Members Page/Marcel Blokpoel - VEMS wiki www.vems.hu

Marcel's Memberpage

General (older) information about me and my projects is at the bottom of this page.

The top half is filled with plans, ideas and the most relevant current information. Old stuff will be moved down out of sight as new info is added.

Please split to separate pages so old (historical) information does not clutter uptodate project info.

Questions

Can one FET switch 4 high-z injectors reliably? Yes, but 4A peak current is significant for the S2J flyback diode (use low voltage flyback). This is how the stock wiring loom is laid out... batch firing all four through a single ECU pin (Magneti Macaroni 8P). The FET (clamped to the case) itself should handle it easily. Don't use high-voltage flyback.
How will moisture affect my v3.1? Do I need to spray glue all over it, like car makers seem to do with any underhood boards?

Cold board will make water condense from warmer air (not good).

Apr, 2004

Been busy with the mechanical side of things over the last couple of months. Sold the old engine from my project car for a case of beer, worked on accessory wiring, changed daily drivers, bought, disassembled and junked two parts cars and sold a lot of parts off those as well. Then I found the stronger gearbox I wanted, one of said partscars donated driveshafts to go with that and I did some more test-fitting the turbo setup. It clears the "new" gearbox and driveshafts much better than expected. Pics will be added later. The block, lightened crankshaft and modified rods are back from the machine shop and ready for assembly.

I still have NOT found a suitable LPG injection system. This worries me a bit. I am leaning towards liquid phase injection for its charge cooling properties, but have been unable to find any other than (loads of) purple LPi injectors that are said to support only 30-35 hp each. I could consider fitting two rows, but they are quite bulky. And I still need enough pump flow to feed them, too. Twin tanks are an option but would drive up the cost a lot, and eat a lot of space.

Anyhow, hope to get back to work with VEMS soon and contribute to documentation.

Dec, 2004

Got a dead LPG-controller for free, that just happens to have the same 35 pin AMP connector found on 2-row Magneti Macaroni engine ECU's. I've gutted the case and chopped the connector off the little board that was in it. Now I have a home for my v3.1! I have an extra engine wiring loom for my car, with the very same connector, so I hope to use most of that "as is". That should save me a bit of install time, and allow slightly more realistic (and easy) bench testing of sensors. A pair of questions did pop up... see above.

Nov, 2004

I finally got all the bits and pieces for my engine. I was still missing small details like a connecting rod and a piston, but I found them now. While the block is at the machine shop for the overbore and some other machine work, I am replacing the valve seals and cleaning [the head] myself. A [bit of porting] needs to be done as well, to adapt a [different exhaust manifold]. I hope to have it done before the block gets back.

In the meantime I have also taken out most of the interior, to replace some wiring and install aircon, 4x pwr windows, pwr mirrors and more luxury.

Nov, 2004

Finally got around to assembling my v3. RS232 and LCD are up and running, WBO2 sensor is calibrated, some drivers and FlyBack have been added. Next thing to do is put it in a box and start connecting wires...

Plans with Gen Board

I will run my project engine on a v3 right from the start. The car runs LPGandBiFuel now and will remain that way. For the first phase of my project, it would be nice if the EMS could start and "limp home" on petrol, and run just the ignition when I switch to the mechanical LPG system. I have an [LPG throttle body] suitable for turbo use that should do the job, although slightly crude. If I find some used port injection gear first, I'll skip the gascarb and go straight to staged injectors through GenBoard.

I run a v3.1, see MembersPage/MarcelBlokpoel/PartsList

Ideas

Once that is up and running, I am planning to add a second injector rail for LPG, next to the petrol rail. Either liquid ("wet") or gas ("dry") injection, instead of mechanical carburetion. Normally such LPG injection systems are controlled by running the petrol injector signal through a conversion module. I on the other hand, would like to control both directly from GenBoard. This will require two sets of injector settings and some means of switching/staging.

Wild Ideas

When that runs, I could try staging them. For instance adding petrol when I run out of LPG injector capacity. I see no reason why the well-known technique of staged dual fuel rails cannot be applied to two different fuels.

Question

Please think out loud when reading this. I appreciate your opinions, thoughts, worries, etc.

General information

Project Engine: Bored and stroked Peugeot 2.0 block (now displaces 2188cc), 16 valve head and [TD05H-16G turbo].

Project background: The project engine may sound like an ambitious one that could make in excess of 300hp after careful tuning, if you consider that this 16 valve head can make 160hp even on a 1905cc bottom end - naturally aspirated. But that is not my intention. My goal at this time is a relatively modest but safe 200 wheel hp. It will be my next daily driver so it's supposed to be reliable first. I will take my time to build it up properly, but when it's done I will depend on it to do over 20,000 miles a year for me. That is also the main reason I am messing with bi fuel cars. At this time, where I live petrol is way over the 1.20 (euros/litre) mark, while LPG is still hovering around 0.40. Besides, LPG has higher octane, making it interesting for turbo use.

Me:

I am a college student from the Netherlands and have been messing with cars since '97. I could refer you to [my personal webpage] but I won't, because it's grossly incomplete and out of date.

I do understand most of how EFI systems work and have done a lot of successful tweaking/troubleshooting of factory and modified systems but never before ran an open source system like this.

Current cars:

['78 Toyota Celica] - Lexus V8 project on hold.

['84 VW Golf GTD] - After I sold the BX, I borrowed this car from a friend as cheap transportation till the Xantia is done. In exchange, I did some repairs on it. This car will be subject to some vegetable oil experiments ;)

['90 Peugeot 309 XL] (base model) with GTI model engine, suspension and brakes swapped in, careful to retain a 100% sleeper look.

['93 Citroen Xantia LPG] - main project car at this time, future daily driver

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