1985 LTD Free Power Gains

[gadget73]

One other downfall of CFI is that it seems to be generally shittier about things being less than ideal. Bad wires, vac leaks, electrical gremlins, sloppy timing chains, all of it makes the system react poorly. When you have it all working right it actually runs fine, but a lot of cars just don't have everything working right. I've driven a few CFI cars that you wouldn't pick out as being CFI based on how they run. I've driven both 84's and 85's though, and the 85 models felt perkier to me.

[knucklehead0202]

So...my '84 with 3.08 rear gears is a very acceptably-performing car. That isn't me having low standards, that's the car being a very acceptably-performing car. Last year's Detroit meet crew can back that up. This isn't a 2.3 automatic Tempo.

The common thought is that '85 got new heads that flow better, thus '84 should perform worse than '85. All else is equal AFAIK, although '84 and '85 have different computers, and my car does have an '85 computer (not that I suspect it has performance gains, probably just bug fixes).

It is also established that stock for stock, SEFI is not going to offer a performance benefit that you can feel, and maybe just barely one you can measure.

I'm reasonably sure these engines don't max out the power (airflow through the TB, and fuel delivery) potential of CFI. It has shortcomings but should not be the automatic scapegoat that it often serves as.

Mod potential is better for SEFI simply due to parts availability, but stock for stock it's a colossal waste of time and money...IMHO

Guess that depends on your definition of "acceptable" performance, but none of these things stock are much quicker than a 2.3 tempo. Sure, they made CFI HO cars, but you don't hear any mustang guys bragging about how good their CFI car runs do you? I'm not saying it isn't functional, just that if you're interested in anything more than leisurely "performance", look elsewhere. That said, it would be interesting to see what this optimization experiment turns out.

[phayzer5]

Way back in the day for my first mod, I put my ported e7s on underneath the stock cfi garbage on my 84. Gave it a nice kick in the pants upgrade, but I wasn't gonna go race the streets with it. Needed the 4 barrel, rpm intake, a cam, and gears to really do that

[gadget73]

Guess that depends on your definition of "acceptable" performance, but none of these things stock are much quicker than a 2.3 tempo. Sure, they made CFI HO cars, but you don't hear any mustang guys bragging about how good their CFI car runs do you? I'm not saying it isn't functional, just that if you're interested in anything more than leisurely "performance", look elsewhere. That said, it would be interesting to see what this optimization experiment turns out.

I think his point is that his car doesn't suck any more than a lopo SEFI car does, not that its fast.

And yeah it does depend on your notion of acceptable. I was fine driving the Continental around, other people would probably be horrified at how slow the thing is but I found performance to be adequate. It would accelerate well enough to not get you run over, and it would easily run at highway speeds. You just can't pass people without truly considering what you're getting into first. That car is by no means fast though. I could probably be passed in a well maintained K car.

[DerekTheGreat]

That is another reason why I don't feel compelled to open up or swap my engine. For what the car was intended for and how I drive it, I don't need more power. But those times when power would be nice, I wish I had it. If I was impulsive, swap or surgery would have happened already.