Electrojector Chryslers 1st efi

[Aarons Air]

Interesting Mopar history.

 

[whayden2003]

Love uncle Tonys videos. Yes great info.

 

[Budnicks]

Pretty cool I saw something at Allpar.com about them a while back

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

A little bit more info on the Chrysler EFI system he's talking about in the video.

First off, the original design and prototyping of the Bendix Electrojector system was done by none other than our Mopar hero and Hemi engine developer, Chrysler engineer Tom Hoover. However, Chrysler then had Bendix manufacture the production units for the cars. Heard this directly from the mouth of Mr. Hoover years ago. I worked for Bendix for nearly 30 years and had always believed that Bendix developed the system, but my thinking was "corrected" with that conversation with Tom. Thank you Tom!

Yes, the reliability/driveability issue with the early systems was due to electromagnetic interference, or RFI (radio frequency interference) which was a phenomenon that was not fully understood back in the '50's when the system first came out and electronics were in their infancy. Tony touches on this issue in his video. He also talks about the photo of the EFI system on a Chrysler "show car" with the "perforated chrome covers" at about the 2:00 minute mark of the video. I don't believe this was necessarily a "show car" as he states, I believe it was an early attempt by Chrysler and/or Bendix to deal with the EMI/RFI problem. Those "perforated chrome covers" are really intended to be "EMI shields" or "Faraday cages" in more technical terms to block the electrical interference from affecting critical components of the Injection system. That photo is most likely from a later version of the Electrojector system. Possibly they just chromed the covers to make it more pleasing to the eye. Regardless, the interference problem was eventually figured out and resolved but by that time they had already issued the recall on the system and were retrofitting all the production cars with conventional carburated systems.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Apparently not all the bugs got worked out. When a more modern version of it came out in the 80's it was still riddled with bugs and discontinued.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Apparently not all the bugs got worked out. When a more modern version of it came out in the 80's it was still riddled with bugs and discontinued.

Are you referring to the "Lean Burn" system? If so, that was not EFI but was an early attempt at computer controlled ignition. Yes, it had its problems too.

 

[mopar 3 B]

No not the lean burn system. Lean burn cars had carbs. These cars do not have normal carbs.

 

[Kern Dog]

The 1981 Imperial had some type of early EFI that was troublesome, if I recall correctly.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Had to go look for it. 1981-83 Chrysler Imperial electronic metering fuel system was what it was called. I have only ever seen one of these system.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Had to go look for it. 1981-83 Chrysler Imperial electronic metering fuel system was what it was called. I have only ever seen one of these system.

OK, that explains it. By 81/82 I was tuned out of the Mopar world for about 15 years or more so I never heard about that system. I was so pissed at Chrysler in the eighties for all the pure **** they were peddling (little tin FWD rust buckets) (zero RWD performance cars) that I totally quit on them. Didn't get back into it until about 2000 when I started the restoration on my Super Bee. Didn't buy another new Chrysler product until the new Challenger's came out, mine's a 2009.

 

[mopar 3 B]

What you had no interest in Lee's K cars?

 

[Slap Stick]

Believe it or not the Chrysler fuel injection system was sold to Bosch. When technology caught up it became the long running Bosch Motronic series fuel injection system used on many Euro vehicles such as Volvo.

 

[Billccm]

I read an article several years ago (1990s) that the Chrysler Electrojet was actually related to the Bendix system that was used in aviation (it might have been the defunct morperformance magazine) . Per this particular article Chrysler did a 'cost reduction' from the aviation version by deleting some of robust enclosure and a few redundant components.
A little bit about the capacitors Tony mentioned. Back during those times capacitors were made from paper/oil dielectric and sealed with paraffin wax. The reliability of these capacitors were poor, and I would assume under hood temperatures would melt the wax sealer and these capacitors would go open circuit quickly. I believe the 'brain' was actually a operational amplifier with a pulse width modulator. No capacitance, no pulse width, no fuel.
EMI/RFI could have been a possible issue with this architecture, but I doubt it.
There are a few of us on this forum that restore old radios; usually just replacing the paper/wax capacitors with modern 'orange drop' epoxy dipped capacitors restores to like new operation. These capacitors were the weak link in these types of systems that failed.

