Rover v8 EFi or Carb ?

[DrFelch]

I will hopefully be buying a rebuilt Rover 3.5 Efi complete engine soon to put in an AK chassis. I dont know 'too' much about engines but am slowly learning ! I understand the benefits of fuel injection but the complexity/wiring scares the living sh** out of me ! I have seen a good site explaining about Efi :

http://members.tripod.com/~roversd_1/injection.html

.. and there seems to be many points of failure that I can see. Part of me thinks I should just buy a Webber 500 with manifold for £500 and be done with it !! (even if it was just for the fact that I can have a nice shiny air filter )

How difficult would it be to wire the Efi up to the wiring loom ?? Anyone done this on an AK ? Comments ???

To change over to carb, is it as simple as buying the kit from Rpi and replacing the manifold + carb ? Are there any other differences ?

Thanks

Marcus

[interestedparty]

I'm told that once you get it working right that the 3.5 efi is very good. I haven't bothered with it, and have found the weber 500 on the edelbrock performer manifold to be very much a fit and forget solution

John

[russell_ram]

Marcus,

Fortunately, if you end up going that way, the EFi harness on a Rover SD1 (or Range Rover/Discovery) is a seperate part to the rest of the vehicle harness. So all you have do do is get hold of that bit and add it in to the AK harness. Not too difficult really if you're careful with labelling etc and you apply some logic. There's not too much arguement (I hope) that EFi when 'sorted' will be more economical and drivability will be better.

Personal view is that a Cob should have a Carb (or two but preferably four) and who cares about economy anyway.

Russ

(or if you really want injection then four twin choke throttle bodies)

[Philip]

Hi,

Im very biased about this, mainly because Ive fitted a efi rover to my dax. But the electronics are not especially difficult, as long as you have all the parts. The only problem area on these systems seem to be the throttle pot. This is easily fixed or replaced. The rest is very reliable. Iam getting over 20mpg out of mine and it starts on the button, ticks over smoothly from cold and looks very different from most other rover installs.
Ive got several workshop manuals on the injection system and I could send you copies of them.
The £500 you could spend on a carb would be better spent on something else for the car, because the efi system is a lovely unit on the rover. Just make sure you get every part, if you need a list email me philip@replica-cobra.co.uk

[Steve Senior]

Marcus

When I got my engine it came complete with Fuel Injection system. It is dead easy to wire as all the temperature sensors and injectors have slightly different plugs. All you need to do is feed 4 or 5 wires from your main loom (feed, ign feed, coil -ve, and power to fuel pump from memory). My unit had been sat in a box for 2 years and worked first time without fault. The ignition system caused me far more problems.

My only recommendation would be go for a hot wire system rather than the flapper valve as the hot wire is said to be more reliable and can be chipped (so I am told).

Steve

[wilf]

Oh Felching one - it is a matter of personal preference.

Me?? I love the charcteristics/noise/feel ect. of a carb'd motor, and opine that it is more in keeping with what a Cobra is all about. Plus I cannot be arsed to start learning all about EFI.

Others?? Will think that I am impossibly old fashioned and out of tune with modern stuff, and am throwing away benefits in terms of smoothness/mpg etc. I care not.


It is your car, you do with it as you wish, but one thing is for sure, a nice big V8 looks a damm sight better with a big 'ol carb perched on top.

Wilf

[kev]

I started off with a flapper type efi system on my 3.5 rover AK, wiring was easy. Ran this uneventfully for 12 months, I then fitted an aftermarket fully programmable management system which did away with the air flow meter and liberated an extra 10 bhp, and gave a much flatter torque curve. The ems gives control of the cooling fan rev limiter and incorporates a high energy ignition system which does away with special distributors.

Rover EFI is a fit and forget fixture, starts on the button runs cleanly through the range.

Aftermarket EMS gives more power, control over the engine and is more versatile, but costs in the order of £700.

Weber 500 carb looks the part but won't be as efficient as a properly mapped EFI system, and then when you've read the hype, you buy an ignition "power amplifier", a trick distributor special leads a rev limiter and that puts you more expensive than the aftermarket EMS.

Kev

[maxGD059]

I agree John. Ive fitted a weber 500 & its been pretty much OK from day one. However it does 'bog' slightly just as you boot it & its proving a bit difficult to sort. Thats the hitch I suppose. Still I need some excuse to keep fiddling with the Cob. I agree with Wilf; you cant beat the looks or sound of a 4 barrel carb, especially when the secondaries open up, & an efi system just looks too modern for my taste

Cheers

Richard
(It'll only be a 5 minute job)

[wilf]

Since I suspect that this thread may descend into a "EFI vs Carby" type thing, (oh goody, I love a chance to be totally biased) I have a serious question on that note:

I know that I can get all sorts of different aftermarket inlet manifolds, with different characteristics to suit my needs, if I have a carby. What choice do I have with an EFI manifold? Or are you stuck with the OE manufacturer's compromised design?

Honest - it's a serious question.

Wilf

PS - to start things off ..........."EFI has no place on a '60's style car like a Cobra" (you watching Rob??) }>

[maxGD059]

There was an excellent article in Snake Torque a while back that detailed a 'rose tinted glasses' history of an old Rover V8 that had been rejuvenated in the belly of a Cob. Much of it was tongue in cheek I think the point of the matter was- 'fuel injected modern engines just aint got no soul' I agree
Right stand by for the fireworks

Cheers

Richard
(It'll only be a 5 minute job)