TPC SuperCharger

[Bruce Wayne]

Thanks guys.

A big consideration point for me is that i am on the wrong side of the Atlantic, the eastern side of the pond has, aside from you guys, a wealth of knowledge and expertise, way beyond the average enthusiast and tech knowledge is severely limited to those who want to sell you very, very expensive options.. think over double, what you guys guy pay then add some..

my thought process has been that i am considering dropping the engine doing a clutch, IMS, RMS, stainless manifolds (headers) of course being in the UK the bolt heads will be corroded to **** so will probably end up needing to machined out and if I'm going to drop the engine then while its out i may well look at doing something 'special'.

of course it goes without saying that i don't want to hand grenade the engine, so obviously with the scare stories i revert back to options like a 74mm throttle body and plenum chamber, but the supercharged idea still nags away at me.

[tranceatlantic]

I purchased a used TPC SC kit from ebay. The problem was it did not come with the piggy back computer and TPC no longer supplies them. I contacted a few Porsche tuners such as FabSpeed but nobody I talked to had a solution. My local tuner (deals with mostly Honda's and Mitsu's) could not/would not help.

If anyone has any ideas on a good way to get around not having the 7th injector controller I'd be all ears. I originally thought I could no without this controller and just adjust the pulse to the 6 injector to get more fuel in and have the flashed ECU have full control but I've yet to find anyone to take on the job. I'd be interested also in knowing if there is a better 7th injector piggyback that can interface with the stock ECU.

[pk2]

Originally Posted by tranceatlantic

...If anyone has any ideas on a good way to get around not having the 7th injector controller I'd be all ears. I originally thought I could no without this controller and just adjust the pulse to the 6 injector to get more fuel in and have the flashed ECU have full control but I've yet to find anyone to take on the job. I'd be interested also in knowing if there is a better 7th injector piggyback that can interface with the stock ECU.

There a re a number of (piggy back) boxes out there that will work fine if not far better. The original didn't really do a 'elluva lot. It just read a handful of sensors ( 0 - 5v) did some rudimentary load calculations and pulsed the 7th injector accordingly.

A newer box can do much more and do it much better. I was told you can install larger injectors, skip the #7, and drive them all with the right piggy back. It can also retard the timing, drive methanol/h2o injection (inter-cooling). you can also add more inputs for even better control.

There used to be an outfit around that had a twin turbo kit. They re-flashed the original ECU and installed bigger injectors among other things.

there's really nothing to much different in tuning one of these as opposed to a Subaru or Honda. The theory and practice is all the same. Nobody really has to touch the engine, it's all in software.

Regards, PK

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by pk2

There a re a number of (piggy back) boxes out there that will work fine if not far better. The original didn't really do a 'elluva lot. It just read a handful of sensors ( 0 - 5v) did some rudimentary load calculations and pulsed the 7th injector accordingly.

A newer box can do much more and do it much better. I was told you can install larger injectors, skip the #7, and drive them all with the right piggy back. It can also retard the timing, drive methanol/h2o injection (inter-cooling). you can also add more inputs for even better control.

Regards, PK

How hard would be to adapt a Mega Squirt to properly work with a FI P engine?
Can you find the base maps to get you started..?

.

[The Radium King]

did you try softronic? they do the tpc turbo tune and state in their propoganda that they do FI tunes. also, they'll be able to tell you if you need the larger injectors or not. other FI tuners that have developed their own tunes are turbokraft and ima motorsports.

[tranceatlantic]

I think I missed Softronic so I just sent them an email. I had contacted APR and FabSpeed and didn't get any good news from either. They suggested that I'd have to stick with the solution originally offered by TPC (who didn't have much to offer in help - sorry guys).

I briefly looked into a MegaSquirt solution. That was a little scary and I think Id need some help from someone who has tried that path on a similar project.

My local tuner seems to want to work with the one control system they know best and they don't think it would be compatible with my old ECU. But I don't think they really wanted to get involved as they have enough work keeping their Evo's and STI's on the verge of exploding.

[sgt brad]

Originally Posted by Gilles

How hard would be to adapt a Mega Squirt to properly work with a FI P engine?
Can you find the base maps to get you started..?

.

megasquirt has an autotune feature that gets you in the ballpark.

[pk2]

Originally Posted by Gilles

How hard would be to adapt a Mega Squirt to properly work with a FI P engine?
Can you find the base maps to get you started..?

.

I can't imagine any problem with it. The last time i looked at it though, I thought it had kind of a crappy interface. I picked up a thing called SMT6, a little outdated but it's plenty powerful. O.K interface to. Plan to swap it in soon. All the thing has to do is read 2 or 3 (however many you want) 0-5v signals with some accuracy and spit out at least one 0-5.0v signal (more if you want). It doesn't matter really what it's all blowing into.

As far as the mapping, I'm going to data log with the little box that came with the sc and use it as a starting point to set up the smt6 (gode me into doing it and I'll share). I think the SMT6 will drive 6 injectors but I'm not going to bother now. Conceptually it's not a huge trick to tune from scratch though, get EGT and wideband O2 sensors, should be good to go.

The earlly TPC boxes were crude, semi analogue (at best). Pretty hard to not beat.

Regards, PK

[tranceatlantic]

I got an SMT6 from Virginia Speed new for $225. It did not come with a USB or serial cable so Ive got to get one off those to allow program changes.

Next step: Get an EGT, air/fuel gauge (not read anything about these yet but I get the theory) and the wide band O2.

One thing Im not sure about: does the wide band o2 replace and existing sensor and feed its output to both the ECU and the piggy back computer? Or does have to be mounted in a separate location? If so where?

Does anyone have any recommendations for these sensors?

The plan is to install all these and get baselines. Id be happy to share my results.

[pk2]

Originally Posted by tranceatlantic

I got an SMT6 from Virginia Speed new for $225. It did not come with a USB or serial cable so Ive got to get one off those to allow program changes.

Next step: Get an EGT, air/fuel gauge (not read anything about these yet but I get the theory) and the wide band O2.

One thing Im not sure about: does the wide band o2 replace and existing sensor and feed its output to both the ECU and the piggy back computer? Or does have to be mounted in a separate location? If so where?

Does anyone have any recommendations for these sensors?

The plan is to install all these and get baselines. Id be happy to share my results.

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Yes, do share your results, be good for a lot of people I'm sure.

Usually the A/F gauge comes with an O2 sensor.

You can weld in a separate stainless steel bung (from ebay) or, replace an existing NB (narrow band) sensor with the WB (wide band) sensor. There are pros and cons to each method. The O2 gauge/sensor setup will fake a NB signal to the ECU. So ya, it replaces it.

E bays a good source for egt sensors. There are a couple different (types...E,J,K) or something). Every little Cessna has at least one. The simplest is just like a hose clamp with the probe/sensor stabbing in towards the center. Really easy to put in. There's another kind that's like a washer that slips over the business end of a spark plug. Again, there's pros and cons.

An airplane gauge is good, very high quality, inspected by the FAA every few years etc, etc. Ugly though. You can also just get an adapter that boosts the sensors output (tiny, mill-ivolts) up to a 0 - 5v signal/output. Then, there's Lots of ways to make that usable, (a DMM (volt meter will work)). Lot's of typical of the shelf gauges at a box auto parts use a 0-5v signal. You just need to match the readings from the gauge with known temp values (I.E. at idle, you read say 3.2 on your gauge, that might equal 600c, flat out you read 4.2, might =700c)

Regards, PK