Austin, TX EFI install/tech session - 11/7/09

[jpnovak]

I will be helping a fellow Pelican member install a tbitz EFI setup in his SC this Saturday Nov. 7. Trond is traveling all the way from Norway to TX for this event. Surely, it should not be missed. In reality, he is picking up his car in Dallas and heading to AZ before taking the car back to Europe.

We will get started early and plan to have the car running by the end of the day. I am sure there will be a few local enthusiasts stopping by. Come on by after 10AM. We will start earlier but I need time to get the project rolling. We might even have the CIS stripped down by the time you arrive.

Bring your beverage and grillable. We can just turn this into a nice Nov. gathering.

email or PM for directions and particulars.

[dailyATX82sc]

argggg

the one weekend the girl is flying in from FL.....hummmm

ok i need excuses guys.!!! the "sorry honey the Porsche is acting up" one is starting to loose its charm.

Ill stop by, (even if its with PO'd girl in tow)

[jpnovak]

I can stick a beer in her hand if that will help! I have also been known to create excellent margaritas and Mojitos. M&Ms sans chocolate.

[kenikh]

Damn, wish I could make it!

[Scooter]

Kenik,

I will send you pictures.

[jpnovak]

Thanks to everyone for stopping by. The car is running.

The morning started off with stripping of late style heater blowers and such. Next we pulled the AC unit. Recall the owner is from Norway and politely mentioned that AC was not needed. Of course, cold start is a must.

We spent the next few hours stripping down the CIS system. What a pile of parts! I am being nice here. I struggled with all those hoses and connections related to decel, AAR and whatever else is connected behind the airbox. Suffice to say, its has been simplified. I would have removed more if I could have found the correct size hose.

The afternoon was filled with EFI installation. We replumbed the fuel lines and installed the injectors. Next was fuel rails and finally pulling the wire harness. We wired the car in the dark using LED headlamps strapped to our head.

So we turned the key to check for fuel leaks. Yep, forgot to tighten the pass side rear connection. That was an easy fix. Next we hooked up the laptop and checked all the signal connections. Everything was working except for our tach signal. Oh yeah, the engine has to be turning. Just kidding. We turned the key to check for tach signal and the motor started. Yep, that simple. First rotation of the key, first rotation of the engine.

Of course, there was this loud sucking, hissing sound coming from the back of the CIS airbox. Yeah, I forgot to plug to air lines resulting in massive air leaks. Problem solved.

Tomorrow we tune. it was too late to tune the no-load sites to get the car moving. We will wait for light tomorrow. I will post some pics once I dump the camera datacard.

[paulgtr]

amazing that it can be done so quickly. have been reading horror stories about EFI installs here more than once

[boxster03]

He has it down to a science no doubt. It was a great time to watch someone so knowledgeable. Great tech event.

[paulgtr]

how much better is an EFI set up than say the motronic set up on a 3.2?

[jpnovak]

Trond is now on his way to continue his Journey. He is headed to the DFW using some suggested backroads to avoid the I35 monotony. Next week at this time his SC will be in a container headed back to Norway. I am glad to help and I know he will enjoy the new found drivability in the car.

Here are a few pictures. I don't have any pictures during the conversion. There was too much to do to get the install completed in one day.

End of Day 1: The EFi party ended with a large pile of CIS "stuff" removed from the engine bay. Good Riddance!



The completed engine bay.



It was a long day of wrenching. The car owner is sleep deprived after flying from Europe, driving to Austin and working all day.



Since the car had an unknown tune I drove Trond to his hotel. This meant that we would tune on Day 2.

Day 2: I went out to see how the cold start setup was working. Here is a nicely setup EFI on "cold" start. OK it was only 66 this morning. Hopefully this will work as nicely in Norway in January.

Morning Cold Start


After sitting in the car letting it idle and revving the engine a bit I decided that I would pick up Trond at the hotel in his car. I called, told him that it was running and that I would see him in a bit. He was dumbfounded since late Saturday night we had some issues. It seems that there was a tach adapter (voltage step down) to adapt the CDI (400V) output down to a more reasonable 12V output that the ECU could interpret. In our haste we forgot to install this component and, while the car idled rock steady it would not take any throttle. I got up early this morning and made the necessary updates to get the car started.

I picked him up at the hotel and we loaded his bags in the backseat. I think the smile says it all.



Next we had to leave the hotel parking lot. This video was Trond's first impressions having just started the car to pull out of the parking lot. There are some interesting observations. Coming from an early car I missed the fact that the brakes were hard to push. We need to buy some vacuum line to reconnect the brake booster assembly.


Trond's first drive


With the laptop hooked up and I in the passenger seat we started driving. The car ran very well with the base tune provided by Tony. The Bitz Racing kit was very well thought out. I highly compliment Tony for what he provided. I provided Trond with a tour of Austin while I made some adjustments to the base tune. We built a great map. I made minor adjustments to match the individual installation. the car needed a bit more fuel at the high rpm and minor changes to the acceleration enrichment values. At this point we burned it to the ECU and enjoyed the trip home.

Tuning Session


This was a fun project and proves that yes, you can install EFI in a single day. Is it worth it? Did you see the previous video? I think the car owner can really appreciate the throttle response and the extra power.

[jpnovak]

Paul, The system compares very well with the Motronic setup. The adjustable fuel curves are what this system is all about. There are further gains to be made with integrated spark. This is something the Megasquirt system is capable of yet was not performed on this install.

I think there have been a few bad experiences with EFI due to the individuals lack of knowledge. For any EFI system you must do your homework. REally, this is not different than learning to tune carbs or MFI except you need to use keystrokes instead of screwdrivers. I really like the fact that it can be done on the fly without stopping.

Michael, Thanks for stopping by. It was good to see you.

[mppickett]

Great job, Jamie!

You are a credit to the Porsche and the Megasquirt communities

[frankc]

Jamie,

Thanks for hosting this great event - wish I could have stayed longer to hear it come to life!

Here are a few of the pictures I took while there (I have higher resolution images - let me know if you want them).

Frank

[sjf911]

Very well done. Wish I could have been there.

[holtjv]

Originally Posted by sjf911

Very well done. Wish I could have been there.

+1. I had hardly any excuse not to come and regret missing it.

Congrats, Jamie--well done and you are a credit to the community.

Jack

[dailyATX82sc]

i was nice to meet a few of you. Great looking and driving kit.



jon

[kenikh]

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[jpnovak]

Frank, thanks for the pictures. How many supervisors did we actually have. They were slave drivers. I think I spent all day on my knees with my head buried in the engine bay.

Thanks for the comments guys. It was a rewarding project.

Jon, Great to meet you. Those plugs you found were perfect to plug those pesky AAV lines.

Jack, is your car next?

Maybe I am in the wrong business. How much work could I generate doing custom EFI installs?

[David]

That's crazy fast! (and I don't mean the car)

Sounds like the Bitz kit is well sorted.

[jpnovak]

David, The kit was well thought out. The base maps worked really well to get the car moving. It was much easier than starting from scratch to develop and tune an engine map. I have done this a few times and welcomed the excellent ground work.

To be honest, I was skeptical of getting the car finished in a day. My first installation took almost a week but I made separate circuits for everything with weatherpak connectors on all isolation sub-systems. The somewhat modular approach takes more time.

I was also extremely impressed with the fit of his injector bung adapters and fuel rails. Everything dropped right in and was very straightforward.

Many Thanks to Tony Bitz for putting a great kit together. I would recommend this kit to anyone having trouble with the CIS and needing to drop a bunch of money into the system.