A week ago or so there was a good thread on after market EFI, and I thought it would be cool to have follow up asking: Who is running what? What do you think of the system after some real world time spend tuneing and tinkering? Where did you get it? Cost? Support? Ease to tune? Have you tuned by the 'ol butt-o-meter, or did you book some dyno time? Add any other thoughts that come to mind.

I've been waiting (as sanely as possible) for the KitCarlson system, but that still seems some time off... Have the turbo, (yes, I know you can't turbo a 914) and ideas about the exhaust system, but need a way to make it all play nice togather. Was hoping to get the new ECU up and running for this auto X season, learn the tuneing, and do the turbo over the winter, but...

Anyway, it'd be nice to have one place to go for updates and info on what other members can offer from the school of "been there, done that".

thanks!

I played with and installed a few EFI systems, Currently at the shop we have 2 cars with Motec, 5 with Haltech (a 935,a 930,and 3 rotaries), 1 with Electromotive. In my own 911 I have a Link Plus

Motec

Haltech&Link

Electomotive

Actually the newer Electromotives Tec3 seem to be pretty good now, the earlier models like the Tec1 were a pain in the but to set up and tune

my 1st experiance was with the Megasquirt a few years ago, tuned by ear, then on a dyno to get the air/fuel back to a more normal/safe range (I was way too lean)


ran it for a few months 'till I broke something on the motor (unrelated to the fuel injection), I attepted to go back to the megasquirt last year, but ran into problems related to me spilling coffee on the Megasuirt.....gave up and trying to repair it, went out and bought a LINK fuel and ignition setup...so far I like the software which looks like the MS guys emulated thier software from...

I have not run the car yet with the new FI, but for tuning, I have an LM-1 wideband 02 reader to get me going, then I might put it on a dyno to fine tune it and know what power (or lack of) my engine is putting out....

QUOTE

I've been waiting (as sanely as possible) for the KitCarlson system, but that still seems some time off...

the KitCarlson setup seems like it would be perfect for those that don't/cannot build thier own engine harness and do not want to do any type of tuning as long as the motor is stock....once you build an non-stock engine, the pre-programmed tables go out the window (they might work, but not optimized as well as they should be)

if you are willing to tackle the wiring harness, then pretty much all of the fuel injection systems are the same, it all comes down to what you want as far as options for inputs/outputs (the SDS supposed to be the simplest from what I hear and have read for both wiring and tuning)

figure $1000 give or take a $300 depending on what system you pick...

I was on the fence for a while and came close to getting the SDS and then the Haltech, both would have worked for me..why the Link?? recommended by a few people (as was the other systems), finally I just made the choice based on talking to the rep./support for Link and I guess to try something different

I am using a MICIII ECU from Perfect Power (a South African company). It controls both spark and injection. It was VERY inexpensive. At the time that I bought it many of the other low-cost solutions such as MegaSquirt were not available. At the time it was the low-cost leader by a wide margin. They don't make that model ECU any more, but they have other ECU's with more features which grew out of the previous generation MICIII. The new ECU's are also very affordable (comparatively speaking).

What I learned:
1) The biggest factor in going to digital ECU regardless of model/manufacturer is the learning curve - not the part specific to the model of ECU/software you get - the learning curve of understanding engine control electronics, EFI theory and opperation, ignition system function, and other related topics you could collectively call "theory". Regardless of what ECU you use you will have to understand the how and why of what it does at an intimate level in order to sucessfully troubleshoot the installation.
I thought I knew everything I needed. Ha! I was very nieve (sp?). But with some work I picked up the bit's of knowledge I needed to get everything working right (like being able to scratch-build a small circuit to invert the polarity of a signal from a sensor, or convert a sine wave signal to a square wave).

2) The various ECU's are more simmilar than they are different. Their core functionality is basically the same. They will all provide you with a precise mixture and spark angle based on your programming. That's really all it boils down to.

3) Tuning: You will NOT effectively or easily tune digital EFI by the seat of your pants. This is NOT like jetting carbs. Jetting carbs is EASY because you have at most 3 circuits to deal with. You pick jets for idle, mid range, WOT, and that's about it (I know that's an oversimplification, but it's close). With digital engine controls you have to program both fuel and spark for every COMBINATION of throttle possition, rpm, manifold pressure, engine temp, and air temp. I initially got the car running and tuned it with a narrow-band O2 sensor. That got the car driveable but the tuning was very imprefect. I left a lot of power (relatively speaking) on the table. Then I got a LM1 wideband O2 sensor and in 30 minutes made more tuning progress than I had in the previous 6 months. Then I got a data-logger for the LM1 and got even better results because the car can be driven and then the mixture data under different conditions analysed and the tuning can then be refined. It takes a little patience but it is VERY effective. If you are going to do digital EFI/ignition I highly recommend the LM1 with data logger (rpm cable) unless you've got a close friend with a dyno.

-Ben M.

Kit Carlson is no longer an option. I sent all the prototype units and parts back to Dave per his request- He has too many things going on with his dad to finish it and market it..

I chose to go with SDS for my electronics platform for my engines and complete kits.

SDS

Simple

The crank-fire (option) is hard to mount on a T4, but any crank-fire will be hard to mount because of the fan set-up.

Forgot to mention this in the opening post, but if possible, include web site or link to the different systems. I have found most of them before, but haven't been able to find the "link" system on the net- its gotta be there somewhere...

Link Engine Management System

I just found a system from Pectel Technologies, never heard of them before, but I like their wiring harnesses from what I've seen.Pectel

I just installed a SDS fuel only system.
Never attempted anything like this before.
I was a little overwhelmed at first but after a while
it turned out to be pretty easy.
Drove the car to work today for first time since the
install and it ran good and strong. (thanks Mark)
I have never played with another brand of EFI so I can not
comment on them. But I will say that SDS has made it as easy as possible
for the average Joe to get the car up and running.
I would recommend it.

I am attempting to run a Megasquirt system on my 2270. As you can see in my avatar, it works great on the Stimulator and that's as far as I've gotten.

Tom

QUOTE (Ray Warren @ May 12 2005, 03:20 PM)

Drove the car to work today for first time since the install and it ran good and strong. (thanks Mark)

Your welcome.

Glad to hear it's running good