TDIPLC

Hi IanF, Wide band lambda's are primarily used as tool for ecu calibration, with or without a catalytic converter, then removed from the vehicle. The narrow band lambda's as commonly used by most vehicle manufacturers as feedback for the closed loop driving cylce (less that 80% throttle opening). Mark

Gord, that is certainly not the impression that you portray. Thank you for your kind wishes

Gord, I don't think it's polite to bring your ignorance and prejudices into Tony's house. This issue has been dealt with in LOC.

Everything helps in the wim catalogue.... Ever curious i wonder this. Temperature bothers me... the fuel/air mixture set for performance, as i understand would be rich with a very hot combustion, would this encouraged debris in the catalyst? if yes then is there a need to introduce a sports catalyst In reply your choices are (1) Answer to follow (2) Shut up Tony and stick with Geometry Note:- Your number 2 button has been disabled Most of the vehicle manufacturers set the air/fuel ration far too rich under open loop conditions to cool the catalytic converter. This is bad for the environment, economy, performance and engine life so we try and correct this by recibrating the ecu. The downside is shortened cat life expectancy. Most high performance cars have metal cats as standard nowadys, but it is often possible to use a cat with a lower cell density to aid exhaust flow.

The lambda sensor monitors the exhaust gases to analyse the air/fuel ratio under closed loop conditions so that the ecu can make self corrections to ensure that the optimal stoichioemetric conditions of 14.7:1 are maintained. The closed loop cylces are normally the conditions less than 80% full throttle, where A/F of 14.7:1 is generally optimal for economy and drivability. The open look cycles are normally 80% to 100% throttle opening, at which point a richer A/F ratio is required for optimal performance, and is the main area concentrated on for performance considerations. The level of effectiveness of the lambda control varies according to the sophostication of the ECU. Generally speaking, cars up to around 1998 are considerably easier to manipulate the whole of calibration tables, whereas the later the car is the harder it is to manipulate the closed loop cycles. Hope this helps

That's really great to hear of someone pushing the boundaries. Good luck with your project - I hope your expectations are met. One question though; why would you want to end up with the most gay IS in the world?

A "chassis dyno" is a generic term for a machine that applies a load and measures the torque of the engine whilst it is in the car. An "engine dyno" does the same thing but while the engine is out of the car on a test bench. There are quite a few different types of "chassis dyno" but they generally fall into 2 catagories of; 1) Measurement at the wheels (or more accurately described "at the tyres"), and 2) Measurement at the hubs (wheels removed). No chassis dyno can "measure" the flywheel torque or the transmission losses. At best they extrapolate, at worst they "guess" the losses then add that figure to those recorded at the wheels. We have used a "rolling road" (in fact several different brands) chassis dyno in our premises since about 1985 so are well aware of the limitations imposed by this method, which are namely the level of grip afforded by different tyre compounds and the change in the coefficient of friction as the tyre temperature changes constantly, and the change in tyre pressures that occurs proportionally with the tyre temperature. Both of these affect the power/torque recordings. An inexperienced or ignorant "tuner" may be pleased with his tuning results, but be unaware that his results are due to changes in the tyre grip, pressure and temperature, and nothing to do with his endeavours, therefore no improvements have been made and a lot of time and money has been wasted. To avoid this layer aggravation and potential for unhappiness, the way forward is for hub mounted dyno's which completely remove the tyre from the equation and hence provide 100% validatable results time after time. It's a shame that the best hub mounted dyno's are sooooo darned expensive

Good story Tony. Good to see that exceptional service is still appreciated sometimes

which, is all in hand, i have a semi prepared subframe, with said solid aluminum diff mounts Good work Mat

The 'Racer' tricks can you elaborate please..... i remember seeing this topic in LOC but the 1.5 million replies in the development of the Drifty is a little deep for research. One of the "tricks" was used on the Monster. Even though the TRD heavy duty rubber rear diff mounts were employed, there was still far too much torque which was creating excessive movement in the diff. What we did to eleviate this problem (we could have made solid metal bushes to the detriment of user comfort - noise, virabtion and harshness etc) was to manufacture some spacers to compress the rubber bushes and positively locate the centre sleeves. It seems to have worked so far, and lived through a bit of drifting too Very clever.. i wonder though?, since the bushings are in effect shock absorbers, if the absorption is reduced to far could this assume mechanical damage, or rapid wear to the bushings... i understand your example is specific and i only enquire generally. A good point well made. In this particular instance we didn't persieve the need for diff mounts to act as "shock absorbers"- just as "insulators" to reduce noise, vibration and harshness. The more we can reduce the differential movement - the better (without compromising the "road manners"). Job done However, I suspect that the reincarnation of the Monster in the form a Drift Racer could well justify the installation of solid aluminium diff mounts.

