Need some advice... Carbs VS. FI

[Shadow]

I just recently acquired my fathers '74 914-4. We had lots of fun with it when I was a kid but it needs a lot of TLC from sitting for the past 12 years... More to the point - I am going to put in a performance Type IV (2156cc or better if possible) with new transaxle and clutch. I don't know if I should stay with the FI or switch to some performance carbs? The old man says he would stick with the FI... I'm thinkin carbs... any suggestions?

[Barber Dave]

Fortunately for you; Unfortunately for your dad ; it's carbs
Stock F.I. is made to run on stock displacement engines,and stock cam. change one or the other and your in trouble. you mighjt get it to run with F.I. but poorly,and at a significant lose in
performance. With a 2156 cc engine Weber 40,s ,or 44's if you are going to autocross or race in some manner. Tuned right that set up will be awesome to drive. my 2 cents Dave

[M. Hendrix]

Yep. I love FI, but Dave is right. As I recall, the upper limit for D-jet is around 2.3, but not without alot of headaches getting there.

With a poppy cam, you can make a motor that could pull stumps.

Depending on your budget, you can use aftermarket injection..

I like injection.


M

[Shadow]

I haven't seen alot on the aftermarket injections. I would love to learn more about it. I am trying to plan this resoration from start to finish in order to determine which avenue to take. In the short run I'm considering a performance "Turnkey Combo" & would to like to know more on the subject of performance with the inclusion of injection... any more advice? Any other links where I could research more about it would be greatly appreciated...

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

One of the neatest currently out there is Megasquirt. http://www.megasquirt.info

It is a very DIY setup; you have to solder the pieces of the "brain" together yourself! You also have to come up with ways to get the fuel where it needs to go, ways to mount the sensors, and ways to manage the air flow. Happily, the stock EFI parts can do all of that for you...

There are also options like http://www.sdsefi.com

You can adapt a CIS system from a Rabbit or other older European car to the 914, but it take some work. Some links that I shamelessly stole from a post on the Shoptalk Forums BBS (note that some links are no longer live) :

http://www.dolphinsci.com/vw/cis-fi.html
http://members.rennlist.com/evill/ed1.htm
http://photos.yahoo.com/evill914
http://www.pelicanparts.com/motorcity/davedarling/ecr_01/turbo1_7.jpg
http://www.pelicanparts.com/motorcity/davedarling/ecr_01/Friday_AM.html
http://members.rennlist.com/ejm914/
http://www.sandrail.com/millerfi/
http://www.auto-solve.com/mech_inj.htm#MFI03
http://www.volkswagen.org/EngineSwap/CIS%20Basic.JPG
http://w1.111.telia.com/~u11101119/
http://www.users.bigpond.com/INTERJECT/KJETRON.HTM
http://www.porsche-club.ru/Tech_info/repair/Haines/03_Fuel_Em01.htm
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/1205/CIS.html
http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewforum.php?f=23&sid=66013775fc968e54f8ba00613f9198b3
http://www.aircooledtech.com/

There are more options, like Haltech and Motec and Autronic and Wolf3D, but those tend to be more expensive. Googling on those terms should be able to find you something, though.

--DD

[Shadow]

Thx Dave, I've checked out the links and a couple have turned out to be what I was looking for. I think that the injection would be a nicer way to go in the long run since I am looking to turbo anyway. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me, but the completed project will be worth the journey. Thx again...