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Gentlemen, Hack Your Engines!
Les Gasser writes "Ahh, drag racing! If you've never experienced the scent of nitro or
the flashing flames of a top fueler running 320MPH+ in 4+ seconds in a
standing-start quarter mile run at dusk, you're missing world-class
performance art. (See 'High Performance' for the classic on drag racing history and
culture). Now the NYTimes (registration needed) has 'Gentlemen, Start Hacking Your Engines,' an article on
're-engineering' engine control computers for maximum performance,
combining the drag racing and tech-geek traditions." Having learned everything I know about racing from Gran Turismo, I'm amazed to learn there's more than just buying a "racing chip".
...like the electric dragsters, which are faster? That's what I want to know.
Here you go, tiger.
get your reg-free link right here.
Cobweb...if you had seen "The Fast and the Furious" you would of remembered the laptop that the police officer/(under cover racer) had a mad leet laptop controlling his engine.
There was opengl and everything....
You are so 2 years ago.
-- -- --
Help my mini cause: My journal
For real computing in Cars then look at Formula one. Launch Control, Engine Control, Automatic and Semi Automatic gearboxes, traction control etc etc etc.
These are cars that can be remotely re-tuned during a race. From a tech perspective its amazing.
However it ruins what should be a battle of man and machine and enables the big spenders to kill the little guys everytime. Computing is great for some things, but it too often reduces the skill required in sports like Motor Racing, making it a battle of programmers rather than drivers.
Fully automated remote racing with large cars might be quite cool, but what makes it really interesting is that people can make mistakes, and even better take risks that a computer wouldn't think are smart.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
"Having learned everything I know about racing from Gran Turismo, I'm amazed to learn there's more than just buying a "racing chip"."
Another Scouser on day release?
It will give some pasty programmers a good reason to get outside =). Unless they SSH in from a wireless link...
Having learned all I know about racing from Mario Kart, I'm surprised they don't just carry some mushrooms and turtle shells.
You may find this interesting, particularly if you're into rallying at all and have heard of both Subaru and Prodrive, who prepare rally subarus and also make a performance pack for road-going cars.
:-)
The new high performance Impreza (STI VII) Prodrive Performance Pack uses a piggy back chip to "fool" the ECU into allowing more boost on its turbo.
The reason? Prodrive don't know how to re-program the OEM ECU correctly.
A third party has hacked a tool to reprogram the ECU - something no-one else has managed. This largely is the work of one guy, who has done something that is apparently not possible
Rumour is that Prodrive will be using the ecutec tool to reprogram ASAP.
Another mate has reverse engineered the ECU for older models and is blowing chips to give increased performance...
ECU hacking has been around for a while. For popular cars, you can get aftermarket ECUs which are tuned for more performance. On a non-turbo, street legal car, the best you can expect is a 10% power increase. On turbocharged cars you could get more (just turn up the boost), but you quickly run into reliability problems because the engine can't handle the increased loads.
To get significant power increases, you still need to apply 'old style' tuning tricks like adding forced induction, changing camshafts and uprating engine internals.
Here's a chance for someone to earn some karma...
:)
- what interface do our cars have? Serial?
- is there a standard protocol used, or is each manufacturer coming up with his own? Standards would allow smaller garages to have a computer for use with multiple makes of car, but I bet the manufacturers don't want that.
- is there software on the net that'll talk to the car computer? Got any URLs?
In my last few cars, I found connectors in the cabin which I assumed were for the garage's computer. Haven't run across it yet in my current car, but it'd be kinda cool to hook my laptop/palm up to my car and see what it's upto. Heck, maybe I could even disable that annoying <ping>, everytime the temperature drops below 4oC.
The imports will never come close to the big blocks!
Ah, Gran Tourismo. I love that game :). Is there anything equivalent out there for the PC? For those of you who actually race, how accurate is the game?
Anyway, I think for most drivers, there really isn't much more then getting a "racing chip". I'm not saying geeks could reverse engineer their cars, but there are so many different kinds of car computers out there, it would be hard to 'share the wealth' so to speak, the way you can with Linux programming.
Plus you run the risk of completely fucking up your engine. I'm not sure if I'd really trust my own code when one screw up could cost me thousands of dollars per incident.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Intensive electronic engine control is a very common thing in racing for 20 years now. What was seen in Fast and Furious is major BS. If you wanna see serious electronic action look into Formula 1. They have all kinds of goodies for decades now. Dynamic fuel mapping, traction control, launch control, braking assistance (this particular one is very cool, the system monitors the dynamic conditions of the car and slows any one of the four wheels without even asking the driver) etc...
Another interesting bit is Mitsubishi Carisma Evo 7.
As far as dragsters go, they are way behind. Nothing special nor innovative.
One last note in the last few years prices of engine management systems went down a lot. You can buy a very good one for couple thousand but as long as you dont have the right tools, you cant tune the car perfectly. and never forget the intake and exhaust systems in your street cars are build to the specs written by suits hence very performance limiting.
Any geek out there who wants to make there car go fast follow the common wisdom:
1. Buy a fast car.
2. Cant afford it and stuck with that peoples carier? First make it corner faster (get good springs and dampers) Fast and Furious style car dragging on the asphalt dont qualify.
3. If you want it to go fast make it lighter (look: Collin Bruce Chapman)
4. Make it stop fast (you might need them)
5. You exhaust system is design to be on the very safe side of noise regulations and fuel economy fix it.
6. You intake design sucks too (dont forget the cylinder head lots of power in there)
7. By now you spent as much as you spent on the original car.
8. Not satisfied get real engine management system. Remember eletromotive, haltec, motec.
Or the alternative and more appropriate road for the ones with tools, garage and time: Locost, some sort of open source sportscar project and it can go very fast.
Peace
For one thing, it's required that drivers initiates the gear change. Secondly, true automatic transmissions loose a lot of the power between the engine and the wheels.
F1 cars have a shifter knob that you just push or pull to shift up or down respectively. I forget what it's called. The Toyota MR2 spyder has one of those things as well.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
But Mr. Rascon is sure he does not want a Lexus or a Nissan 350Z. "You get a Lexus or 350Z, and, sure, people will look at you, but that's now what this is about," he said. "This is about getting into something I built and whipping a 350Z. That's the best feeling in the world."
Why wouldn't you want a Nissan 350Z? Seems to me that if you can make a Civic fast, you could make a 350Z faster.. Or is there some sort of weird pride involved in having a Civic that is faster than a stock 350Z (but slower than a modified one)? If I had the money, I'd just buy the car with the most potential, which (I'm pretty sure) isn't a Civic.
and haiku must evoque a season or period of the year, so most haiku made hear are just plain wrong.
Now, if you could connect everything upto a fastish laptop you could use Neural nets to reprogramme the control systems on the fly. Say for more power, speed or fuel efficiency.
It shouldn't be 'too' hard to do and could adjust to the wear of the engine &co. over it's lifetime.
It could even have a special emmissions test mode.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
it's "most haiku made here" (sorry for the mistake), and i forgot : it must evoque a season or period of the year in the first verse.
Have to agree with this. On non-forced induction cars, all you're doing is removing any safety margin built into the current map by playing with timing. Advancing ignition may give some benefits but runs the risk of det, or pre-ignition, or pinking, or pinging, or knocking or whatever your locality calls it ;-)
;-) ) but runs the risk of det again which'll knacker your engine pretty damn quickly.
With a turbo on the car, things start getting more interesting as you can get more air into the engine, which means it'll need richer fuelling to achieve anywhere near stoich (or even safety
With the Impreza, which is my weapon of choice, the map is incredibly rich before doing anything... The general concensus is that this is done to keep engines from going bang, as out of the box they'll come with between 218 and 275BHP from a 2 litre engine, along with a 3 year warranty.
Tune them simply and carefully and for a little money you'll see high 200s from them. Beyond that, my opinion is that your internals will need some consideration - particularly con rods and those little gudgeon pins which hold your piston heads on.
The fact that people have done what manufacturers think is impossible is a cause for some small celebration in my eyes, and allows the little guys to stick a finger in the air to those who would have them only use franchised dealers with the necessary hardware to talk to the ECUs...
If you've never experienced the scent of nitro and flashing flames of a Thunderbird overclocked to 3200 MHz starting Quake III Arena in 4 seconds, you're missing world-class performance art!
evoking seasons,
can be extremely hard for
haiku newcomers.
Carsten "Russ" Meyer, editor at German c't magazine, has a few pages (in English) on hacking his Chevy Camaro Z28:
Tuning the PROM
Diagnosing the ALDL
Cool.
I'm not planning to go that far, but I'll be buying an Auterra OBD II Scan Tool interface for my Palm. Lots of interesting information about what's going on under the hood.
"There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
Mind you, it's far more effective to use an aftermarket ECU.
Check out http://farnorthracing.com to see the team website, and http://www.gems.co.uk to download the software I use.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
What you say can be taken in a different way though. Instead of having computer-controlled fuel injection delivering unbeatable performance only to the big boys, it might also work to level the playing field.
When I was into motorcycles as a kid and read everything about them, one of the buzz-words that popped up most often when writers talked about high-performance motorcycles was 'unobtanium.' One of the biggest advantages enjoyed by teams from the biggest companies was access to parts that were engineered to the n-th degree and racing was a game between big companies that was won by the one that could put the most thought into producing advantage by exploiting ever-narrowing margins of difference between machines; 'first make it out of magnesium to make it light, *then* drill some holes in it to make it lighter.'
