Does the brand of fuel injector matter?

[Healeyalt]

I'm planning on replacing all my fuel injectors on my 76. I see the price for new injectors ranges from about $45 each for BWD brand at Advanced Auto to over $80 each for some brands. I've used Echlin products on my other vehicles over the years and I see NAPA has Echlin injectors for the Z for about $65 each.

Anyway, is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the BWD (Borg Worner) injectors vs paying a lot more for other brands?

BW usually makes good products, although may be not as good as Echlin.

And I'd rather stay away from rebuilt or remanufactured ones and the core charge.

Thanks

Gary

[FastWoman]

The advice I got from a Z specialist was to stay away from the refurbished ones and go with new. He said it didn't really matter which new ones I selected, so I bought cheap ($155/set Standard Ignition off of ebay). They've worked fine so far (nearly 2 years as my daily driver).

[Healeyalt]

Wow, that's just a little over $25 an injector and they work fine. Thats good to know. I see right now on ebay there is a set (new) for around $165 and even a set (new) with connectors for $150. Thats a good savings. Thank you.

[Darrel]

I can only speak for my experience with my '82zx turbo. I went with napa new injectors for turbo. It ran very lean. Then i went with new nissan injectors. It ran perfectly using new nissan injectors.

Obviously YMMV.

[siteunseen]

I bought 6 FJ707T Standard Ignitions from rockauto for $163. They have a long hose with a cheap clamp but do come with both rubber seals, the big one and the small one. Still sitting on a shelf so I'm talking out of my butt. No expirence with the performance but they're nice looking. Smiley face jumping up and down.

[FastWoman]

Healey, in all honesty, I forgot to mention that I still had fuel/air ratio issues I was dealing with when I overhauled the EFI. The engine didn't run much differently between the old configuration and the new, so I concluded the injectors were injecting roughly the same. I ultimately richened the mixture by lengthening the base pulse with a modification of the coolant temp sensor resistance. Anyway, these were roughly the same mix:

Before: No major vacuum leaks. One minor leak between the intake and head near the #6. Original (1978?) OEM injectors. All components checked out fine.

After: No vacuum leaks at all. New injectors. Everything cleaned up and pained pretty!

Anyway, I can't promise you that my $25 injectors didn't inject a bit lean or rich. All I can say is that they weren't substantially different from the very old OEM ones.

I *can* tell you that my injectors all flow about the same. I can't see any difference between cylinders in the plug reads. All read normal, now, with a delightful light mocha coloration.

[siteunseen]

I just got the upgraded hex head fuel injector screws from my local Nissan dealer for $0.61 each, times 12, $7.32. Part number 01121-02981. While your at it. They are like these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-Fuel-Injector-Holder-Bolt-Set-280Z-280ZX-1975-1983-NEW-/230791880629?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D310386387693%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8460149209738761374

Edited May 16, 2012 by siteunseen

[Jeff G 78]

About 14 years ago, I sent my plugged injectors in to Marren Fuel Injection for cleaning. They tried to refurbish them, but called to say that they were beyond repair. They informed me that if I wanted, they would sell me a set of flow matched injectors. I can't remember the exact cost, but it was around $60 a piece. I agreed and they said it would be a week to get them in. A week later, they called me and told me that my injectors were ready to ship and that they had a hell of a time with them. They said that they had to order something like 36 injectors to find six within the proper flow range. They said that they couldn't believe how far off spec most of them were. In the end, I paid $360 for a set of injectors, but I know that they are all within spec. BTW, the injectors were made by Ram which is a very common brand.

I'm sure you can find cheap injectors from Ebay or any number of other sources, but unless quality has improved a lot, you might be better off buying them from a real injector supplier that flow matches them prior to shipping.

[FastWoman]

Jeff, usually parts from the same run are very much alike. I remember making very high precision voltage ladders out of +/- 5% resistors (not very precise). Because the part-to-part variability was more on the order of +/- 0.5%, they worked quite well.

This is to say I would be surprised if injectors from the same batch would vary that much from each other. Finding a set of injectors with the right flow rate might be more difficult, though, as you indicate. Dunno...

[siteunseen]

I sure hope that they'll be at least close. Standards are from Greenville, South Carolina. Maybe they flow test every 10,001 or so. That would be a chance to take a smoke break.

[Healeyalt]

The ones I've been thinking of getting from the local advanced Auto store are Borg warner for about $45 each

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Fuel-Injector---MFI-BWD_3462617-P_677_R%7CGRPFUELAMS_____

According to the desription they are flow matched and BW usually does make some pretty good stuff.

[siteunseen]

You can get bunches of on-line coupons from Advanced. I just googled "advance auto coupon codes". The best one I found was $10 off every $25. I bought the stuff off their website then drove to the store and picked it up. Big discounts on-line.