Hmmm, people are talking about $2000 conversions of spit motors
to FI. At that price point, unless you are in a racing class
that leaves induction open but doesn't allow you to change
engines, you might be better off swapping to a modern FI motor.
Basic cost of my sytem was
$160 motor from wrecked '91 nissan Sentra.
This is a 1.6 liter multiport EFI, DOHC, 16 valves.
$60 5 speed tranny from datsun 210
$200 machine work on flywheel (It had two $100 weight loss sesssions,
becuase it still didn't fit after the first one.)
$250 exhust system. (manifold back with mufflers)
+ lots of bits that were 'just laying around' and a few $100
worth of misc bits.
6 Months of after work and weekends. Depending how you feel
about it, this is thousands of $ or good fun. I did the work
in a friends garage, which made it take quite a bit longer
than it would have at home. Now I have a garage of my own ;-).
With this setup, you get a motor that weighs about as much
as a spit motor, and starts at 110hp,108ft/lb (according to
the factory). While I imagine you could get a spit motor up to
this level, equivalent modification on the nissan motor would
give you a lot more.
You might argue that I should have rebuilt the motor and tranny,
but at those prices, and considering that the motor was in good
condition, it's not really worth it (although the motor
was a score. I'd probably have to pay more to replace it). Even If I
had, that would bring the cost of the coversion up to about what
the FI bolton costs. Now that the conversion is done, replacing the
motor or tranny should be a weekend job.
In the future, I'd like to get another one of these motors and build
it for more performance. Cams, higher compression, lighten, ballance,
port & polish etc.
As the car currently is, it is pretty quick off the line and
comfortable cruising and passing on the freeway, even when traffic
is moving at 80, which it does around here when it's moving at all.
It has reached ~100 MPH and was willing to do more if the driver hadn't
had an attack of common sense. It has been my daily driver for a couple
of months, with no problems since the initial sorting, and a bad
distributor cap.
I'm NOT saying that one approach is better than the other. Everyone
should do what they want with their toys, and enjoy them as much
as possible. Putting modern FI on an old motor would certainly
be an interesting project too.
The goldwing idea is interesting. I imagine that the drivertrain
hookup might be a little more complicated than an automotive motor,
but not impossible. The power curve is probably also more aimed at
the top end than low down trorque, but 'Legends' racers use 1100CC
MC motors to good effect. Or you could go for a hot harley motor ;-)
--
Reed Mideke rmideke@interbase.com
1999 Spitfire 1600 "Half Japanese"
Now dreaming about building a Chevy powered "Spitfire 5700"
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