In any field where hacking the hardware provides the main advantage, the big boys have more, but the value of these innovations evaporate as the technologies they employ become understood by more people. The ability to influence performance through software can be said to improve things for whoever has programming talent.
A small company might not be able to turn half-a-dozen world-class engineers loose on piston head design, but a talented coder can do things that have no material basis, exploiting interrelating factors to improve performance that don't start out life in a cad program like fuel-air mixtures/tire-pressure/tire-temperature and composition.
A ceramic engine block is one thing, but really understanding how *your* vehicle's engine works in a turn and getting the last inch of *extra* out of it might be something that not even a major manufacturer can replicate easily.
To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
"Yeah. It smells, too..."
here
there
everywhere
And remember the two rules:
Oh yeah, and the third rule:
Anyway, I hope you find the other links useful. Lots of information (of varying quality) in those threads.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
You run the risk of injury just climbing into your car.
A well modded car will be unique, satisfying, should give better performance, might give better fuel economy (really) and allows the tuner to tune to meet their requirements. You want lazy low down torque? Fine. You want all top-end BHP madness? Done.
F1 gearboxes have been fully automatic for most teams for a couple of seasons now. They retain the ability to do manual gearchanges if the driver wants to, but that almost never happens.
They are not torque-converter slushboxes like passenger cars. These are sequential-gearchange boxes like motorcycles, with hydraulic-actuated, computer-controlled shift mechanisms. There are zero drivetrain losses compared to a full-manual version, and they outperform a driver shifting in every respect.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Yes! There's loads of information out there...
:-)
The interface in some cars is called OBDII (On board diagnostics) - see ODBII.com, which incidentally claims that all cars sold in the US after 1 Jan 96 have to be compliant...
Now the protocol that they use is something else. There's many flavours, but at least you can start hacking should you be feeling brave
There is, of course, open software to help and naturally it's on sourceforce here.
Plenty more information out there - just google.
Not only can the engine management engineer retune the engine on the fly during a race, most of the teams go even further.
Every team has what is called a "7-post shaker rig". This is an electro-hydro-mechanical device that places a hydraulic ram under each tire, plus 3 more attached to the aero centre for feeding in aero loads. By playing back the loads recorded by the car during operation by the position sensors, load cells, strain gauges, and accelerometers though these rams, the engineers can watch the car operate under real racing conditions in the lab.
Well, the bigger teams transmit the telemetry coming off the car during the race back to the shop in England, where the shaker righ data is played back on a duplicate car on the shaker rig in near real-time, so that they can keep an eye open for problems.
F1 has more money and technical ability than can be imagined.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Unless you an engineer of some sort, you will not be able to 'modify' your engine controllers behavior. You are left with the buying a chip option.
The only thing these chips will do is sacrifice fuel efficience for short term performance. Hopefully one can turn on and turn off the effect, but likely thats not possible.
Anybody who messes with something that is controlled electronically must be a terrorist!.
It isn't just about brakes. It's the maximum torque loading allowed by your gearbox, maximum heat buildup that can be allowed in the slushbox, strength of the universal or CV joints, side loading the suspension can take, aerodynamics, you name it. It takes several hundred people to design a car, and tens of expensive highly qualified engineers to do a proper job of uprating. If even companies like Mercedes occasionally get it wrong (A-Class)it should be obvious that it isn't easy.
I realise that this won't have the least effect on the idiots who think they are God's gift to automotive engineering because they can actually undo the bolts, replace the silencer with a noisenhancer, and do the bolts up...but why is it that the people who do these mods drive so incredibly badly? If the ones around here tried it on a real racetrack, the marshals would have them off before the end of the first lap, assuming they got that far without hitting something. Which is presumably why they do it on public roads, since there are fewer police on the roads than marshals on a racetrack.
The great thing about drag racing is that the thing only needs to stay together for a quarter mile.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Kenny Bernstein was one of the leaders in pushing for pit lane analysis via computer...many, many years ago. I believe he's turned that into a side business since then.
It is really impressive what parameters are monitored and what kind of telemetry they employ. F-1 is the same way...tons of analysis done real time. The Japanese (Honda), again, years ago, would transmit telemetry from the car, on the race track, from one of the many tracks worldwide...all the way to their labs in Japan.
For those with a bit more esoteric interest, note that originally, physics types deemed it impossible to obtain trap speeds in the 300mph range...that was before the spinning tire effect was carefully considered.
Well, to be honest, I don't really enjoy spending my free time "experiencing the scent" of nitrous oxide.
What would be really cool is if they had a tranparent hood with some blue led cooling fans! Maybe they could even have a fancy water cooled engine!...oh wait, nevermind.
Jeff
stty erase ^H
I live in the uk... and it seems like the art of rodding is dying - most of the younger guys really haven't a clue, and drive around in tupperware-plastered, fart-cannoned shopping baskets - and these guys think they're fast!!
I think the fastest street-legal car we've ever had was a 7 second tubbed camaro a few years back - yet these 'boy racers' think their imprezas and pulsars are the dog's bollox - they need to be told dammit!! They're slow as shit!!! Plus they look like shellsuits on wheels.
Is anyone else concerned? For anyone into true drag racing and custom building, the future's looking grim.
Maybe they should! Ninnle Linux rules,of course.
actually 'nito' is nitromethane... the 'top fuel' in top fuel drag racing
While 330.88 MPH, 4.477sec, 8,000+hp fire-breathing nitromethane-burning supercharged fire-breathing Top Fuel dragsters are indeed performance art, and I'd love to see how they manage the engines on those beasts...this article was about a bunch of Civic prettyboys and their 220-300hp engines...sort of like talking about ASCI White, and then pulling out an Ars Tech God Box - nice piece of machinery, but nothing at all like what was mentioned.
It doesn't even really talk about the engine management packages or technology that much (the shining example is a fscking Palm program that adjusts your nitro boost on the fly); mostly just about how these kids are making their cars run in the mid-10s, at a piddling 120mph, with the likes of Real sports cars - the closing line is "This is about getting into something I built and whipping a 350Z. That's the best feeling in the world." Admirable perhaps, but not really a hugely tech-involved story.
I've been looking at MoTec ECUs for my 240SX, now there's some high-tech car stuff - the features and what it can do would make a car-savvy geek twitch and drool..basically full control over every electronic feature in the engine, with optional realtime telemetry. Notice the record-setting Civic uses MoTec, but they don't even mention it in the article; I guess Viper's ultra-l33t nitro Palm app ("Instead of using your PC, now you can sit in your car and change your whole system. The Palm Pilot has all your engine configurations. You can set it to full race mode in seconds.") is more technologically interesting than Ferrari's F1 engine management systems (and the ECU for virtually every other racewinning car out there).
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
The manufacturer I work for wants to know what the aftermarket shops are doing to change the performance of the engine. -- And before you ask, no it isn't so the manufacturer can copy their techniques. Believe it or not, we know what we're doing when we design these things! We want to know how the modifications will affect the drivability and warranty rates on these vehicles.
Fair warning -- watch for manufacturers to increase pressure on dealerships to detect people using aftermarket computer chips, so that they can start denying warranty claims for people who do foolish things like burning up their turbochargers by requesting too much boost.
Some of the technologies we've already implemented will be able to supply information to dealerships about whether any of the data on the computer has been changed, and when the computer was last re-programmed. That will allow the dealerships to catch the people who re-program their PCM (Powertrain Control Module), and then return it to the original program before bringing it back to the dealership for any repairs.
Help find a cure for Gidget.
do those things last? :)
A lot of people here say "Oh, great, the dudes do it better than the automotive industry themselves" or "wow, I got a 5% increase in HP! Damn!" - Engine longevity is important, however and I think those people that set up the system envelope for the engine electronics take that into account very seriously. You'd normally want your car to work for 5 years faultlessly with perhaps a minor repair before the 10 years. Using modded engines means extra wear and tear, also on the supporting components. How long can it last for? Perhaps a year?
I miss my rubber keyboard.(Homepage)
Just get a K&N filter (or a shiny CAI if you wanna show youir enjun to the chickies), a good set of headers and an exhause (Apexi makes really nice ones, specially if you can kluge an N1 Dual to fit) and throw in a chip - you'll be around 280-300, with very close to stock reliability; a kid i know did this to a very early US WRX, one of the first 500 in i think, and it's still running smooth as silk 70,000 miles later. Embarasses Z06s and Vipers, all for about $3000. then you have that much more to dump into the suspension; a well-done WRX with good coilovers, full tie/strut bars, and really hard bushings handles soooo well...
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Well,I got as far as the second sentence where it mentions racing a Honda Civic and I can't read anymore. My brain has activited it's "Fast and the Furious" automatic defense system. I'll try again when I'm drunk enough.
Chika Chik-ah... do-e ow ow.
On a non-turbo, street legal car, the best you can expect is a 10% power increase
10% is not significant?
before you rank on all cars from the land of the rising sun, keep in mind that not all of us who drive them want to put stickers all over them. I have a Nissan 240SX that i'm in the process of building up, and it hasn't got a single sticker on it. Not gonna, either, unless i can get sponsored.
