930 EFI Conversion in process

[mppickett]

Nice work, Jim. It is really coming together.

[Jim2]

For anyone following this thread, I started the car yesterday. The EFI installation is complete with the exception of cleaning up some loose ends.

I'll start driving and tuning a little later this week time permitting, but I should be able to post some pictures tomorrow showing the remaining details of the installation.

So far, WICKED throttle response!

Jim

[RarlyL8]

Great news Jim! Can't wait for the finished product.

[cnavarro]

Awesome conversion thread. Nice fabrication too :-) The SDS is fairly easy to program, just took me a while to get used to it's very SIMPLE programming interface. I was used to having to look at an entire map at one time and adjust the entire map at the same time too when tuning in the car. Having a second person and an external wide band o2 helps a lot. Did an SDS conversion on a 912E and it took us less than an hour to dial it in (with exception of the cold weather fuel enrichment).

[Jim2]

Here are more photos of the EFI installation I just completed:

Prior to installing the manifolds I took a photo of the wire harness after I cleaned it up. I also made up the intake studs using allthread rod. It's cheap ($2.50 for 3 feet) and readily available at bolt suppliers.






The stock Carerra intake uses internal hex or twelve point nuts which I did not have. Standard M8 nuts using a 13mm hex leave no clearance for a box end wrench or socket, but I found some old Japanese Automotive nuts use a 12mm hex which work fine with a thin wall socket.





To connect the Carerra fuel supply line to the 930 filter you would have to either change the fitting on the filter or change the fitting on the Carerra fuel line. The fitting on the line would be pretty easy, but there may be a retro fit filter that would solve this difference of fittings.

I had a fitting from the discharge end of a friends 944 filter. I cut the top off it, then cut the bottom off my 930 fitting and welded them together. This way I was able to preserve the 930 cis fuel line for anyone buying my old CIS system.




The fuel return line is a different story. The Carerra fuel regulator discharge has the same male end as the 930 return line which runs back to the gas tank. I connected my return line to the short stubb coming off the bottom of the regulator discharge. The reason for this design of the discharge line on the Carerra is to provide strain relief so the return line does not pull the hose off the nipple on the bottom of the regulator. It's a little hard to see in this picture as I painted the regulator because it was corroded. It may just be easier to create some form of strain relief to stop the stock 930 line from potentially pulling the hose of the regulator. I effectively did this by hose clamping 930 return line to the regulator bracket. Nothing fancy but it works, and nobody can see it.


Onto a different topic, my engine was twin plugged by the previous owner when it was rebuilt, but it never had an ignition system to support the second set of plugs. I removed the lower valve covers to look at the alignment of the plugs and look at the location of the holes needed for the plug wires.


I drilled pilot holes to inspect the alignment of the plugs then roughed out the holes with a milling machine before finishing the holes with a large half round file. Using a holesaw would work fine for this followed with a file.




Jim

[DW SD]

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM you just rip through the obstacles. AWESOME!

Doug

[Jim2]

Continued,


Once the spark plug holes were finished I cleaned the covers, adjusted the exhaust valves then reinstalled the covers. The process went pretty quick... except at the very beginning:

Headline: "THE ditz who removed the valve covers overlooked draining the sump"

September 1, 2006. 11:03 PM
Exxon Valdez magnitude environmental disaster ocurred when an oil spill the width of the car and equally long, consisting of gooey, sticky, syrup like, cold, 15-50 mobil 1 flooded the Norther plains. Of course, as all this is taking place the drain bucket was nowhere in sight, and the stack of old towels had disappeared. Estimates that reclaiming the environmental disaster site cost about 1.5 hours of labor, half a box of clumping cat litter (the old fashioned stuff works way better) half a gallon of solvent, 3-4 bath towels, and 3 beers to settle the fit of rage. Legal threats continue to pour in from environmental groups tending to the well being of wildlife effected by the disaster. Press releases continue to play on one particular large black beatle shown laying on it's back in a lake of sludge.

Where'd that ditz go anyway?


(no instructional picture available)

































Back to the regular scheduled programming, I trimmed out these holes which the lower plug wires will pass through.



I produced a grommet with a some sheet rubber about 3/8" thick which I cut to overlap the grommet hole, then used a belt sander to finish it. I cut a relief around it's perimeter with a slitting disk in a die grinder.



At this point I went on to finish up some loose ends. The breather tube is the correct shape but the single tang is in the wrong location for the Carerra intake. I heated it to melt the brazing, then trimed the mount tab and welded it back on in it's new location. It seemed like you could get away without the mounting tang, but the breather hose going to the tank may have to be adjusted otherwise the pipe will rub against the intake.




I made up this plug to block off the distributer hole. I've seen others use a black rubber expanding plug which I think you can buy at Home Depot in the hardware isle.



The SDS system has a temp sensor which I mounted on the drivers side chain cover. I'm not sure yet, but they said it only needs to see some heat as it is used by the computer only for cold start and cycles off when the engine warms up. Apparently some users of SDS have mounted it in the oil tank, others put in on a cylinder head, others put it some place else. After 5-10 minutes of idling it registered 60 degrees C so I assume this is a satisfactory location. It is located below the left heater duct coming from the fan.


