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Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:03 pm

I didn't take a pic of the pile of parts, so you guys will have to imagine what that looked like. The octo-harness was a little daunting at first sight.

I started this whole thing chasing gas milage, torque, and reliability. I want to be anywhere in north or south america with parts available. The CB kit uses all off the shelf GM, Bosch, Ford, and Chevy parts. If the Dellortos went down, I didn't feel confident I could repair them in the field or if the distributor failed I'd be hard pressed to repair it with a Kansas City Autozone as a sole parts provider.

So, heres the engine as it started life. It is a 2110 with dual dellorto 40mm. It has a hydraulic cam and lifters (an interesting twist during startup) It was built and run in March 2011. It has spent a lot of its time out of the car for various car (not engine) related issues...including change of venue...from a SCAB to a camper. It also had a custom curved Bosch SVDA and Pertronix distributor setup by Lowbugget...which made the car great to drive.

This was the only MAJOR mod needed. This is the point I chose to mount the cylinder head temperature sensor. CB recommended this point or another solid point on top of the head. This point required less parts removal to do. I tried to short cut it and not take off the header system....don't bother...you won't get the hole straight and you'll have a REAL problem on your hands. The sensor is 1/8th NPT threads....DO NOT use a standard thread. The NPT style is tapered and locks/seals the threads. This is important.

I used our handy Milwaukee angle head drill to get in there better than a standard cordless was allowing. This isn't really necessary, but it helped.

This is where the drill breaks through. Keep in mind not to go nuts and hit the rocker too hard. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT use the drill size specified by CB unless you have absolutely no other choice (this is one of those point of no return things). It WILL work, but it it is not correct for the tap. The correct drill size is an "R". This is important to make sure the thread tapers at the correct rate and the sensor doesn't go in to far before it tightens. You don't want to rely on sealant alone to lock your thread at this point. I followed the directions verbatim and used the recommended size. I paid close attention to to the tapping step to make sure it still locked into place. IMPORTANT NOTE: This job should be done with 2 people. I know it sounds silly. Hear me out. One person concentrate on drilling a straight and correctly sized hole, the other plays spotter. They make sure no chips fall down the P-rod tubes and holds the shop vac to get all the chips. I had to stop a few times and fish out stray chips. Clear them out as soon as they occur.

The tapping. This will be the hardest part most likely (outside of a personal mod later on). Our machine shop happened to have a giant tap handle so I was able to get a nice straight thread by doing this and not removing anything. You may or may not be able to do this. If you can't, theres kind of a ghetto trick you can do. Get the tap in there nice and straight and tap it lightly with a hammer. This will set it like a nail. Then you'll have to use a crescent wrench to the turn the tap. It will be very difficult to do this step in this manner...but you can get by with it. Honestly....if you spent this kind of money on the kit....get the right tool. This photo shows about how far I put the tap in to get a nice fit with the sensor. I test fit as I did it knowing the drill size was wrong.

This shows the sensor installed with blue loctite sealant. A note about sealants. I try not to put it on the first couple threads to keep it out of the oil/fuel/air areas. This allowed, in my opinion, enough sensor inside the head while giving enough area around it to get a good average reading instead of getting radiant heat off the aluminum casting.

The carb and manifold before removal. Now for sale.

This is the hardware pack and all the parts used for the throttle body install. You'll have to loctite all the studs in and everything. I passed on shooting every turn of the bolts here...its pretty simple.

I used some nice lithium grease on the injector orings. They are a tight fit and pop into place. The clips are common parts so don't worry TOO much. They snap together nice and tight.

My first critical point. I was told by Mark I think it was, make sure you work clean and carefully. I was about to put this rail in and looked down it. It had a massive aluminum metal chip in it. These were not just piece that didn't get washed out...these were pieces of metal still attached from where the drills broke through. These will GUARANTEE a clogged injector and make for one hell of a bad start up and a sour view on EFI in general...it would be a tough one for a newbie (like me) to diagnose (being batch fire and not sequential) right after install. Both holes in both rails had debris in them. I flushed them with parts cleaner from here on. IN CB's DEFENSE, I don't think the rails are their extrusions. I think I saw some similar ones on Summit or something.

