EM: Engine management

[WormGod]

I recall some time ago, a member was also an employee with GM or such and was looking into an engine access module. This never appeared to have went through. I am about to take my WRX to a local tuner and have an EM done (after exhaust and some other things are done). I am very interested in finding out if something can be done for the VX. I am gonna ask these guys about the VX and show them the S/C (not installed YET STILL, hahaha) and see what they think about installation and possibly coming up with any EM ideas.

If anyone already knows something more, share the info.

[Ldub]

That was looooong ago...
I believe it was "Featherfoot" who was the one looking into that.

[Anita]

John Finnell "Featherfoot" retired from the business a while ago. I havent talked to him for over two years now so I dont know how he is doing - I know there were some health issues. John also was the creator of Power Vault Mufflers.

[Tone]

Alpine says they have a Uni Chip that will work but too much more power will trash the tranny and there are NO performance parts for it.

[Tobert]

There's always megasquirt

megasquirt.info

[Joe_Black]

Yup, Megasquirt is the way to go.

[MoonRaker]

Ive been working with the greaddy E manage ultimate for some time on my Mazda, I was thinking of trying one on the VX to see if it will work. Acording to the manual it says isuzu. Since my warrentys done im thinking a S/C settup, why not I have one on my RX-8, RXP [jetski] and work at a high performance shop. I havent read around much on the sight, whats been done and whats been broken because of it. How are the alpine kits, i dont like the fact that there none intercooled.

[MZ-N10]

Ive been working with the greaddy E manage ultimate for some time on my Mazda, I was thinking of trying one on the VX to see if it will work. Acording to the manual it says isuzu. Since my warrentys done im thinking a S/C settup, why not I have one on my RX-8, RXP [jetski] and work at a high performance shop. I havent read around much on the sight, whats been done and whats been broken because of it. How are the alpine kits, i dont like the fact that there none intercooled.

if u want intercooled u could wait for Morgan-tec for his sc kit.

[WormGod]

It CAN be done, as the MoonCraft VX did it, but wow was that pipe routing a rat nest. A front bumper clip also had to be created to extend the front end for the FMIC. I would LOVE to throw a turbo into the VX, but I am skeptical about an automatic tranny with use of a turbo. It just takes the FUN out of the whole driving experience without manual shifting with that boost, heh. I have been in serious internal debate about adding a FMIC to my WRX but from my research, nothing is gonna beat a solid TMIC with the factory scoop design. Owing a WRX that is made to be modded only creates a larger void for me when it comes to the VX. So much can be done to one, but I want to incorporate it all into the other as well. *sigh*

[Joe_Black]

What we've been planning on the rally VX is smaller dual turbos feeding an intercooler mounted on top of the engine and fed by a low-profile hood scoop. The intercooler would be about 6 square feet and of a dual-inlet single outlet design, which are common in a variety of sizes. This keeps plumbing short, simple and efficient. Planned engine management is Megasquirt since it's supported, open source and uses no exotic components.

[Tobert]

Planned engine management is Megasquirt since it's supported, open source and uses no exotic components.

Are you going to piggyback it to keep TOD or come up with a separate TOD controller? I've read that you can run a second megasquirt with different firmware to do automatic transmission control, so it's possible that it could run TOD. Since they ported the firmware back to C, any reasonably competent C programmer (with some embedded experience) should be able to make it fly.

Most people just piggyback though.

[Joe_Black]

The 5-speed manual won't require any input, but the TOD control will use a manual override as on other rally VX's with pre-set torque splits.

For those wanting more power but are concerned with the durability of the 4L30E, take a look at the '04 TOD Axiom and Rodeo which use an Aisin tranny to handle the additional power of the direct injection engines. It's quite beefier than the 4L30E.

[MoonRaker]

It CAN be done, as the MoonCraft VX did it, but wow was that pipe routing a rat nest. A front bumper clip also had to be created to extend the front end for the FMIC. I would LOVE to throw a turbo into the VX, but I am skeptical about an automatic tranny with use of a turbo. It just takes the FUN out of the whole driving experience without manual shifting with that boost, heh. I have been in serious internal debate about adding a FMIC to my WRX but from my research, nothing is gonna beat a solid TMIC with the factory scoop design. Owing a WRX that is made to be modded only creates a larger void for me when it comes to the VX. So much can be done to one, but I want to incorporate it all into the other as well. *sigh*

I havent seen it, if you could post a place for me to check it out. Ive been working with autorotor twin screw superchargers for 2 almost 3 years now, The problem we ran into with air to air I/Cs is a anoying harmonic sound. Im thinking a ford style water to air setup. That hood scoop idea might help with space.

[MZ-N10]

i dont think ur gonna get much out of 2 small twins, other then complexity. thats why most rx7/supra owners ditch the stock twins and go with a large turbo or parellel instead of sequential. if you have an open enough exhaust, turbo lag shouldnt really be an issue with a 3.5.

TMIC r nice but there always the problem of heatsoaking. on a hot day after a few runs the area ontop of the engine might be extremely hot, thats the problem wiht TMIC. the best place to mount the ic is acutally in a V or H mount with the rad and oil coolers, if space allows. V and H mounts allows teh rad/oil/ic to receive maximum cooling without the blockage of a FMIC.

[Joe_Black]

RX7 and Supra owners have to deal with an inline configuration to plumb and place dual turbos, whereas with a V6 arrangement you have one on either side of the engine. This provides for simpler placement, better heat shielding and simplified plumbing. "Heat soak" isn't an issue either as any latent temperature is eliminated as soon as you're flowing a volume of air through the intercooler. With the smaller turbos we're looking for quick, consistent levels of boost less than 10 psi across all RPM ranges. There just isn't any need for larger units, it's overkill and over spending.

We're not following the canon of street racers or the like, but proven motorsports design and fabrication.