About time I got started...
I have a TVR Griffith 500. It's a great car, but could be so much better with the right engine management.
My aims are to:
- Increase my knowledge of engines and mapping
- Make the car easier to maintain and modify
- Avoid potential problems with obsolete parts
- Gain more power from the engine while using less fuel :-)
- Aid with the development of VEMS
A few words on the car
It's a light (1078kg) 2 seater convertable with a 5 litre Rover v8 engine (only 2 valves per cyl :-( ) made by a small company in Blackpool. There are no active safety features at all, so you have to drive it properly.
Modifications to date are uprated suspension, uprated brakes, polybushes and a large alloy radiator.
VEMS setup
Since I'm very time limited for the moment, I've gone for a fully assembled genboard 3.3 with all the bells and whistles.
I plan to have:
- the usual sensors (MAP, IAT etc...)
- fully sequential ignition and injection
- 2 WBO2s
- dual knock sensor (even having 1 is an improvement!!)
- 1 acoustic is supported, 2 channels require firmware mod
- Ion Sensing needs new hardware
- OK, forget ION sense for now. 1 acoustic is good enough.
- EGT (eventually)
Trigger setup
Primary: 36-1 tooth wheel on crank, and Ford VR sensor
Secondary: modified distributor with hall sensor - the advance and reterd mechanism will be locked and the factory sensor for the timing will be modified to produce one pulse per rotation instead of the usual 4. (I may make this neater in future and put something directly on the cam wheel as this will be 0.01% more efficient ;-) )
Order of work
- Get VEMS up and running in place of the Lucas 14CUX using the basic sensors. This will be injection only, running batch fire (max 2 injectors per batch instead of 4)
- Replace ignition system with 8 coilpacks. )Shame Subaru ones don't fit - I've got loads of them.)
- Start to add the "extras" like WBO2
- Do some tuning :-D
Update on this:
- I'm through the first stage of basic sensors and running in semi-sequential mode (2 injector firings per event).
- No coils yet, but they are on order from USA
- Some extras added - WBO2 now fitted
- Some tuning of ECU done. Car goes quite well. No mechanical mods for the moment.
Tuning
New exhaust manifolds will find their way on the car as the original ones aren't the best design. Also, the intake system could be redesigned to use 8 throttle bodies. Plenty of scope when there's a nice ECU dealing with it all.
Completion Dates
Target date for having fully complient system for UK emissions tests is March 2006. This will require at least one WBO2 sensor (preferably 2)
Update: Apparently well on target here!
Other plans
One goal is to reduce the cars fuel consumption. To this end, I will be investigating "displacement on demand" - ie not fuelling certain cylinders depending on the engine loading. This nicely ties in with the actuation routines for traction control - another thing I plan to look at next year.
Update: Nothing new here, other than I've found (but not fitted) the sensors I need.
Milestones along the way...
Fitting & testing the crank trigger: MembersPage/DavidBlades/TrigTest
Fitting and testing other sensors: MembersPage/DavidBlades/SenTest
Injector Setup & Config file: MembersPage/DavidBlades/InjSetup
VE, Lambda tables & tuning the fuel: MembersPage/DavidBlades/FuelTest
Starting and Warm-up: MembersPage/DavidBlades/StartingWarmup
Acceleration Enrichment: MembersPage/DavidBlades/AccelEnrich
Idle control: MembersPage/DavidBlades/IdleControl
Cooling fan control & other ancilliaries: MembersPage/DavidBlades/FanTest
Fitting Ignition system: MembersPage/DavidBlades/IgnSetup
Non VEMS related issues: MembersPage/DavidBlades/NonVems
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Firmware support
Page about dual channel wideband lamba: MembersPage/DavidBlades/DualWb
Page about getting TCS inputs:
MembersPage/DavidBlades/TCSInputs
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Impressive work Mr Blades, there are a small number of us VEMSers in the UK, its good to see more people discovering the benefits of the system. If you want to send me an email at phatbob@www.vems.co.uk I'll give you my mobile number should you need to ask any questions.
Old stuff
Stored until page update is done.
Thanks for any answers! Some of the wiki is not clear on these things (or I'm no good at finding stuff). If there's anything to do, I'm happy to do some coding on the project - it's what I do at work after all... :) )
To cut a long story short, (I will discuss the long version, I promise!) I completed the wiring for fuel injection today, uploaded a semi-sensible config and started the car.
- It started 1st time, even with a dodgy battery.
- nice job. Anyway, please confirm you have all GND, GND5 connected and flyback too. Be careful, even if it slows things a bit
- I tested the wiring several times (took half a day over that), the battery is just getting old and struggles to turn a 5 litre v8 over... The ECU is managing to start the engine after only the 2nd or 3rd compression event, even if the cranking speed is much slower than it should be.
- nice job. Anyway, please confirm you have all GND, GND5 connected and flyback too. Be careful, even if it slows things a bit
There's a few niggles to solve, and some refinements to do, but fundimentally it's working.