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Has anyone converted to TBI?

jd72tr6

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Hi guys, I was wondering if anybody has converted to throttle body fuel injection? I went to the site and it sounds very interesting. Any input would be very helpfull. Thanks for any help as always. Jim
 
You might want to delete the earlier duplicate post before anyone answers it.
 
Just go into EDIT and choose "delete" and confirm yes when asked.
 
Looks like a pretty good system.


There is also a discussion group on Yahoo about this product.


https://groups.yahoo.com

and do a search for Triumph TBI

There is a good deal of information in those threads specific to this modification.

Also... on the main site listed above is a link to one owner's experience with the installation. I've looked it over and it would be an invaluable resource for someone doing a conversion.


I am seriously considering this modification. Keep going back and forth between this one and the triple Stromberg conversion.

But my TR6 is in 3190839 pieces and doing an engine upgrade won't be happening till I finish school now.
 
I have made this conversion to my 1974 TR-6.

Background: I bought this car about 13 months ago. The previous owner had done a nice frame-on restoration. The car looked good but he never could get it to run right. It was always rich and wouldn't run over 3500 rpm's. He switched it over to Webers, but it was still rich. It also had a badly leaking fuel tank.

So, after one brief test drive, I bought it, drove it home, drained the tank, and put it up on jack stands. With the helpful folks on this forum, I found out that the car's engine was a 2.0 liter from a GT-6. I think this is why it was rich. The po was trying to tune it with carbs for a 2.5 liter TR-6 engine. I decided that rather than try to tune the Webers or the ZS's, I would switch to TBI fuel injection.

Sidedrafttbi.com supplies the aluminum inserts that fit into the ZS carbs. He also supplies the bracket for the throttle position sensor. The rest of the components and the injection technical help come from CustomEFIS.com.

I didn't want the conversion to be so obvious, so I lengthened the harnass that came with the conversion. I put the computer behind the drivers seat, and ran the wiring under the hood with the original wiring. I also built a custom aluminum fuel tank since the old one was leaking, and the new one needed a return line.

I started the car for the first time in November. It starts great, and it runs great. I'm getting 19 mpg, and I'm sure it would be higher if I didn't try to red-line it on every shift. I really don't have any experience with the car before the conversion, so I don't have any previous experience with the car to compare it to.

I drive the car with a laptop connected, and use a program to record all the data. I then e-mail the data to CustomEFIS. He makes changes to the chip program, e-mails them to me, then I use a chip programmer they supply to reprogram the chip. We are on the 7th version. Each one gets better. The reprogramming is included in his fee. He now has options available to make changes while driving.

There were several small issues along the way, (mostly caused by my trying to hide the installation) and I'm still having a problem with it dying occasionally when gradually slowing to a stop or turn. I got the 7th program today, and will drive it this afternoon. Hopefully this will be the last change needed.

Both vendors have been very good to work with. CustomEFIS does have a lot of work, and sometimes takes a couple of weeks to return a program.

I'll try to attach a couple of pictures. I know there are more powerful systems available, but this has been great for a street car. Sorry for the long post...

David K.
 

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The up grade to the chips is a great idea. Seems he's a person who stands beside his work.
Another idea for the ECM is in the trunk. Fabricate a new back board and attach it to there. Make it so it can easily be removed for chip updates. A friend did this to a early Chev he was building.
 
This system sounds realy GREAT to me! I wonder how it would perform on my 1980 Spitfire 1500 with the single ZS with smog equipment attached? The eshaust manifold already has a plug from the older version of the EGR location, so installing the O2 sensor should be easy. I wonder how much the smog air pump putting extra air into the exhaust would affect the system? Most new cars with fuel injection don't have air pumps anymore.......

It sure has me thinking!! Thanks for the post.

Don
 
Yes, I did do the conversion myself. It wouldn't say it was easy, but it wasn't terribly difficult. The original kit wiring can be used as it is, but I had to do a lot of soldering to move the ECM to behind the drivers seat. I also fabricated all new fuel lines from stainless steel, so quite a lot of bending and cutting had to be done. I'm slow, so it took several months. I'm sure it could be done more quickly if you have a lot of spare time available.

Also, the last change to programming cured the stalling problem. Something about turning off the decel function.

The big advantage has been the technical support. It helps to have someone involved who knows what they're doing.

It's really a lot of fun to drive.
 
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