EFI conversion of 280. comments and thoughts please?

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Thu, 21/02/2008 - 09:29
jedbroadley
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Location: Canterbury

instead of trying to change the fuel, I am thinking why not try and make it more fuel efficient?

has anyone ever tried converting a 280 to electronic fuel injection? using a programable EFI kit would mean being able to tune the fuel/air ratio to provide much better performance/economy whichever is your preference.

the existing injector mounts could be used (much easier than trying to convert a carburetted engine) and by adding an air flow meter and a lambda sensor it should all work out.

any obvious pit falls? I have been hunting the internet for oooh, half an hour now and it seems that its not that expensive, although sourcing the parts might be a bit tricky as most of the sites are about converting american v8s.

I am up for the challenge, as my new garage is going up over the next couple of months, and I have a spare engine to play with.

madness? good idea? plausible but not realistic?

comments please?

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Thu, 21/02/2008 - 17:28
#1
jonnyboy
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Re: EFI conversion of 280. comments and thoughts please?

An interesting one. I wonder just exactly how much more economical you could make it for how much £.........I mean, an extra 10% mpg only = 1.5/2.0 mpg doesnt it? Is it worth it.

Wish you'd been a bit further on with this as I got offered a Coswroth 2.3 engine for my engineless swb but declined it on the basis of the injection system being a whole lot more complex than the simple system the 230 uses normally. Would have tried it with aftermarket well-instructioned efi system :(

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Fri, 22/02/2008 - 11:11
#2
Pistonhead
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Re: EFI conversion of 280. comments and thoughts please?

I feel if M/benz could have improved fuel economy by just changing a mechancial fuel system to an electronic system, they would have had done just that, themselves. They did go through the evolution of making the mechanical to electronic systems, largely for emissions but without much gain to effiecency in improoving consumption.

In order to improove enigne designs, these have to be collectively, blueprintred. Everything from valve timing, ignition mapping, exhaust tracks, inlet tracks etc,etc....

Given, the physics of the internal combustion engine and appreciating the complex thermal efficenceny formulas and others, there is only so much that can be done, and most of that is already being utilised.

So, a nice personal exercise, to be getting on with, but keep an open mind about improoving fuel cosumption.

Goodluck,

Regards,

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