Fuel injection retrofit
One of the more significant and unique modifications I have made to this car is electronic fuel injection. It was somewhat ironic in a way, as I'd initially wanted this car to avoid such modern complex systems. But as I'd learned more over the years, I was ready for a new challenge, and was dissatisfied with the shortcomings of carburetors. I saw this as a way of "improving" the car, hoping to get more gas mileage, better handling qualities, particularly throttle response, better reliability, and better behavior in cold weather. Extra power would be appreciated, but wasn't my primary goal in this. I saw it as a learning experience as well, wanting to learn more about modern vehicles, which could be of use to me in my mechanical engineering career – far more useful than knowledge of obsolete carburetors.
For this intro I'll just skip to the results, and my thoughts from it. Writing currently with it having been installed and working for about a month and a half, and still a work in progress, the results are not at all conclusive yet. So far, it has had some more trouble starting, about comparable with the carburetor, some adjustments will still be needed. Fuel economy thus far has been somewhat worse than before, getting about 18 MPG (versus 20 with the carburetor) but I'm hoping this will be imporved thanks to tuning using the oxygen sensor – such tuning has been done but data has yet to be collected as she hasn't burned through a full tank of gas since then. Throttle response is excellent – when floored power comes in instantly, while with the carburetor there was a bit of a cough and hiccup. At high speed, on the freeway, power is about the same, no noticeable difference, but low-end torque is dramatically improved. Pulling off the line, she'll even chirp her tires. With the carburetor, the engine wouldn't produce any torque below about 2,000 RPM, now it will pull strongly from idle speed. I've somewhat had to re-learn how to drive the car, shifting at lower speeds. The transaxle gearing is too low, having come from a different year of car – eventually I'll need to swap it out for one with taller gears that will be better able to utilize this torque. As for reliability, the jury is still out. I'm still getting some initial issues sorted out, once that's done only time will tell if reliability is good, as reliability is not anything happening but a lack of something malfunctioning for a long period of time. As for if I recommend this modification, I still need to learn more about it, but so far I've been happy with it, and would recommend it for someone contemplating it.
As this was a very long and involved project, I have it on several separate pages describing my background in approaching this project, how I got started, what I went through, how I did it, the various mishaps involved, and the results in more detail. I suggest reading these if you are interested in doing something of this sort, to see if and how you might do it.
For this intro I'll just skip to the results, and my thoughts from it. Writing currently with it having been installed and working for about a month and a half, and still a work in progress, the results are not at all conclusive yet. So far, it has had some more trouble starting, about comparable with the carburetor, some adjustments will still be needed. Fuel economy thus far has been somewhat worse than before, getting about 18 MPG (versus 20 with the carburetor) but I'm hoping this will be imporved thanks to tuning using the oxygen sensor – such tuning has been done but data has yet to be collected as she hasn't burned through a full tank of gas since then. Throttle response is excellent – when floored power comes in instantly, while with the carburetor there was a bit of a cough and hiccup. At high speed, on the freeway, power is about the same, no noticeable difference, but low-end torque is dramatically improved. Pulling off the line, she'll even chirp her tires. With the carburetor, the engine wouldn't produce any torque below about 2,000 RPM, now it will pull strongly from idle speed. I've somewhat had to re-learn how to drive the car, shifting at lower speeds. The transaxle gearing is too low, having come from a different year of car – eventually I'll need to swap it out for one with taller gears that will be better able to utilize this torque. As for reliability, the jury is still out. I'm still getting some initial issues sorted out, once that's done only time will tell if reliability is good, as reliability is not anything happening but a lack of something malfunctioning for a long period of time. As for if I recommend this modification, I still need to learn more about it, but so far I've been happy with it, and would recommend it for someone contemplating it.
As this was a very long and involved project, I have it on several separate pages describing my background in approaching this project, how I got started, what I went through, how I did it, the various mishaps involved, and the results in more detail. I suggest reading these if you are interested in doing something of this sort, to see if and how you might do it.