Yes we will be at Z Days, we are also having a car show and get together here in April.
As for the timing I am running mine in stock ecu and seeing much higher timing. Don't know about the AF problem how do you have it installed?

 

I found the issue with the constant 14.5:1 AFR issue
I talked with TXS. They said the constant 14.5 AFR issue can be caused by two things when using the VW sensor: a fouled sensor or a wire for the sensor that is somehow grounded.

Since my sensor is brand spanking new, I doubted that was the issue. I told them to hold off on sending me a new sensor. Tonight, I took the sensor wiring harness off and examined it. There was no sign of wear. Afterall, it is only a week old and I have it run through rubber grommets at any metal contact points.

Then, I disconnected the harness where it plugs into the tuner unit. I looked very, very closely at the mini-molex connector. I could see a little shine of metal where the wires went into the connector. When I looked at the top of the connector, I could see one of the contacts had sunken in. It was not contacting. Specifically, the contact for the red wire was not contacting.

I gently pushed the red wire contact back into the plastic connector and then gave it a test. Eureka!!! It worked like a charm. I will be contacting my vendor tomorrow to ask for a new wiring harness. While it works at the moment, it is not solid and will not hold over the long term.

Since the weather is nice again, I will have more logs and results soon. Also, I will receive my in-dash wideband gauge tomorrow. It is a PLX Devices (www.plxdevices.com) 52mm wideband dashboard gauge. It takes a wideband 5v signal, so I should be able to wire it to the UTEC/Tuner really easily. I will also document this process. If you want to do the same, good luck. They don't make this gauge anymore and they are hard to find. If you want a white gauge, www.v8power.com only has one left.

Let me know if y'all have any more questions. I will post more data soon.

 

Real good find on the pin those can really be hard to locate, we used to get alot of pushed back pin years ago.

 

More logs and changes
Sorry I have not posted in a bit. I have been busy. We had a guest in from out of town. And, I got a new job!!!

At any rate, I have been collecting data and making changes. Again, I was running pig rich. So, I have been slowly adjusting the fuel to get it leaner. I will then dyno with my new map, the TXS map, and probably an very lean map.

So here is what I have:




As you can see, I am definitely making moves away from the 12:1 and 12.5:1 area. I have had to make some pretty large moves in the fueling. The "stock" TXS map for example had -4% for fuel in the 90% load column near redline. I am now running -7% and I will probably need to go to -8 or -8.5%.

Also notice that the AFR is slowly getting more smooth. I really want to get it nice and even. I can live with 0.25 variances, but not much more than that. However, it is tough. Each run is just a little different. However, I have learned to spot the "mapped in" peaks and valleys that need to be removed.

I have a week of unexpected vacation between 3/10 and 3/18. I hope to do the dyno runs at that time. Wish me luck. Also, I received my in dash AFR gauge and have it wired up. It matches the output on the tuner box perfectly. If you can find the PLX Devices guage I mentioned, it is well worth it. They are only about $100 each. TXS can sell you the 2-pin mini-molex that you will need to connect it to the Tuner. When I have the install done, I will post some pics.

 

peptid,

note that i saw some drastically different timing values on a load based dyno versus on the street.

it looks like you're learning a lot, and you haven't blown up your motor yet. great work!

 

nice work. Keep us updated.

 

Thanks y'all.

I will be putting some real serious work into the car this weekend. I have a whole raft of parts headed my way. Also, since I have more time, I will get pictures of the install up, including the AFR guage and mounting. I will also get more tuning in.

Who knows, I might even hit the dyno this weekend.

By the way, I have not blown my motor, but I think I below a stock O2 sensor. After going WOT the other day in 1st gear, the check engine light came on. My scanner says it is a dead heater circuit on Bank 2, Sensor 2.

Is the bank 2, sensor 2 sensor on the passenger side cat? I plan to swap the the sensor and see if the code changes. If it does, it just means I need a new sensor. I have 62K miles, so I would not be surprised if it is dead.

 

Hey peptid, just wanted to say something about the stock TXS map that you are running. When I put my car on the dyno with the TXS map the timing was waaaay too advanced below 3K rpm's and the car would ping occasionally and read knock. Above 3k no problem, but as you can see in your charts, the TXS map advances the timing a lot over stock below 3K. I dont know why the hell they did that, but they did. The extra timing down low made absolutely no difference in my dyno chart (Dynojet 248C).
By the way thanks for posting your AFR and timing maps. I have started to compile the info/values I have found for NA Z's all over the net in order to help me in tuning my own car, and as you have probably noticed this info is generally hard to come by. Good luck with everything and keep posting!!!
Connor

 

Would that mean that setting timing on a load based dyno is likely to result in incorrect timing on the street (i.e. "real world use")?

 

peptidbond is this the gauge you are talking about that plugs into the tuner http://www.boostcontroller.com/index.php?item=260
I would like to have a readout on the dash from mine.

 

Hmm, good point. I'm not too sure about that!

But I think the "safest" thing would be to adjust timing settings when you're at heavy load...

