I recently posted in the EFI section of the forum asking about installing a 2.0 Zetec with Jenvey throttle bodies and Omex management.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=68476

Since then i have been gleening info from people and suppliers and today i have had my head turned towards the possibility of fitting carbs instead of EFI. Actually it was the guy from Dunnell that recommended it to me, probably based upon my fear of wiring and ECUs...!!

Anyway, as my car is already SVA'd and on the road with a fuel injected pre '95 engine, could i change to carbs and have no emissions problems at MOT time?

If so, i was thinking of getting a kit from Dunnell or GTS (any other good, cheap, reliable suppliers to try?) to run Weber 45s and a management module (or whatever it is called!). I am even considering getting a brand new Zetec from GTS, they sell them for £750, to buy a decent 2nd hand one is probably going to cost £200-300 ??

I reckon, based upon todays pricing enquiries, that i could possibly get a brand new Zetec and carbs and everything i need for less than i could buy the Jenveys and Omex 600 ECU? If thats the case and there are no probs with MOTs etc then i am swaying in that direction.

Would you recommend a new Zetec and new carbs, or are decent 2nd hand items worth the gamble?

Is there any safe reputable suppliers of decent 2nd hand Zetecs and Weber 45s that you know of?

Sorry for all the questions and mixed up post, but my head is swimming with alternatives.

Thanks for reading, any comments greatly appreciated.

Andrew

PS: I know this is not really 'low cost', but i just want a good, easy car to drive. I am working on a new house night and day just now and the savings of my labour there more than pay for this perk!!

I can recomend Dunnell engines. The stuff is good but not cheap.

Be carfull with second hand webers for a zetec as the engine is very fussy on progresion drillings.

For what it would cost WHY when efi wont cost much more.

In my opinion...

If you want to do it on a budget: Weber 40's with a Ford DIS unit (from an Escort mk4) to do the sparks. Dead simple to do.

If you want to spend a little more, but still stick to carbs, the Megajolt seems to be excellent and is mappable of course

If you don't mind spending a little more, and want it as reliable as possible, use a Megasquirt with a standard plenum inlet. The Mondeo one is huge, and the Escort one is quite tall, but the Rover 620 inlet fits on quite easily. It's pretty straight forward to do if you're prepared to put a few hours in reading the information that's out there.

If you're going throttle bodies (excluding using bike units) I'd say it's worth going to the expense of commercial aftermarket management - Emerald, Weber, etc

Chris

Dont do it mate, stick with the EFI. I would swap an afternoons work making a simple loom for weeks of fiddling about with jets etc any day. The wiring loom for something like the Emerald (and any other aftermarket ECU) is just a matter of running pairs of wires from the sensors to the ECU plug, cable pairs for the injectors (these are normally paired so even easier), feed to the coil, fuel pump and fan. Treat the loom as a separate project to your already working chassis loom. When I do any wiring I always check each circuit as I go along and never move on until it is proved working as it should, nothing is more hassle than multiple faults on the same circuit...like trying to find blown bulbs on a string of 100 Christmas tree lights!

The results compared to carbs will be like chalk and cheese. Once set up on a rolling road (which the carbs would also need) you will have a car which starts first time regardless of temp, have no flat spots and idle like any modern tin-top and never need retuning.
If you do have offers of someone to help them take them up on it...it will be worth it. Carbs are great if you are into them, but could you see any modern day race team fitting them through choice. If you intend to tune the engine at all injection will allow you to fit much wilder cams with very little loss in low down performance compared to carbs, and not have to live with an engine which wont idle or pull low down. ...It's been 12 years since a mainstream manufacturer has fitted carbs to a car, so time to change?

I wouldn't woryy too much about a second hand engine, mine has been great. Having just pulled a 120,000 one apart for the head I found almost zero bore wear and just a little pitting on the exhaust valves. Also I would say a new engine will take 30-40K miles to get run in, very little chance in a kit. I remember seeing Top Gear running a 60,000 mile VW Golf GTI against a brand new one, same spec, and the run in car was a good 3-4 lengths in front after a 1/4 mile just because the engine was free running.

Go one you know it's right!
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Fairly new to this game but wouldn't your emissions go up if you went to carbs instead of the injection unit. I was also told by the guy that I bought my Vortx off that it was originally running a 2l zetec on weber45's but it never quite run right so he fitted the Alpha Gold injection kit. Not missed a beat since.

[Edited on 12/6/07 by neilj37]