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Tbi


The_Dealer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2010
Messages
1,543
City
Macon, GA
Vehicle Year
1985
Transmission
Automatic
what needs to be done as far as wiring? also can the fuel pickup in the tank be adapted to braided fuel line(earls, trickflow, etc.)? also what are people doing for the fuel pump block off plate? will a sbf one work? i can pick up everything i need besides the fuel stuff for about 80 bux, and im thinking about doing it. im durasparked now, but luckily i kept the tfi disty. just trying to figure out what needs to be wired up to make it run. i also have my egr valve an just made a plate between it and the manifold to block it off. but i have none of my smog stuff. will it make it run funny? searched but didnt really find much
 
Well heres my TBI swap I did to my truck and my dads old truck. Later we both went to duraspark due to we didnt have tim to try to fine tune the set-up. I have both TBI systems sitting a box in the garage. I took mine off due to had fuel issues (starving and cut out over bumps for some reason) turns out that one of my two pumps that I had (in tank) quit work and was causing the problem.

My TBI swap

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56495

And my dads. This one has more details to how we hooked it up and what wires to hook up.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78641

We were running the factory pressure and whatnot but remeber this sytem was made for a 3.8 not a 2.8 hince the over fueling. But what can be done is you run a 2.9 computer and wiring to the TBI unit along with some other 2.9 sensors and what not, and Im told that works better. Hook the 6 injector wires form the 2.9 to the two on the TBI (the 2.9 is a batch fire set-up) allowing this to work like it should. The 3.8 has a longer injector pulse meaning they open more when opening and closing and at full open spray. With the 2.9, this is reduced.

Hope this helps you out a bit.
 
so which cyl's injectors would u wire to which injector, or would it matter? i saw that on broncoii.org under their efi write up. that would be even easier i have a guy down the street with a 2.9 ranger he's parting out. would the 2.9 wiring be basically the same way? ive read the tfi is the same plug for both and no rewiring there. so is it basically wiring the same wires as doing the duraspark on an 85? i like the d-spark but i want a little better fuel mileage, and i dont see swpping in a diff motor right now as my 2.8 is running great. also i like the ability to crank and go and not have to wait on it to warm up. i have the 2.9 and 2.8 engine schematics somewhere around here
 
also what did u do about the air bypass valve and which vehicle did it come off of? why not just leave it mounted to the 3.8 tbi? so i use a 2.9 egr valve and i can tie it into the old AIR port?
 
The injectors on the 3.8 and 2.9 are both batch fire set-ups meaning they are all wired together. What I read was three were hooked to one injector and the other three were hooked to the other. Yoyu will have to run an EGR for the 2.9 and the sensors from it too. As for the air by pass pump thing, I didnt run it seeing that the 2.9 didnt have it (from what I remember) but if the 2.9 has it then run it.

My only thing was fuel, I didnt have time to get fine tune and reduce what the engine got but had a few plans on if I did run the 3.8 setup how to reduce it (that is if I was still using it).

The only wires that were splicd into the 3.8 harness from the rangers were the three that go to the TFI moduel on the dizzy that came out of the driverside firewall. The other three were from the 3.8 harness to the computer (the three ranger ones were just T'ed into the three on the 3.8 harness) and all colored wires going to there respective colored wires since they all matched.

As for fuel pump, that is up to you how you want to run it. They say to keep it at ford factory 44psi. With the 3.8 that was giving to much fuel but thats propbably just to how the system was setup for injector pulsing and fueling.

When I ran mine, I didnt run any of the emissions stuff but the O2 sensor and then I think I didnt have it hooked up right since the 3.8 has two O2 senosrs that had i think 2 wires each so that may have caused a few problems too and the ranger only runs one with one wire.

I will say that it started right up everytime, had nice power ecept whn you got on it hard du to it over fueled the engine making it sluggish and blow out black smoke (looked like a diesel sometimes). I also had a high idle hangging problem too since my 3.8 setup came from an auto tranny and what happened there was after reving up or letting off the gas it would hanmg around 2000rpm anywhre from 2-12 seconds but my fix was using the throttle accutaor thing. I just unplugged it and used the adjusting screw for it to set my idle to 800rpm and left it unpluggd or my prioblem would rturen and it would try to set the idle elsewhere. But if you find a manuakl tranny setup for a 3.8 it might be better or if you have an auto tranny it may work out in your favor. Try to find the set-up from the same tranny type that you have, 2.9 might be easier to find in what you are looking for and I dont know how an auto computer from a 2.9 will act with a manual tranny.

The worse that can happen, you will return to the Duraspark set-up or if you dont wire stuff carfully, short something out on the fuel injection systm but careful wiring will help avoid that.

Sorry to be long winded but this is my experiance (and lack of) with bot the set-ups.
 
I think I'm gonna try it with the 2.9 stuff. The write up I read didn't go into much detail about the wiring, but it doesn't seem like it will be that bad. Also ssaid fuel pressure should be 39 psi. I think I'm gonna try to adapt my stock fuel pickup to braided line and use the factoey as a return
 
Has anybody tried using GM stuff?

I know they make kits to convert V-8's to GM TBI which seem pretty straightforward, but I think the GM 2.8's were TBI as well. They be closer (darn near exact according my calculations) displacement-wise to the Ford 2.8 than 3.8 stuff.

Just a thought anyway. :icon_idea:
 
i emailed affordablefuelinjection.com awhile back and they had everything i needed besides the fuel lines to run a gm tbi on the 2.8, come with the tbody as well, all wiring and computer...btw it was $1100
 
i emailed affordablefuelinjection.com they had everything i needed for $1100

yeah affordable fuel injection is anything but. you could buy a holley projection 2 barrel kit that would even have a tuneable computer and adjustable pressure regulator for less than that. in fact you can find those kits used all over for like $300-$400
 
wouldnt they be too big for a 2.8? ill prolly thow a setup together, i can get everything i need for like 80-100 bux so its alot better then 3 or 400
 
the computer is tuneable to +/- 25% of small block mode and +/- 25% in big block mode, and the injectors function as low as 8psi

not to mention those kits are only rated up to 230hp anyway. all of that added together i think it would be perfect for a 2.8
 
i emailed affordablefuelinjection.com awhile back and they had everything i needed besides the fuel lines to run a gm tbi on the 2.8, come with the tbody as well, all wiring and computer...btw it was $1100

There had been grumblings around about putting together your own system too.

S-10's are cheap and common for donars.
 
I also did research way back on the GM 2.8. Its TBI is a 3 bolt to that manifold and an adaptor plate would have to be made for it to fit. Now as far a pressure wise, less isnt always better unlss your injectors can make a fine enough spray at that pressure. Another thing is hooking the GM stuff up to a Ford TFI dizzy and it telling the GM computer when to open/close the injectors and when to do a constant spray. Plus another thing is timing too, the computer controls that also and Im not sure which dirrection the GM 2.8 dizzy turns compaired to the ford 2.8 and if that would effect anything. But hooking just the TBI unit from a GM to a Ford and running a 3.8 harness could work to or just go wit the 2.9 wiring. One way or the other both could work A little research on that may answer alot of questions.

I did my swap for about $100 IIRC since I already had the fuel system in my truck for it all.
 
does any body make prebent fuel lines for a 2.9 b2? ive looked but couldnt find any. would rather not skimp on used, but i was thinking that if i couldnt find any ill use braided
 

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