Bottom line is, i bought the car because it was cheap, efficient, very reliable, looks mighty nice, and handles like a dream (they hit it really well with that chassis; it's a lot more compact and nimble than the 300ZX while feeling a lot less claustrophobic inside). i want to make it into a ripping fast sports car, although on the track instead of the strip, and since i lack the money for an M5 (damn straight - if i buy a BMW it will seat 5 comfortably), i settled for the best available solution.
ps - imprezas aren't slow, i thought they sold the WRX STi Type R 2-door over there for awhile?
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
...at least in the MR2 Turbo mods race, it kind of goes like this:
o bigger air/exhaust pipes (the cat remains a constriction)
o bigger turbo
o higher capacity fuel injection rails, jets and pumps.
o ECU mods with new/more injection maps and timing maps.
o Maybe NOx.
Too bad the transmission is kind of weak.
I miss my MR2...
The article talks about Hondata which works on Hondas. An example of almost the exact same thing in the Mitsubishi world can be found here:
http://www.dsmlink.com
That software was derived entirely by brute force decryption of the '95 Mitsu Eclipse turbo ECU code. We actually wrote the thing before we knew anything about Hondata. Once it was released and I started looking around a bit more, I realized the Hondata guys had done something almost identical with the Hondas.
Thomas Dorris
Racing used to have a driver and a mechanic in each car. The mechanic was responsible for keeping the vehicle at it's top performance. (Sometimes by reaching into the motor to make adjustments to the carb. I don't see the differences between a mechanic on the sidelines with a lap top, telemetry link and computer control system to make those same adjustments.
Tisha Hayes
I meant the data gathering/telemetry business is a sideline. I'm sure Kenny is still racing...can't wait to see his smile next season, and John Force's dirty driving suit.... :)
Having learned all I know about car racing from GTA: Vice City, I'm surprised to learn there's no rocket launcher behind the hotel.
Cynicism is the natural defence of the romantic.
No matter how much HP you get a Civic to, it's still a civic. I had 20(+/-) year old guy and his girlfriend in a Civic SI come up next to my 427SC Cobra replica that I built (412hp, 420tq & 2200lbs total weight) and try to run me from a roll at 65mph. I don't care how much ECU tweaking someone does, there is: a) No replacement for displacement b) HP/TQ to weight ratio is KING c) "NAWS" on a stock motor will only last so long d) If your driving a Civic and want to roll against a open-side-piped, fire-breathing light-weight 427SC Cobra, you might want to have your head examined. ...and the girlfriend thought it was the funniest damn thing when I left 2 black lines for 100ft down the interstate...
On the technical side - Most of the ODBII compliant ECU's take a lot of time to crack. Many folks have done it on different models, but an easier way is to piggyback them most of the time.
Syllables it is you must be counting, not words.
Cynicism is the natural defence of the romantic.
Reverse engineering the control modules.. smells like a lawsuit from the Big 3.
While i think it silly, this year has already started out being the year of the 'DMCA lawsuit'.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I think there are standards for the buses on cars.
And there are quite a few.
'Much has been made of the industry-wide IDB or ITS Data Bus development effort'
A bit of info?
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
One of the advantages of the F1 guys going crazy is that their stuff trickles down to us little guys.
Shaker rig time is now cheap enough that even small teams like mine (hey Malda! Wanna sponsor a race car?) can afford it, once and a while.
http://www.morissdampers.com offers 4 and 7 post shaker stuff.
The only reason I haven't used it is that I don't (yet!) have the data to drive the rig. It wants 4 suspension position sensors and 4 wheel accelerometers as a minimum.
But even then, there's still stuff to be learned from even simple stuff like frequency sweeps. The NASCAR guys recently discovered the Ohlins rig in North Carolina, and it's been booked solid for a year now.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
ITS/IDB data bus
Hack away...
I suspect Les Gasser really meant Nitrous, as in Nitrous Oxide.
Here I found the following:
My wife owns a Honda Civic, it's the bog standard 4 cylinder DX model. It's fuel effecient, it keeps my family safe and it gets my lovely wife where she needs to go. 22K miles so far and it's not had any major problems. So far as I'm concerned it's just a nice family car.
Every single day we will be driving and see some other moron in a Civic with those ludicrous big mufflers and a silly looking spoiler. Pet hate of mine. Yes.
So, what's the deal with Civics? Really easy to modify or just fashionable amongst the kid racers of the world?
Kids with big mufflers pretending to be drag racers aside (they usually Darwinize themselves within a few months, or simply grow out of it) I've seen some really impressive Civic mods, like the one in the article. I'd be interested to hear comments from those mature Civic owners.
Kids with big mufflers and silly spoilers need not reply.
So, I was looking out of the window at the traffic down below, and I've come to the following conclusion: tune your car all you want. They all wait at the lights at the same speed!
OK, I know... racing tracks, Autobahn etc. I've noticed that most cars seem to be capped at 250-270 km/h (155-170 mph). Mine certainly is, but that's actually fast enough for me. I don't drag race - if anything, I end up sitting in a jam on the Autobahn, at the same speed as everyone else - zero (see first paragraph). So much for having no speed limits. :-(
Now for something completely different: Audi is taking the record industry to court.
It seems that customers have complained that certain CDs won't play in their cars, and Audi wants the record companies to pay to have the car CD players fixed/changed, as they are producing non-standard CDs.
I heard that two days ago from an employee of said company. It must have been an internal announcement; haven't found anything on the web about it yet...
-- Steve
.. Mostly if you have a turbo. Or, in my case, two.
My S4 has gone from about 250hp to 330hp. And I can feel it all. Before and after - the change was amazing.
Sure, I need to be a bit more careful warming up and cooling down the car. I can live with that. And actually, ever since I've gotten the increase in performance, I put the pedal down LESS. That's weird.
There's also some other very cool tuning.. I have a Vag-Tool which allows me to hook my laptop up to the car and monitor (and change) settings/data in realtime.
Since I've had that, I've made the following changes:
- Holding down lock on my keyfob for about 3 seconds will roll up all windows, close the moonroof, *and* lock the car
- The other way around - holding down unlock for a while opens up all the windows, etc.
- My tiptronic transmission now will not automatically shift out of first gear. (VERY NICE)
- My tiptronic transmission now lives in a non-stop "sports mode"
Now, only if this company that makes the interface/tool would provide hooks into the data collection portion of their app - I could write some realtime graphing utilities..
Has Linus seen The Fast and the Furious yet?
Kernel 2.6 really needs to incorporate some NOS flow control, otherwise we'll top out at 140Mph!
You ought to try a MX12 MX-5 (Miata to you Americans).
The stock 1,.6 was 116 BHP - mine, presently supercharged is safely running at 180. I did, however have to add safety features, such as a piggy back ECU for timing control, a knock sensor, a water-air charge-cooler, and a 5th injector (programamble as well) to stop my engine going bang.
As to the engine taking it, here in the UK we have turboed MX-5s that have been running at 240-260 BHP (100% increase) for several years now with no problems, and in teh US some of the relaible cars are up to 300+ BHP - this, BTW is all without the use of nitrous.
no, he meant nitro.. nitromethane
These people are obviously mildly retarded.
Everyone knows that the engine has very little to do with racing performance.
It all boils down to the simple concept that if you want to be faster, you are going to need a Type-R sticker, some huge chromed wheels on the rear wheels (regardless of FWD or RWD) - or at the very least some chromed hubcaps that look like alloy wheels (the other racers won't know the difference).
you need a monster spoiler, some racing decals, and a coffee can sized exhaust tip.
If you want the power of nitrous, but don't want the hassle and/or cost of an installation, you can just clip a small fire extinguisher to the A frame of your car and other racers will know that you are faster.
All of this talk of "engines" and "chips" just shows a general ignorance about cars that I personally find appalling.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
The first could conceivably lengthen the life of your engine, assuming you're not out abusing the hell out of it from every stop light -- though I imagine that is the precise reason some people mod it in the first place. But the chip mods and such are going to be putting stresses on the engine that it wasn't explicitly designed for, otherwise they would have put the higher performance mod chip in there in the first place (assuming the mod chip affects more than just fuel efficiency -- i.e. torque, hp, rpm-limit). That's why I don't think I'd ever chip mod my daily driver.
Relatively speaking.
If you can give a car a 33% power increase and almost 100% torque increase by reprogramming the ECU *ALONE* (example: VW/Audi 1.8T), then a 10% is really not that significant.
To answer your question, as long as fuel is there and you aren't detonating, longevity isn't significantly affected... but thats not the point.
.. and I'm not expecting my supercharged, hondata controlled civic to run 200,000 miles either.
Think about those fanatics who are tweaking their bios settings for that 5% increase.. or overclocking their stuff fast enough to heat the room. Its the same thing. The same drive. The guy overclocking his Athalon 1800 to 3gig isn't concerned about longevity.
damn keyboard... :)
If you look at the performance improvement 10% more power gives you, then no (10% more power !=10% more speed).
