Official Upgrade from K-Jet to L-Jetronic Thread

[Josh S]

JUST KIDDING!!!!

[Bill Robertson]

Bound to be an improvement over Megasquirt.

Bill.

[Josh S]

I actually know a few Porsche and BMW guys, and they've told me that this is quite a common 'upgrade' for their cars that had OEM K-Jet installations. I'm surprised that it's not more common for DeLorean owners to attempt.

Does anyone know of anyone who's attempted such a conversion on their DeLorean, or is actually running one?

Curious...

[Bill Robertson]

To the best of my knowledge there is not a single L-Jet DeLorean, even amongst owners who have installed Chrysler 3.0's. They all claim there's no way to reuse the flywheel sensor (yet they all rig up missing tooth sensors at the other end of the crankshaft...).

For whatever reason, Megasquirters reinvent the wheel every single time. With the exception on Shannon Birdwell and Ian Yanagisawa, no two installations are alike (and if you read Owen Malbeck's postings on the Megasquirt forum, even those two were hardly plug & play). The necessity to specify all sorts of ECU parameters is touted as Megasquirt's greatest strength, but from my perspective it looks like a weakness -- certainly to an owner who just wants his or her car to run right.

I'm not ragging on Megasquirt per se, just the inherent necessity, given the current state of engineering, for an owner to spend months & months getting the installation to work right. Nearly every single owner I have helped convert to carburetion wanted a fuel delivery system they could drop in and start using right away. L-Jet transferred with its 3.0 donor should do just that (L-Jet adapted to a 2.8 would of course require some hardware adaptations).

If somebody would just figure out a way to reuse the flywheel sensor, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, a 3.0 L-Jet installation whould definitely be plug & play -- just drop in everything straight from the donor car, including the donor ECU. Seems a much more practical route than what Megasquirters have historically done.

Matt Spittle (a 3.0 Megasquirter himself) is of the opinion that Megasquirt will never be plug & play. I trust his judgement, especially in light of all the problems every other Megasquirter has had.

Chrysler did not spend months & months getting each 3.0 installation to run right (nor did Volvo with its B280 L-Jets). They dropped in engines rapid fire on the assembly line, then drove functional cars off the other end.

Bill.

[Josh S]

That's interesting stuff Bill.

Over the next couple years, I originally planned on building a twin-turbo 3.0L performance engine to drop into #1798. I originally wanted to use the Citroen/Peugeot 24V heads.

However, I'm currently holding off acquiring any parts to see the new upcoming performance engine options from DPI, as they sound very promising.

[Bill Robertson]

At one time Farrar wanted to install an L-Jetted 3.0 with the original flywheel sensor intact. As long as his UN-1 torque converter can be bolted up to a 3.0 flex plate, I don't see why it wouldn't work (in this instance adapting an automatic transmission would definitely be easier than adapting a manual). To my knowledge Farrar would be the first.

Bill.

[Farrar Hudkins]

I still would like to do that, and probably will when I have the money, time, and skill to do it myself. By that time, though, I probably won't be the first.

I eyeballed the flexplate and it looks excactly the same to me. That's what gave me the idea that it would be easier than a swap on a manual. But just wait -- someone on DMCTalk will do it and proclaim that the flexplate is the same, and get all the credit for the discovery. LOL

Farrar

[Josh S]

Don't worry Farrar, we'll give you the credit!

I was planning on doing something similar, only on a manual trans and with a heavily modified 3.0L platform. But I've only been toying with the idea for the last year or so.