How do I do engine mapping?

[peaveyyyy]

This may be a daft thing to try, but how does one do engine mapping? I can't seem to find any information anywhere. Is it that it is a jealously guarded secret? Or just too darn hard for amateurs?

[lanciachris]

you can do it with a custom efi setup. and like setting up carbs, its easy to do, but hard to do right. i wouldnt even try without an air/fuel gauge on the dash.

[anonymous-user]

Take a look at www.megasquirt.info/. It's a DIY ECU and has information on how to do the lot from installation right up to mapping and beyond.

[Boosted Ls1]

First choose the ecu that suits your needs. You will need a lap top unless you buy an ecu with a 'hand held' calibrator. After that you can do it fairly quickly on a rolling road or over a period of time on the street. It helps immensly if you get given a base map that suits your car, then all you have to do is modify it.

It's not easy to do and takes some time to learn but don't let that stop you. If you need the car on a day to day basis then pay somebody else.

[350matt]

Also have a look on :

www.emeraldm3d.com/em_ab_em.html

Matt

[peaveyyyy]

I have a Lotus Elise with an after-market turbo. It has been mapped before, so is basically ok, but since the injectors got some new fancy caps on them, it has started to kangaroo a bit in motorway traffic at constant medium revs. I suspect it is a tiny bit rich at that speed. Do I need to get a new ECU, or can I read the mapping in the old one and do some fiddling about? What software do I need to do this, or does software come only with new hardware? I'm not sure the ECU is original, I'm going to try and find out.

Thanks for all the responses, chaps.

[anonymous-user]

To run with a turbo, it's most likely already got an aftermarket ECU. In which case, once you've found out what it is, you can speak to the manufacturer about software and connecting cables. People like Emerald for example, give the software away for free so all you'd need to do would be buy the cables to wire it up to a computer.

[Boosted Ls1]

peaveyyyy said:

I have a Lotus Elise with an after-market turbo. It has been mapped before, so is basically ok, but since the injectors got some new fancy caps on them, it has started to kangaroo a bit in motorway traffic at constant medium revs. I suspect it is a tiny bit rich at that speed. Do I need to get a new ECU, or can I read the mapping in the old one and do some fiddling about? What software do I need to do this, or does software come only with new hardware? I'm not sure the ECU is original, I'm going to try and find out. Thanks for all the responses, chaps.

Look for duff connections and if you can't find a solution put it on a rolling road to check the tailpipe emmissions before you spend any money on an ecu etc. Maybe the chaps who mapped it before will let you have 10 minutes on the rollers

[fergus]

[quote=peaveyyyy]....or can I read the mapping in the old one and do some fiddling about? What software do I need to do this, or does software come only with new hardware? I'm not sure the ECU is original...quote]

In the case of MoTEC, the data can be encrypted and/or password protected, in which case you will have to seek the permission of whoever programmed the EPROM/PROM. Otherwise, you will need some way of interrogating the maps (primarily fuelling & ign & boost control) from the aftermarket chipset. Once you've done this, you also need some way of altering the maps DYNAMICALLY (static is a waste of time) and then burning (or re-writing) these settings to the EPROM/PROM. First step is to find out whether you have a tweaked OEM unit, or an aftermarket EMS, like Emerald, MoTEC, etc, etc...

If none of this works, I'd suggest junking everything and plumbing in a new aftermarket box, like DMS or something. You will already have most of the sensors in place so just need to map the EMS itself. Checkout this months evo for Dave Walkers details. He seems to know the MGF engine quite well....

Good luck.