Idiot qestions for lazy newby

[Jon V.]

Bill Shaw Wrote:
> I don't think you said what type of car it is, 

Groan... I figured that would rear its ugly head! You are quite right, I
didn't say... because I didn't want to be laughed out before I was ever
in, and even I have a certain amount of pride. No, I don't think I'm going
to let you people do that to me. The car is my business, thank you very
much.

The engine... oh, screw it. You people will laugh at me anyway, so I
might as well... The engine is a Lotus 907E. Basically it is your textbook
modern econobanger, except it came from England, so it doesn't work most
of the time. Canted, DOCH, 16V, 2L, redline somewhere around peak HP... a
nice little engine if you don't mind the little things like needing to
break your wrists to reach the distributor. Looking through the list
archives I notice at least one other person was interested in EFI for it,
but I think he was buying an aftermarket system. It has a pair of nifty
thingimawhatsit carbs... a rather snazzy design if you are into such 
things, sort of a MAP sensor and throttle body with mechanical feedback
system to balance the air flow against fuel flow. You don't actually
control the throttle, you richen the mixture, and it regulates based on
MAP... at least that's how I understand the damn things. They were 
designed for emissions. Anyway, they are British, and I don't need to tell
any of you what that means.

> ... but I think I'd start by finding it's
> mid 80s to early 90s closest equivalent in a junkyard and scavenge the intake,
> throttle body, sensors, wiring harness, computer, air cleaner, plumbing,  and anything
> else that may look interesting. 

The only EFI versions I know of are either aftermarket (TEC-II) or
I-don't-want-to-think-about-it expensive, and they aren't likely to turn
up in a junk yard either way, which leaves me fitting some other
engine's EFI. That is not such a bad idea, either. I bet the EFI system
from a modern GM fourhole would work fairly well... but I am way too
ignorant to know what to look for right now or what my own limits are.

> That can usually give you a real good head start. 

I need any sort of start I can get... and head starts are the best... that
way I have a chance to maybe finish inside the pack. Hey! I did say
*maybe*...

> I
> was lucky enough to connect with a guy who was parting out a FI Spider. You can see it
> at http://www.connix.com/~bshaw/fiatefi.html.

Sweet car... very true-blue... and it even has a stereo! Mine doesn't have
that... now I'm jealous. Sigh. I bet my car won't look 1/2 as good as yours
when I am done... but bugged out coworkers (who are getting very nervous
right now) as my witness, I *will* have a car that looks 1/2 as good. It
will even have sun visors and (gasp) a top... someday.

Right now I am content to have the wind in my hair, the sun on my face, 
and purr of a leaky exhaust system to keep me company as I wind my
lonesome way home.

And, of course, an extra engine waiting there, beckoning me to my doom.
 
> If you want to get real fancy,  you might also take a look in the efi-232 list,  it
> looks like they're starting a group buy on the new EFI-232 board.

I'm planning on checking it out, but I'm still too ignorant to know
what I'm looking at... or how much it will cost. Cost is still important
to me.

Thanks,

-Jon



Sex without class consciousness cannot give satisfaction, even if it is
repeated until infinity.
               -- Aldo Brandirali (Secretary of the Italian 
		  Marxist-Leninist Party), in a manual of the party's
		  official sex guidelines, 1973.