 

I think you might be right about that

 

It is definitely safest to adjust the timing at heavy load, but I do wonder if a load based dyno actually puts more stress on the engine at low rpms than the car really experiences on the street. Since the engine isnt working very hard at say 2-3.5 K rpms in second or third gear on the street, would you be reducing the timing too much on the dyno since the car is generally in 4th or 5th gear and the engine is having to work harder. When my car was on the dyno (DynoJet) I logged the runs and found that the stock ecu wanted to run 18-21 degrees of timing until about 4K rpms during a 5th gear pull. But on the street I have never seen the stock ECU want to run anything less than 23 degrees at those rpm ranges through 4th gear. Just my 2 cents, but I think it would be worth asking an expert.......

 

Hey Peptid,

Great thread, and great job documenting your progress!

I was wondering if you could email me a copy of the Excel sheet you used to calculate AFR vs. Modified % Fuel. We have a living document for tuning aids in the form of the "Log Analyzer Assistant" located at: http://www.guismart.com/Images/Z/UTE...rAssistant.zip

If you could email your excel sheet to me then I will add it to this "master tuning aid" for all to share and use (it is referenced in a thread somewhere here). I have been meaning to add more tuning aids to this sheet (eg. integrating the Map Viewer into this one, allowing for comparisons such as map deltas vs logging deltas across tuning sessions. Getting yours in there will fire me up enough to keep on going.

Hope to hear from you!

 

PS: You can use the AEM AFR Display Gauge as well. See this thread: https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...9&postcount=43

 

Now with DYNO RESULTS

OK, sorry it has been a while, but I got a new job and took a week of vacation just to work on the car. It all paid off though. I now have the car 90% done with the tune. I will explain 90% in a moment.

So, here is the what I consider my baseline (before UTEC, but after everything else) run to my best run during the tuning session. It is then followed by my log results for run 12 (best UTEC run).

Dyno of baseline vs. run 12 (best)


Log results for run 12 (nothing for baseline because it was before UTEC)


As you can see, I have gained about 20-tq. Look at where I set the cursor, not at the legend. On run 12, there was a blip in the torque reading that causes the legend to read incorrectly. However, the legend is correct for HP. On the HP side, I gained 15-hp. Just so no one freaks out, I always use the same dyno and the weather conditions were the same.

Of course, none of the peak numbers really matter. What really matters is the total area under the curve. Across the board, I gained big time. I am really happy with the results.

Now, why do I think I am only 90% done. Well, I think I can adjust the timing higher near the 4000-5000 RPM range. I also think I can get the timing a little higher at redline. For whatever reason, the UTEC is having trouble sending the timing above 30 degrees. I actually had the map set to 35 degrees at redline and it would not go past 29. I am not sure what is going on here, but I will have to ask TXS.

At any rate, with more time and maybe some pro help, I can get some better numbers.

Regarding the log results and ping, notice the green line. That is the knock count. However, the spikes you see near redline are just false readings. I had the stock TXS knock parameters set. As many have noticed, the stock settings are too conservative and lead to false positives. In my next post, you will see why I say this.

 

Effects of REAL knock on timing

This post will complete explain why the F/I guys love the UTEC. It does an amazing job at reacting to knock. As you can see in the dyno chart below and my log results, I got a knock on the next run. I had pulled a little fuel and added timing. The result was a real knock. Note that I also made the knock parameters less conservative. So, when this happened, we knew it was real knock. We could even see the car lurch on the dyno. The technician said he felt it right away.

Dyno run 13


Log results of run 13 showing UTEC aggressively pulling timing after knock


As you can see, the UTEC reacted aggressively. After I saw this, I made one other change to the knock parameters. The stock TXS parameters say to pull 2 degrees after knock up to a total of 15. For a turbo car, this might make sense. For my N/A car, this was too much too fast. I would rather see it ratchet down the knock a little slower. So, I said to pull 1 degree and up to 10 total.

 

Weird UTEC timing issue

I am hoping someone has seen this issue and can help. As I mentioned earlier, the UTEC would not follow my commands on timing near redline. I started with 28 degrees near redline. I then raised it to 30, and then 32, and then 35. No matter what, it would not go above 30. As you can see in the graph below, even the car was willing to go above 30, but the UTEC would not (see mod vs. stock ignition).

I think that near redline the UTEC may not be fast enough to do timing above 30 degrees. It is just a guess though. The reason I think this is because the Mod Ignition graph starts to get really wavy above 6000 RPM. I think the UTEC might be having trouble keeping up. However, this is the first time I have ever seen this before. No one else has reported this issue.

Can anyone help?

Run 17 showing UTEC modified timing not keeping up with program of stock

 

do you think it might have to do with the rev limit control in the UTEC? i remember reading about a soft rev limiter that occurs earlier than the hard rev limit setpoint???

great work and thanks for sharing, by the way!!!

 

The soft limit comes in 250 rpms before the hard one. That may be your problem. Try raising the limit and see if that works. Good one rcdash.