Mongo

John, I am not sure how far away you are from the Speed Density one, but I would be anxious to take a bite on that one when it's done to have that MAP feature. You have no idea the excitement I have over the fact that I finally have the ability to tune my car!

Koenig-Specials 928

John, if a car is bone-stock (other than minor mods such as cold air intake, x-pipe & RMB), can you not pre-program the PEMS thereby removing the need for the ST2 and WBO2?
Just asking cause that would remove the initial cost in a huge way and make this mod more competetive against other aftermark EMS. Thanks

John Speake

We have another task to finish before the speed density, but we believe the speed density will be a short development...

John Speake

Jim has a very well sorted set of maps for his GT, and that would certainly be a good basis for pre-loaded PEMs (with idle speed set for S4 if needed).

For final fettling access to an ST2 would be required, but yes, he car would run well with those base PEMs.

Koenig-Specials 928

Thanks John. That's good to know.

ROG100

How about the courtesy of a serious answer to a serious question please?

I will ask again - What about those of us with ST1 - will this work with ST1??
Or do we have to start using our ST2 and throw away the $3500 ST1.

Jim not what I would expect from you .

karl ruiter

I wonder if the could be a path for those of us who want to upgrade CIS cars to EFI. There are off the shelf adapters to drop electronic injectors into CIS wells, but in the past the difficulty has been adapting the MAF. Obviously there are Megasquirt and other possible solutions, but many of us also have S4s and would like to justify the cost of a sharktuner by spreading it over several cars. Plus it would mean only one tool to learn, and a tool that is well known within the community.

Lizard928

If you find it let me know. It is 3.75" OD and I have searched high and low for this. I normally end up taking a piece of 3" OD pipe cut it down the side and add a little material.

John Speake

Hi Roger,
Sorry, missed this one. Also missed your 'phone call while eating.

ST-Alpha is not configured for ST1. It might be possible to do, but our resources are limited. Your ST1 does not become obsolete - it is the only tool at present for 85/86 cars.

Jim's on the road and out of touch. I am sure he would have answered your query in full later.

Mike Simard

John, I remember some time ago when you said you might be get the 928 ECU to work without a MAF for those of us with ITBs. That was a really big goal to put out there and you actually did it! Very impressive

BTW, nice avatar! I love that color.

John Speake

Thanks Mike. The development has taken much much longer than we ever anticipated. Some very sticky problems which Jim and Niklas did great analysis and work on.

But the great thing is the system works really well

I hope it will prove useful to you !

jcorenman

Roger, sorry to be such a disappointment.

The serious answer is that if you have an ST2, then why not use that? That's all I was trying to say, my apologies if that came across as anything else.
John will have to speak to the question of whether future ST1 support for Alpha is possible or practical.

jcorenman

Malcom, to follow up on your questions, and for Andy and others also: As John said, the install was straightforward. The hardest part was fitting the precision throttle sensor, that required unbolting the intake and lifting the left side 2 or 3" to remove the TPS switch and get the new sensor and mounting plate installed. A voltmeter is used to set the mechanical zero (slotted holes on the sensor) and then everything is bolted back together.

The new throttle sensor connects to one pigtail on the Alpha box, another connects to the original TPS connector, another followss the left side fuel rail harness to the Temp2 sensor, and the last pigtail plugs into the MAF connector. I mounted the intake-air sensor to a small plastic block glued to the side of the lower airbox, along with a fitting for a small tube to the pressure-sensor.

There are no changes to the LH or EZK boxes, just a different bin-file for the LH, and then tuning.

It is important to note that we don't expect any real changes for a relatively stock car-- the goal here was to see if we could make it run as well as a MAF on a stock intake. If we could duplicate the performance of a MAF then that would be a pretty good test. And it was also what we had available

As for conclusions and impressions: It runs fine. That sounds silly, but this is a fundamentally different way of managing the fuel injection, so that actually says a lot. The engine starts readily, idles fine, and runs just like always, without any odd hesitations or stumbles.

My impression is that the throttle response is better, and looking at the plots I think the fueling is more accurate at higher loads, where the MAF shows some scatter. There is no expectation of more horsepower, this car was well-tuned with a MAF (JDS rebuilt).

The real value of this system is the flexibility it offers for intake design. Does it make sense to fit it to a standard intake? I think the only reason would be to eliminate the issues with MAF's: aging and calibration. A rebuilt MAF is cheaper,and careful Sharktuning will account for differences of calibration.

And, as always, before changing anything first make sure that the engine is running 100% the way the factory intended. If you've got a bad sensor then that won't go away with an Alpha conversion. (Of course a badly-calibrated MAF will go away )

So my suggestion, if this all seems interesting, is to start with the Sharktuner, learn how to use it and make sure everything is working 100%, and do some fine-tuning with the MAF that you've got. Then decide whether to make changes or enjoy what you've got.

As for what to replace the MAF with: A badly-calibrated MAF is a good option, don't use a good one because it will continue to get dirty but won't be getting burned-off. But a better option would be to get our favorite in-house plastics guy to mold a replacement lower air-box, with a nice bell-mouth that extends down to the throttle boot. (Jerry, are you copying this??)

IcemanG17

This is GREAT NEWS........one more piece of the puzzle for adding HP (dumping restrictive stock intake)....

Tony

So the air intake temp sensor on a twinscrew application would have to be mounted just prior to the intake valve..ie..after the air has been heated via compression and then cooled via intercooler so you are getting a true intake temp reading?