The 'Racer' tricks can you elaborate please..... i remember seeing this topic in LOC but the 1.5 million replies in the development of the Drifty is a little deep for research. One of the "tricks" was used on the Monster. Even though the TRD heavy duty rubber rear diff mounts were employed, there was still far too much torque which was creating excessive movement in the diff. What we did to eleviate this problem (we could have made solid metal bushes to the detriment of user comfort - noise, virabtion and harshness etc) was to manufacture some spacers to compress the rubber bushes and positively locate the centre sleeves. It seems to have worked so far, and lived through a bit of drifting too

I have a sneaking personal preference for uprated rubber bushes I know that they do not last as long as poly bushes, but I prefer the "maintenance free" aspect of rubber over the regular lubrication and "squeaking" of poly bushes (for road use anyway).

Sorry I misunerstood you , only the Super Powerflows are available for the mk1 - sorry

Ohh the racing one looks sexy What super duper price would we be talking about Mark to fit an Eunos 1.6 Mk1 na The price is £163.91 Janey . There are 4 in stock. There also some Racing Suction systms available for the later 1.8 model.

Hello, For the month of June, HKS are offereing a 10% discount on the Super Powerflow and Racing Suction induction systems. There are quite a few available for most Japanese cars. Please let me know if you are iterested. Thanks

What is there to be "not sure" about? Sounds like an easy choice to me Yep, the Toyota leads. On the MR2 side there's been far too many reports of magnacor leads being destroyed after a few years where as OEM leads last much better. That's interesting , our experience has been the complete reverse. Toyota plug lead failure is very common on the 3S engine but we haven't seen any Magnacores fail (yet )

No doubt loosening the restrictions of your current incarceration will liberate a freedom of thought and actions, therefore your wisdom and knowledge in the field of geometry will be essential to us.

There's not generally a significant weight difference between 2 and 3 way adjustables. Where weight is an issue, they can be made in aluminium but that is more expensive. The project we are working on at he moment is not Japanese related - it's a high value British car whose owners are generally more quality than cost conscious. The shocks will have to be returned to the manufacturer for revalving. The issue regarding the reservoir will probably vary according to the application, but a separate reservoir is preferable. Regarding the 2 secs per lap, it's exacty the same conditions except for changing the shocks. Exactly When a car is set up using one or two way damping (or no adjustment at all), there is a big compromise as it must be set for adequate performance beween slow and fast reacting damping. If it was optimised for slow reacting damping (which most set ups are) the car is unbalanced when a bump or dip is encountered. Conversely, if it is optimised for fast reacting damping, the car will be unstable under smooth conditions. Imagine a scenario where both conditions can be optimised - thats 3 and 4 way adjustable My chalk is running out now I like this scenario... Weigh plates and 'pull downs' would add an interesting evolution i feel... Has this been explored.. If not can wim assist if only in data analysis furthering development. I suspect that your input would be truly essential Tony

This issue is worthy of a thread on it's own. It's an "education" issue I believe as there is little information in the public domain to help a customer to choose the most appropriate solution, so it's not his fault if he get's tempted or misled into buying the wrong thing. On the other hand, at the lower end of the market there are customers that actively seek the cheapest solution (which normally ends up being the most expensive). Just the last three months alone we have seen customers waste collectively approx £50k on "cheap" products that ended up being replaced. Two of these are still in our workshop and belong to normal guys that can ill afford to waste money - they got tempted by rubbush from the US and Ebay etc etc. Most of the good ecu's allow a 3D graphical print out of the values, but it's fairly meaningless without a validation test of the car on the dyno. To answer the question (sorry to ramble on - just doing my bit for anyone that's interested), yes we do offer vailidation testing but we have to have the whole car, not just a printout. Regarding this issue the question is this; what does a customer expect exactly from an ecu "remap"? Is the answer ; A) Absolute perfection - impossible to improve upon, B)Almost perfect - can be improved with further time/money, C) Better than it was before. D) No better than it was before. If the job is done to a price it's more likely that you will end up with C or D, but you expect A (that's human nature). If you are paying for job to be done and paid for on a "time spent" basis you should expect the result to be A or B as you are not imposing any financial contraints on the firm. If you do not get A or B you have every right to complain. A perfect example is a Skyine we had in recently that had been "remapped" by a faily well known tuner. The ecu had hardly any recalibration done to it, so after validation we were able to make some substantial improvements to the performance by spending some time on recalibration. The funny thing is that the customer didn't realise how bad it was until it was done properly. Another example is a couple of STi Imprezzas we have done this year. Both had been "reflashed" by a Subaru Tuner to run 1.5 bar of boost. We reduced the boost pressure to 1.2 bar, recalibrated the ecu and got another 40hp at the hubs. More power with less boost - that is the true art of tuning. These are important points - I am sure that there are alot of people out there thinking that they have already been "remapped" without realising that it it's quite possible that it can be done better. It's just a point of finding the right person/firm and then taking the time/spending the money

