On an impulse I bought an Audi R8 intake manifold from eBay. The price was too tempting. Unfortunately I hadn’t done my homework because the R8 has the FSI engine so the intake doesn’t have injector ports. Also the mounting holes are off very slightly and the ports sizes are different. Interesting that the R8 actually has smaller intake ports than the ARS 40v engine.

So the stock variable length manifold is back on the engine and I’m routing the fuel injection wires. I decided to mount the fuel injection ECU inside the passenger compartment to the rear firewall. The ECU will be mounted to a plate which also contains a small fuse and relay block plus some power distribution strips. I had a metal supplier cut the mounting plate to my dimensions and it’s in the mail. On the inlet side I’m using a Mustang intake, throttle body and MAF meter. Every fuel injection device, i.e. MAF meter, has a sensor and every OEM sensor requires an pigtail because it has a special connector. My fingers are crossed that I ordered everything I need.

Replacing the drive by wire throttle body was challenging because space is tight on the intake manifold. The throttle linkage was hitting the manifold and the TPS interfered with a coolant pipe. The Mustang TB bolt pattern is different from the Audi. I resolved those issues although not to what I’d call ‘production’ standards. The TB has a spacer, so an extra gasket, and I removed a section of the original coolant pipe which goes to the heater core and expansion tank. I used a section of flexible hose to extend the shortened coolant pipe.

The fuel injection harness has almost 100 wires. Fortunately many of those wires are common and I can splice them together and hide the splice in the harness. Every injector and coil pack has a switched +12v lead. Every injector and coil pack has either an ECU ground or chassis ground (or both). All sensors use a common ECU ground. Etc.

Ski season is ending soon and I will have more time on weekends to work on the Lancia.