DIY Tuning walk-through (TunerPro)

[Rogue_Ant]

Ok, I finally had some time to package everything up and make a walk-through:

Ok, I had time to finish everything up, and is packaged and attached in a .zip file:

TunerPro Bundle

In the zip file, I included a Word document which explains the DME in a little more detail, and also rehashes the info here. I suggest reading it, before starting.
This walk through is simply a quick guide for getting TunerPro running and using it with the 951.

In order to tune your 951, you will need the following:

Laptop computer w/ USB port
TunerPro 4.14
Ostrich 2.0 (or eprom burner)
Socket Booster (for the 24pin DME)

First , unzip the bundle to a familiar location, such as the desktop. Next, install the TunerPro software included in this bundle. Follow the prompts and necessary directions. If you are using the Ostrich 2.0, then install the Ostrich 2.0 drivers (included in bundle).
Now plug in the Ostrich to your laptop, start TunerPro and make sure it recognizes the Ostrich. TunerPro outputs its hardware connection status in lower left hand corner:



If TunerPro says “hardware not found” and the Ostrich is connected to your computer, then click on the ‘hardware plug’ in the toolbar:



Once your computer and TunerPro recognizes the Ostrich, you need to setup TunerPro for the 951. Included in the bundle are the necessary files. The first is the definition file. This is the file that tells TunerPro how to interpret the values in the 951 binary file. To load this file, press ‘XDF’ next to ‘File’ in the toolbar. Now choose ‘Select XDF’, direct TunerPro to the unzipped bundle.



You should see two XDF files, one for the 24pin DME and the other for the 28pin DME. Select the correct XDF for your application (1986-1987 should be the 24pin, 1988-on should be the 28pin). Your screen should now look like this:



Next we load the 951 binary, or ‘.bin’ file. This is the actual data that the DME uses, and what we will be tuning. Under the ‘File’ menu, select ‘Open Bin’. Now direct TunerPro to the unzipped bundle, and select the correct .bin file.



NOTE – only use a 24pin .bin with the 24pin XDF, and the 28pin .bin with the 28pin XDF!
Check that we have loaded everything correctly by double-clicking on an item in the left.



-Rogue

[nize]

here's the rest. i removed the direct link to the thread in other forums, as they are not allowed on pelican forums. thanks.
--------------------------------
Now, each item has comments, if you do not have a ‘Item Comments’ window, click on ‘View’ then ‘Item Comments’, or press F10.
To change a value, click on the item, change the value, then click ‘save’ in the window. This saves the changes to the .bin. Once you have made any desired changes, save the file by pressing ‘File’, ‘Save Bin’. Then upload the new .bin to the Ostrich. This is done with one click of the ‘upload arrow’:



Note, you do not have to save the .bin before sending it to the Ostrich, but you do have to save any individual value changed for it to have effect.
The Ostrich simply plugs into the factory EPROM socket. The most important thing is to install the Ostrich in the correct direction. The red line on the ribbon cable should be towards the outside of the DME. Furthermore, if you have the 24pin DME, then install the Socket Booster with 4pins off of the EPROM socket.



Make sure you set the Socket Booster to ‘24pin’.
I ground a little bit of the DME case to allow the ribbon cable to pass through. I routed the ribbon cable as shown. This is an easy mod, and should only take a minute on a bench grinder:





If you have changed EPROM chips before, this is extremely similar. For those needing a refresher, included in the bundle is a chip replacement guide as found on the Lindsey Racing web site.

LR Chip Change Guide

When tuning, make small changes at a time, and avoid large changes between adjacent cells! DIY tuning can and should be a fun, learning experience. BUT be careful, as you alone are completely responsible for your engines health, I am not responsible for your actions. For the DIY’er, at minimum, I suggest a Wide-Band O2 (WBO2) sensor, and knock counter. A knock counter is less than $20, and will give insight to timing advance. For knock counter information, look at the link here. A WBO2 is imperative for proper air-fuel tuning. And at the price of current WBO2s, it would be foolish to not have one.

Finally, my hope is that this DIY will get more people interested in tuning the 951, and provide more knowledge for the average end-user. Building a community of knowledge can only help fellow enthusiasts.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or opinions. Preferable, post your questions and comments here, as it will probably help out others.


-Rogue

[PAUERMAN]

Wow, great job man!!

Will the tuner pro software allow you to modify the transfer function (and whatever else is needed) to allow a direct MAF sensor input to work?