Congrats. Its not about 'racing' per se. Its about a hobby, an interest, a way to spend time doing something challenging. Some people get their nuts off building computers, some writing code, some hacking corporate networks, whatever it is - but they enjoy doing it. I dont know if you are a happy man in your life, but to say people are 'mildly retarded' for doing something not only that they like and something challenging to them, but something that would send most people off with a headache because of the complexity of what it is they are doing is simply a ill-guised and idiotic statement. TUning an engine requires that you have knowledge of mechanics, thermodynamics, physics, and chemistry. You dont just get in there and start guessing on what to change. Building your own EFI tuning system in the world of electrons, and then applying that to the mechanical world and actually get the results you want (or have the ability to predict the outcome of your next change) takes skill and experience I think very few people possess. Have you ever hacked an ECU and built your own engine? Could you even do it?
My Nissan 200sx (10 years old) has an ICU that can be 'chipped' to provide enhanced performance. All from detecting the fuel in use, emissions from the engine and controlling the boost of the turbo.
Replacement chips can be bought from many different vendors and can increase performance (with physical improvements to the engine) from the stock 170BHP upto 300+BHP... for only a few hundred dollars.
Several companies like this exist. Check out www.giac-usa.com, they make products for primarily Audi and VW products. Basically it does things like remove the speed governor and let the engine rev for about 1,000 more RPMs before redline.
Not to mention upping the turbo boost pressure from 7 to 14psi, which translates to +50HP and +90ft/lbs of torque at the wheel. And a 2-3mpg gas mileage improvement over stock.
Wheeee
BMW released their new micro-processor (ooooh!) controlled ABS braking system when odd transient failures were reported by some customers - those that survived anyway.
It turns out that in certain excessively high RF environments the processor locked up. One such environment was while driving past one of those huge "Golf Ball" early warning radar stations so "popular" at the time.
I remember this because of the interesting discussion of what the fail-safe behaviour of a braking system ought to be:
void brakesPressed(BrakeEvent e)
}{
http://pgmfi.crx-forum.org/
These guys have some good stuff going on... Modifying Stock ECU's for datalogging, boost control, and of course Fuel/Timing...
All DIY, why pay $1000's for a Hondata or Zdyne?
-Henry
--- #@$DF@#2%@^%3^&*$%FRHG%%[NO CARRIER]
Oh I don't know about it being of no use to us roadgoing people. The AEM ECU in my car will be updated shortly with acceleration based traction control similiar to what the F1 guys have been using. :-P
Not sure I like this article highlighting to the masses that this kind of thing is being done though. It's all we need for someone somewhere with no clue to wake up and think that by gosh these people must be stopped! I'd hate to see programs like LS1-Edit, LT1-Edit, Hondata, and who knows what else banished in a fell swoop of legislation. Same with replacement ECUs - they're "off-road use only" but you just know some twit will see this and get a wild hair trying to please some special interest group. Thank God for SEMA!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Just a simple MSD ignition system.
:)
79 Z28, 350, 510 horsepower, 9" Ford, 456 gears,
Glide w/ Transbrake 12.04 best 1/4 mile so far.
No where to plug a laptop, and don't want one.
I am there to have fun, not work
Based on the following, it will be quite some time before the electrics are doing 320+mph and 4s in the 1320.
Some interesting Top Fuel dragster facts:
* One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8
rows at Daytona
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of
nitro per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded
747
but with 4 times the energy volume.
* The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.
* Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger
on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form
before
ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.
* Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output
of an arc welder in each cylinder.
* At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the
flame front of nitromethane measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above
the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from
atmospheric
water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2
way, the engine is dieseling from compression-plus the glow of exhaust
valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting
of
it's fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds
up in those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow
cylinder
heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.
* Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the
big end of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from
front
to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to
synchronization
with the pistons.
* To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an
average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track,
launch
acceleration is closer to 8G's.
* If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for
once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.
* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this
sentence.
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
ITs more a matter of "how many people will possibly hack the ECU and do we really care of they do?" The potential to blow your engine up is very much a concern to the owner, but to the manufacturer, they'd love to see you break things and pay for parts. There was already a case pertaining to exactly this topic - it had to do with ECU error codes. Car manufacturers were trying to lock it all down so only a limited number of places could perform diagnostics. This would have created a closed market for auto repair where you had limited options as to where you could get the car fixed - this would have killed the small-business auto-repair industry. The courts said hell no to that one. Since then, the ECU's for all practical purpose are open source - or at least to anyone who has the skill to open it up and read the code.
What year is your impreza? I thought that they hadn't been made with anything smaller than a 2.2 for the last 7 or 8 years, or a 2.5 more recently...
BTW I love my subaru, but I have a legacy (I am practical to a fault sometimes)
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
engines. Your 240sx can make a good bit more power with proper tuning too. Check out http://ashleypowers.com/Zemulator/Index.htm This is the one for my 300ZX twinturbo, but the ECU's are essentially the same and I will be coming out with a model for the KA engine.
that immense boat you've wrapped yout 883hp in probably weighs around 4000 lbs, while my little ricer is more like 2500lbs.
Shelby Cobras ran Ford 427 side-oilers and they weighed under 2,400 lbs.
2500lbs. Means i only need 550hp to have the same power-to-weight ratio, and therefore the same acceleration,
And how are you going to get 550hp out of your "normally-aspirated" engine, Ricer X? If you want to see what big-blocks can do with blowers, nitrous, etc., just watch any drag race. Have you ever seen a car turn the 1/4 mile in 5 seconds at over 300mph using a hot-rodded Honda Civic engine? Didn't think so.
Now let's talk drivetrain. Have you ever tried to get 550hp to hook-up with front wheel drive? Your only hope of beating the aforementioned 427 is if you race on snow.
and i still probably handle better.
Than a Shelby Cobra? Are you on drugs?
Front wheel drive cars with high horsepower handle horribly. That's why you don't see Indy, Formula 1, or other race cars with front wheel drive. Ever wonder why Ferraris, Corvettes, Vipers, and even Honda S2000s all have rear wheel drive? When you use front wheel drive, you are prone to all kinds of handling problems when you try to apply power while in a corner.
Starting with a Honda Civic in order to make a performance car is like starting with a 68K-based Mac to make a high-performance computer.
http://ashleypowers.com/Zemulator/Index.htm A little something I'v been building for market. :)
On the BMW mailing lists a few years ago, there was a guy who posted often about such issues. His name is Jim Conforti, and he makes one of (if not the) top aftermarket engine chips for BMWs. We are talking uber-geek here. He is one of the most knowledgable on the subject, and had to "defend" himself several times on the list to know-nothings who were spouting off. He was a nice guy, but if you riled him he could absolutely bury you with his depth of technical knowledge. Just seeing the information that he posted to the list, and knowing that he had 1000x more in his head, I realized that engine management isn't something you should just play around with. Maybe this is just from the BMW perspective, but I'll bet it applies to any engine.
One last thing - all the high-tech tuning won't do you much good unless you have a well engineered engine to start with. I have a 1988 BMW M3. 2.3 litre 4cyl naturally aspirated, with 198 BHP. (chipped to 210) This was made in 1987 folks, and there are few cars out there today that are engineered this well. In competition the engine put out well over 300 HP, and that was without any type of forced induction. But engineering something like this isn't cheap. But I have never driven a more fun car. On the track it is simply amazing.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
My dream has always been to modify my Ford Tempo to take a V12 Lamborghini engine and destroy everyone else out on the road. I don't really care if my car crumbles to dust after I destroy all of your cars - I'll take the Darwin award.
Wouldn't you be ashamed to be a person who mods his car or takes a great appreciation of fast cars only to be schooled by a Tempo?
I totally agree with your thoughts on custom imports being able to smoke a viper in the 1/4 mile. (Hell yeah the Skyline R34 GT-R is a marvel of import potential and power.) However where I disagree is with your assesment of the skill required for drag racing. While road courses are far tougher to master than the drag strip, there have been many a time where I've embarresed a guys by driving their car down the strip faster then they thought possible. Knowing how to hold a car for launch and being able to perform split second shifts right at redline is not an easy thing to master, not to even mention true powershifting or using a dog-greared trans.
Pioloting a high rev-low displacement car like most imports takes more knowledge because the launching characterics are so much more particular. I will also add that driving a stock viper to a fast 1/4 is painfully easy for anyone that can drive a manual...hold revs at 3000, dump clutch, a little wheelspin and your off.
However, dipshit, the ECUs are NOT open source. Sure, if you know what you are doing you can intercept the serial stream, decode the proprietary parts and defeat the seed / key algorithm. Then you can hack the interface. If you are lucky, you can open the ECU, identify an eprom and read the code. THEN you need to figure out what MCU was used, disassemble the code etc. Ok, now where are the variables used to control fuel / air / timing etc?
Next time do your homework.
Oh, Ford is moving to the PPC555 which is all internal flash with security so good luck. ;)
Oh really? That's a bit broad of a statement don't you think? Miata with turbos are making 1/3rd more power witha turbo on stock guts - no problem. Mustang Cobras are making about 50% more pwoer on stock guts. Toyota Supra make about 100% more power on stock guts if not more. you don't always have to jump into the engine and swap things liek cams , pistons, and rods! Tune it RIGHT and you're fine.