My second critical point. The logical way you would align the injectors is plug out for easy access. Well, the fuel rail interferes with this. CB routes the plugs through the "Y" on the manifold and one at a funny angle. This was not going to do.

My other hope was to have them exit to the fan shroud. Keep dreaming.

My final solution: mill them down. Obviously not everyone has a machine shop on hand. My recommendation is that CB offer this for inboard setups. Its still tight, but it was much better and cleaner. Another option is hire a machine shop to make the cuts.

And here is the engine with TBs all installed and ready to go. I reused my filters and linkage from my Dell setup and everything went fine. When making sure the carbs were opening and closing at the same time I used a scrap of newspaper and placed it between the stops on the throttle arms. I adjusted in both directions till the paper was just being held in there enough to slide it out without tearing it, but not fall out. This ensures everytime I back the screws out completely I am back at zero and WOT is also the same.

and we're back....

This is showing the included CB distributor blocking plate. Its a very well made piece and is an expanding design. Be patient when pulling the dist drive..the thrust washers will fall into the case and you will have a new kind of hell on your hands. I tried a super strong magnet on the end of the puller tool hoping to transfer the magnetism through the drive and into the washers. It WOULD have worked if the puller had a larger contact face with the drive...but oh well. I ended up using a magnet tool to lift them out of their hole then grabbed them with olive grabbers (long pinchers inside a spring tube....think arcade claw game like). Go easy and take your time...don't take them out of their little space unless you know you've got them for sure.

Here is the tone wheel installed and marked for easy reference. Its very well made and fits nice and tight. The bracket is a CNC'd piece of aluminum that fits well and has adjustment to make up for error and to adjust to the #8 tooth. Make sure everythings tight here. Having your sensor crash into the buzz saw below is a bad way to start a road trip.

The clamp stud shown here is a great place to hook up the gang grounds and the only option to ground the crank sensor to.

The Nutsert. Get to know these. I have used this little tool and its mating parts dozens of times. In this case it was used to mount the coil, IAC unit, fuel regulator and ECU. They are awesome.

Here you can see how I ended up mounting the coil pack. You can see the original holes for the old coil. I had to drill out the old nutserts I used. One ended up inside one of the air vanes inside the the shroud so it lives there now. I found some nifty 3/8 plugs to keep the coolant (air) where it should be. I chose this location for 2 reasons. I have working thermostat vanes setup in there and the 90deg plug wires make it more naturally route this way. I used 6mm-3/8 nutserts here....and most other places on my car.

Nutserts and plugs installed.

Coil pack installed nice and pretty.

Self inflicted problem here. This is the fuel pressure sensor. DO NOT PUT THE SENSOR ON THE DRIVERS SIDE. The wiring harness will not reach it.

I ended up arching the fuel line over the alternator to keep things smooth, simple and clean. I also used the T fitting after re-fitting the pressure sensor to extend the drivers side fuel rail past the shroud allowing the barb and hose to clear.

This is the best point to mount the IAC motor to. It is central and won't interfere when installing the motor in the car...IE a bus. Nutsert used again here as the design of the IAC bracket/module is very tight. I used allen head screws to make installation easier.

I modified the barb here. Its not shown, but I cut one section off of it and used a 1/8npt DIE (EDIT: It said TAP here before, do not tap the housing...modify the barb instead. Barbs are cheap and plentiful vs the IAC which is expensive and you have one of.) flipped over to to allow the piece to thread into the housing a little deeper. This was all to try and get a little more clearance for the hose around the fan shroud bulge. As you can see, its all really tight here. As it is, you have to mount the unit then install the lower barb or you won't be able to get to the screws or bolts. I chose to pipe my air intake to the passenger side air filter. Another option is to use a mini filter here. I didn't feel like adding another filter to clean in a difficult to reach spot.

I'm missing some photos here. I'll have to add them a little later.

Fast forward. This is where I chose to exit the harness from under my rear seat. I drilled a 1.5 inch hole with a sheet metal hole saw.

Another criticism. Include the grommets. I have run into several points in this project that a grommet in the kit would have made my day. Find one that would fit my hole and also clear the harness took me about a day and 3 different shops...including Radio Shack. I've included a shot of the Autozone packaging to aid in your hunt. I also went a step further with the harness. CB provides the harness in a very nice clean mesh loom. It looks very pro. I wanted to make sure I never had a breakthrough or a short and sheathed it again in some of that standard wrinkle loom stuff. I forgot which size I got off hand. If you really want to know I can probably figure it out again.

