Notice: Study Break!

Phew! Been diligent and posting a lot of new content so far this year but unfortunately I need more time to study!!

I'm on the last leg of my masters in engineering and I need to write a minor thesis... So unfortunately, I will be redirecting my writing to that for a little bit!

There has been some interesting developments of late and I would love to share it; I'll just have to keep notes on it for now until I get a bit more time to post it up!

Feel free to keep commenting and asking questions! I'll definitely have time to read them and respond!

So in the meantime, gambatte with your builds and tunes and enjoy the challenges of the tuning journey!

Tuning: AEM FIC Fuel Map Steps!

A grateful reader has commented on the closed loop tuning post and asked about putting down my tune to help visualise the map better with numbers.

I really don't want to screen shot my tune as it's super tempting to just plug the numbers in and although it would probably work, it will certainly be different to what you need because my setup will be different!

So as a compromise, how about we go through the steps of setting up a base fuel map! That way you can set it up yourself and adjust it according to your setup as well as being able to visualise how the numbers go in the cells!

Let's have a look!

Boost Breaking Brake Booster Benefits?

 

I was chatting with a colleague of mine about turbos and he asked ".. so if you have a turbo, doesn't boost prevent the brakes from working?"

I was like.. what?

TECH: PLX Devices SM-AFR

After my Innovate LC-1 wideband failed, it was time to get a new wideband... But because I was on a budget, I couldn't get another LC-1... So a cheaper alternative that I found was the PLX Devices SM-AFR.

Let's have a look at it!

Uh Oh: ...No Wideband?!

One sunny day,
I was cruising along,
with the wind in my hair,
doing nothing wrong....

At the corner of my eye,
I just don't understand..
I know that I'm not high...
..but what happened to my wideband?!

It seems my wideband readings are stuck. Whether I accelerate or decelerate, it seems I'm at a AFR of 10 LOL.

As I drove home the readings slowly went down until the gauge began to flash; which meant the AFR was lean at 0.. or there was no signal.

The first thing I checked was that the sensor was still physically in the bung at the exhaust, which it was. The next thing was to see whether the gauge was broken. I connected up the AEM FIC to my laptop and brought up the gauges. In my setup, I had another sensor feed from the Innovate LC-1 to the the AEM FIC, providing it wideband info for the Universal Exhaust Gas Oxygen (UEGO) readings. Yup, looks like the sensor or the LC-1 was buggered.

So I took the Bosch sensor out of the bung and proceeded to calibrate the LC-1. I held the button to begin calibration but the LED never lit up. Weird. I connected up the LC-1 to the laptop to see what is going on and... Fail. It wouldn't connect. After several attempts the LC-1 continously would not connect the computer...

Looks like the LC-1 has failed.

Well, not a bad run. I ran the LC-1 for nearly two years. But still, I didn't expect that component to fail...

Ah well, so it is time to get a new wideband computer... But which one? This unfortunately has happened during trying times so I can't blow away moneys away for an expensive solution, so I need a cheaper alternative. After looking around I found the PLX Devices SM-AFR!

Let's see how it goes!

Theory: MAF Sensor Placement!

One of the major contributors to abnormal and erratic fuel trims, I believe, is Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor placement!

So let's have a look at this interesting topic!

Tuning: Re-tuning with a Temporary MAP Sensor - Part 2

So after rewiring the AEM FIC and adjusted the maps, it's time to test the map.

Tuning: Re-tuning with a Temporary MAP Sensor - Part 1

Alright! Now that the wiring is complete and the signal from the Boost sender was successfully identified, now comes tuning.

Tuning: Fuel Trims!

Following on from Closed Loop Tuning, here's a bit of a spill about fuel trims! Modern factory computers are pretty clever and can automatically adjust the motor's tune in response to an array of environmental variables. There are a number of articles out on the interwebs about fuel trims but I'll have a whack at explaining it!

Let's have a closer look at fuel trims, what affects it and what can you do to help smooth it out on your tune!

Modification: Re-wiring a Temporary MAP Sensor

Well, as the inbuilt MAP sensor in the AEM FIC decided it would go and eat some cookies, I'll need a new reference load to tune the FIC.