The Dub Shop FI kit

No, but I did buy a trigger wheel and VR sensor from Mario(who is thedubshop). He knows his stuff, that's for sure. I also used his FI wiring harness diagram to design and build my harness.

I might submit that if anybody can't successfully keep carbs/distributor in tune, EFI is a much higher level of difficulty to learn.

I have an original 1600 FI motor from a 1977 VW Cabrio bug ,

Has anyone made one of these motors work with another control box ?

Maybe even changing the throttle body to something more modern ,

It is the old Bosch set-up

I don't know for sure but I'd bet someone has done it and posted a long thread about it on the Shop Talk Forums. Maybe search the Engine Management section.

We're at a weird point in this hobby, where there are engine guys, and there are EFi guys... but they aren't the same guys. EFI is not just bolting on hardware and going out for a drive - the magic is in the program. Getting the perfect program for a particular engine takes a long time.

Because there are so many different combinations, every tune ends up being different. Pat Downs will sell you a long-block, and Mario will sell you an EFI kit - but you're on your own for tuning.

What the world needs is a guy who builds 3 different engines - say a 1776, a 2110, and a 2332, and sells them no options, but completely set up, tuned, and ready to go - software pre-written for the engine the guy built and sold.

It's the only way this stuff is ever going to make it into the mainstream.

IIRC, I suggested to Danny and Jim (?) that one if them should put together an air cooled FI set up for luddites like myself that was pretty much plug and play.

That is not gonna happen. I'm not doing that. It's never "plug and play".

I have a coupe of clients building with Marios VW EFI currently, but it'll be a while before those particular builds hit the road so I cannot provide any feedback at this time.

Prior to agreeing to these builds I did speak at length with Jake Raby, who was very impressed with the system and is integrating something similar into some 911 engine builds he is doing.  One of them will be in our 904...

Assume that remote laptop to engine tuning  be done from most anywhere?

Thanks guys.  I am just getting tired of deal with the carbs and ignition.  Right now I am chasing down an issue with the car just dying.  I have it running in garage warming up so I can readjust the carbs due to popping.  The car will sit there an run for 30 minutes and then just stall.  When I go and try to restart it, the engine will not fire back up. The next day it will fire backup and do the same thing.  I thought I had a bad coil and replaced it but the same thing is happening.

@Bobby D posted:

The car will sit there an run for 30 minutes and then just stall.  When I go and try to restart it, the engine will not fire back up. The next day it will fire backup and do the same thing.  I thought I had a bad coil and replaced it but the same thing is happening.

5 bucks and a bag of donuts says it's a bad ignition module. The only thing crappier than coils at this point are Pertronix modules.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Assume that remote laptop to engine tuning  be done from most anywhere?

That's true, but there's more to it than that.

You can get close remotely, but not "spot on". That takes time and expertise, usually gained through trying and failing and trying again.

@dlearl476 posted:

IIRC, I suggested to Danny and Jim (?) that one if them should put together an air cooled FI set up for luddites like myself that was pretty much plug and play.

The only way it could be "plug and play" is if everything on the engine was "to spec" (heads, cam, CR, exhaust, etc.). Actually, VMC's program (you can have anything you want, as long as it's a 2332 built Greg's way by Pat Downs) would be ideal for a program like that.

It'd probably add $5K to an already expensive product, but would make the engines really, really nice and probably add 20+ hp to them (over Kads and MagnaSpark ignitions).

About a year ago I made the jump to EFI.  I also made the switch to a crank fire ignition.  The EFI switch was made  because I was chasing a flat spot with my Webbers that I simply couldn’t nail down.  The crank fire replaced my Magnaspark and was done for multiple reasons, most significantly the ability to fine tune it.

It sounds kinda funny now that I wrote it down: effectively going from mechanical to digital fuel delivery and from electronic to mechanical spark delivery.

Any way you slice it I’m overwhelmingly happy.  I’m running software on a dedicated laptop that I carry in my Speedster.  It runs a hard line to the ECU but does not need to be with me all the time.  It is certainly part of the fun for me that I can constantly tune my engine based on any combination of things from ambient heat to elevation; the list goes on and on and on.

Trust me when I tell you there is a LOT that goes into tuning.  But that said, I believe it to be incredibly less time consuming than trying to tune to the environment; not to mention that it is exponentially more precise than driving and turning screws all week end long.  An added benefit is I can save a particular AF mixture and timing setting to go back to later.

It wasn’t cheap (neither was my hide-away turbo kit), and the tuning isn’t overly complex once you get used to it.  But, like anything else, you need to keep working with it to become proficient, or at least mediocre like me.

The mpg is astonishingly high as well, not to mention the bump in HP.

I am using a magnaspark distributor.  I agree with Stan that the distributor is the problem.  Have clean the jets and check the fuel pressure.  I have a Flame thrower II distributor sitting on the self that I have not used.  I am going to switch it out and see.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Assume that remote laptop to engine tuning  be done from most anywhere?

You can assume, but we all know what that means.

As has been said, you can get close fairly quickly. You need to fine-tune the car over time. Especially if you are interested in OEM-like behavior. Remember Mike Pickett's cold-start travails?

It will be a) very expensive, b) long-running, and c) frustrating to tune WELL remotely.

I'm not done with mine, and honestly I haven't spent a huge amount of time on it. I first started the car on injection two years ago. My car runs FANTASTIC once warmed up. I still haven't bothered with the cold-start settings.