Mapping is more accurately called "calibration" in professional environments. I guess the term "mapping" originated from the process of calibrating the values of the fuel and ignition "maps". I tend to use the word "mapping" only when communicating with the general public as there seems to be a basic understand of the meaning which avoids additional explanation or confusion if I were to use the industry standard nomenclature "calibration". On a very basic level, the idea is to alter the fuel and ignition values to achieve a different priority than the original manufacturer had. For example, a standard ecu is often calibrated to prioritise emmissions, low grade fuel, low exhaust gas temperatures (to extend cat life), and use with standard engine components. People that prioritise performance (and even economy) will need to recalibrate the ecu to achieve these goals. Most ecu's nowadays cannot be "chipped" ie the process of replacing the original fuel and ignition control EPROM with another that has been recalibrated, so that leaves the options of a re-flash (a software download through the diagnostics port to the standard ecu), a piggy back ecu that intercepts the fuel and ignition signals and send them back modified, or a stand alone ecu. What is worth mentioning as it may not be common knowledge is that any ecu, reflash, chip etc etc that has not been calibrated individually on your own car is seriously compromised so it may or may not work. The majority of re-flashes, chips, ecu's etc that are offered contain data that has been optimised for someone elses car so there is no way of knowing whether it will work on your car. When selecting a source for an "ecu upgrade" you would do well to ask if what you are buying is a file downloaded from a library or custom calibrated for your own car. The former is cheaper but could be a waste of money. Assuming that you decide to have a custom calibrated ecu, you then have the decision of which ecu to use and who to choose to do this work for you. A Calibration Technician or "Mapper" is just like a Chef, Carpenter or any other craftsman in as much as the quality of the end result will vary from person to person (or firm to firm). Additionally, some firms offer this service on a fixed price basis which on the surface seems like a good idea, but in reality is often compromised because that firm will be incentivised to prioritise speed of job rather than quality of job. The Dastek Unichip situation is a prime example of this as there a quite a few dealers competing on price so many of them try and do it as cheaply as possible to get the business. I have lost count of the amount of times that we have had cars in that have had a Unichip installed elsewhere, where we have managed to get a fair amount more power just by spending another hour or two on it. Another issue to consider is how much experience the person/firm has with your particular car, as each car likes different fuel and ignition values. I know of several "mappers" that use the same air/fuel ratio for each and every car that they do, which demostrates a lack of knowledge or r&d. The correct choice of ecu is very important and will be based upon your exact requirements, and you need to decide whether you want the ability to calibrate it yourself. I normally advise against this unless you have the appropriate equipment and skills (I could buy myself a scalpel and a surgeons mask but that won't make me a brain surgeon). There is a huge difference in features and facilities between different ecu's, so make sure you do your research.

What is there to be "not sure" about? Sounds like an easy choice to me

The "p" at the end of part number identifies it as a platignum tip plug, so is unlikely to make any difference to the running of the engine in the short term, although you should be using platignum tips if the manufacturer recommends it. You can verify an internally broken or inefficient plug lead by measuring it's resistance with an Ohm Meter. A broken lead will have a high or infinity resistance. It's also worth checking the firing order to ensure that the plugs leads are on the correct cylinders. Good luck

Business models like that are not viable in this industry, and you have clearly identified one of the reasons why. Any business that does not make suffient profits to pay for insurance should not be in business. You are failing to see the point - a sole trader, especially one who is a part-time trader has no requirement for limited liability insurance and there is no legal obligation to do so. Your conception of the business model is also incorrect, very few business are able to generate an acceptable profit over the first few months as a result of poor cash flow due to the start-up costs. My point was concerning "professional indemnity" insurance, not "limited liabilty" insurance that you have only just mentioned and of which I have never heard of. Professional Indemnity insurance is there for the protection of the customer, and is a very good thing. It is Tony's (and potential customers) decision who they choose for a strategic alliance or as a service provider. Most sensible people would chose the safe route by dealing with companies that demonstrate integrity, transparancy and respect for their customers by implementing and paying for decent insurance cover. I don't think I can really add any more to this issue at this time, so I am sorry if you disagree

Business models like that are not viable in this industry, and you have clearly identified one of the reasons why. Any business that does not make suffient profits to pay for insurance should not be in business. When it all goes wrong, it is normally the customer that has to suffer the consequences which is not fair, hence the original suggestions in my first post, which if you think about it actually prioritises the interests of the customer. That can only be a good thing in my opinion.

Another very important issue regarding indemnity insurance that I forget to mention (sorry ), is that I beieve you should have the right to know whether the company you take your car to has adequate cover in the case of a mistake that damages your car or causes injury or death. You may take the view that you are not concerned with this issue as you can sue them for compensation. The bad news is that the majority of companies in this industry have a capitalisation of just £100 and struggle to break even so do not have much in the way of assets. Far from being "Rubbish", this is a very imprtant issue in my view.