Also realize that auto manufacturers often do things in the tuning to compromise performance for political and warranty reasons. Look at the 93-95 ford Cobra fro instance. GT40 heads, intake, 65mm throttle body, 1.7 rockers, and revised cam got them what - 35HP more? Gimme' a break! The Cobra ECU had a crapy timing map in it because Ford knew that those parts would make mincemeat out of the glass T5. They even retarded timing WAY back on shifts and speeds over 85mph. The Miata has a funky tip-in timing issue too but for no known good reason. Manufacturers aren't perfect in their programming either - they actually make mistakes occasionally. Ask any FD3 RX7 owner if they've ever experienced a hiccup around 3K at part throttle. The inejctors actually will shut off under the right circumstances at that RPM - it's a BUG. These are the kinds of things that reprogramming will fix...
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
no, he meant nitromethane as in real quarter mile cars. nitrous is also used there, but it is most popular amongst the 'boulevard brawler' style of racer. actually, about 20 years ago when i started building cars, N2O was seen the same way that serious street racers see the chip kits now - a cop out for kids with too much of dad's money.
Formula-1 cars have used software to control several factors in the car for a few years now. Everything from traction control, ignition control to repairing the car remotely from the pit garage during a race.
Like with most things that rely on software, there is probably an accident waiting to happen. In the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix, 7 cars stalled it on the grid because their ignition control failed to work. This was the first race where the whole field was using them. Had this happened in the next race at Monaco there would of been a catastrophe due to the narrow road and the limited amount of time it would take to clear the field before the rest of the field comes racing through. Would of been red flagged surely but the RISKS are there. (Risks have always existed in motor racing, this is just a new spin)
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
outstanding... no karma for me, but that was much fun to read
i sell illegal drugs
i'd say that mucking around with your engine is actually no big deal - as long as it is NOT one with a computer. all the problems with cars started in the late eighties with the chips themselves. when working on what i would call (no troll intended) real hot rods, you actually have to work pretty hard to get something that can be as damaging as a slightly whacked computer. Generally, if you F it up it won't start, or if it does it sucks a valve or bends a pushrod immediately. About the only thing you can do then is dump a lot of N2O in an engine that isn't tuned for it (12:1 or higher compression comes to mind for the amateur) and then you will have what is called in the business 'catastrophic engine failure' when you push one or more of your con-rods through the side of your engine block or, as one of my fine friends did during a time trial, straight through the hood of his car half way down the track. Ah, the good old days!
Geez, Kids these days get all the credit....
I was hacking my 1987 Buick GNX waaay back in 1987. 231ci, 550HP, 700+ft/lbs of torque. All
on pump gas. No nitrous. Well, I guess pushing 24psi of turbo boost through a freon cooled inter-cooler was kind of cheating....
http://astro.temple.edu/~kmr/Chauffe2.mp3
http://t04r.com/
;-) Did you upgrade the internals or leave them alone? MUCH more impressive when you don't have to dive into the motor and start pulling out pistons and rods isn't it? You retain A/C, heat, stereo, and comfort? ;-)
BTW - is that 883 at the wheels or the crank? Sure hope it's at the wheels or you're going to get spanked in the HP wars
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Top Fuel Engines ONLY turn 540 revolutions from light to light!
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
Its kinda fun. NirtoMethane shares many of the same ingreadients (Namely Nitric Acid) as Tear gas. Ahh, a day at the track, coming home and have your eyes running, your throat and nose burning, happy, happy days.
Prices have dropped fuirther than you realize! www.aempower.com\bbs is th esupport board for the AEM PnP computer. It covers Hondas, Supras, Miatas, FD3 RX7, and a Ford application is about to come out with many more on the drawing board. This puppy costs LESS than $2k! You DO need a laptop and W/B O2 to tune it but it's a terrific value.
:-)
Holly has their Commander series which is decent and SDS has a pretty decent setup that uses a handheld programmer - it's running a pile of fast cars!
If all of that doesn't suit you look into the DIY-EFI mailing list for their project. You can also look into LT1-Edit and LS1-Edit for many GM V8 cars, that software allows reprogramming of the stock ECU. Hondata mentioned in the article does much the same thing using an emulator chip and some PROM burning software. This stuff just keeps getting better and better
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Ontario (Canada) gouvernment wanna pass bill 241 which makes illegal any modifications on the engine. Even cone filter. They said that it'll prevent street racing.
Someone has to set the bell curve. :) You sure about that torque figure though? Seems a bit high for a V6 pushing only 550HP.
Do some research twit!
It all started when some people figured out that the larger Integra motors would bolt right into the 5th Gen (92-95) Civic chassis, and really pep up the car.. after awhile news spread, and it was becoming a very popular swap... Eventually, like anything, the aftermarket just swamped the market with cheap, poorly made "performance" parts... and thus "Ricing" begun...
finally after "The Fast and the Furious" hit the theaters, it became commonplace...
I have a CRX that's been completely worked over and I take offense to people bashing on the Civic modifying... Some people just don't understand going fast for cheap.
-Henry
--- #@$DF@#2%@^%3^&*$%FRHG%%[NO CARRIER]
An EPROM emulator will allow you to change ANY part of the code in the ECU. It turns the stock ECU into a fully manageable EFI system.
Anyone else notice the Amazon.com affiliate link snuck into the story? No? Well he's gonna make a pile of money. Err. Yes.
The Welkin: Online Music Reviews
Of course ECU hacking alone won't do it. You're missing 2 very important pieces! The fart can exhaust and the stickers! Everyone knows it's the STICKERS that make the car fast!
...and the point of all this useless information is WHAT?
heh. "a guy i know strapped a Jato to his Dodge Dart out in the desert...." i'd be willing to bet it's more like 275. $3000 for a 50 hp increase is a pretty lame ROI. i could spend $3000 on a 6-71 roots blower for my big block Chevy and probably get at least 200 hp increase....
Do they run under Ninnle Linux?
I agree for the most part with the stereotype that honda drivers think stickers make you faster. I've always got near bone stock Honda driver thinking they can take me on. But the most annoying is the newer model camaro/firebird owners. You don't seem to fall into that category as you have done modifications to your car, still I can't go a week without some bone stock new camaro thinking he has something on my '71 Charger, '73 Roadrunner, or '70 911. Every single time they get humiliated, but camaro owner after camaro owner steps up to the plate. I think most camaro owners are buying the sticker makes cars faster hype and judging their ability on the fact that they can beat a honda with stickers.
NitroMETHANE (or 'fuel' as we call it), not nitrous oxide (or Nawwwss as the ricer's say) and don't forget the burning rubber stench!
Safety margin, sure, but they have to engineer for people who might not put in premium all the time. If you're into performance you (hopefully) know what you're up to =). Many of the chips for Tegs actually lean out the mixture a bit because they assume you are using quality gas, and therefore make more power while getting better mileage. Remember that octance actually makes gas burn slower, so if you use good gas you can tweak the ignition appropriately and get a good amount of power.
The NA model we've had over here in the states for a while was a 2.5, but the new turbos are 2.0s.
Any sort of non-driver-initiated braking is illegal in F1. Traction control for the drive wheels is allowed, however that must be done using the engine, not brakes. The engine either non-fires cylinders to reduce power, or slips the clutches, or both.
In the grand scheme of things is anything important? The sun will eventually burn out, probably long after the human race is extinct. You wont be around either. We're just passing time here.
Check out the discussion forums at these sites, aftermarket parts or performance areas. I know that a simple box put 50hp and 150 lbs of torque in my pickup instantly. There are other boxes that can add to that also. These mods seem to be much more of a value in diesel engines compared to gas. I believe there is much more room in this area, not too many truck drivers are geeks or hackers. There are people making close to 800hp and about 1700lbs of torque in a dialy driven pickup that stil gets 20+ mpg. If I had known how responsive the mods were I would have bought a diesel pickup 10 years ago. http://www.dodge-diesel.org http://www.turbodieselregistry.com It is so much fun to leave a ricer in a big cloud of black smoke, even more fun to spank a $120,000.00 Mercedes with a 7500 lb "bubba truck".
The normally aspirated Imprezas are 2.5s.
:)
The turbos (as used in the WRX) are 2.0s, I believe. Less inertia, easier to get spinning at higher RPMs, and smoother in general.
Of course, since all Subaru engines are horizontally opposed all-aluminum (They were originally designed to be aircraft engines), any Subaru engine is pretty smooth to begin with.
I don't have a Subaru myself, but if I had the cash I'd seriously consider a WRX. If Subaru made a mid-to-large sized convertible (Comparable in size/trunkspace/interior room to a Chrysler Sebring) I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
How long until some smartass starts using the DMCA to stifle competition in drag racing now?
Way back in 1983, Saab introduced a system called APC (Automatic Performance Control) which controlled boost from the turbocharger. If it detected knock, it could open the wastegate until boost descended to a safe level.
The coolest thing about the APC is that it's an analog computer. Want to turn up the boost? No problem! Just grab a screwdriver and crank the potentiometers a bit. Lots of fun.
Where are my mod points when I need em'...
Does anyone notice the parallels between this and the PC world?
i.e. manufacturers tuning hardware drivers to give "false" results on specific benchmarks?
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Some people just don't understand going fast for cheap.
GM F-bodies (camaro/firebird) are cheap to buy and there are more sbc 350 aftermarket parts than any other engine in the world - always thought it was too bad that they got a 'white trash' image or maybe it would've been them instead of civics
Don't forget the stickers and large exhaust tip. Every 20 year-old knows that those two items will give you another 78 horsepower.
I stand corrected.
Here's a car computer hacking related book: Ford Tuning Secrets Revealed
...must....submit...plug...
