New Electronic Carburetor Injection (ECI) by K&N Helps Solve Common CARB Problems

Feb 2, 2018

K&N ECI module installed in a 1965 chevelle

The low profile of the ECI spacer plate adds very little height under the hood

Imagine going out to your 1969 Camaro with its carbureted 350 early on a Saturday morning before your local vehicles and morning beverage meet. You hop in and flip the ignition over and the engine roars to life without as much as a hiccup in the process. To most of you out there, this is a dream come true - no priming, no choke, no flooding.

Traditionally, the only way to achieve this type of easy cold start was switching to an aftermarket electronic fuel injection system. But these systems can cost thousands of dollars, be a nightmare to install, and be impossible to tune if you don’t know what you are doing. Well now there is another solution that can be installed in your driveway in a matter of hours, not days. And after setting 5 simple parameters, it can tune itself.

K&N ECI module components Carb spacer plate and injector, ECU unit, and Oxygen sensor

The Carb spacer plate and injector, ECU unit, and Oxygen sensor are the main components of the ECI

The K&N Electronic Carburetor Injection, or ECI, is a bolt-on system that adds a supplemental fuel source to your engine. The system consists of a carb spacer plate with a fuel block and injector, an ECU, and a wide band O2 sensor. The plate has a provision for the fuel injector. When needed, the injector squirts atomized fuel into the air stream passing through the spacer plate.

In a way, the ECI system works like an EFI system that reads the air/fuel ratio fed to it from an included O2 sensor that you install in your exhaust. Where this differs from EFI, is that it is used in conjunction with the carburetor. Any time the system detects a lean condition, the injector will kick on to bring the AFR back to spec, but the engine is still fed primarily by the carb.

The brain of the ECI system though, is the ECU. It constantly reads input from the included O2 sensor and monitors the air/fuel ratio. Before you fire the engine for the first time, you answer a few simple questions and set parameters for the system to follow. One of those parameters is AFR. If the system detects an AFR higher than the user-defined limit, the weatherproof ECU tells the injector to fire.

After these basic parameters like AFR have been set, your system should run smoothly even in changing conditions. However, users have the option to dive even deeper into the ECU and set more parameters for the system to follow. Some of these include injector pulse width, shot volume, progressive injector firing, and minimum/maximum RPM range in which to operate. This makes the K&N ECI extremely versatile.

The ECI carb spacer plate is easy to install under your carburetor with the provided studs

Despite K&N’s Electronic Carburetor Injection being such an advanced system, installation can be accomplished in only a matter of hours. Meanwhile some EFI kits take days to install. The three major components of ECI are the spacer plate with injector, the ECU with wiring harness, and the wideband O2 sensor. The kit includes everything needed to perform the install and can be completed in your driveway with common hand tools. No need to run a return line back to your tank. ECI also eliminates the need for 3D mapping software and vehicle tuning like is required to install electronic fuel injection kits.

In addition to being easy to install, ECI addresses another common problem that many vehicle owners face. High horsepower engines naturally require higher fuel flow rates to run efficiently. K&N’s ECI is the solution that keeps your engine running extremely efficiently. This system can help where your carb falls flat. Whether it is at the strip, on the street, or on the road course, if you experience hesitation or power delays with your carburetor, K&N’s ECI will feed your engine that additional fuel it is lacking.

If you are running Holley’s Dominator carb, your engine likely falls into the category of higher fuel flow rates that we mentioned. K&N knows this and with the ECI system for Dominator carbs, K&N includes a second fuel injector and fuel block that can be mounted on the opposite side of the spacer plate. The wiring harness also includes a provision for a second injector, so installation is still a breeze.

When comparing all of these benefits of K&N’s Electronic Carburetor Injection to those of a full electronic fuel injection system, the advantages of ECI are clear. At a fraction of the cost and being much easier to install, K&N ECI is the smart choice for all of your carbureted needs.

Thanks to its supplemental and adaptive design, the K&N ECI system is the perfect middle ground between a straight carburetor and a full EFI system. Whether you have a Holley 4150 (part no. 20-0001), a Holley Dominator (part no. 20-0003), or a Quadrajet style carburetor (part no. 20-0002), the K&N ECI system is designed to solve the fuel delivery issues you may be experiencing. Get yours today!