Edelbrock’s Pro-Flo 4 EFI With Tablet Makes Engine Tuning A Breeze

Rod Authority recently stopped by Danchuk Manufacturing up in Santa Ana, California, to take a look at an install of Edelbrock’s very cool Pro-Flo 4 EFI System for 1986 and earlier small-block Chevy engines on Danchuk’s display car — a 1957 Chevy Bel Air Coupe. The ’57 Chevy sits outside the headquarters every day, so it was due for some attention (from someone other than the people stuck in SoCal traffic). Danchuk performed a billet and chrome exorcism, installed a new TMI interior, and some other updates.

This 1957 Chevy got a thorough updating.

This old Tri-Five Chevy is a great example of bringing an older build into the 21st century. It just needed some TLC and a few upgrades to get it back into fighting form. Integrating Edelbrock’s Pro-Flo 4 EFI and tuning system into its small-block Chevy engine was the best place to start. We took a camera crew with us to capture a demo of the compact, yet extremely powerful EFI and tuning system.

There are a few things that stand out with the Pro-Flo 4 system. First off, Edelbrock has more than 40 applications for this product, so no matter the engine manufacturer or style, chances are you can utilize the Pro-Flo. The system is truly impressive. It starts with the intake manifold which has integrated fuel rails.

“With this system, we’re injecting the fuel right where you need it — right on top of the intake valve — which results in fantastic cold starts, great acceleration, and perfect drivability,” Edelbrock’s Garrett Beauregard says.

From there, Edelbrock gives you everything you will need to complete the install including the wiring harness, sensors, gaskets, ECU, and even a billet distributor which works in unison with the fuel delivery. Last, but not least, the Edelbrock gurus distilled a cumbersome laptop tuning setup into an easy-to-handle, Android tablet that interfaces with the EFI system with no wires or fuss, inside or outside the car.

Installation was easy breezy, too. Mike Martin at Danchuk said the guys installed the system in a weekend.  If you’ve already got a pressurized fuel line, everything else you need comes right in the box, including the tablet. It is one of the easiest systems on the market and is an improvement over systems in the past which practically required you to have an engineer in your car. To see how well the system performed for our own eyes, we made Mike take us for a ride.

The seat of the pants take on our ride and drive was outstanding. The car had a rock-solid idle and was hiccup-free as we accelerated through the gears down the Santa Ana byways. Garrett was even tweaking the system from the back seat of the ’57 Chevy during the test drive. The tuning ease-of-use and learning capabilities of the system are surprising. The compact Android tablet can be tucked away in the glove box and employed if needed. Although, once you set your parameters — and the software has gone through its self-learning process — you can set it and forget it.

“This is exactly what our customers are asking for,” Garrett says. “They want something easy to install, starts right up . . . don’t have to pump the gas pedal 10 times to get it started, no fiddling with a choke . . . just get in, start it up, and drive it.”

We were amazed at how smoothly the tablet integrates with the ECU while we ran through many of the parameters in the video. You don’t need any software knowledge to set up the system, the setup wizard will walk you through all the parameters you need for the initial setup. After the first startup, the system starts learning and just keeps getting better the more you drive.

When asked how Danchuk liked the upgrade, Mike states, “The Pro-Flo 4 was a complete transformation. I think we found a couple more horsepower out of it. It’s like driving a new car. It’s kind of spoiling us.”

Like we mentioned earlier, you really don’t need the tablet after initial setup, but Edelbrock knows there are folks out there who like to tweak and play with the settings so it designed the Pro-Flo 4 for them, too. There are a ton of parameters you can control if you want to — or not — it’s your choice. And that is the beauty of this system. In the past, it was either a handheld with no (or very few) parameters you could tweak, or you had to be a rocket scientist with a Ph.D. Now, the Pro-Flo4 is the best of both worlds.

Take a look at the video and see what it did for Danchuk and peruse our walk-through of the tablet, we’re pretty sure you will agree this system succeeds in bridging the gap between beginner and pro. For more details and pricing, go here.

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Dave Cruikshank

Dave Cruikshank is a lifelong car enthusiast and an editor at Power Automedia. He digs all flavors of automobiles, from classic cars to modern EVs. Dave loves music, design, tech, current events, and fitness.
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