As per my thread in the readers' rides section, I am at a possible crossroads with the BeeEm's fuelling and ignition system - I could spend the money fixing the standard ignition and fuel system components, or I could spend a bit more and upgrade these areas.
My question is aimed at BMW guys on here: what are the options on how best to upgrade whilst keeping the original engine in place?
I realise there will be more than one option and there will be questions, so let me try and give as much info as I can, starting with a reminder from that thread of what I'm faced with currently:
1) The distibutor was "modified" by the previous owner to allow running on standard 95 unleaded (blobs of weld on the base plate to reduce the amount of ignition advance!). This needs grinding off. It could be that actually what he has done has caused the distributor (or parts of it) to be scrap, so new or used parts may be needed. Potential spend needed could be up to £100 to £150 for a good used distributor (eBay prices I've had pop up occasionally), assuming I can get one that's matched to my engine. A point that may be relevant to note is the cam is reputedly slightly updated from stock, the dizzy advance curve is not.
2) The twin Zenith Inat 35/40 twin-choke carburettors need a full rebuild and setting up correctly, this is within the realms of my capabilities but in reality I doubt I would have time and it would be expensive to do properly (I'd want to get all the components ultrasonically cleaned, plus I'd need a specialist, all told I'm sure I'm looking at least £500 for the rebuild and then another £100 minimum to set them up).
3) The engine was rebuilt around 40k miles ago and is fundamentally strong (checked compressions and has good oil pressure), although due to the above is out of tune. Currently I'm getting under 20mpg and although it's a quick car I'm sure a fair few of the claimed 170 horses are relaxing in their stables!
I would have to spend minimum £600 anyway to get the thing back to how it should be, plus it would still be fairly uneconomical even then! Therefore I'd be happy to spend a bit more on an upgrade. Luckily the values of these cars are actually enhanced by sensible modifications like this, so I'm happy to spend a bit more than this.
Could someone with experience lay out some options and what the compononents needed would be (along with cost estimates of these plus how long it would take someone who knows what they're doing to execute)?
My aims with any upgrade are:
- Keep the original engine: It is sentimentally attached to the car because the previous owner rebuilt it and somehow it doesn't seem right to change it. I believe I don't need to do so to upgrade to EFI?
- Budget of under £1000 all-in and the parts needed are fairly readily available - this rules out transplating a later E9 injection system
- Reliability / The thing doesn't need tinkering with once installed
- Improved fuel economy and hopefully some extra ponies
Related to this: can you drill and tap a cast iron exhaust manifold for a lambda sensor? The standard item is meant to flow OK so if I don't have to replace that to go fully up to date then that's at least one hurdle out of the way for closed loop systems.
Thanks and appreciate all contributions.
My question is aimed at BMW guys on here: what are the options on how best to upgrade whilst keeping the original engine in place?
I realise there will be more than one option and there will be questions, so let me try and give as much info as I can, starting with a reminder from that thread of what I'm faced with currently:
1) The distibutor was "modified" by the previous owner to allow running on standard 95 unleaded (blobs of weld on the base plate to reduce the amount of ignition advance!). This needs grinding off. It could be that actually what he has done has caused the distributor (or parts of it) to be scrap, so new or used parts may be needed. Potential spend needed could be up to £100 to £150 for a good used distributor (eBay prices I've had pop up occasionally), assuming I can get one that's matched to my engine. A point that may be relevant to note is the cam is reputedly slightly updated from stock, the dizzy advance curve is not.
2) The twin Zenith Inat 35/40 twin-choke carburettors need a full rebuild and setting up correctly, this is within the realms of my capabilities but in reality I doubt I would have time and it would be expensive to do properly (I'd want to get all the components ultrasonically cleaned, plus I'd need a specialist, all told I'm sure I'm looking at least £500 for the rebuild and then another £100 minimum to set them up).
3) The engine was rebuilt around 40k miles ago and is fundamentally strong (checked compressions and has good oil pressure), although due to the above is out of tune. Currently I'm getting under 20mpg and although it's a quick car I'm sure a fair few of the claimed 170 horses are relaxing in their stables!
I would have to spend minimum £600 anyway to get the thing back to how it should be, plus it would still be fairly uneconomical even then! Therefore I'd be happy to spend a bit more on an upgrade. Luckily the values of these cars are actually enhanced by sensible modifications like this, so I'm happy to spend a bit more than this.
Could someone with experience lay out some options and what the compononents needed would be (along with cost estimates of these plus how long it would take someone who knows what they're doing to execute)?
My aims with any upgrade are:
- Keep the original engine: It is sentimentally attached to the car because the previous owner rebuilt it and somehow it doesn't seem right to change it. I believe I don't need to do so to upgrade to EFI?
- Budget of under £1000 all-in and the parts needed are fairly readily available - this rules out transplating a later E9 injection system
- Reliability / The thing doesn't need tinkering with once installed
- Improved fuel economy and hopefully some extra ponies
Related to this: can you drill and tap a cast iron exhaust manifold for a lambda sensor? The standard item is meant to flow OK so if I don't have to replace that to go fully up to date then that's at least one hurdle out of the way for closed loop systems.
Thanks and appreciate all contributions.
