Modernise a 912 engine...

[RogerBecker]

Hi folks, please don't shoot me down in flames but I have a 68 SWB 912 with a good strong engine, but the ancillary parts are always causing me problems. Of late, the pulley on the dynamo sheared off and ripped the belt to bits, so at present he is parked up in my garage.

Anyway, he has the wrong dizzy fitted, the carbs are forever requiring adjustment and this is just the final nail really. So, I need to make him reliable as he is my daily and I was thinking of ditching the dynamo and running an alternator set up, ditching the dizzy and carbs, and running some kind of throttle body arrangement on management, with elec ignition.

I love the engine and believe that it has the right power for the chassis etc but I just want it to run nicely and idle from cold nicely and be reliable.

Has anyone done anything like this before, and can anyone point me in the right direction for suitable parts that will work?

Thanks

Rog

[Sam]

It's been done plenty. The Porsche specialists seem to rate Jenvey injection, but for a 4 pot I suggest talking to a VW type 4 specialist like Stateside or John Maher (if he's still about KS?).

The biggest faff with custom EFI isn't fitting it but getting the map to work perfectly at all temperatures and all throttle openings at all RPMs. This bit takes lots of time and tweaking. It took me a year and 4000 miles to be happy with a Weber/Omex set up I had on a kit car, plus I had to buy an old laptop with a serial port and drive round with it constantly in the car and charged for the times I found an issue at a certain RPM/throttle position/engine temp/intake temp.

[Nine One One]

Run a set of Dellorto DRLA 36's once set up properly, they are brilliant, and improve the bottom end torque.
They hardly need adjustment, and you will not look back.
I've fitted them now to 3 of my cars and never looked back

[b56tle]

I plan on fitting the CB Performance fuel injection system soon. Its an old setup and believe they still make an slightly updated version. Its made for the type 1 beetle engine but would fit straight on
the 912. you would need to get webber stud pattern manifolds as the original solex are different

[revival-cars]

Cool, will be interesting to see how that CB kit works out

[arprea]

To my understanding the (old) CB kit is fairly simple and as such it is not in par with most of the fuel injections available today - including Megasquirt. However the simplicity is good for easy installation and basic setup is easy to do. If you are after adjustability, those last horses or additional controls then you should look for programmable units.

br,
Aki

[neilbardsley]

Is this the CB one that everybody isn't talking about? Not cheap

http://www.cbperformance.com/ProductDet ... tCode=7070

[Bruce M]

Nope. The kit in the photo above is a much older system. It was not programable like everything is now. It had two potentiometers that tweaked the idle mixture and the "main jet" mixture. Good for its day but now left behind by megasquirt et al.

[upwardr]

Don't care for the Dellortos myself. I have them on a replicas and they are a constant source of problems.

[Bruce M]

Don't care for the Dellortos myself. I have them on a replicas and they are a constant source of problems.

What problems? Got a photo of your setup?

[911-356 dave]

Hi Rog,
Sounds like you are having a problem with a few things. The best dizzy is a bosch iron body 022, with either weber 40 IDA carbs or Solex 40's, you can get a new pulley for the dyno from Roger Bray. The pulley comes in two halves and is set up with spacers to set the fan belt tension, the spacers can also be bought from RB. If you use the old Solex carbs ensure the butterfly spindles are not worn as this will draw air in and you will never get the engine to idle nicely. I run reconditioned Solex's on one of my 912's and Weber's on the other. The 022 Dizzy has the correct springs and weights in to help the advance curve work at it's best.
Hope this helps.
Dave

[neilbardsley]

The 022 Dizzy has the correct springs and weights in to help the advance curve work at it's best.
Dave

Is there anyway to play with the springs/weights to change the advance curve? Is this called recalibrating the dizzy?

[911-356 dave]

Morning Neil,
What dizzy have you got?
You can change the weight's and springs but this shouldn't be needed, is there much wear on the cams or spindle bearing?
Dave

[neilbardsley]

I have a 22 in my 356. I'm not aware of any issues with it. I had to adjust the points last w/e but that is basic maintain on these. It's just that I've read about people sending their distributor away to be recalibrated and I didn't understand how you would do this in a mechanical distributor.

PS is there a good picture guide as to the bit I should be checking and lubing? I entered up putting a finger touch of oil on the cam but haven't lubed anywhere else.

[911-356 dave]

Hi Neil,
I am not aware of a recalibration on a four cylinder dizzy! A finger touch of oil every 3000 mls will be fine.
Dave