It's hard to say what's going to be your best purchase Clayton (get it? Clayton? Lone Ranger? Arrr arrr...)%) Or maybe you're more the John Hart style...
Sorry, was just watching the first season episodes last week. Now, where were we again?
Oh yeah, all the TBI's you mention work well in most cases. With a stock cam none of them should cause you any grief. The FiTech seems to be very forgiving of bigger cams and even the divided plenum style intakes. So too the Holley, but not as much feedback on them yet.
The Atomic is and was an excellent unit. I'm not aware of any customers having had to warranty any aspect of the units, but seem to remember someone or another returning at least one of each of the ones you mention. More trouble lately with FiTech, but that's usually the Command Center users, or those without good electrical systems. Usually because they can't get things worked out on their individual rigs and go back to carburetors.
Those last especially are usually due to poor condition of the existing wiring more than problems with the EFI setups themselves.
We've been selling all three of those you mention, but the MSD unit has been on the market longer and so there are more miles under their belt. But so far both the FiTech and Holley units have proven to be pretty reliable and "non-finicky" for the most part.
Johnny still hasn't touched his after the initial setup five years ago or so. He's so happy with it he doesn't even feel like fine-tuning it with tricks that the manufacturer says will make it run at it's best. It's just too good as it is.
I think so far the reason we hear more about the FiTech and any trouble they're having is due to more people using them because of the lower price and good timing. The Holley is just too new for us to have as much feedback from customers.
But I would tend to agree that Holley tech and customer service have been top notch over the past few years. Plenty of reports here about that.
FiTech support can be very good too, but seems less consistent in that regard.
All three use easy to find and replace components such as sensors (typically GM based stuff) but I don't know anyone that's yet had to mess with that kind of thing.
All have the sensors and ECU mounted directly to the throttle body. Heat does not ever have seem to come up in any discussion that I've heard. Other than wondering about it that is.
The separate box on the MSD is not it's brains. Just a separate relay switching and control module. All the important stuff is right on that super clean throttle body design.
I think they all look cool, but have to give the nod to the Atomic for slick style and clean looks. Almost easier to pass for a carburetor than the others. Not that anyone looking closely would mistake one for a carburetor, but it's definitely a slick design.
Bang for the buck has to go to the FiTech 400 I'd say. At more than double the price, the Atomic was not a bargain, but they've obviously felt the heat because now it's the same price (within 4 bucks anyway) of the others, but with the Master Kit at $1250 and free shipping right now, price isn't a stumbling block anymore.
All three will control the timing at the $1000 mark, so are on pretty equal footing.
Seems like looks and company preference might play a bigger role than we'd like to admit at this point!
For fuel delivery I'm still recommending separate pumps and return lines for any Bronco owner. But I do not hear much bad about the Edelbrock and other brands of fuel delivery systems. Only the FiTech Command Center has so much negative feedback from what I've seen. I have not searched online for complaint forum discussions though.
But if you've already got a larger 23 gallon tank like the Sherman you're practically set up for EFI already. Just need the pump kit and away you go.
Sorry I could not tell you one was da bomb and the others were bombs LoneRanger. But they're all going to get you the upgraded driveability of EFI I would say.
Good luck in the decision!
Paul
