EB: CFI to MPFI - doable?

[Anonymous]

Me again with more annoying questions

I took my car down to the mechanics (Bob Gear's at Virginia, good blokes who've done well by us in the past) for some advice and I mentioned down there how sweet it would be if I'd had a series II with the MPFI. They told me that another one of their clients had left them a 1990 Fairlane to wreck and that it had the MPFI gear on it and that it might be a simple of matter of just bolting it on.

So I'm wondering: is it doable? They seemed to think (they weren't 100% sure) all I'd need was the wiring loom, the ECU and the MPFI rail (bit that sticks on the intake manifold - did I get that right?). Is that about right? If so, what sort of offer should I make the guy who owns it?

I've got a couple of options: I could just make an offer for those bits of gear (I'd also like his MAP and O2 sensors as my car is sucking down more fuel than it should). Or, I could make him an offer for what's left of the engine (lots of bits missing, but the "big lump of metal" is still there and intact; it's got the black rocker cover) and just dump it in my car (it had been completely revamped two days before someone drove into it). Or, I could make an offer for the whole wreck, which includes a 2 day old transmission (they were a bit bitter about that, apparently the supplier offered em 20% of the original purchase price for it so they told him to go get stuffed) - but then I'd have to dispose of the carcass once I was done.

As usual, any and all advice is deeply appreciated. Insults too, as long as they're good and I get to use em elsewhere

 

[TCSTEVE]

Get the whole head,manifolds,ecu and fuel gear and shave the head, run it on PULP and drop it on your bottom end.
As long as your happy with your bottom end it would be the easiest and cheapest way. Steve

 

[addo]

Can I try an insult please?

(As you can see, they're not really my nature...)

"Nice idea, but it really needs a better car and more planning."

More seriously - could you get the whole car at the right price, and find the time and space to swap/juggle? How thorough was the donor car's "revamp"? Also you say a lot of bolt-ons are missing. What's the possumbillytea that quite some of them are going to be things you need; stuff that deteriorates? In other words, not quite the money-saver it first looks?

I'm tending to cynical because I've only ever got good value on stuff like that from mechanics when they know they've screwed me around. Usually the best deals pop up through networks we all develop!

Cheers, Adam.

 

[Anonymous]

"Nice idea, but it really needs a better car and more planning."

You're absolutely right I actually went in there because I've been having a little trouble with my oil pump, and I'm nowhere near able enough to fix it myself

They actually made the same suggestion: buy the whole thing, cart it back to my lair, and just transplant the goodies. But my lair is either home (my car has to live on the front lawn and there's just no room for a wreck or working on it) or work (where I've got a little space I can do work, but certainly nowhere I can leave a wreck). And I'm horribly skill deficient when it comes to cars.

They're pretty good mechanics; as a tech I respect the way they work and they've always done a good job - hell, they let me hang around for over an hour the other day while they poked and prodded and tried to help me figure out what issues my car has and wouldn't take any money at the end of it. And two of the guys there are rabid ford nuts - the apprentice was scalping parts off an AU block that had never seen an oil change, but did have a hole out the bottom where the conrod has managed to burst its way out. Crying shame, I tells ya. I may not understand the work they do yet, but I do recognise the way they work and I respect it - it's pretty much the same way I work

As for the thoroughness - the stroy behind the car is thus: Apparently one of their clients bought the fairlane for his cleaner so she could get to and from work easier. They spent about a week making it a thing of beauty - by all accounts, it was pretty shmick. Second day out the woman driving it managed to crash it, buggering up the front left side. They were all pretty upset by that because they'd put a lot of work into making it good. Other machanics, I'd take that all with a grain of salt. But these guys seem to be well and truly on the level, and we've been taking the missus's 86 corona there for years and they've always done a good job.

I wish i could remember which bits have already been scalped. I know the air filter and the bits attached to it weren't there; I suspect other systems were gone too. however, the actual engine bit is intact, and if they say it's in better shape than the one I've currently got (which isn't that bad, considering it wasn't cared for) I'll believe em.

My main problem is cash.. I'd love to say to them "give the guy this much cash and tell me how much you want for labour" and be done with it, and use the leftovers to learn on - I need to take an engine apart and attempt to reassemble it so I can figure out the details of the inner workings. But not knowing how much I should be offering while being keenly aware of just how much cash I don't have is slowing me down. They're willing to let me open an account and pay the labour side off as and when I can, but the car isn't theirs so I'd have to plonk down cash upfront.

Hence my dilemma

Steve: I'm assuming bottom end is the bit where my flakey oil pump and slightly leaky rear main seal are? I'm not ecstatic with it, but that bit all seems good enough. Changed the oil coupla weeks ago (so proud of myself for not cocking it up; yeah, I know, but I'm an utter newb) and it's still moderately clean and all seems pretty good so I'm not unhappy with it, but swapping the whole lot out might prove easier than swapping over the top end and then trying to fix the oil pump etc.

Anyways, I hate coming up with numbers.. I might give the mechanics a call and see if the owner has a figure in mind and take it from there.

Tanks as usual for the quick and helpful replies guys