I did not search this so if its been done before.... My first and only upgrade for the Dino was, an optical pick up, electroninc ignition system that I have been using that since 76. Lately been thinking about Fuel injection and I know there are some nice options for that. It seems to me that, apart from driveability improvements, those two items should bring power up a little, no way to be sure but 5% maybe 10%. Not sure the effect on tourque. Any thoughts. What gives the most bang for the buck in enhancing Dino drive and power?
A dear friend of mine, now deceased, held the patent on Garrett Air Research Turbo chargers, used in GM cars for many years. The turbo was initially designed for war time aircraft (Second War). He installed one of these turbos on his Dino. Did not change compression, but added "vodka" injection (more on this later). The turbo was in the rear luggage area (trunk), along with the "vodka" injection container. When I first saw the setup, I asked him about the compression ratio and pre-ignition. He replied that he had a water injection system to mitigate pre-ignition, but I watched him fill the tank from a Vodka bottle. Further inquiry led to the discussion of the advantages of Vodka over water...better thermal cooling, added power, etc. When I asked him what brand he used, he replied that he purchased the cheapest on the shelf, and that it didn't matter as all Vodkas were the same. He used approximately a quart of Vodka per tank, and the Vodka cost (at the time) around 10 dollars. His son use to work in a bottling factory in Los Angeles. They would receive 55 gallon stainless steel drums of Vodka, and set the drum up on the bottling line. They would then run bottles through the system and fill them. The interesting discovery, for me, was that various brands of Vodka were filled from the same barrels. Vodka, unlike Scotch, Bourbon, Whiskey, etc., is not aged in wooden vats, and I guess that Vodka is Vodka is Vodka. Modern Vodkas add flavoring to differentiate themselves, but 30 years ago this was not the case. Anyway, if you want more power, buy a Volkswagen Jetta Turbo Diesel. Forty-five mpg, gobs of torque, and a civilized car. Don't try to tease more out of a Dino. Just enjoy the car as it was meant to be (in my opinion). Jim S.
The best bang for your buck would be to take every dollar you would spend on making the Dino faster and combine it with the value you will take away from the car by modifying it. That amount should easily be enough to by a Corvette that will outperform the Dino no matter what you do to it. Leave it alone there is just nowhere near a cost / benefit value to messing around with the car.
One of the awesome things about the Dino is the sound of those webers sucking air as you punch the throttle, you will lose that sound with fuel injection. I would not do it for that reason, its one of the best things about driving the car.
Higher compression pistons and careful tuning will gain you some real HP. In my US spec car, after putting in fresh pistons from Superformance tuning it well and upgrading the electronic ignition with the Dinoplex "look alike" from them too, produced 178 RWHP or about 200 crank HP. The stock US spec was 175HP at the crank, so that produced a very satisfactory result. Any external changes like fuel injection or the like are just gonna bugger up the look of the car, at least in my opinion. DM
You are all right of course. For me it isn't just about performance. It's about driveability also Those of you who use the cars in earnest know that on fast left handers the engine will stall, starved of fuel. Not a big deal in local driving, but on some roads that can leave you cold. In hot areas you'll get vapor lock. Points bounce and bad starting disappeared with optical pickups to replace the points. With more available real world power. I understand the thing with the noise of the carbs, That's true accelerating around on medium speed stuff, on a run, however that sound is behind you and gone. For me its the aircraft landing sound on the overrun slowdown that says Dino more than anything else. High com pistons, cam profiles exhausts and such may effect driveabiliy. Ignition, injection and intake mods seem to me to improve breathing and ignition without internal modifications. If the times comes to take them off its seems to me that the carbs, air filter and points can go back in. Jim i have a vdub passat 2t, not much in the tourque dept but its' quick. Still it don't do much for me. The Alfa is a different animal V6, 24 valve injected and coil on plug ignition. A beautiful engine that still manages to make the right sounds. Dietrich was all business but La Lollo was something else..sorry can't think of a moder day equivalent. In the end, if I had the money I would inject the Dino just to see if really would improve the breed. As it is just getting it to fire up will have to do. Thank you for your input
I don't think you will get a lot (if any) more power and torque converting to EFI. A good upgrade that can bring up ~5% more power and torque is to install a mapped ignition such as a Megajolt setup or the simpler BSMpdi, check the airflow and maybe go for the next bigger size of jets in the carbs.
Thanks for the input, it surprises me that an EFI (map) together with an ignition map would not produce more power.
If your engine receives a good air/fuel mix, then it does not make such a big difference for delivering maximum power if it came from carbs or an EFI system. Carbs are not ideal for delivering a linear stoichiometric fuel mix over the full RPM range with changing air temperatur and density, but that does not make a huge difference for the power peak. I would guess you see less than 5% increase at the power peak on a rolling road. An EFI system is excellent to optimize fuel economy and react to different air density/air mass and engine load scenarios though. Creating an EFI fuel injection map is a highly complex and time consuming task, and considering the amount of work for the conversion itself you do not really look at the most bang for the buck here A Megajolt mapped 3D ignition can be sourced below $500, add 1-2 days of installation and one to two trips to the rolling road and you should have quite a cost effective package.
