my buddy has a 96 thunderbird that had a little run in with a porta-john being pulled around with a pickup by some drunks. his car got pretty beat up on one side so he found a 97 thunderbird that he might buy for the body parts.

turns out that it is a 6 cyl. i got to thinking about how cheap i could get the entire fuel injection system. does anyone know anything about the fuel injection on fords sixes? how different would the install of that system be from that of the system in the article? is it a sequentially fired system? cost was my main concern about fuel injection but if i can get the majority of the parts cheap it is something that i would like to try eventually.

if anyone has any info on this fuel injection system or have used it as the basis for their fuel injection swap, i would like to hear about it. thanks in advance for any help.

I've never heard of anyone using a Ford system. How about off a Jeep Cherokee straight 6 4.0 liter?

If the Ford used a MAF sensor and a distributor and is batch fired then you might give it a try. I don't think the ECM would work out well with the SL6 if it is a speed density set-up because you will not be able to re-program it. Also a crank trigger would be quite a hassle.
If I were you I would go with a GM MAF, batch fire, transplant or Megasquirt. You might be able to use the Ford throttle body and injectors with Megasquirt.
Bob D

i know the ford system uses a maf but im pretty sure that it does not use a distrubtor. the problem with using this system would be the fact that it was not intended for use with a distributor? is that right? can someone explain what a speed density setup means?

the only reason im thinking about this is because i can get the parts for free. if it wont work, ill stick with my carb.

thanks for the help so far guys.

If it doesn't use a distributor you will have to take the coil packs with it as well and do a DIS. You will also have to mount the cam (or crank) sensor to your slant and modify your intake for the fuel rail and injectors.

Imo I would get the parts if they are free and tinker. If the ford computer doesn't work out rewiring to a GM or megasquirt is a minimal amount of work more (compared to reinstalling a system from scratch). There are megasquirt add-ons that use ford DIS modules.

Remember to grab the wiring harness and pump as well.

so could the ford injectors and throttle body and some of the other parts be used with a gm batch fire style computer? what modifications would have to be made to use coil packs? how much is one of these megasquirt computers? if i can get the majority of the parts together for almost free, i wouldnt mind spending a little more to finish out the project.

i havent had time to study up on fuel injection very much yet. i just found out about the possibility of getting this setup and its finals time so ive been busy. sorry if some of my questions sound pretty ignorant. thanks for the help guys.

This will work. The only thing I am not sure of is the ignition system. The Ford setup uses a MAF. It would be easier to use an earlier Ford computer (EEC - for electronic engine control), something like an 89-93 Mustang EEC. The EEC you have probably works with an electronic trans, so this too would be a minor problem.

With an earlier EEC, all you really need is the MAF, injectors, throttle body, throttle position sensor, engine temp sensor, an ignition module and one or two other things. I'm pretty sure you would be able to use your distributor with the advance locked-out. This EEC is infinitely tunable and you'd probably be able to get your car to run very well. You would need to access a wiring diagram showing all of the EEC wiring and you'd just have to wire it into the car.

Mitch

so if i got an earlier ford computer, it would still work with the maf, throttle body, injectors from the 97 tbird? thanks so far guys and any more info that anyone can give me would be great.

You can't 'just plug it in', but you can reprogram just about any Ford EEC to do anything.

Mitch

this might be a little more than i want to do right now. ill prolly still grab most of the parts that i would need but it sounds like it would be alot tougher than the simpler batch fired fi. i have found that it it sequential and uses the speed density computer. if anyone has any info that might help me be able to complete this swap, id appreciate hearing it.

The stock injectors on that setup would most likely be 14lb or 19lb. These are to small for that turbo setup that you have been talking about. You will need a least 30lb injectors to handle the turbo.