Has anyone converted the SU carbs on an XK engine to TBI using the Patton Machine kit? There seem to be numerous examples of this conversion on Triumph TR6’s with excellent results (according to the owners) but I am wondering how well it works with the Jaguar XK engine.
I do like the appearance because you can retain the look of the SUs and I also like the fact that stock GM parts are used.
Tom
Throttle body injection isn’t really a very good engineering solution compared to regular fuel injection where the injector is placed right over the inlet valve. You will still be spraying fuel a long way from where it is wanted and the main “advantage” is that you are making a faux concours modification which hopefully most people won’t spot. Having said that, regulating the fuel flow to the engine load more accurately will give benefits, especially with cold start and economy. I did consider this on the v12 but decided to run with the most modern Megasquirt instead, based around the six litre fuel injection Jaguar made for that engine.
kind regards
Marek
Have to agree: TBI is basically an electronic carburetter.
At the risk of getting shouted at, I had a complete throttle body installation installed and used it for a couple of years. it was impressive in that it gave good tick over and fuel economy. In the end I reverted to the original carb setup as I wanted my etype back and not a hybrid. This includes under bonnet appearance and the whole classic car experience. BUT more importantly you have to consider the safety aspects of installing a high pressure fuel system in an older car. My installation included rigid fuel supply and return lines to the fuel tank and high pressure steel braided flexible lines in the engine bay, but even so I was worried about accidents which would give rise to high pressure fuel being sprayed around the engine bay. Having looked at others installation where the total high pressure supply and return including swirl pot is in the engine bay using just high pressure rubber pipe leaves me very nervous! As a minimum some safety features should be added like a auto fuel cut of system on impact. In my experience/observations we chase these improvements not necessarily for the perceived/advertised gains but simply because its a ‘project’ and gives us something to do. My new mantra for these types of question has become…‘what problem are you trying to fix’ ?
Just my very humble opinion.
Best regards
Phil D.
No yelling, from this troop: EDIS makes perfect sense: tossing a well-adjusted SU setup really doesnt.
Phil speaks for me as well, I do it as a project, my car was only a couple of years old and I saw a Tecalemit/Jackson mechanical injection system for sale with a V8 manifold and an Etype manifold complete with high pressure pump, engine driven pump, various pressure control devices, swirl pot etc, all inside a tea chest with no instructions…I did get it to run pretty good…on occasion !!! but, then used the manifold for three Webers, {in those days they were £50.00 each!! after a few years of wresting with these, back to the SUs, what a wise move !! But as you say, the Edis is the one thing which made an immediate noticeable improvement to the running, my previous carburation experiments were impediments !!!