 

[Photon440]

I'd read that too, many years ago. The injection system worked pretty well in aircraft flying in dry air, but the car version suffered from deterioration in damp weather. Plastic sealed capacitors would have been better.

The world's only 1958 Mopar factory fuelie in existence: https://www.allpar.com/cars/desoto/electrojector.html

 

[Kern Dog]

By 81/82 I was tuned out of the Mopar world for about 15 years or more so I never heard about that system. I was so pissed at Chrysler in the eighties for all the pure **** they were peddling (little tin FWD rust buckets) (zero RWD performance cars) that I totally quit on them.

I started off a Mopar guy....3 of my first 4 cars were Dodge Darts. I started driving in 1982 and Chrysler was building nothing to excite us REAR wheel drive guys. They had the Police spec Diplomats and Gran Furys, the Imperials and LeBarons but nothing that was fast or sporty. GM still had the Camaro and Firebird. Ford had the Mustang and Thunderbird.

 

[Photon440]

Probably the last gasp by 1980 would have been a Cordoba with the E58 360 option. At least it was a two door starting point to build on.

 

[Billccm]

The 1981 Imperial had some type of early EFI that was troublesome, if I recall correctly.

Yes, MOPAR produced a kit with a new fuel tank, Rochester 4 barrel, two wiring harnesses to swap, and a adapter for the throttle linkage. During those days my neighbor in Loveland, OH, worked at Jake Sweeney Chrysler in Cincinnati as a master mechanic and he would do 'on the side' Imperial conversions from Fuel Injection to Carb. I would help wrench on weekends with these conversions in exchange for him to help me with my Duster.
According to my friend if the owners would use Premium Fuel and swap the fuel filter often the EFI on the Imperials would work just fine. He nicknamed the Imperial EFI 'space shuttle injection' as he thought it was too advanced for the 1980s.
I liked driving those Imperials; they had a bank vault feeling of isolation. No road noise, no road feel, and the 318 was peppy.

 

[Billccm]

Probably the last gasp by 1980 would have been a Cordoba with the E58 360 option. At least it was a two door starting point to build on.

View attachment 883420

I test drove the Mirada version. Was not impressed. Ended up in a ultra low mileage cream puff 318 Duster instead.

 

[mopar 3 B]

I started off a Mopar guy....3 of my first 4 cars were Dodge Darts. I started driving in 1982 and Chrysler was building nothing to excite us REAR wheel drive guys. They had the Police spec Diplomats and Gran Furys, the Imperials and LeBarons but nothing that was fast or sporty. GM still had the Camaro and Firebird. Ford had the Mustang and Thunderbird.

By 82 we had 5 kids and I was in college using up my GI bill and still driving rear wheel drive Chrysler muscle.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

What you had no interest in Lee's K cars?

Not in the least, although the wife and I did look pretty hard at a new Caravan back in those days. But didn't buy it.

Believe it or not the Chrysler fuel injection system was sold to Bosch. When technology caught up it became the long running Bosch Motronic series fuel injection system used on many Euro vehicles such as Volvo.

I believe that. Bendix shut down most all of their automotive business (IIRC it was in the early 90's?) and sold it all off to Bosch, buildings included. This was in South Bend, Indiana. Also sold the proving grounds west of town to Bosch. This was originally the Studebaker proving grounds that Bendix had purchased long ago, then became the Bosch proving grounds. It's still there but I don't know how much activity still goes on there, I know its way down from what it was years ago.

Almost all of the Bendix automotive factory buildings that were sold to Bosch in the 90's are now demolished and gone. Just a big open field now where I once worked every day.