Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

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limnet
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Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by limnet »

Hello everyone! I decided to finally create a topic about a project me and my brother have been planning for a while. The car is a 1975 Fiat 128 CL, 1.1cc, 4 door saloon. The idea is to swap that engine for a Mk1 Fiat Uno 1.3cc Turbo i.e. and replace the two ECU's of that engine with a microrusEFI.

We are from Porto, Portugal. Both of us are programmers with little to no experience in electronics but with a reasonable experience in automotive repair because is a family business. In terms of electronics we just have basic tools (soldering iron and multi-meter) and components that we use for some basic IoT projects. The idea is to buy a microrusEFI kit with pigtail and progress from there, replacing the two ECU's from the Uno engine. We will try not bothering you with basic questions, there's a lot to learn about from our side. :D

Some photos of the car and engine.
Fiat1.jpg
Fiat1.jpg (380.39 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
Fiat2.jpg
Fiat2.jpg (310.05 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
unoTurboEngine.jpg
unoTurboEngine.jpg (480.49 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
The project is in a very early stage, the original motor is still in place but we had already bought the Uno engine and some other chassis parts (brakes, front subframe, etc) to transplant. The Uno engine rotates nicely and looks good from the outside but we still have to open it and check the interior.

About the two original ECU's:
  • Magnetic Marelli Microplex for ignition control. In the Uno Haynes manual I could read that it uses two VR sensors to read a two teeth pulley in the crank and another in the cam for synchronization. Picture of the ECU
    Microplex.jpg
    Microplex.jpg (375.35 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
    and an interface diagram
    MicroPlexDiagram.png
    MicroPlexDiagram.png (157.69 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
    .
  • Bosch LE2-JETRONIC for fuel control. I still have to read about this ECU but could find some details about it in the Haynes manual as well. Picture of the ECU
    BoschLE2.jpg
    BoschLE2.jpg (445.12 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
    and pinout
    Bosch LE2 Interface.PNG
    Bosch LE2 Interface.PNG (159.84 KiB) Viewed 6787 times
    .
We would like to fit new injectors for more flow and use coils for the spark plugs. We don't know if these objectives should be taken into account from the early stage or not.

To finish we thank you in advance for your time and support, especially to the creators and contributors of this project.
Last edited by limnet on Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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AndreyB
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Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by AndreyB »

Welcome!
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limnet
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:08 pm

Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by limnet »

Thank you Andrey!

I've been collecting some information about both ECU's pinout and decided to build a spreadsheet to keep some information at hand. Also to later map the pins to microrusEFI. Suggestions on this are welcome. :)
Uno Turbo 1300cc microrusEFI Pinout.xlsx
(10.7 KiB) Downloaded 221 times
Some notes to keep at hand.
  1. The MAP sensor is part of the Microplex ECU. There is a vacuum tube routed into the ECU. I still have to check if it could be used with the microrusEFI.
  2. There is no throttle position sensor. The Bosch ECU uses a switch with 3 pins to tell if the accelerator is closed or open. Will a TPS be necessary?
  3. There is an airflow meter from Bosch which tells the amount of air and air temperature. The amount of air is converted from a potentiometer attached to a floating plate, check picture below. How can this signal be converted to use with the microrusEFI?
  4. All 4 injectors (high Z) are connected to 1 pin of the Bosch ECU. Not sure if the ECU provides Gnd or Vcc. Can the original injectors be driven from the microrusEFI individually?
Airflow Meter.PNG
Airflow Meter.PNG (63.59 KiB) Viewed 6722 times
mck1117
running engine in first post
running engine in first post
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Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by mck1117 »

:twisted:
limnet wrote:
Wed Aug 12, 2020 11:09 pm

Some notes to keep at hand.
  1. The MAP sensor is part of the Microplex ECU. There is a vacuum tube routed into the ECU. I still have to check if it could be used with the microrusEFI.
  2. There is no throttle position sensor. The Bosch ECU uses a switch with 3 pins to tell if the accelerator is closed or open. Will a TPS be necessary?
  3. There is an airflow meter from Bosch which tells the amount of air and air temperature. The amount of air is converted from a potentiometer attached to a floating plate, check picture below. How can this signal be converted to use with the microrusEFI?
  4. All 4 injectors (high Z) are connected to 1 pin of the Bosch ECU. Not sure if the ECU provides Gnd or Vcc. Can the original injectors be driven from the microrusEFI individually?

1. The microrusefi doesn't have an internal MAP sensor, so you'll need to fit one externally.
2. A TPS isn't strictly required for rusEfi. I ran my car without one for a while without issue.
3. If you have a MAP sensor, you don't really need the airflow meter. You could wire it and use it, but MAP is a bit easier to use and tune.
4. If you're already building a new wiring harness for it (or significantly modifying the existing one), then yes, I'd wire one wire per injector. That's the recommended setup with microRusefi, as it's a bit marginal to run more than one injector per channel.
limnet
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:08 pm

Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by limnet »

Thank you for the insights!

I can try to salvage the Microplex ECU MAP sensor. But I'm not sure if that is possible to use because I don't know the sensor output curve. Will check the different algorithms and try to figure out a good solution for my case.
limnet
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Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by limnet »

Old engine out, finally!
IMG_20200829_154101.jpg
IMG_20200829_154101.jpg (3.15 MiB) Viewed 6125 times
Now to open the turbo engine and check the internals. Probably also a good time to install the simulator and get used to thw tools.
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AndreyB
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Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by AndreyB »

MAP sensors are usually linear so very easy to make your own curve.
Very limited telepathic abilities - please post logs & tunes where appropriate - http://rusefi.com/s/questions

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stayros32001
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Re: Project Fiat 128 1.1 CL swap to microrusEFIe'd Uno Turbo i.e. Mk1

Post by stayros32001 »

Really curious about this project!

Did you finish the car?

My car's success story was based in this detailed topic.
I learned about Rusefi, by googling EFI + fiat 128!
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