New Member Question - Marine Use
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:54 am
Hello!
I am a new member who finally joined the group after all of the years of just looking! I have followed the whole "Fuel Injection" revolution on and off since it started. The progress that everyone has made is nothing short of amazing so that's my Kudos to everyone who played a part!! With that being said, I am just an average guy with ten thousand questions. Most of them have been answered either by me reading countless posts or buying books. However, I never really had a reason to apply any of this knowledge until now. My issue is that my interests are in Marine use and so there's not a whole lot of revolution going on with respect to that, yet. I recently installed two 383 stroker engines in my 310 Silverton. These engines were built by a respectable Hi-Po shop and were both dynoed. I have made it through the whole season (Knock on Wood) without any catastrophies but I think the engines need further tuning. Currently I have two Edelbrock marine carbs that are 600 cfm. This is not a great setup and the engines are running extremely rich as evidence by the exhaust smell and spark plugs. Before I go crazy wasting money, I thought it would be a great idea to explore switching over to EFI. I am not intimidated at all by it, and I think it would give me a better range of tuning. There are two caveats that I can't find answers for:
One: Has anyone successfully tuned two engines at the same time? This boat is way to big and heavy to try and use one engine! I thought about leaving the carb on one and just doing one at a time but my guess is that initial tuning could change again for the primary engine after I install EFI on the secondary. Seems counterproductive to not have both running... Any suggestions???
Two: The infamous O2 Sensor works/doesn't work for marine use. Has anyone had any real success with an O2 sensor in a Mercruiser style exhaust system? Open loop possibilities??
I know there are some aftermarket speedshops who offer other alternatives but I like Megasquirt better. Most marine setups are open loop without feedback from the O2 sensor. However I visited a recent Boat show where Mercruiser was showing off their new 6.2 liter V8 with four O2 sensors and twin cats for emission control. I can go with a bigger carb but that to me is repeating the same thing over again. I do have dyno sheets and a breakdown of all of the upgrades I made if someone is interested in looking.
The easiest idea I had was to go the Holley 900 CFM TBI setup with Megasquirt. Just don't know which one and if it's at all possible.
Anyway I am just curious to see what the opinion is of others.
Thanks and Happy New Year!!!
I am a new member who finally joined the group after all of the years of just looking! I have followed the whole "Fuel Injection" revolution on and off since it started. The progress that everyone has made is nothing short of amazing so that's my Kudos to everyone who played a part!! With that being said, I am just an average guy with ten thousand questions. Most of them have been answered either by me reading countless posts or buying books. However, I never really had a reason to apply any of this knowledge until now. My issue is that my interests are in Marine use and so there's not a whole lot of revolution going on with respect to that, yet. I recently installed two 383 stroker engines in my 310 Silverton. These engines were built by a respectable Hi-Po shop and were both dynoed. I have made it through the whole season (Knock on Wood) without any catastrophies but I think the engines need further tuning. Currently I have two Edelbrock marine carbs that are 600 cfm. This is not a great setup and the engines are running extremely rich as evidence by the exhaust smell and spark plugs. Before I go crazy wasting money, I thought it would be a great idea to explore switching over to EFI. I am not intimidated at all by it, and I think it would give me a better range of tuning. There are two caveats that I can't find answers for:
One: Has anyone successfully tuned two engines at the same time? This boat is way to big and heavy to try and use one engine! I thought about leaving the carb on one and just doing one at a time but my guess is that initial tuning could change again for the primary engine after I install EFI on the secondary. Seems counterproductive to not have both running... Any suggestions???
Two: The infamous O2 Sensor works/doesn't work for marine use. Has anyone had any real success with an O2 sensor in a Mercruiser style exhaust system? Open loop possibilities??
I know there are some aftermarket speedshops who offer other alternatives but I like Megasquirt better. Most marine setups are open loop without feedback from the O2 sensor. However I visited a recent Boat show where Mercruiser was showing off their new 6.2 liter V8 with four O2 sensors and twin cats for emission control. I can go with a bigger carb but that to me is repeating the same thing over again. I do have dyno sheets and a breakdown of all of the upgrades I made if someone is interested in looking.
The easiest idea I had was to go the Holley 900 CFM TBI setup with Megasquirt. Just don't know which one and if it's at all possible.
Anyway I am just curious to see what the opinion is of others.
Thanks and Happy New Year!!!