Look at VW. The same 1.8L Turbo engine in the lowly Jetta/Bora/Golf/etc all the way up to the top of the line Audi TT. Most of the components are the same. Apparently they detune the engine on the VW's so that it doesn't compete performance-wise with the more expensive Audis. My 1999 Passat gets 150HP, where as the TT gets 225HP (it also has some other features that improve power too, including IIRC a second turbo). I can chip it for an extra 40HP. This is considered pretty safe and within spec for the components (which are also shared with the Audis).
Keep the stock filter on a WRX. You will loose about 4HP with the K&N. Forget the CAI, headers, and exhaust. Start with a catless up-pipe and some engine management. Once you've done all that, then you can move on to the coffee can exhaust.
And for the love of God, get rid of those RE92s.
The 2.5RS is, well, 2.5L.
The WRX is 2.0L with a decent-sized turbo. It's only 2.0L because that's the maximum allowed for rallying.
The WRX STi is 2.5L, also with a turbo. If it came in wagon flavor (at least in the US) I'd have already traded my plain-WRX wagon in, but it doesn't. I think I'm going to rob a bank so I can have both.
Of course you feel gypped. This is a human-interest story about what "people like you and me" do in their spare time. Hence the headline drew you in. Once you plop down the 50 cents, lotsa luck finding any actual info.
Lame stories like this are why alternative media (fansites, alternative weeklies, zines, P2P, slashdot) exist.
On-topic: I'm planning an alcohol intake fogger for my motorcycle. "Intercooling," octane boosting, and emissions reduction in one fell swoop. I can refill at most drugstores, and the only modification to a stock part is a hole.
I remember when I first went to the Pike's Peak Auto Hill Climb in 1985. One of the newest things out that year was a computer that could retune the car for high altitude as it raced up the mountain. Since the starting elevation is about 8,000 ft (I think Colorado Springs is 7700 -- and the Pike's Peak highway is a few miles up Ute Pass leaving the Springs) and the finish line is just over 14,000 ft at the summit of The Peak the chip had a pretty wide altitude range that it had to work in. Now EVERY car that races on the Peak on July 4th has a chip to do something similiar. That year, in 1985 Michelle Moutant, from France, won in an Audi Quartro and now everyone also runs 4wd cars as well.
Restore America: Dr. Ron Paul for President!
So you go out and spend £50,000 on a top of the range Mitsubishi Evo or Subaru Imprezza, then spend money on chip mods and reprogramming the engine manangement to get the maximum possible performance.
And then some wee nyaff on an out of the box, bog standard £5k Suzuki GSXR-600 comprehensively blows your car away with respect to performance.
Oh dearie me.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
I guess this is a good excuse to post this fine example of the precise, computer-controlled fuel management of an F1 engine.
:-)
This particular engine is a 10-cylinder Asiatech F1 engine, running through a pre-programmed warmup procedure.. and somebody had a little bit of fun with the programming.
http://zzz.com.ru/asiatech.mp3
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
Do you have one to share?
Hi,
: ;) Yummy. We have had cars go from 270 HP to 332HP with nothing more than good tuning. In my opinion, tuning is a GREAT COMPLIMENT to make all of your mods fall into place. From a performance angle, not much will be had if the computer is your ONLY modification. (unless you want driveability tweaks).
:
;-)
:
:( But if anyone out there in slashdot land has an class 2 spec sheets they wanna send this way, let me know! (cbeyer@dgai.com)
I reprogram PCM's as a part time hobby for GM vehicles. I must say that the article is a little off, but basically its decent.
Two issues they didn't do a good job of covering are
#1 - Not all cars will get 30 HP, etc. Some cars won't get much at all. Most NA cars that I work on, we are lucky to get 10 HP out of them. There isn't that much to find unless the factory did that poor of a job with the inital calibration. On the other hand, on heavily modified cars, we've gained 60 HP on some setups. Some of the cars we do come stock with superchargers and the timing/fueling is very weak. In addition to that the owners of the cars have doubled the boost by the SC and added intercoolers.
#2 - It is inherently dangerous to just try to hack your own chip without knowing what you are doing. For the most part, it will be nearly impossible to do this yourself without inside information or a lot of experimentation. Things to overcome are
#1 - Security Implemented by Manufacturer
#2 - Locating necessary data
#3 - Understanding the encoding of the data
I've spent 2 years to figure out one line of vehicle; however, that 2 years allowed me to write my own flashing/editing program. Like the people in the NYT article I just plug in a laptop and go, no chip removal here.
Other things to realize are
This is an ongoing "battle" per se as every year the structure in the progrmaming changes slightly, along with memory locations, new features, etc. Also with OBD-III around the corner that will get interesting as well.
I don't have much work on the import scene as I usually work on what i own (domestic).
Thanks!
see http://pgmfi.crx-forum.org
:)
A collaborative, open-source inspired effort to reverse engineer honda ECUs, and make a freely available product with comparable features to hondata.
Come check it out...
Heh,
One of the first drag races I went to was at Carlsbad Raceway in 1985. I was there for the USGP motocross and was hanging around on Sat. qualifying. They were having drags on the strip, so my brother and I went over. I was standing right behind where the cars would stage. I could see the race from their perspective (sort of). Well, that lasted one burnout, I had no idea as much rubber would come off the tires and end up as little rubber balls that were thrown incredibly fast back at me....
I decided to sit in the stands after that.
BTW, I remember Kenny B was using "computers" in his funny cars back in '81 or '82. They were more data recorders than anything. They would remove the units and download the data to be analyzed. Most other crews at that time relied on seat of the pants analysis from the driver, and tech inspections of the teardowns.
Funny aside, does anyone remember when the Dallas Cowboys would use statistical analysis to make edu cated guesses on what plays the other teams would run given their past history? This was like the mid '70's. I remember my grandmother would get so pissed off that because "they were using computers" and it was unfair.
WTF? Over?
That sounds like somebody with the cardboard tube from a toilet roll!
To give you an idea of this acceleration, the current TF dragster elapsed time record is 4.477 seconds for the quarter mile. This means that you could be coming across the starting line in your average Lingenfelter powered "twin-turbo" Corvette at 200 mph (on a FLYING START) and the dragster would BEAT you to the finish line FROM A DEAD STOP in a quarter mile distance! Unbelievable, but true ...
since at 200mph, it takes you 4.5 seconds to cover a quarter mile.
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
Why don't you read the F1 rules ?
Transmission
Transmission
Only two wheels may be driven and automatic gearboxes are banned
Each individual gearchange must be initiated by the driver
The minimum number of forward gear ratios is 4 and the maximum is 7
All cars must have a reverse gear operable any time during the race when the car's engine is running
Nitrous Oxide is indeed used, its sprayed into the intake as a fog with a lot of fuel. firstly it cools the intake gasses as it evaporate into gas, when it get compression heated to a certain temp it breaks down into n2 and o2 gasses endothermical greatly reducing ping/predetonation, lastly it releases a lot of oxygen. If the extra fuel stops something else will burn like your engine instead.
Nitro Methane is a fuel,called nitro or fuel, and is used in things from engines for RC cars and plane, go-carts and some drag racing engines. (it's also used in explosives, that's why McVey wanted it) Nitro has a distintive smell when its burnt and burns slow allowing engines to have a lot of compression and boost to make mega-power.
Nitro is corrosive to metal and a lot of plastics so its useage is labor intensive in engine applications.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
an interesing thing to compare however is BMW's SMG (sequental manual gearshift) which has the same drivetrain loss as their manual version (since there is no torque converter) which shares some similairities with an F1 gearbox.
The odd thing is, in a recent european car issue, they tested the SMG in its various sport modes and the manual still beat it, despite the SMG launche modes and being able to shift faster than any human possibly could.
The only reason I can think of this happening is that their drivers have much more familiarity with a manual than an SMG system. Everyone who has an SMG raves about it. I however and buying a manual M3 this weekend, mostly because i like a clutch pedal.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
This article is amusing. My favorite part is:
Mr. Aguilar's little car has just become the fastest non-turbocharged, gasoline-powered Honda Civic on the planet.
Later they say that his modified Civic could beat out a stock Viper or Porche. There's only so much power you are going to be able to get out of a little 4-cylinder engine. You can only bore it out so much and the more you bore it out the less reliable it becomes and the less ammount of miles you will be able to put on it.
The article also doesn't mention what else he did to it. They do say it's not turbo charged but they don't say if it's supercharged, has nitro or what. The fact of the matter is "There's no replacement for displacement." You will always be able to squeeze more power out of a Viper's V10 engine than you ever will out of a little civic. Civic's are cheap, that's why they are popular. There cheap and they have lots of add ons you can get.
Give 2 teams an unlimited ammount of money. Give one a Viper and one a Civic. Tell them they need to keep the same engine they started with but they can do whatever they want to it. The viper would win, hands down. A chip doesn't magically give you power, it just unleashes the power that the factory locked away to make the engines reliable.
-Chris
Check out the MegaSquirt project for a cheap (~$110 US) Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) controller. You can connect to the MegaSquirt, which is homebuilt, via a serial cable with a laptop/pc/whatever.
You too can customize your cars performance without the cost of a Formula car... =)
This one is worth checking into if you are serious about hacking your car. You get to put the kit together, too.... so it is a real hack, not just an aftermarket ECU you drop in that doesn't give you real control for tuning.