I'm adding notes after the pics, so before posting something snide about missing comments...wait a few minutes and hit the refresh button. This is the first set of photos and notes. I have to dump my other photo card to do the rest.

Also a cookie for whoever can name the car peeking in the pics.

Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:46 pm

Schwinn?

Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:47 pm

I got the opportunity to get a look at Sniperx's setup. Looking at his motor and the EFI. He's got a real nice build. It is very functional and purrs. I'm almost certain that I will do something similar when I build the motor for my Spyder. Keep the progress updates coming!

Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:50 pm

Well..first fail....

I attempted tuning the thing tonight. You would think a pulse width of zero or a timing of 15 or something would have had an effect on the motor when I pushed the send button. NOTHING. I chalk this up to using a computer thats about 12 years old.

So.....I'll try again with a little more up to date machine.

EDIT: I just reset it to a backup I made before I monkeyed with it. Everything is back to normal, still needs final tweaking.

Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:55 pm

I just put this system on an air cooled 914 last week and am about to start another 914, this ones water cooled......

Tue Apr 17, 2012 9:24 pm

Nope, parents' Townies (old people bikes).

Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:29 am

Like it! Keep us posted.

Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:40 pm

So I assume this new Magna ECU you have can drive a wasted spark system such as CBs crank trigger kit w/o having to buy a separate control module?

Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:44 pm

It will do wasted spark, with a coil pack or individual coils, cop,cnp ect. It will also do full sequential with a cam synch

Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:45 pm

pdub wrote: So I assume this new Magna ECU you have can drive a wasted spark system such as CBs crank trigger kit w/o having to buy a separate control module? That's correct, the ecu has 4 internal coil drivers.

Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:52 pm

Just got off the phone with these guys and they did a lot to help me tune this thing over their live support system. They have been very helpful. I will give more info later...spent all my breaktimes tuning....

Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:06 pm

Pat,

Will the manifold/injector setup work with a OEM doghouse fan shroud, or do you have one that will?

Daris

Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:55 pm

darisb wrote: Pat,

Will the manifold/injector setup work with a OEM doghouse fan shroud, or do you have one that will?

Daris

If you mod the rails like mine, it will fit. They do have 2 other option. Outboard mounted and throttle body mounted.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:11 am

Sniperx wrote: If you mod the rails like mine, it will fit. They do have 2 other option. Outboard mounted and throttle body mounted.

Good deal. I think the outboard mounted injector setup will be a good choice for my build.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:17 am

Mine mounted inboard fit fine, but I'm not sure what dimensions my go fast chrome shroud are. I went in board because I already had the intakes that are turned backwards for the space saver effect.
Sniper: nice job, CB has been nothing but stand up in my book on my project.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:16 am

The new color tracking software is great. It makes it much easier to follow whats going on and make adjustments.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:55 am

Something I'd like to see on future software updates is a gallon per hour reading. I'm sure its just a math process of rpm vs p/w vs fuel pressure. It would help tune for MPG.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:10 pm

Well I did some tuning this evening. I'm getting somwhere now. The color based tuning method makes all the difference.

I heard some detonation. It sounded like this:http://youtube.com/watch?v=H_7VsBx1uuU fast forward near the end of the clip (according to the poster it was detonation causing that sound). I thought it was a vacuum thing as I've never heard that sound before. The only det I've heard in the past (other motors) is the pinging/crackling under big time load....IE super lugging. Now for the question here....I KNOW detonation is bad and I'm addressing the issue through the spark table (damn hard thing to do really since I have no reference to the inner working of the SVDA I pulled). I drove a bit with it that way tonight, just tuning runs. Has any serious damage been done? My head temp stayed under 300 the whole time. If its NOT det going on...what is the sound? I can't get it to ping under load which I would expect to be a similar indicator.

Any ideas here?

Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:51 pm

I like all the pictures. Good job. Where did you get the little roller for the throttle cable? I haven't seen one of those. Very cool

Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:18 am

I got it right here...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=786740

Night and day difference.