Carb to Fuel Injection Conversion

[Mani]

Is it possible on the Z's? Are there any "kits" available to do so? Anyone have any information I can read upon on this?

 

I'm either looking at a L26/L28 (seller is an idiot and unsure which one) which is currently set up with, I quote, "triple 40mm carbs etc".

 

Any tips?

[nick77]

i have a complete setup of my old l28 i am converting to carb so i have everything you need, minus the tank and pump, i have 4 or 5 new injectors reman air flow meter, computer, harness, intake and plumbing, fuel rail, and more... let me know if we can make a deal as i need it gone and dont want to toss

 

Nick

[Mani]

Converting TO carb? Why would you do that?

 

I'm not as mechanically inclined as guys here, but my dad is a mechanic (works for Land Rover currently), and is surprisingly informed about all things mechanical. He tells me that for daily driving, EFI would be the most reliable way to go and carb will bring with it some serious repercussions in terms of maintenance and whatnot. This is why I'm looking to go the EFI way.

[nick77]

carbs are easy to adjust, easy to fix, if theres a problem you can limp it home, you can find parts for them just about anywhere, and theres alot less to go wrong. manufactures used carbs for what 80 years, and ya they had problems but not as many as fi cars and a lot cheeper to fix.

 

Nick

[Tony D]

and ya they had problems but not as many as fi cars

 

A.D.R., but this statement is obviously coming from someone who never worked line diagnostics in the carburetted era...

 

Having worked then, and watched the widespread adaptation of EFI lemmetellya 'digital diagnostics' are easier than 'analog diagnostics' any day of the week!

[nick77]

i am a mechanic and have worked in both areas mainly the fi, and i own a carbd vehicle and plan on converting my datsun to carb since i love how simple, easy and cheep it is.

[Tony D]

How long? I worked diagnostics during the late 70's and into the mid 80's when cars has carbs as a rule (mostly domestic American stuff) and drivability issues on carbs are excruciating to cure as most OEM offerings just aren't that adjustable---you got to 'live with it'---even the early EFI stuff was pretty well sorted as far as drivability went. I mean, you could start it at -40C and immediately drive away. Didn't do that with a Quadrajet...

 

Frankly, the reason EFI was so well sorted was to take field troubleshooting and cures out of the hands of the local mechanic. It moved it to simple diagnositcs and component replacement as drivabity stuff was rarely solved on new stuff at a dealership without intervention of factory people coming with test equipment most dealers simply didn't posess. At least in Michigan, in the Big 3's backyard they did... Further out, I suspect lots of people were bolting on Holleys that ran fat and called it 'close enough'...

[Mani]

I'm kinda glad this thread went the way it did. I really wanted to increase my knowledge of Carb versus EFI and not just figure out if there's any kits or something available for it.

 

However, I must still ask - are there any relatively simple "bolt-on kits" available for such a conversion? I imagine not since you'd need to rebuild the top-end with a different inlet manifold, different ECU, and that's all I can think of with my limited knowledge (I come from a field of Aeroplane Engineering), so I imagine there's a lot more to it than just that.

 

I sadly have to decline all the PM's I got regarding available parts, as I am in New Zealand, meaning that the shipping charges itself would heavily outweigh the cost of the items necessary. Thank you though, I was surprised to see the number of people who had something to offer

[Daeron]

Well, you can go with an ITB setup. The car has 40mm webers on it now, so just a set of throttles and the hardware it would take to run it would run you around $1000.

 

The L-6 came with EFI from the factory for about ten years, though. And in addition to that, people have retrofitted (with some effort) the EFI electronics system from later Nissans (as well as other cars) onto L24/6/8s with stock and aftermarket EFI hardware on them. The simplest and easiest and cheapest way to convert to EFI would be to find someone with a 75-78 280Z or 79-83 280ZX parts car or car with a blown motor, and take the complete intake tract, and the engine sub-harness and computer, along with all the sensors and the fuel pump, and install them onto your car.

 

Depending on the year of the car and the way the fuel delivery system is currently set up, you may need to do some work with fuel lines. If the car was made with EFI from the factory the lines would be adequate, so long as they are still stock, but if it was originally a carb'd car you would likely need to do a little work there. That would be the most difficult and most exzpensive single part of this conversion, if you go this route.

 

If you get a stock EFI manifold, you could theoretically go to the junkyard and get a suitable TB with a TPS, find a nice looking MAP, get a good modern CTS and a few other sensors and switches. Then you could pick up a MegaSquirt system (that is a cheap, do-it-yourself standalone EFI computer. You can buy it assembled, or you could buy the board and the components and solder it all together yourself to save money.) and some relays and other associated wiring and be going to the races. Honestly, if you are willing to go using junkyard stuff to extreme, you could probably find a nice, modern 6 cylinder car to take a wiring harness from to use for your project. (shoot, that isn't a bad idea.....)