-Joe
Fire in the sky
heh, beat you to the punch, i have matched JWT cams and an ECU, with Apex'i N1 headers and exhaust (SO SWEET), ripped the restrictors off the airbox and put in a Filtercharger. i'd say it's ~190 by the seat of my pants, which is enough for the time being, until i get the N1 2000-spec coilovers, the Cusco replacement suspension links and bushings, and the lower tie rods and make the thing into a true handling beast. Then i'mm looking at a T06/07...mmmm....efficient horsepower...with a MoTec M4 of course :D
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
When I first started programming, I worked with a guy we all knew as RDH. He owned an audi, and at some point he started bringing the rom from his car in to work, and disassembling it. Then he tweaked it, burnt a new rom, and stuck it back in the car. This was five or six years ago.
I rode in his car a couple times. There were five or six big switches mounted on the passenger-side dashboard. I asked him once what they did, and all he said was "Don't touch those" (we were driving at the time).
Apparently he became relatively well-known in the Audi enthusiast community. A google search for RDH Audi turns up 656 hits. His initials are even listed in this page of Acronyms related to Audi.
that was a typo, morning coffee hadn't kicked it...should have been $1000, maybe $1200 (600 for exhaust, 300 for headers, 300 for ECU)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
>On the BMW mailing lists a few years ago, there was a guy >who posted often about such issues. His name is Jim >Conforti, and he makes one of (if not the) top aftermarket >engine chips for BMWs. We are talking uber-geek here.
Heh heh. and not only chips... JIm sells a "Shark Injector" which upgrades the OBD II software via the engine diagnostic port (such as my '97 M3) See Jim's site, or just do a search for "M3 Shark Injector". Combined with a cold air intake, there's a noticeable difference on the track (and, er, certain backroads too...) Happy Customer.
btw: R.I.P. BMW CCA Founder: Michel Potheau
I bought my civic (97 EX) in 97. Well before the phenomenon of what I refer to "punking" the cars became popular.
Its actually embarrasing to tell people what car I have, simply because of the "guilt-by-association" phenomenon. I am 30 years old, and I have talked to these kids and asked them: "why a civic?".
What I personally fail to understand, is after spending all of this money on modifying a civic, some (seriously) could have bought a real sports car and would have had no need at all to do that.
Of course the movie, "The fast and furious" which reaaaallly sucked IMHO (crappy acting, unbelievable story and plot) added fuel to this subculture. I just wish the kids would try to race lambourginies with another brand of tacky looking modified car. Hondas are reliable, maybe that is a justification.
I guess the next time I need to purchase a car, I will have to pick another fuel-friendly, reliable car brand to get me from point a to point b.
I am reading a lot of bad comments people making fun of modding up import and domestic cars/trucks. I own a '99 Chevy Xtreme and have spent a concideral amount on aftermarket parts. What people don't understand is that if I put altezzas, body kit and exhaust or whatever on my truck, it does not mean that I think I'm cool and can race anyone. I modify my truck because its a hobby and I eventually want to enter my truck in car/truck shows... not because I think im the shiat and want to race everyone.
* NOTE: yes there are fools that buy a huge ass grocery cart handle as a spoiler and want to race everyone in town...
Altezza's != Rice
Body Kit != Rice
...and drifting is orders of magnitude harder than keeping a car going straight, even if it is a 70 Camaro with 650+ rwhp. keeping a car straight really just needs an intuitive feel for how the car fishtails; you have to be able to feel the car starting to come around and be just a split-second ahead with a tinly little correction. it's not *easy* as such, but once you get the hang of it it almost comes naturally, without much thought. a full four-wheel intertial drift, where the force to slide the wheels comes soley from excessive corner speed (as opposed to brake drift or throttle drift, where you use a touch of brake or gas to slip the tires, see the Gran Turismo manuals for some good background) OTOH takes a lot more skill to learn, and to repeat over and over again, since the car will very rarely drift the same way twice, even through the same corner. the really hard part of that is picking your speed right, with a finely tuned car you only have a ~3mph window between no tire slip at all and a spin into the gravel (if you're dumb enough to be drifiting on public roads you deserve to hit the trees); you have to focus totally on the sounds of the tires and the squirming of the car underneath you. i'm not knocking drag racing; it's defintely a challenge to keep a car straight (i can't even imagine what 8000hp would be like), but in my somewhat limited expericence (i still need two more full days to get my SCCA license)a proper inertial drift is a LOT mre challenging than a proper drag race.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Ugh.
As a drag racing fan, I have to tell you: If you want to go fast, buy or build a race car. Stop fiddling with those little things that are made for getting you back and forth to work and build a great big V8.
If people don't start using these old V8's up, the rednecks are never going to stop driving 74 chevelles because they can always get parts.
Drag racing is all about burning up a motor every couple of weeks.. its mans' answer to pollution. Stop playing with those sewing machines and do it right.. use a V8. Keep throwing money at it till you have a 4 second car, and I'll come and watch you on the weekends, I promise.
No dude. nitromethane. Not nitrous oxide.
Many new cars are coming equipped with navigation systems. I haven't seen much info on the general hack-ability of those, but from my limited experience, they seem to be proprietary, embedded systems. So much for uploading my own apps. =P
Anyone have more info?
My 1999 Passat gets 150HP, where as the TT gets 225HP (it also has some other features that improve power too, including IIRC a second turbo). I can chip it for an extra 40HP. This is considered pretty safe and within spec for the components (which are also shared with the Audis).
Careful there - I believe the 150HP 1.8Ts used a smaller turbo; the turbo was enlarged starting with the first 170HP engines and has, IIRC, been the same on all 1.8Ts (170/180/225) since then.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
Yeah, but what they don't tell you is that if they tried to run the engine at full throttle any more than 5 seconds it'd melt. That's because the cooling system can't do jack and the only cooling they actually got is the engine's own thermal capacity. So they better get to that finish line in 4+ sec, or... kaboom!
I've never flown one, but the single engine piston fighters from the WWII era were exciting to fly/taxi due to the large engine.
Somewhere I read that taking off in a P-51 required no more than 75% throttle or it'd flip over on the runway.
The simulations I've seen on a Corsair made it about impossible to taxi faster than walking speed.
http://ashleypowers.com/Zemulator/Index.htm You can open the box, pull the ROM, read it into your computer and decompile it with Ida, just like I did. Nothing keeping you from doing that. But, I think you are referring to going the greasemonkey route and trying to tap into the consult port. Yeah, there's lots of problems with that. But the ROM code, which houses the program and reference maps, is not locked in any which way. The original article is talking about going into the ECU itself, not piggybacking through the consult port. Both OBD1 and OBD2 present interesting issues trying to go through the consult port, but that's not the scope of the original document. The code itself can be read and disassembled without any special program/hardware. There are no locks.
Here's something us Honda Draggers run (IE> My brother and I have built a 97 prelude in under a year that runs in the sub 12's from a 2.2 liter 4 banger.. the car still weighs in at nearly 3000 pounds. sleeving the engine, etc will be done soon so we can turn the boost up more (currently around 9psi w/9:1 comp ratio) and lighten the car up)... www.hondata.com
It's a modified ECU that allows you to adjust everything from A/F ratio's to the duty cycles of the injectors at different RPM/Boost/Load positions (called 3d mapping).
There's alot more to this stuff than the average persion thinks.
BTW> Newer cars with OBD-II SUCK! lol. You tune them, and within a few hunder miles the computer changes everything so it runs once again how the factory set it up (too rich for max power, etc)
If I want performance, just give me a recent vintage Northstar-powered Cadillac STS, with maybe a new blower and exhaust. Sub-6 second 0-60, 12-second quarter mile. Oh yeah, and fucking luxurious as hell inside: truly great Bose stereo, heated leather seats, and just total elegance.
VW also has a 1.9 Diesel which they sell in 90, 110, 130 and 150 bhp variants. They look the same, but on the more powerful engines, crucial components have been strengthened.
For the punier variants you can get chips: the 90 bhp version can be tuned to 130 bhp. But you lose the warranty, and I'm willing to bet that that chipped engine won't last as long as the factory 130-bhp unit. And that's the common situation. Why would the manufacturer vastly overengineer an engine (making it more expensive to build) when they can build a marginal one instead?
I know there are cases when overengineered engines do make it to production, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
And what is redline on these engines. Being pushrod based engines, can it be that high? This also goes to prove that power production doesn't have to be rev dependent. Where you have normally aspirated engines in Formula 1 turning well over 20 RPM's, a blown engine should't need to rev to this level and deal with the resulting problems.
Cheers,
BDKR
Ha.. my first reaction to the term 'neural nets' was someone hooking up their brain to the car - jacking part of their hippocampus into fuel and timing control (after all, if you can regulate your organics - heart rate, blood pressure, O2 sensors, etc. mechanical should be a piece of cake).
Which would be just great until a nice pair of tits walks down the street. Not only do you catch your breath but your car backfires...
http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/2003/01/08/busi ness/09rods.span.jpg
Sure it's a "10 second car", but what do you see inside? It's completely stripped, not even a passenger seat.
where's the chicks you're trying to impress suppose to sit? In your stock 17 second Civic?
