Cus' NA6

[bruce]

The guy at Vipac does respond to emails. Just bear in mind, he is the only guy doing the testing so he is very, very busy.

[Cus]

Nick (aka "The bloke at ViPac") does indeed reply to emails, rather promptly I might add - as bruce has said he spends most of his time sitting in cars testng away, so phone calls are literally the worst way to get hold of him. Lesson learned!

I sent one off this morning with a bunch of questions, and have a response with a bunch of answers!

In short, it's not going to be hard, or expensive. $650 for an IM240 test, which is indeed all you need for a completed "Emissions" section on an engineer's certificate. I just need to install the turbo and tune it with a view to passing emissions - which apparently is where most people get caught, the mentality seems to be "all of the boost" while the car is being tuned, not "will this pass muster"? Fuel and Oil leaks also catch people out.

As best I can tell, an AVO kit means I can skip this step somehow - type testing and all that - but there's also disconnected region in my brain as to how this works without them verifying the tune somehow .... like with an emission test. But it also means a non-AVO kit is an option too.

User-modifiable ECUs are not really an issue, Nick passes them on emissions regularly (if the tune passes that is) so I think that whole point boils down to if the EPA have decided to make your life hard or not.

ADR37/00 is indeed the emissions target to aim for, which is "the easiest standard there is to meet at the moment" - but also "double check with the engineer, there can be exceptions". Fitting a euro4 or euro5 cat also goes a long way towards making life easy apparently.

The only way this looks like it will be "hard" is the fact that I've spent (on paper) about 2 grand without even having selected a turbo to bolt onto the car - I think the misconception that it's "hard" must come from the fact that people see a turbo for sale on ebay for $2000 and assume that's the total price of bolting a turbo to their car then driving it down the road.

Now, onto the next stage, find myself a kit, and a tuner.

[smy0003]

Great info, Cus.
Thanks for sharing.

[NitroDann]

Hey man, I read a few posts recently after you PM'd me.

Id just like to say to all those who read that getting an emissions pass and passing sound/visual are totally achievable and really cost effective, Im more than happy to consult with anyone who would like to know more.

Dann

[speed]

We are so very lucky to have NitroDann in our community. Helpful, great advice and he builds some really cool cars

[NitroDann]

I just need to install the turbo and tune it with a view to passing emissions - which apparently is where most people get caught, the mentality seems to be "all of the boost" while the car is being tuned, not "will this pass muster"?

Actually you can pass the test WITH all of the boost, the test never asks the car to do a set of simulated street pulls or anything similar, all of the driving is very sedate, your outright performance wont affect the test.

Dann

[Cus]

Spoke with Dann, I still have a bit to do before I'm ready to bolt a turbo on.

I need to get busy!

[Cus]

Long time no update!



Little Red hit a milestone over the weekend, on the way home from a club run.

Took my niece (5) for the run, ended up being in the car with her for 13 hours, and using a tank and a half of fuel. Great day! ... Except for hearing "Uncle Cus" followed by a random question every 30 seconds all day... lol lucky she's adorable!

The MCA suspension is amazing. It was like I was on rails everywhere! Pushed pretty hard (not too hard, due to having a passenger) but the car was well composed, even on some of the dodgier road surfaces. I think I've become an "MCA fanboy"...

I built a wind blocker for the roll bar (no photos yet, just moved house and still have no real internet) and have also discovered having the hard top on makes a measurable difference to the rigidity of the car.

Evidence: with the hard top on the "hot power" wire that lets me use the power windows without a key in the ignition stays put (it's a blade terminal pushed into the fuse box in place of the fuse) - with the roof off, it falls out randomly. I've got a solution in mind, updates randomly in the future.

As for the turbo, well, after the SSD in my laptop kicked the bucket, we went from "having a PCB design to get printed" back to "needing to lay out a PCB to mount the ms3pro module onto" - I've started, but it's not nearly as much fun the second time around lol

Aaannnddd that's all for today.

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

[Cus]

Like pokemon, I've nearly collected them all.



I've opted for a 1.1Bar baro correction sensor instead of the 4Bar one that's supplied with the DIYAutoTune kits. The reason being 1Bar is atmospheric pressure at sea level, so unless I'm under water, There should never be more than 1Bar of pressure on that sensor. and the 1.1bar sensor goes down to 15kPa instead of 20kPa, so I'll have accurate readings right to the edge of the atmosphere ... because spaceship.

The VTPS is a VL commodore one I've done "the mod" to - cost me $25 at a "local" wreckers after they quoted me $35 - "Because it's pretty old" - I wasn't about to tell them they're another $125 on eBay

COPS are the usual Denso/Toyota ones, from a different "local" wreckers. had to take one back because the housing was broken, but aside from that, they were also $25 each. Currently being modeled by my CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) cam-cover template.

("local" being "within an hour drive" because I've moved to the middle of nowhere, so unless I want parts off late 90's commodores, nobody here can help me.)

I think the MAP Sensor was $50 - bought it from a forumite at the end of last year.

IAT Sensor was about $40 from efihardware, and came with the plug.

