: Something I've been playing a mental game with
: is whether the batch-fire EFI could
: compensate for drastic difference in
: induction.
:
: Think back to a Chuck Norris film, "Lone
: Wolf McQuade". In it his Dodge
: Ramcharger
: "supposedly" had an electric clutch
: system on an underhood blower, that could be
: turned on and off at will.
:
: I can't help but wonder if the GM efi setup
: would be able to compensate for such large
: variations in a similar induction setup.
: What I'm thinking is that if one ran the
: larger/turbo injectors capable of delivering
: needed fuel, with a Paxton-type supercharger
: fitted with an a/c clutch, might it be
: possible? It seems to me the MAF sensor is
: the key, here, working in conjunction with
: the O2 sensor, that would regulate the
: fuel/air ratio with the injector pulse
: width, without regard to whether it's
: normally aspirated or pressurized.
:
: I realize one would have to supply a bypass
: around the blower while not using it, while
: still drawing the air through the MAF
: sensor. Perhaps some type of electric
: solenoid gate system would do the job.
:
: It seems to me the setup would be much easier
: on the engine, as for daily driver needs it
: could be run normally aspirated, and
: switched over for performance requirements.
:
: Any thoughts, Bob, or others, or am I living in
: a parallel universe?
:
: Roger

: Hi Roger,
:
: I remember seeing a Gale Banks turbo system
: that would bypass the turbo under no-boost
: conditions, then when boost built up the
: bypass would shut and the system would
: operate like a normal turbo system. The idea
: was to eliminate turbo lag by allowing the
: motor to bypass the turbo if there was no
: boost. The bypass was a simple "reed
: valve" type one way checkvalve.
:
: Whether the computer would know enough to
: increase the fuel in the correct proportion
: to the boost is something I don't know. One
: thing to keep in mind is that most factory
: ECUs go "open loop" at wide open
: throttle, so the O2 sensor data won't be
: used to correct the mixture.
:
: Good ideas though. Maybe using a more
: configurable ECU (Accel or Electromotive)
: would provide the flexibility to make it
: work.
:
: Note that some of the above might be
: wrong...I'm not an expert by any means, just
: some things I've picked up.
:
: regards,
: mark

: Mark,
: I guess I don't understand the use of the
: by-pass to eliminate turbo lag. My
: understanding of turbo lag is that it is
: just the lack of boost, and is no worse than
: the response from the same engine if it
: didn't have a turbo (or if the turbo were
: by-passed). However, I have no idea why the
: by-pass would have been used.
:
: Bob D

: Hi Bob,
:
: The setup, as I remember it, had a 'suck
: through' carb mounted over the normal intake
: position and then routed the fuel/air over
: to the turbo, boosted it, then took it back
: to the intake. This was on a small block
: chevy. The reed valve bypass was between the
: part under the carb and the part over the
: intake. I guess Gale's idea was to eliminate
: the long (probably 3-4 feet) path from carb
: to turbo to intake during no-boost
: conditions. That's the only time I've ever
: seen this done, so maybe it did not work
: out. I believe it was in a Popular Hot
: Rodding article, but might have been Car
: Craft/Hot Rod as I got most of them in the
: early 80s.