At this point I connected the injector harnesses and connected some vacuum tubing to hook up the fuel press regulator, map sensor boost gauge etc. Only a couple non critical wires remain to be hooked up but it's getting pretty close.

I'll finish posting of the install tomorrow.

Jim

[Jeff Alton]

Looking really good!!

Cheers

[beepbeep]

Most excellent progress.

I suggest borrowing Innovative LM1 together with AuxBox when itäs time for tuning and mounting the accelleromoetr on horisontal surface. That way you should be able to measure torque vs. RPM and thus map not only AFR's but even ignition to achieve maximum BMEP.

You should be able to get at least 420hp from that setup.

Good luck! I'm following the thread with great interest!

[unclebilly]

JIm,

That looks like an awesome conversion. It's inspiring me to finish off my simple exhaust upgrade. Nice work, you car really is about the nicest in town.

Scott.

[Jim2]

cnavarro, interesting to hear about your 912 installation. I'm sure I'll have a few questions once I get around to tuning, but I need to reread the manual first. Seems very easy to make changes, but I want to make sure I'm not adjusting farther in the wrong direction. A little apprehensive at this point.

Beep, thanks for all the good ideas in your posts, accelerometer etc. Keep em coming, but it will be a little while until I catch up to you. I need a bit of a break to catch up on some other things around the house before I can jump back into the car, though I am going to drive it tomorrow evening. Regarding BMEP, I'm with ya, but like I say, I need a little longer before I get to the finer stages of tuning. I read your advice on the wideband, and others seem to share the same opinion so I managed to borrow a sensor and meter which I'll interface to the SDS box for data loging. But first I want to try my narrow band O2 to see how good I can do, then install the wide band to gage the results.

Yesterday I had to fixed a minor wiring problem (I used the wrong lug on the power relays) but then car fired up instantly. Pretty impressed so far. I also set the static reference timing.

Jim

[Jim2]

Here are a couple shots of some final parts of the installation.

I went to a local auto parts supplier and located an oblong air filter. Not sure what it fit, and don't want to know, otherwise I might have to remove it. But this is the mount I created for it.



Here is the filter installed. This filter has two times the external area of the stock 930 filter, but there appears to be fewer pleats. Should do the job though, but when I get time I'll put a sensitive vacuum gauge on the inlet tube to see if any vacuum registers under full load.



I missed a couple pictures of the air temp sender and a few other odds and ends, so I'll post them a little later.

For now this is how the engine bay looks.



The steel inlet tube is temporary and will be replace by a new intercooler. I had and andial intercooler on the car but I decided it would be best to sell it and start from scratch, as opposed to cutting it up. I will start on the new intercooler in the next few weeks, but for now I can drive the car and persue tuning and detailing some loose ends.

I'll post the results of the test drive tomorrow.

Jim

[evill]

subscribed

[beepbeep]

You are Canadian, right? I heard that yyou guys have access to E85 fuel.

104 octane, cheap and enviromentaly friendly to boot I suggest making two maps, one on super unleaded and one for E85...

Just playing devils advocate here :=)


P.S.
In case you don't havve accellerometer you can still pull out accelleration graph from RPM-log by:

1. Smoothing the log by averaging near-by points
2. Derivating the figures

It's usually noisy but can be used depending on your loggers accuracy.

[hobieboy]

Jim, I'm still finishing mine as well, but FWIW, I mounted my temp sensor on the passenger side chain cover thinking that with heat soak and at high RPM, the turbo temp will greatly affect the sensor & give incorrect results to the ECU.

So far, what I found is: heat soak is real. When running, the temp rarely go above 120F but will instantly rise if the car stops (even at a light). Which makes me think its because of the fan pulling air in.

[E-man930]

Jim,

Can you tell me more about this...?
I would like to add an expansion bellow to my header in the same spot but I'm not sure where to buy them from...

[Jim2]

Man Beepbeep, slow down, I've barely washed the grime off my hands! The methanol concept has crossed my mind (hehehe) but I don't think the system supports alternate maps. However since its just a overall ratio change the tuning knob would take care of this I supose.

e-man930, the bellow came on the powerhaus header system, but I did see them advertised on the turbonetics site when I retroed to my new turbo. Order a bellow, then graft it into your system and mark it'ts exact location with a scribe. A good speed shop fabricator or aviation welder could weld it on, though you may be able to clamp it if the initial fit to the header tubing is tight. Also, ensure that you have a turbo support bracket so the turbo is not being supported by the header system.

[E-man930]

Thanks Jim!
I plan on welding it in... I just can't find a place to buy it.
I know the OD needs to be 2". I browsed the turbonetics site and must have missed it.

OK, I just found some @ http://www.atpturbo.com/ (type in bellow on search tool in upper left hand corner) but they don't look the same. I'm wondering if this type will hold up to the heat?

[Jim2]

e-man930 the bellows at atp are fine, they just have stainless braid over top of the bellow. The bellow is more durable with the braid. My bellows have been sand blasted with road desbris.

Here is the turbonetics parts:

http://www.turboneticsinc.com/pa_turboaccessories.htm

Unclebilly, thanks for the compliment. Have to meet up again.

Hobbieboy, the SDS temp sensor only works during warm up. How does yours work?

Jim

[quattrorunner]

Subing