am very tempted to try diy bike throttle bodies onto an xe engine for a locost. i am currently rebuilding my xe and need fuelling parts soon.
i can get hold of blackbird t/b's for £100 and have seen a megasquirt ecu (fully built) on e-bay in the usa for 270 dollars (£144.31)
why are blackbird t/b's best for the xe?
the megasquirt seller says I will be happy to load the MSnS-Extra firmware to allow full ignition control of distributor based or EDIS
distributorless ignition. Just email me when you order to let me know you'd like the MSnS-Extra Firmware loaded. - whats this about???
-thought megasquirt just did fuel.
he also offers a relay board (90 dollars with ecu) and a stimulator (75 dollars with or without ecu). will i need these?
how hard is it to set up being a fueling set-up virgin???
apart from a custom manifold, what other items will i need???
anyone have any pics of an xe with blackbird t/b's??
sorry about all the q's but am really eager to get the parts ordered and start building.
http://www.glensgarage.com/
or, for a UK supplier, find Bill Shurvington on the megasquirt forums
i've got the throttle bodies and intend fitting them to my xflow ...... at some point!
Good luck and keep me posted (so i can steal ideas)
Blackbird ones are not necessarily the "best" available, but they are available, have injectors which will flow plenty enough fuel, and are
easy to separate and re-space to suit the port centres on your engine.
I bought the Blackbird bodies that MikeR now has, originally to use on my XE, but then a mate was selling a full MBE/Jenvey system cheap (well, £650
but that was ECU, loom, linkages, TB's, Filter, etc etc) so bought that and sold the bike bodies to Mike.
I have seen a pic of an xe on blackbird bodies, there was a pic on migweb, but either i can't find it or its gone now
Megasquirt (MS) will do fuel only.
Megasquirt n Spark Extra (MSnSE) will work fuel and various types of ignition system. It's a modified MS.
Look here http://megasquirt.sourceforge.net/extra/
for a description of MSnSE.
Basically it's a reprogram of the main chip and just a couple of soldering mods to a MS.
quote:
Originally posted by ned
I have seen a pic of an xe on blackbird bodies, there was a pic on migweb, but either i can't find it or its gone now
have seen a few articles on the net and they go on about the angle which the t/b's are meant to sit on the manifold. does anyone know what angle
blackbird t/b's should sit at?
i have also seen a mk1 golf on gsx-r t/b's on the link below. some good photo's for other people interested.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=942528&page=1
someone must have info of installing blackbird bodies onto an xe.
decided to order the bodies so they wil be with me in the week.
what about the angle which the t/b's must be mounted. i read on another site that most bike t/b's must be mounted at an angle but can't
find the site again! think it was 24 degrees for gsx-r bodies???
ANY info would be much appreciated!
Hi Matt
Are you sure bike TB's have to be mounted at an angle? I no bike carbs do
Adrian
thats where i might be getting confused!
i would make sence that carbs would need to be at an angle cos of the float bowl.
It shouldn't matter with TBs. Bikes end up at all angles anyway! 
Matt,
Please let me know if they fit as I'm wanting to fit TB's to an xe soon! 
Cheers
Angle is irrelevant for throttle bodies, don't worry about it, it's only carbs where you have a float chamber where that is relevant!
Northy, it's not really a case of them fitting so much as you making them fit! certainly Blackbird bodies can be made to fit an XE, as long as
you can get ally welding done. I chopped down a standard XE inlet manifold (as in the injection one from an Astra) to leave a 2" approx stub
sticking out from the manifolde flange (i.e. as long a stub as I could get that was still dead straight. I then milled the stubs so they were parallel
to the flange and all equal. Then got some 2" by 1/4" wall ally tube, cut into lengths, tapered out on the lathe to give the right id's
and od's, and then ovalled one end by squashing it in a vice so it fitted the machined down manifold.
You then need to tig the adaptors you have made onto the manifold (or techno-weld them on with a blowtorch) and fit the bodies to them using short
stubs of appropriately sized samco silicone hose. The blackbird bodies come apart into pairs, so you need to angle the adaptors slightly to get the
spacing right, and space out the two pairs of bodies. If you use GSXR 750 bodies, these come apart into individual bodies, on a long piece of
allthread, which you can then make spacers for to get the port spacing right.
In both cases the throttle pot, injectors etc are attached so no probs there as long as you can map the range and intervals for the throttle pot on
whatever ECU you are using ( I am using MBE, and you can on this, and I know you can on Emerald and DTA as well)
Hope that helps
Cheers
Nat
The main reason on an xe that you'd want to angle the bodies is to get a nice straight flow directly into the head, like the direct to head
bodies from qed and the like at much more mullah..
Ned.
Here you go lads....
Cheers
G