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To do all this for one car (yours) still sounds to me like buying the cow just because you need a quart of milk ;-)
Let's look at the procedure.
Custom chipped LH + standalone DI:
* Acquire DI controller ($125), MAP sensor ($30) 16v NA oil pump cover w/hall-effect CPS ($25) and DI cassette ($40, insert new $300 one later on).
* Get proper connectors and wiring from Saab junkyard
* Bolt on oil pump cover, place MAP sensor under dashboard using OE vacuum line to pressure transducer/gauge cluster
* Fabricate wiring harness (18 wires in total) and run parallel to OE LH harness
* Insert DI cassette, connect
* Acquire four 9000 2.3 injectors, or whatever you want to use up to about 35 lbs/hr.
* Off to the dyno. Realistically, 95% of the work will be WOT ignition and fuel maps. Burn new EPROMs for fuel and ignition controllers. Might take up to four hours dyno time over two or three sessions.
* After at worst three sessions, you can drive the car as before. A racing mapping engineer has run the thing in extenso on he rolling road to check everything is OK,so you don't feel as apprehensive about taking your car for a long drive as you would, had you done -everything- yourself. Peace of mind having had someone else check your work is a good thing - I learned the hard way.
Standalone aftermarket, DIY tuning:
* Acquire aftermarket controller, sensors, HT ignition system (coil pack, wires), wiring loom and software
* Acquire wideband lambda, air/fuel ratio gauge, laptop computer and datalogger
Methinks in any case, even using low end systems, you won't have much chasnge from $2,000 - and then weéw just starting
* Fabricate custom brackets for aftermarket sensor. Machine OE components to take sensors. Pray you got the angle for crankshaft/camshaft position sensors right first time
* Tear out OE engine wiring
* Offer up aftermarket harness and adapt to what's actually in engine bay. Engineer wiring routing, with mechanical and thermal stress in mind.
* Work out interface with OE instruments (rev counter, temp sensor etc.) or replace with aftermarket
* Position ignition coil pack in engine bay
* Connect everything electrically
* Hopefully the base maps are adaptive enough to make he thing fire up now
* Finally, start mapping the thing. Everything from cold and warm starting (and all in between) to WOT mapping (what it mostly was all about to start with) hs to be done from scratch
* Call buddy for riding shotgun and mapping the thing every time you encounter a running problem, which will be quite often in the first couple of months...
Quote from Frank of Sweedspeed after calling him regarding a running problem that I wanted to sort myself to have it out of the way before mapping: "Get your car booked on the dyno NOW. You can drive around trying to sort a problem for months and not find it, while I guarantee you we find it in five minutes on the rollers". And he was right. You just cannot beat a controlled environment for diagnostic work.
Question - even assuming you do everything yourself and won't visit a dyno for more extensive mapping work and singling out problems - which I think is kind of doubtful - how many hours of dyno time do you reckon it would take to pay for the difference in initial investment installing DI and going aftermarket?
Considering how one hour on the rollers transformed my car far beyond what it ever has been with regards to driveability and throttle response, and produced a torque/pwer graph that could have been from an OE Trionic car for smothness and broad torque curve, I sincerely doubt going aftermarket would have been a better investment inm y case.
posted by 82.204.0...
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