I feel I'm about to join an elite club with the purchse and, hopefully, successful installation, of an aftermarket Fuel Injection system. My big bored and cam'd B20E has never run entirely properly. I've spent three years tinkering with the D=-Jet and it just isn't tunable over the mixture and fuel pressure range the engine requires.I would be very grateful to correspond with anyone who has gone this route before me. It's major investment, but one I wil gladly make if I have a high degree of certainty that this is really the final answer in making my otherwise beautiful car run properly.

If you're not already on the yahoo groups 1800 list, I'd recommend you sign on, then get a hold of Steve Berry. He's successfully installed a Megasquirt on his own 1800 and had good results.

He's posted his efforts on a web page, but I don't seem to have the URL handy.

Best,

Cameron
Rose City

!Cameron-
I sent you an e-mail sometime back but received no response.
Could you email me?
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Central US

Oops!

I don't seem to have an email from you but recently went through a nasty bout of computer virus lunacy.

I also can't figure out how to collect your email address from the brickboard.

Drop me a note!

Best,

Cameron
volvorelix at yahoo

Hi Dave,

Go to http://www.1800philes.com and read the articles on my engine rebuild and megasquirt install. Eric Reuter was the first I know of to use this system on a B20. His page is here - http://www.southroad.net/ms/

Also look at http://SDSEFI.com. Their EM4D unit (fuel only) is a good option without the learning curve.

steve

Thanks for the input. John Parker recommended the Simple Digital System, ah, system. It dosen't require a lap top to program. Costs about $1000. Phil Singer recommended a new and simplified version of the MegaSquirt. Think that's more like $750. I'd be interested to hear of anyone's expereince with either of these. Despite my yearning to get this car back on the road (needs the valves attended to before I can upgrade the FI), my pocketbook and my natural skepticism force patience. The more info I can absorb, the better my final dicision.

Dave,

Read as much about both systems as you can find. The goal is to control the fuel injectors, both systems accomplish that.

SDS EM4D
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
'Black box' - it just works
Vendor support
No laptop needed
Simple
$1000

Megasquirt
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Transparent design
Community support
Pentium or better Laptop required
Can be modified to control spark, lots of other things
Datalogging
$500-$750 depending on your approach


Best advice I can give is to read the docs for both (everything is online) and decide which one you are more comfortable with. I chose megasquirt because it was cheaper and more interesting.

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions from my experiences if you post them here.

steve

Thanks for the advice, Steve. I have read over both products and, I believe, visited your excellent web site. Perhaps I've spent too many hours by the side of the road with the hood open tinkering with this or that to want to have to rely on having a laptop handy. Plus I'm a MAC guy and just getting near Windows makes me break out in hives. So I've pretty much decided on the pricier but simpler-to-tune SDS system. I've also had excellent response to my email inquiries from them. That gives me confidence.
I'll try to do a full report on its installation.

The laptop thing can be a pain, but I only use it when I want to tune things or log data. BTW - there is now good software for tuning on apple OSX / linux.

Look forward to hearing about your results. If you can squeeze it past The Budget Comittee you should try and get your hands on a wideband 02 sensor and controller. It will take a lot of guesswork out of tuning.

Sound like you have a pretty cool project in the works.

steve

In my "Cup Half Full" mode it does see like a duanting but interesting challenge. In my "Cup Half Empty" mode it seems like a lot of money to be throwing at an $8000 car. Apparently you can do just about anything with these systems, from slicing, to dicing, to....and I wonder if it isn't overkill to apply so much 21st Century technology to a 20th Century vehicle. I curse the day the previous owner decided that his cajones weren't big enough. My previous 1800 (a '72), with the original engine specs and D-jet is still purring along. Simpler is always better. That's the second Volvo I wish I'd mothballed instead of sold.