Bosch FI System - What else was it in?

[dc914guy]

I was at a volvospeed.com meet this weekend, and I saw a early Volvo 164E that was running the Bosch D-Jet FI System!! What other cars were the Bosch systems used in? Can parts be interchanged?

~Eric

[bowlsby]

The Bosch D-Jet fuel injection system implemented on most 914s was not the first application of this system. It was first used on the 1968 VW Type 3, then the VW 411 and 412, Porsche 914, Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, Renault, Volvo, Citroen and lastly on the 1980 Jaguar. Bosch licensed the use of the system from its inventor, Bendix, an American company.

More expensive than carburetors, it gave better performance but was primarily provided to comply with tough American pollution control regulations. D-Jet was considered for the 1969 911S and 911E cars, but MFI was selected instead because it cost less than the D-Jet system for a six-cylinder car.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

"Bendix Electro-Jet" was offered as an option (dealer option??) on a number of American cars in the late 50s. It didn't sell very well because the electronics were too unreliable. And I don't think anyone liked waiting for vacuum tubes to warm up before their car would run.

Bosch bought the patents and came out with a solid-state version, called "Bosch Jetronic". They later came up with a different way to run the injection system, based on air flow rather than manifold pressure. To differentiate when the second system came out (the first car with it was the 1974 Porsche 914 1.8L) they called the older one "D Jetronic" (D for "Druck", German for "pressure") and the newer one "L Jetronic" (L for "Luft", German for "air").

And as Jeff said, lots of different cars used D-jet EFI. A few of the parts are interchangeable, but many are very slightly different in calibration. Things like the ECU and the MPS are calibrated slightly differently for different cars, while distributors and manifolds and such are designed to fit a given model of car.

--DD

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Dave, wasnt the Bendix E-Jet the F.I. system used on the Bel Air with that funky canister manifold thing? or was that mechanical?

Speaking of things with tubes on cars, I remember my grandfather's 1951 Buick Special with a GIANT 6 Volt, all tube AM radio. Hard to believe they actually made cars that way.

[Conrad W Peden]

So, if what bowlsby says is correct, the 914 wasn't the first production car with electronic FI?

Right?

[mike_the_man]

I'm currently using a MPS off of a Volvo that I recalibrated. I was having a tough time finding a 914 MPS for a resonable price, but a friend who is into Volvos sold me two for $50. A couple of hours to recalibrate them, and I've got two good MPS's.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I've used them off Type 3's as well, if you chisel out the plug on the back and recalibrate using a CO meter, typically you can get them to work.

[norustscott]

The first mass produced production car with electronic fuel injection, as I always heard, was the type 3 VW. 1967?

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I always heard it was Mercedes back in the 1950's

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The Mercedes cars did not use electronic fuel injection. They used a "jerk pump" MFI system based on Diesel MFI. The first production electronic injected cars were, as Jeff said, the 1968 (67??) VW Type III.

I don't know what type if injection the Bel-Aire used. The Electrojet was a very rare option, as I said. My source did mention some of the cars which used it, but I don't remember which ones. I'll have to look through my FI books to see which one it was and what it said. If I remember...

The early Corvette "fuelie" cars had an odd mechanical system that worked off of a combination of throttle position, RPM, and manifold vacuum. Strange but it worked. It's possible that the Bel-Aire used a version of that same thing.

--DD

[bowlsby]

The year was 1968 for the first VW FI type IIIs. I had a 1967 fastback...twin factory carbs...man I wish I had kept that car...

[Bleyseng]

57 Chevy's had the same "fuelie" type injection as the Corvettes I thought.

I had a 69 Type 3 Fastback with the Djet that was a sweet car. Sold it to my brother who trashed it.

Geoff

[jamcleod]

drove a '69 squareback i got from my parents to ft knox KY and then ft benning GA in '72. remember having it serviced and having the trigger points replaced. automatic though... wasn't a gearhead then (wannabe now... )

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Yup! That style is known as a "jerk pump". Not sure why, frankly...

Bosch made the MFI for the 911s, and the Mercedes ones appear to be almost identical. Kugelfischer made a somewhat-different one for the BMW 2002tii, and that may have been used in other cars as well.

--DD

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

be a good name for a band though.

ladies and gentlemen, JERK PUMP!

So is the pump on the 911E also considered a jerk pump?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Yes.

[pbanders]

Many of the early patents on D-Jet and Bendix electronic FI systems are accessible through my web site.