If you want to impress the ladies pick them up in this:
http://www.databasemann.com/final.htm
Still gets 10s *AND* there's a passenger seat
http://www.databasemann.com/images/int3.jpg
Nothing like a turbo V8!
from article:
"Back at Hondata, a clearly pleased Mr. Rascon went over the final numbers on his car with Mr. Macmillan. "My mom says to me, 'Why are you doing this?' " he said. " 'I'm sick and tired of it. Let's go buy you a new 350Z or Lexus and I'll help you with payments.' "
Pretty obvious this kid didn't pay for the parts to make his car 10 seconds.
As they say, throw enough money at a car and ANYTHING can be fast, just look at the 10 second minivan:
http://www.turbominivan.com/
It seems that everyone here only speaks about cars. What about motorbikes? I Think all the people out there who are interested in tunning motorbikes know DynoJet parts. They sell Power Comander, but is that all? Do the big bike manufactures use OBDII oder EOBD either? I think the development progess of bike engines is years ahead of the cars ones... C. Bischoff
The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
Ah! But as soon as the 48V electrical system becomes the norm, you will be able to apply some of those 'old style' tuning tricks via software. With 48V systems will come electronically actuated valves (bye-bye camshaft, timing belt, lifters, etc). I predict that valve timing will be just another set of chip params, and that good ECU's will be fiddling with the 'virtual cam' timing dynamically.
Read it here first - I also predict that Cadillac's dream of the variable cylinder count engine will be realized - with electronic valve control, inhibit fuel injection, close the intake valve, hold the exhaust valve open and voila! You have one less gas-guzzling cylinder!
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
And ig you pull the throttle far enough to use it, you break the tattle-tale wire. This tells the ground crew to pull the engines for a complete re-build!
I own a 2002 subaru WRX which I am in the process of building up. The next major work is a re-programming of the factory ECU to tune things like boost, air/fuel mixtures, timing, etc. in order to gain the most power from the factory components without breaking the safety threshhold. All you need as a laptop, serial port and some adapters and the applicable software and away you go.. ;-)
On the subaru WRX you can get about 10-15% from remapping the ECU with no modifications to any of the negine components. With a new exhaust and up-pipe (connection from manifold to turbo) and the ECU reprogramming (for a grand total of ~$2000) you can get 25% more torque and HP (i.e. from 227 to 290)
DSMs are known to handle 400+hp at the crank on a completely stock engine. That scoobie shit is less than impressive.
Try the ECU firmware reprogramming and laptop interface offered by ZDyne in Canoga Park, Calif.:
http://www.zdyne.com/
It lets you map and control your precise air-fuel ratios in real time using your laptop. Straight from the Fast and the Furious!
heh heh...you drive a honda?? that's sad. Too bad you have wrong-wheel drive.
Nokians anyone?
...
Great tires - don't have a WRX (just a Saturn right now...), but
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
12s all day? not unless you swapped out your rear end. Those F-body rear ends snap more than a bowl of Rice Krispies.
And yes...Honduhs do suck. I prefer turbocharged AWD cars such as my Mitsu 3000GT VR-4 (360hp TT 3.0L V6), 99 Eclipse (380hp T2.0L I4), and one day I'll get an Evolution (T2.0L I4, 271HP stock...will runs low 13s at 100mph+ stock).
The LS1 is a nice motor though. If I were to get a V8 it would definitely be LS1 powered. Too bad the Camaro and Firebird interiors look like shit.
I dont care what you may say. Its the oversized spoiler and the stickers with unreadable fonts that make your typical street car go fast. Duh...
12s all day? not unless you swapped out your rear end. Those F-body rear ends snap more than a bowl of Rice Krispies.
:) ), seats are comphy and the overall layout is very functional. ;)
MMmm..not really. If your running 3.72 or better gears maybe..they are thinnner and weaker.
Believe it or not..my 12's are showing up on 2.73 gears!! They are thicker and can take more abuse.
I'm looking to bump em up to 3.42's this spring.
Also, we have guys in our club (MFBA) that are running low 11's consistantly on stock rears..
Yet I'd agree that its only a matter of time.
The LS1 is a nice motor though. If I were to get a V8 it would definitely be LS1 powered. Too bad the Camaro and Firebird interiors look like shit.
The camaro interior is BLAH.... But not the pontiac's. I've had many a camaro guy visit my Bird's cabin to walk away wishing their car looked just as good. The guages are where they need to be ('specially that 160MPH speedo
I hope you are not getting your opinion from MAGAZINES that have touted its 'dated appearance'..... Well.....that appearance is what the car is all about. I like the 'old gray' controls. Straight forward and functional. I dont want/need the politically correct knobs for the retarded/fat fingered/'must appeal to the masses' that seem to appear in all those imports..
Having driven on the real Laguna Seca a couple weeks ago, I had to get on GT3 and see how it compared. It was very close! There were some tiny differences: there's a bit of a dip on the inside of turn 6, which didn't quite make it into the game, and turn 5 seemed a little flatter than in reality. And IIRC, the game doesn't have any traces of the old track route, which in reality helps a little for coming into turn 2 (the hairpin). Even some of the scenery was the same: coming over turn 8 (the corkscrew), there are 3 trees at the far edge of the track which you can use to aim through the yet-invisible turn; they're just the same in the game (drive straight to the right-most one from your apex). My line on the real track translated exactly to the game with no changes, except braking and shift points, since the cars were different. A few of the impact walls are in different places, but if you've gotta worry about them, you've got a whole other set of problems. :)
10% may be for cars that are better optimized by manufacturers these days but older cars like my 87 bmw can see a gain of 20% in hp. Older cars can benefit greatly from ECU's. Even newer cars can still benefit even if they do not get an boost in hp. ECUs can do other things like change the rpms at which an autonatic switches gears effectivingly making accerleration quicker without boosting hp at all.
Choosing the lesser of two evils is a choice for evil.
Twice five syllables
Plus seven can't say much, but
That's Haiku for you.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Every time you think SlashDot is getting dull, somebody posts something wild like this.
Christ, what a diverse audience!
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by mere idiocy.
i currently own one of a handful of 11 second Subaru WRX's in the US. It is controlled by a electromotive TECIII stand alone engine management. Meaning that the stock puter is gone, no reburning of chips no swapping of modified chips, whole new computer with a few new sensors for timing. Well all i can say is a 500 horsepower subaru 4 door sedan sure is bad ass.
"500 inch" is a common expression meaning 500 CUBIC inches. Which is approximately equivalent to a metric car having an 8.3L engine.
Note that in the 1970s, Cadillac put out street vehicles (mostly Eldorados) with a 500 cubic inch (8.3L) V8 engine.
Granted, they were substantially milder than a Top-Fuel class derivative of the Chrysler Hemi, but it certainly should make any imbecile who thinks that Honda invented performance cars think twice before entering into a stoplight confrontation with a real car.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Heh, at least until that old crankwalk monster gets to 'em. DSMs have their own problems when breathed on.
I do know that Toyota and now Ford are using microprocessors that contain the entire flash image. They have the ability to set a securtiy bit and you will not be able to read it. Maybe you can take the chip off the board assuming you have the equipment to handle BGAs... The micros often are disguised. So when you use IDA, which micro is your target. It makes a difference.
I can't speak to the imports, much. I do know that the increasingly more popular method of relflashing the PCM is through the OBD connector. Take a look at Hypertech or Superchips or Diablo Sport.
And as to how this applies to DMCA, the above mentioned companies DO break seed key algorithms. They do bypass copyrighted security mechanisms.
Seeing as though Top-Fuel is primarily American-based, what makes the ricers think their cars are faster?
Now watch this drive.
Whether speaking of dragracing, circle track or road course, it is customary to use integer time. If someone lapped a motorcycle at Willow Springs at 1:27.98, then they would have run a 27 lap. That is common informal racing phraseology.
Street racing, I agree with you there. Too many unknown variables you can't account for. But, your comments about drag racing tell me that you have probably never driven or raced a fast car. Racing of all of the forms I have tried involved loads of adrenaline, road course or dragging. My educated guess is that you would probably have a difficult time getting that 10 second Civic within a second of it's best time. Racing at the top levels takes skill, nerve and realtime thought and evaluation. That holds true with cart racing up through F1. Heck, even Nascar where most races involve turning left several thousand times take skill.
Hmmm, so being "signed up" for track time in the future makes you qualified to bash forms of racing you have no experience with and say they are easy? I see a long and painful learning curve for you and hours of being skooled on the track by the real racers that will be running while you take your practice laps.
I just checked your website and see that you have a Porsche Boxster that you will be taking to the track. Don't be surprised to see many "lesser" cars passing you unless you are gonna run in the Boxster only races. If you are gonna take the high horse posture, you should have at least gotten the Boxster S. Buying a Porsche dosen't make one a racer, racing does that and judging from your attitude, real racers will enjoy spanking you on the track.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
No, it won't do you much good unless you have a detuned engine to start with, or you could say unless you have a powerful engine, because one of the following is nearly always true:
Hence a camaro with an L98 can be brought up to a higher level of performance than a corvette with an L98 (This is the 5.7 liter 350 with TPI) by using corvette cams and programming it with hotter settings than the 'vette engine. The camaro is detuned so as not to take away corvette sales, AND the corvette is not tuned to be as powerful as possible. I don't know if this is as true of camaros vs. vettes in the days AFTER the L98 engine was the common ground.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"