wtb a "cheap" fuel injection setup

[pauly_adams]

im just looking for a cheap fuel injection setup as im sick to death of carbs

 

cheers pauly

[Zeddophile]

Define cheap?  I have a complete 280zx efi setup with almost everything required (thermostat housing, manifold, ECU, loom, AFM etc).  The only extra thing you'll need is a EFI fuel pump (and some efi fuel hose) - I used one off a VL commodore, which is a Bosch 070 pump (off the top of my head) - about $50 at a wrecker.  From memory the fuel pump output didn't work, so you'd need to just wire your fuel pump to a relay off the ignition.

 

If you want it, $200 and I'll even move the mountain of Alfa parts to fish it out for you.

[pauly_adams]

sounds fair ill get back to u asap as im short on cash at the moment ill pm you

 

cheers pauly

[Zeddophile]

No worries - its been sitting around since I stripped my 260 about a year and a half ago, and its not advertised anywhere, so no rush.

[MR260]

Do you get much power gain from fuel injection like the 280zx system? Ive got twin SU's on my 260z and was considering fuel injection down the track if its gonna make much difference. How much do you reckon install would cost.

[Zeddophile]

The 280zx fuel injection probably won't give you much if anything over the SUs (if they are set up properly and in good nick), what it does do is improve driveability - Ie. cold starts and running, and probably economy.  Again, if the SUs are in good nick, probably not that much difference, as the 280zx setup is just an early L jetronic - hence the reason its only really worth $200.  If it was a better setup, I'd be asking more, and more people would be looking for it.

 

Installation is pretty simple, two gaskets (intake and thermostat housing) and an hour or two of your time.  The hard bit is putting the air filter in, as with the 280zx the air box is actually in front of the radiator, due to the location of the air flow metre.  On mine, I had a piece of PVC plumbing pipe clamped into the hose and going through a hole next to the radiator (which already exists) and then a pod filter behind the grille.

 

If however you want fuel injection for a decent power gain, you'd be better off fabricating something from scratch, which is what I've done with my 2.0 litre 4 cylinder alfa... I've pulled the twin 40mm Dellortos off it, and made some Suzuki GSXR 750 throttle bodies fit onto it, being run by a Megasquirt.  Just ironing out final kinks at the moment, which I think is due to my stupid design for the airbox that feeds them starving number 1 cylinder of air (the idea was to save myself $400 on K&N air filters, but I think I'm going to end up putting indivual pods on it anyway  )

 

However, this requires access to various equipment to fabricate stuff like this up, and the time and inclination, otherwise it becomes very expensive.  I have access to cheap(ish) TIG welding and laser cutting, and a lathe etc at work, so my setup cost me $175 for the throttles (off ebay in the US), $270 for the ECU, about $350 in welding costs ($150 of which may turn out to be a waste if I end up with pods!), and maybe $150 worth of materials (aluminium, hose etc).  I scavenged quite a few bits and pieces from various sources for free too (about 3 wiring looms died to make my ECU loom!),  It also took many hours of thinking and fabricating etc, which would be a killer if you were paying someone else to do it.  This is when some of the Jenvey/Efi Hardware setups start to look pretty good.

 

Of course, if you were to fabricate a setup, you could just use a single falcon throttle body and make up a plenum with 6 runners.  If you had access to a tig welder for free, getting the aluminium plates water cut for  the side of the head and to bolt the throttle body to would probably be your major costs apart from the ecu.  You could even possibly adapt an RB30 manifold or similar.

[pauly_adams]

as for me wanting efi it is not for a power gain just for shere convenience and possibly a sc14 supercharge may enter the setup down the track ,as for the efi in general do i have to change my head ive got a E88 and not to sure on how the injectors sit

 

cheers pauly

[Zeddophile]

I don't think the injectors sit high enough in the manifold for it to be an issue, but thats purely from memory. 

 

If it is an issue, half an hour with a round file and a vacuum cleaner should sort it anyway!

[pauly_adams]

cheers didnt think it would be much of a prob dunno how it woul handle being supercharged though

 

cheers pauly

[Zeddophile]

The air flow metre probably won't like it, being a 'flapper' type, I think it'd end up fully open pretty quick.  You could probably swap one on off a big jag motor or maybe early range rover, I believe the plugs are the same, just the calibration is different.

 

You'd need to swap the injectors, and work out carefully how much bigger than standard to go...

 

Better off to junk the AFM, and run with some kind of aftermarket ECU, but obviously the $$$ then mount up, unless you have the patience and ability to assemble and install a megasquirt or similar.

 

In all honesty, if you want to get away with supercharging it as cheap as possible, you'd actually probably be better off looking into blowing through the carbies.... I don't know how su's handle boost though, and wouldn't do it with flattops....