308 V12 conversion begins

2 M800s, plain or with TC (advanced functions). Data logging on 1 would be nice.

Now, I have a year and I need to pay for stuff like pistons, valves, ect in the coming months so I can assemble the engine, so only GREAT deals will be considered until I get a little closer to run day. I have connectors for 2 M800s here by chance so I can do all the wiring whenever and be ready to just drop the ecus in.

 

It could be made to work, but there would be a very slight bad stop when the relays clicked and before the map drops down.....it would work but not perfect and the transition spot would want to be a spot you don't cruise in. The 2 ecu on a canbus will be perfect...but more money that I don't have.

 

I got an update from cam guy. He’s on test grind 5. 1-3 were too square for his liking on the Ferrari base circle. Once he has a couple that at least look reasonable they will get measured so I can plug them into the sim software and see if we have a winner.

We'll see what next week brings.

 

Then we need to get you a job at motec

So I was having a nice professional discussion with the motec engineer about what I need, how to do it, ect.

Then I sent some pictures of the project and got:
"Holy crap dude, that’s an impressive amount of work."

Now I just need to get them on the sponsor list

 

Ok, so now that I have all the info on linking 2 M800s and 1/2 the world searching for cheap used ones, the plan is changing.

Motec has a new ECU due out "later this year" that has 24 injector drivers and 12 ingition outputs all in 1 ecu. There is at least 1 working prototype in the US so its real and it's working. No word on pricing, but it can't be double the M800 price I wouldn't think....maybe 50% more would be my guess.

I'm now looking for a deal on an M190....the be all end all ecu

 

I'm trying to convince the motec folks that they really need to let me beta test their new ECU.

It's looking like limited beat type release might be in the 6-12 month time frame and I ask you, what better place to test it could their possibly be ?

Plus it would give me a target completion date to hit and that would be good too.

 

I'm trying guys.....but so far for some strange reason they think selling stuff is a much better business plan then giving stuff away

I'm not sure how "ready" the new ECU is exactly, I'm getting mixed signals on it. It's coming, but I'm not sure of the time line. It seems the hardware is ready but as pointed out on my "design an ECU" thread, the code is the bigger part of the job and I'm unclear how much code is actually done. I'll keep after them.

 

Will do.

It's the weekend now so they will be mulling it over. There is still plenty of time....I need to get back on the engine and get the damn thing built and in the car. I just got back home a couple hours ago, I was down in New Orleans on business for a few days which set back completing the efi conversion car a bit....and delayed getting back on my heads. I'm going to push hard to be back on my car in 2 weeks. While I was a way the serial port adapted and a spiffy new oscilliscope showed up so Ireadt to be an euc installing fool when the time comes.

 

The stock 308 crank trigger si a reluctor type (a magnet with a coil or wire around it) and an oscilliscope is the only way to know if the 2 wires are connected correctly. If you can them backwards the ignition timing will progressively retard as rpm increases and the trigger signal may be unreliable. On my engine I with most likely use a hall effect sensor that is easy to get wired correctly, but it's still good practice to have a look at the signal coming off it for noise and such.

The motec ecus have sensor alarms to let you know when something is out of spec range and will light a check engine light if you wire it, thats a nice feature.

 

I talked to cam guy today. He's having trouble find lobe masters that match the specs I gave him which I guess isn't a surpise really. He's ground 8 or 10 test lobes now and the nose was just coming out too sharp and pointed for his liking. Most everything he's got has more duration than I would like too see at the lift I want, particuarly more seat to seat duration which means a milder ramp than I wanted which is partly to blame for the pointed nose and the other part is that it's just plain a frikin big cam I'm asking for to be put of ferrari's tiny little base circle cams.

I think we've settled on the exhaust lobe now at .408 lift, .250 degrees at .050" lift and 288 degrees at .010" lift - all measured at the cam so the net numbers will be something like .400 lift, 248 degrees at .050" and 282 degrees at .010. Not too bad.

On the intake I had to agree to 10 more degrees .050" lift duration than the 250 max spec I had given him to get the lift numbers I want. Another week while he plays some more then we'll be off and running. He'll send the samples out for a cam doctor test while he rough grinds the blanks so he's not stopped and I'll have the full profile numbers for the simulator before he's ready to do the final grind.

 

These are new billets so no welding is required up to about .500 lift and any duration. They are being done at American custom cam....finally.

I'm pretty sure the numbers I'm seeing say the cams are milder ramped then I was thinking which means it will be hard to hit the hp numbers....but I'm not sure until I see the camdoctor files. Joe is going by both the numbers I gave him and the shap of the nose of the cams avoiding anything with a nose that looks anything like as narrow as the stock 400 cams so I know there is good high lift duration in the grind, I just don't know how much. The simulator software will guess based on the .006" lift and .050 lift durations but it's only a guess and can be significantly wrong. I need the real file and if I'm not happy I can pull plug and switch grinds. Also I guess it's better to find I have too much duration than too little as I can always regring to make big cams smaller but too small is to small and there's nothing to done short of welding and I don't want to do that.

 

I forgot to mention. The exhaust lobe we’ve settled on is one they used to run in TR race engines back in the day…..as in full race cam.

I can’t use the TR race intake lobe though because it’s just not big enough…as in the full race cam is a bit too mild for my liking.

So the specs I’m looking for are slightly more aggressive than what is proven to make gobs of hp in race cars. Now it’s JUST a matter of taming the thing for the street.

Maybe now my insistence on things that improve low end performance like maintaining high port velocity and 24 sequential and staged fuel injectors is starting to make more sense