

MBHD

this is very true when it comes to clifford, they are nice people and make nice equipment but they make some very, hmmmm how shall I say "flashy and tempting" numbers, when I asked them for some dyno numbers which is what they claim their power percentages to be on, they could not produce it, and did not know the actual HP/torque improvements numbers wise, very nice people, but when they tell me that a 261 with their cam/headders/intake/custom head/and fuel injection will give you over 100 percent hp improvements over stock according to them, and a 261 was like 150 HP, well that would mean 300 wheel HP!!!!!! that would be incredible and wonderfull, but we all know this to be untrue and not attainable for a 261, thoughts anyone?

I don't really care much about extra power, I was wondering if anyone tried it and how it was reliability, economy, and driveabilty wise. I asked around when I was looking for a intake, and was basically told anything with "Clifford" on it was pretty much a pile and to go with an Offy........Went with a Clifford and I'm tickled pink with it, it works awesome on my work truck which is used atleast 3 days a week every week of the year. So I can't say they aren't well informed, because they said it would work and it has done that and then some. I am looking at the kit from Howell that will work with the intake I already have. From the numbers I seen, I don't think $1300 is bad for the setup IMO. Where are the rest of these "Better" Efi setups at and what is the cost of them? I already have a set of their headers on mine(Got them cheap used) and I was told the stock cam works best with this EFI setup, and the only option to swap it out would be a custom grind they offer, but it doesn't help enough to warrent the change.

Keep the replys coming guys,
Thanks.

There are lot less expensive ways to convert to efi..

Just depends on if you want every thing to come in one shiny box or do most of the work yourself.

One shiny box == a good size price tag

Do more work yourself and it can be done for say $500 to $800.

woah now, don't come down on him for running what he wants. i ran a clifford and it also worked good for me. i also found out it needed water heat to work better.

we build these engines to be challenged.

for the efi , i would suggest using a holley system. use the 2 bbl TBI with a Commander 950 to run it. this will allow the most adjustment and monitoring for the dollar. it will come in a shiny package, but will be easier to setup for the novice.
holley also makes a TBI that is controlled by a box. it is even easier to operate.

also use a wide band O2 sensor. it allows the best monitoring of the fuel mixture. tom

tlowe, is this Holley setup a kit for say a small block?

Thanks

I am not saying that the stuff at clifford is junk or anything, I run a set of their headders on my truck and like them, but when it comes to highly technical equipment where things have to be PERFECT I just dont know if I would be buying something like that from clifford unless they were willing to poney up actual figures to the public as a basis for proof, some empirical data ya know, until they show that there is some actual advantage in mileage from their EFI, then why would anyone want to beleive it? and 1300 dollars is a lot of money to spend with no guarentee that any actual improvements will result. Seriously though, what are they comparing their numbers too, stock 1 bbl? its called choice of standards, if they compare their EFI to a stock 1 bbl then I am sure they are getting major improvements, like 50 percent of whatever it is that they claim, thats not hard of the stock carb and manifold, but like over a good 4 bbl, or triple progressive 2-bbls, it might not be all that impressive, like 10 percent or less even. I am not saying there stuff is junk so dont think that I am, everyone just needs to be thinking of what they are comparing these systems to when they make these claims. If they told me that a hot 292 with a 500 edelbrock vs their EFI and nothing else changed and they got a 50 percent improvement then I would be sold on it, but until I see some facts and data-dyno data that is, I am leary, and remain skeptical.

I was under the impression when they say for example "50% improvement over stock" stock means a stock setup as it came from the OEM.

yeah I actually just checked that site, and it doesnt say anything about over stock after all, it doesnt say anything about performance gains or mileage in any way shape or form for the 1300 dollar set-up, go figure. doesnt sound that good to me, 1300 dollars and no details before purchase......hmmmmm. Anyhow, the fifty percent thing can mean anything, but it deosnt necessarily mean stock, because it doesnt mention anything about it on their page, thats why its ambiguous-I got this when I talked to them on the phone, he told me a 50% improvement in power, but he could not or would not tell me what that entailed, if it was 50% over a holley 390, or a edelbrock 500, or triple dueces, or stock, on a performance motor/non performance motor-the donor motor that he used to get these figures off of of course. heck I didnt even tell him what motor I had and he told me I would get 50%, seems like gains would be greater on some motors than others, and that they cant just arbitrarily say 50% to all motors, ya see what I'm saying??? Thoughts anyone?

heck a holley 390 or an edelbrock 500 with a four barrel intake manifold might get 50% or so over the stock 1 bbl when tuned right

here are a few choices from holley.
http://www.holley.com/types/Commander%20950%202-Bbl%20Throttle%20Body%20Systems.asp $1300.00
http://www.holley.com/types/Pro-Jection%202-Bbl%20Throttle%20Body%20System.asp $969.00

the second one is cheaper but less controlable.

with the 1st one get a wide band O2.
check prices at summit racing. tom

Everything I've bought frim Clifford has been good stuff,and the cam,manafold.balancer etc. that I got in the '70s is still working on my driver 270. EFI? I don't know I'm going to do the Megasquirt thing on my 292. I may wish I'd taken the shiny box approach but I want to try.

When I bought my side draft Weber intake manifold from Clifford, I had returned the first two because they were warped so bad,like .060-.070.

Got the third one,still warped ,not as bad,.020,so I had to machine it straight.
MBHD

When I got my 4 bbl manifold for the 270 they were changing from exhaust heat to water. Mine was cast by Offenhauser I was told, there is no name on it, and I had to send it back because the heat plate they sent did't fit. They welded it on and sent it back. It's ugly but it works great!

I just found this thread so this is a very late post but I figured my experience might help someone. I bought a Clifford package a couple of years ago for a 261 which I just got running.

Clifford sold a Weber-Redline package. The trick with aftermarket EFI is that it is not that hard, but it requires for most of us a totally new knowledge base. So you need either good documentation or good tech support. Documentation that came with the EFI was very weak. Clifford could not provide any tech support at all for the EFI. Redline felt it wasn't their responsibility being the wholesaler and made it clear they weren't happy getting calls from Clifford customers but after awhile, they reluctantly stepped up and were pretty helpful. The software that tunes the EFI is unstable so you waste a lot of time with it crashing.

Redline sent me a base map they did for someone's 235. I had to debug and reformat the code but eventually loaded it and the car runs pretty good. Once I get other car issues sorted out, I'm pretty confident that I can use the Redline software (even with the crashing) and fine-tune the system.

The throttle body seems like a nice mechanical piece. So far, the driveability and responsiveness of EFI is as good as I hoped.

For what I paid, I was owed much more than what I got.

Bottom line is that aftermarket EFI has the potential for better driveability, performance, ease of installation, and ease of tuning compared to carbs. But it all depends on the companies spending just a little more time improving the documentation. And so far, they're not there.

-Dan

Hi Tom: So may I ask, just to be clear, you are running this setup with a Clifford intake?

What air cleaner are you using?

Any cam change?

Thanks,

Bryan