WB02 Sensor + Controller(Spartan2) were about $120 (CAD$75 + shipping) from 14point7 - there are no bells and whistles here, just a bosch WB02 sensor, and a thing that converts it into a signal the MS will understand. WB02 controllers seem to be their own market of amazingly over-complicated items with data logging and all sorts of guff. I didn't want any of that.

gslender supplied the MS3Pro module for near-enough to $1000, and the adapter board (which is still on it's way) is coming from "Franks Westfield MX5" and was about $80 w/shipping.

efihardware.com have had all of the plugs and connectors I've needed for the engine bay sensors, mouser.com had the header pins and other assorted bit for the ECU side of things - there was easily a couple of hundred in these items. If I ever do the COPS wiring again, i'll get the plugs from efihardware, the ones I got from ebay for way less money were a PITA.

Not labelled is a TIP125 to control the FP directly from the MS, and a couple of CanBUS chips, "for science". I'll need to dig some resistors and capacitors out of the parts drawer for the ECU build as well.

So all-in this is about a $1500 picture, but should get me all the way to boost without having to do any of it again, I'll just need bigger injectors and probably an EBC. But they're future-cus' problem.

Not pictured is the plug + loom for the MAP, and the actual board the MS3Pro will mount to, which once populated, will go in the OEM ECU case, with the OEM plugs (and some bonus wires for seq fuel + spark, and other things) I also need a COPS bracket. I was going to make one out of the checkerplate aluminimum I used for my radiator cover thingy a few pages back - there's an equal chance I'll end up with one from Mr. Pham, depends how much longer I end up waiting for Mr. Postman to bring me the last few parts.

The waiting is killing me! BRING ME MY CAR PARTS Mr. POSTMAN!

[smy0003]

so unless I want parts off late 90's commodores, nobody here can help me.

Hahahaha.

The MAP sensor would need to be replaced when boost is acquired, if I read all that right, as 1100hPa won't cover the 1600hPa manifold pressures found in even a low boost set-up.

It's a good feeling when hours of internet and phone calls starts to accumulate on your desk... and your bedroom floor... and your living room floor.

[Cus]

if I read all that right

Nope, you got lost in the rambling (you're not the first, and definitely won't be the last)

I have a 3Bar GM MAP to go on the actual intake, which will report boost levels well beyond the point where the stock internals would cease to remain internal.

The 1.1Bar sensor is the barometric correction sensor, which is open to the inside of the ECU case, as long as I stay out of oceans and big lakes, it should never see boost pressure.

[smy0003]

Ahhhhh my mistake Cus. Looking forward to the finished product, are you going to take in progress pics of the ECU?
I have no idea how hard they are to assemble.

[Cus]

All depends how excited I get! Grant put in lots of legwork documenting a MS3Pro build here: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=70127

This will be much easier than a traditional MS1/MS2 build, the last part I'm waiting for is a daughter-board that will allow me to solder up an OEM plug and things like the onboard baro sensor, and I'll be set. There will be a very minimal number of jumper wires in use, almost everything will be on the PCB. (I was making one, but the computer had a kitten, so I bought one of frank's instead)

[speed]

This all seems very organised. Future Cus should be grateful

[Cus]

Past Cus has put an awful lot of procrastination into this ECU build, Future Cus had better appreciate it!

Present Cus managed to pull some photos off his camera this evening, it turns out my run of good luck in the technology department is continuing; the SD card in my camera only works in my camera now, two different computers have decided there's nothing on it..... *shakes fist* Damn you Technology!

So backtracking a few weeks; I made a wind blocker!

After cutting the parts out:



It's "UV2 Polycarbonate" I made up a template with cardboard, traced it out, cut it very poorly with a jigsaw, then filed the edges into submission.



Then I took the protective sheet off, and went for a road-test.



I ended up having to make an extra bit to go from the bottom of the bar to the parcel shelf, a LOT of air comes in this gap when the top panels are sealed up, and I added an extra couple of velcro straps to the top because it would flap around a bit at 100 clicks. The whole lot is now pulled tight so it does not rattle - takes a while to get it in and lined up properly though.



The top/middle bit lives in the loungeroom (that's where the hard top goes when it's not on the car) leaving it in means you get a reflection of whatever's out the window when driving at night. The very first car going the other way on a night drive freaked me right out; it looked like there was a car overtaking me that was about to have a head-on with them.... but it was just a reflection of their headlights.... the other three parts just live in the car now, the part at the bottom of the roll bar turns the parcel shelf into a useful little storage area.

Fast-forward to today.



I undid a couple of bolts!

I've been meaning to pull the guards off and clean the dirt out from behind them for a while, and today (thanks to a lack of love from the postal service) I decided to finally pull my finger out and do it.

Just in time too; things were starting to grow in the dirt!



Armed with several buckets of water and the enjo cleaning glove thing I got a couple of months ago, I set about testing enjo's commitment to their slogan of "Clean the World!" - it turns out, they're actually pretty commited to the concept, the things I did clean came up pretty good.



That's before enjo; on the ground you can see one of the ramps I made so I can actually get the jack under the car.

And here is after enjo; I cleaned the whole wheel well and the parts of the suspension that were easy to reach - It came up pretty good considering it was just a cloth and some water.




"After" of the driver's side:

For the third time in my ownership of little red I've spent hours cleaning things people will never see. The outside of the car is filty - so here's a photo from a different time I cleaned it (also just water + enjo - no soap, detergent, wax or polish)