M54. Let the foolishness begin.

[Holland]

Lol, so when are you going to make a compatible harness for us poor, ignorant peasants?

[hoveringuy]

Exhaust VANOS!

Up until today, my car has sucked.

I just didn't realize it.

Now it's completely retarded.:grin:

I finally got my exhaust VANOS connected and even with a best "guess" at what the retard profile should look like it pulls much harder than before. Significantly so.

Unfortunately, as a consequence of pumping so much more air my A/F ratio leaned from the 14 I had before back up to 15. I guess that's good news, because once I get fuel to match the extra flow it should be even better.

I'll keep it at moderate retard figures for now until I can figure that out. The Dinan S50 chip is just running out of steam here.

[evil_twin]

Sexy!

[BeirBrennerE30]

i guess i shoulda went for EE instead of getting my ME

[accident]

that's the shit man. keep the tech details coming!

[CorvallisBMW]

I don't know what's going on.

But the pictures are pretty.

[Holland]

^ I'm lost with you my friend. All I know is that this is awesome.

[Danny]

I don't know what's going on.

But the pictures are pretty.

[hoveringuy]

VANOS progress

Electronics don't make for very sexy pictures but there's a lot of progress here. In the last month it seems like I've had to do a lot of little things to make a few significant steps.

-I upgraded my exhaust from all stock e30 stuff to an OBD2 mid-section and an e36 muffler. Immediately the car pulled much harder and my previously lean A/F ratios dropped from around 15.5-16 at WOT to less than 14. That was a nice side effect, but I had to do it because when I start tweaking the exhaust cam a poor exhaust will lead to reversion at greater valve overlaps. I am now a little suprised that I pulled almost 200 whp with the old exhaust and wonder what it would do now? Is 275 crank too much to hope for?

-I upgraded my original SPI LCD display to an RS-232 serial display. No small task because this one has CRC encoded packets, but I gain 100% noise immunity and some neat-o buttons that will eventually be the user interface.

-I migrated everything from the original Microchip development board plus an interface breadboard to a single prototype board. I'm down to a few chips and some resistors. The LCD is connected through a phone jack. The next version will have a purpose built circuit board and shouldn't be much bigger than the Queen of Spades. I'm hoping it will fit inside the 413 case and the LCD will plug into a jack for monitoring and control.

- I rolled DISA into the board. With a few lines of code and a MOSFET I got rid of my Summit Racing RPM swich that I had before.

- I have exhaust cam monitoring working. I can track the exhaust cam but haven't added the closed-loop control yet.

So to-do I need to get EEPROM writes working so that I can configure things with the buttons and finish connecting the exhaust solenoid.

The swap has over 2000 miles on it and is proving to be a great driver. It's a little noisy when cold but otherwise extremely well-mannered. Intake VANOS has been working great in continuously variable mode. It only works when the 413 VANOS is active so I always stay on the right map. The 20 degrees of advance is great! It has a shit-ton of low end torque.

The LCD is showing that at idle, the Command position is 250 degrees and the Actual position is 252 degrees. The VANOS is not active and the cam is resting on the stops.

The Exhaust cam is at 112 degrees. These are relative to the missing tooth, not TDC.

[hoveringuy]

413 ECU fault detection

This is interesting. I've always wondered how the 413 ECU knew when you didn't have a load connected to one of its outputs and gave you a "Check Engine" fault. I have a power resistor connected across my evap purge valve and now my intake VANOS connections to keep the ecu happy.

I came across this in some data sheets:

"The Flag (pin 7) provides fault status for under-current,
over-current, and thermal shutdown conditions. This pin is
active low with pin voltage typically +0.3V during a fault
condition. A small value capacitor may be needed between

Flag and ground for noisy applications"

Here is the actual device and datasheet:

http://web.media.mit.edu/~dmerrill/m...oid_driver.pdf

Burr-Brown DRV-101

Each output driver has its own flag that can signal the ECU processor when it is out of parameters. The ECU assigns a code to that flag and trips the CEL.

What this means is that some small, strategic changes in the ECU could permanently disable some of those pesky CEL issues! It also means I can get rid of my external load resistors.

[evil_twin]

WOOT! Good makeshift fuel pressure gauge using the oil gauge

[hoveringuy]

Fuel Pressure

So I've been having an issue with it running lean at WOT and higher rpm's. My LM-2 is confirming what my dyno session showed and has been great for gathering tuning data.

I have a suspicion that it's the chip tuning, but before I go down that road I want to eliminate fuel pressure as the problem and confirm that it's where it should be. I checked my static pressure long ago and have had it set to 51 PSI (3 1/2 bar) and confirmed that when I remove the vacuum hose the pressure goes up about 10 PSI.

What I didn't know was what the pressure was doing while I was actually driving it, so I ordered an oil pressure sender and gauge to read fuel pressure directly. I plumbed it into my existing fuel pressure gauge for convenience.

It is rock-steady at 50 PSI and climbs slightly at WOT. My fuel pressure regulator isn't the greatest but it's not the problem.

Time for chip tuning!

[Miasma]

Very impressive work.

[hoveringuy]

Pegasus silicone hose!

This hose is freakin' perfect! 1" I.D. on one side fits over the water pipe 3/4" on the other side for the normal coolant hoses.

I really thought the brass would work but I think different thermal rates of expansion and contraction between ABS and brass was just too much for the epoxy. If I had known about this hose I would have done it this way from the start. The manifold was really easy to take off and put on and I found the source of a small oil seep (crack in the vent pipe) while I was at it.

My dipstick drain-back was also filled with oil mustard. Actually, it was clogged with it. I need to drive further more often. Short commutes in cold weather are causing it.

[hoveringuy]

so you gonna let me drive the car like you did before? lol.

Absolutely! I'll have the parts to fix in a few days. It's only leaking about 1/2 cup per day right now. Fortunately, the M54 manifold is relatively easy to remove. It has more clearance at the brake booster and only a single fuel line with a QD fitting.