Thanks for all your work and for sharing this useful info to the 951 community. It's about time every 951 tweeker can be shown how (relatively) easy and inexpensive it is to tune their own car.

After using the Ostrich and Maxtune software interface, I can say for certain that tuning with this emulator arrangement works well.

[Rogue_Ant]

I've included access to the AFM transfer function tables... But they are not used by the DME in a linear fashion. The three tables are used as such:

T1 x T3 x 2^T2

The early 86-87 DME the transfer function code is on processor. As such, it is not accessible. The 88-89 DME all the code is on the EPROM. But MAF code requires actual code changes, not just adjusting table values. ATM we will stick to the basics.


-Rogue

[PAUERMAN]

Does the fuel and/or timing table in Tuner Pro show an active load cell when car is running? Also, do you datalog through Tuner Pro or through another device like a wideband setup?

[Rogue_Ant]

Direct scan / cell tracing _should_ be out shortly, with the next version of TunerPro (the TunerPro author is a little behind schedule). And when it is publically available, I'll make sure to update the files necessary to support it.


-Rogue

[PAUERMAN]

The cell tracing option would really help the tuning process. In my opinion, it is one of the shortcomings of the Maxtune software. Tuning through datalogs works, but not knowing exactly where you are on the map increases the overall time it takes to get things "right".

[Rogue_Ant]

Agreed. But cell tracing is in pre-release form now (I've seen it work). As soon as the author releases it, I'll update the DIY, and add more info.

BTW, Nize, thanks for transferring the thread.


-Rogue

[PAUERMAN]

Great job man. Keep up the good work.

[Rogue_Ant]

Thanks!


-Rogue

[KStow951T]

Rogue,

Great deal you have here. I have a couple of questions... First the laptop that I will be using in the car is a older PC IBM Thinkpad (500mhz/512mb)... it doesn't have a 2.0 USB but does have one 1.0 USB will this be a problem, also I have an aftermarket chip that came with the car when i bought it.. I guessing its a Auth.Stage 2 chip, will i need to return to the stock chip for emulation or is that what the Ostrich 2.0 replace? Dumb question I know just making sure I understand properly.

Lastly will this type DIY tuning ever be able to do "on the fly" tuning or have the appearance of say Wolf3d or Electromotive software? I am excited to see a platform where I can view what my DME is doing on a digital level.

I still trying to understand this deal so bare with me... It just basically gives you a heads-up display on my laptop what my DME is doing as far as TPS position and air flow ( I have a Hunley MAF with the Split Second ARC2 controller will it still read the air flow, will i still need to tune with the SS ARC2 controller?) as well as coolant and voltages while letting me set my own A/F and timing ratios using my Wideband O2 and emulating to my chip with the new settings I program on the TunerproRT?

One last question, wil this all work if my laptop is not plugged into the Ostrich?

Thanks... Looking forward to your reply.. and thanks for sharing..

Kris
1988 Turbo

[Rogue_Ant]

Kris, I think I answered all these last night, but because others might have the same questions, I'll answer them here as well

USB 1.0 should not be a problem. The files we are transferring are very small, so the transfer from the computer to the Ostrich should be nearly instant.

In the bundle, I provided a base chip image to work from. I'm not supplying any aftermarket images.

TunerPro allows tuning on the fly. This means make a change, upload and the changes take effect immediately. With the next version of TunerPro, real-time logging will become a reality as well. This means cell-tracing, so we can see exactly which cells are in use real-time.

Yes the Ostrich will work without being plugged into the Laptop. The Ostrich is supposed to have a ~20year memory life, so leaving it unplugged shouldn't be an issue


-Rogue

[Chubbs]

I have a few elementry questions about how this all works: is there a way to input directly from a wideband O2 into tunerpro? If so, are there any particular widebands that are capable of this? Does tunerpro show the readings from inputs like a wideband, or the coolant temp, etc in real time? Or do you just have to assume you are making the changes in the right places? For the people that have widebands, do you also use them to provide the narrowband signal, or do you run two O2 sensors (wideband + stock)?

[Rogue_Ant]

Chubbs,
Currently there is not a good way of integrating real-time DME info to TunerPro...
This is something I'm working on though.


-Rogue

[Hindra]

Your doing an awesome job. I've gotten all my tuning help/advice/files from Rouge.

[PAUERMAN]

Shameless plug but...

