Just for fun: Toronado EFI
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Unregistered Madman
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 66
From: Backwater, Alaska
Just for fun: Toronado EFI
Figured I'd post this here, just for a bit of fun. 
Over 20 years ago, I was rebuilding my '66 Toronado- my first car- including converting it to four-wheel discs, and freshening up the engine I'd built for it in high school. I had recently launched my own small machine shop (custom products for sale online, not automotive) and wanted to try something cool.
As those of us with the early Toronados know, there's no real options for intakes unless you cut a hole in the hood, and this was long before there were any TBI EFI setups more sophisticated than an open-loop Pro-Jection.
So, with all the enthusiasm but inadequate levels of foresight that comes with youth, decided to make my own EFI intake, vaguely mimicking the old LT-1 doghouse.
I'd assumed I could offset a water neck, or even have a face-mounted neck, but I really just didn't leave myself any room. Drawings? Plans? CAD? Who needs those things. The seat of my pants knows everything!
I also didn't leave enough room at the back to clear an HEI, and my wimp 180 amp TIG just didn't have the beans to get a good weld on those 3/4" thick flanges. (And an air-cooled torch meant I could do about 2" of weld every two hours. )
The top of the doghouse was going to have a bolt-on plate, and yes, there was a valley cover that was going to get welded on. No, I spent no real time "designing" things like proper runner volumes or plenum flow- I think the most research I did was to have the injectors aimed as close as I could to the valve. The plan at the time was to run a MegaSquirt- I think one of the big names had a semi-universal controller I could have used, but it was something like $2,500, and that was too far outside my budget.
Long story short? Once I hit the brick wall of the water crossover/thermostat housing, the project fell by the wayside. I eventually sold what I had to somebody on ROP, I think, probably ten years ago. Don't know if he ever did anything with it.
I'd still like to try another, but this time have the TB come off the side, kind of like the Fox-body-era 5.0L Fords. I'm already working on something like that, but for a different engine...
What did I eventiually end up with in the Toronado? This:
Sorry about the small pics, these were sized for the weeny monitors of the day. Why green? Matched the cloth inserts of the semi-custom black-and-green interior.
Doc.
Over 20 years ago, I was rebuilding my '66 Toronado- my first car- including converting it to four-wheel discs, and freshening up the engine I'd built for it in high school. I had recently launched my own small machine shop (custom products for sale online, not automotive) and wanted to try something cool.
As those of us with the early Toronados know, there's no real options for intakes unless you cut a hole in the hood, and this was long before there were any TBI EFI setups more sophisticated than an open-loop Pro-Jection.
So, with all the enthusiasm but inadequate levels of foresight that comes with youth, decided to make my own EFI intake, vaguely mimicking the old LT-1 doghouse.
I'd assumed I could offset a water neck, or even have a face-mounted neck, but I really just didn't leave myself any room. Drawings? Plans? CAD? Who needs those things. The seat of my pants knows everything!
I also didn't leave enough room at the back to clear an HEI, and my wimp 180 amp TIG just didn't have the beans to get a good weld on those 3/4" thick flanges. (And an air-cooled torch meant I could do about 2" of weld every two hours.
)The top of the doghouse was going to have a bolt-on plate, and yes, there was a valley cover that was going to get welded on. No, I spent no real time "designing" things like proper runner volumes or plenum flow- I think the most research I did was to have the injectors aimed as close as I could to the valve. The plan at the time was to run a MegaSquirt- I think one of the big names had a semi-universal controller I could have used, but it was something like $2,500, and that was too far outside my budget.
Long story short? Once I hit the brick wall of the water crossover/thermostat housing, the project fell by the wayside. I eventually sold what I had to somebody on ROP, I think, probably ten years ago. Don't know if he ever did anything with it.
I'd still like to try another, but this time have the TB come off the side, kind of like the Fox-body-era 5.0L Fords. I'm already working on something like that, but for a different engine...
What did I eventiually end up with in the Toronado? This:
Sorry about the small pics, these were sized for the weeny monitors of the day.
Why green? Matched the cloth inserts of the semi-custom black-and-green interior.Doc.
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