Anybody interested in a Brand New SciVision MAF kit and Ostrich 2.0 emulator, 24 pin chip booster with map selector switch?

$1000 plus shipping.

[Rogue_Ant]

Ok, the main question I seem to be getting is about using a MAF...
The DME will accept any 0-5 volt signal... It does not know if that signal comes from the stock AFM or XYZ MAF. Built into the DME is an Analogue to Digital Converter. This converter takes the 0-5 volt signal and outputs a 0-255 number (total of 256 points)(this is important, I'll explain later).
This said, the DME does expect this signal to match the amount of airflow used. This is defined by the Transfer Function. Here is the stock transfer function graphed:



This graph is AFM volts vs flow (in grams per second). This is volts vs airflow is programmed into the DME. The actual data can be seen in the "AFM Transfer Function Tables" part of the XDF. Unfortunately the DME uses a rather odd method for calculating this table... Instead of using one large table, and interpolating between values, the DME uses three smaller tables as such:

T1 x T3 x 2^T2

The DME uses this function for all of the 256 possible points. It is this function that makes true MAF conversion impossible, without changing the stock code. For example, if we wanted to use a common Ford Lightning MAF without any sort of piggyback, we would need to change the DME's transfer function data to match the Ford piece. Here is the Lightning transfer function graph:



At first glance, these look similar, but under focus they are significantly different. For instance, take a look at the ~3.4 volt range, I've overlayed the two graphs:



Nearly a 100gm/sec difference! At the same output the lightning MAF is flowing significantly more air...
Now couldn't we just simply put the Lightning transfer function data into the DME and then the DME would understand the new sensor. Unfortunately, the built in function (T1 x T3 x 2^T2) prevents us from doing that. This function predetermines the basic curve, so that no matter how we play with the data in the three tables, it is impossible to truly match the Lightning MAF.

Can we get the MAF to 'work'. Yes, using a piggyback we make the the Lightning MAF output a signal similar to the AFM, and then the DME will fuel/time accordingly. But without a piggyback, we have to change the actual programming code in the DME, to eliminate/modify the T1 x T3 x 2^T2 function. This has been done only once before, AFAIK...


-Rogue

[74goldtarga]

Rogue, Vic and others. I have downloaded the software and have started to poke around it a bit. I was able to import the XDF file and Bin file. (By the way, I had to go to a similar porsche message board to get the bundle as the first link above didn't work for me) How do I verify that I do in fact have the 24pin box (my car was modded when I got it so I just want to be safe)?
Based on what I'm reading here you need a piggyback to properly run an MAF or MAP. How complicated is the installation of a Piggyback for someone who would be afraid to splice wires. Rogue I see that you are using a MAP sensor and some kind of piggyback to get that to work with the Motronic/TunerPro/Ostrich combo is that right? Does the datalogging come from the Ostrich device and the Wideband? Vic do you sell a piggyback that goes with the Sci-Vision MAF? Thanks.

[Rogue_Ant]

Updated bundle to include the newest release of TunerPro - this version has the data-tracing which works in the majority of the MAPs.

[Rogue_Ant]

Originally Posted by 74goldtarga

How do I verify that I do in fact have the 24pin box (my car was modded when I got it so I just want to be safe)?

Best way is to simply open the DME and take a look. Follow the LR Chip change guide link I posted in the beginning.

Originally Posted by 74goldtarga

Based on what I'm reading here you need a piggyback to properly run an MAF or MAP.

Not 100% necessary, since with TunerPro you have direct access to the tables... But that said, a piggy-back is great for making changes without the laptop, and for helping with MAF conversion.

Originally Posted by 74goldtarga

How complicated is the installation of a Piggyback for someone who would be afraid to splice wires.

It is quite easy, and I'm sure there is a guide somewhere. Usually it is only about 5-6 wires.

Originally Posted by 74goldtarga

Rogue I see that you are using a MAP sensor and some kind of piggyback to get that to work with the Motronic/TunerPro/Ostrich combo is that right?

My setup is unique, and helps me make quick changes and then test them. Really nearly any piggyback will be fine, Vic can probably help you out with that...

Originally Posted by 74goldtarga

Does the datalogging come from the Ostrich device and the Wideband? Vic do you sell a piggyback that goes with the Sci-Vision MAF? Thanks.

My current datalogging comes from my piggyback... I'm working on a DME native logging setup, but not done with it yet.


-Rogue