ProEFI on 87 GN

Below is information that was provided to me by Larry at Sound Performance:

12 Injector drivers - All with built in Injector drivers!! Perfect for a twin injector setup on the Supra!!

16 Coil Drivers - Yes 16!!! No more waste spark!!

32 Analog inputs!!! - There are 32 analog inputs which will be preconfigured for anything you want to do... I.E. plug in a fuel pressure sensor and it automatically activates the trims associated with it. Put a Nitrous pressure sensor on your car and the computer trims fuel accordingly to bottle pressure!! You can datalog everything imaginable!!

10 Low side driver outputs - You can configure these to do whatever you can imagine. Also these will all support 4+ amps each!!

Built in wideband!! - That says it all!!

True volumetric efficeincy - So things like injector and pressure changes don’t have to be calculated and multiple maps changed, it’s all done in the background by simply entering your injector size and base fuel pressure. Actually knowing the injector size and fuel pressure, this allows us to make instantanious feedback changes to things like fuel pressure not staying constant, without relying on the O2 sensor for delayed information. Changing fuel type is as simple as entering the stoichiametric ratio for the fuel used.

Fault coding – Check engine light will tell you fault codes to help diagnose problems. Actions can be assigned with the fault codes. I.E. low oil pressure triggers a fault code, and activates a low rpm limiter. O2 sensor faults will automatically turn off block learning and closed loop feedback. Also the fault codes will be the same as the original ECU!!!

Traction control – multiple comprehensive traction control strategies including defined wheel speed differential between driven and non-driven wheels.

True knock sensing capability with specific knock frequency detection based upon the specific engine being monitored.

Multiple failsafe conditions making it nearly impossible to damage your engine in the case of tuning errors or mechanical malfunctions. I.E. lean, and knock conditions can be used to turn off nitrous, shut down boost etc….

O.E.M. manufactured ECU’s – The ECU’s are built by an O.E. manufacturer, so all ecu are 100% tested for vibration, temperature, loading etc… BEFORE you install them into your vehicle. Pro EFI ECU’s are as reliable as the factory units you take out. No more being stranded on the side of the road, or waiting weeks or months to get and issue repaired with the confidence of rolling the dice.

Drive by wire capability!!

Nitrous control:

Up to 4 stages!!

Control by speed, time, gear etc.....

Just enter the number of jets, jet size and target a/f and it does the rest!!

Add a nitrous bottle pressure sensor and it adjusts accordingly to pressure!!

Unlike other ECU's, you can target different a/fs for Nitrous with this unit in closed loop, or open loop, since the computer is based soley on V.E. it doesn't rely on the O2 sensor for hitting the desired a/f ratio. It does this based upon volumetric efficiency and desired equivelency ratio. Therefore there is less work for the O2 to do in closed loop, eliminating the chance for lean spikes typical of running nitrous!!!!

Fuel pressure compensation:

With the simple addition of a fuel pressure sensor, the computer will monitor and compensate for various fuel pressure. Lets say that you have a pump that is tired and your fuel pressure is not rising 1-1 any more. The computer will know and add neccessary fuel. Also if the pressure really gets unstable causing the computer to add too much pulse width, it will trigger a check engine light. It can also be set to initiate fuel cut, turn off the boost control, shut off NOS and lower the rev limiter. These safe guards can be triggered by the fuel pressure alone, by O2 activity or a number of other things!!

Boost Control Strategies:

Will be able to utilize dual solenoids to control pressure to both the top and bottom ports on any wastegate. This will give you VERY accurate control!!

Will be able to control boost by speed.

Will be able to control boost by time. Therefore if you spin the tires, and the vehicle speed sensor puts the boost map into a zone for higher boost.... the computer will know that it is wrong and hold the boost down until a certain amount of time.

Will control boost based on traction control. Traction control will be based on wheel speed differential!!

This computer will also know what gear you are in by simply entering gear ratios from the service manual, rear end ratio and tire size!!

5 completely different boost maps available and controlled by a dash mounted switch!!

Scramble boost!

Lean condition safety features:

In the case of a lean condition under certain circumstances (IE load, time etc) the computer can be programmed to shut down nitrous, lower boost, initiate fuel cut, initiate a rev limiter for a programmed duration of time until safe conditions return. This can also then be programmed to throw a code and activate the check engine light.

Misfire detection:

No more guessing if you have a misfire. This computer will tell you which cylinder and how often it misfires!! Think about how valuable this will be!! You will know instantly when it is time for new plugs.... or a coil pack is going bad....etc!!


20 channel thermocouple capability:

Yep..... 20 channel!! Put one in every runner..... downpipe..... anywhere you can think of!! This is critical in tuning an engine to run exactly the same on every cylinder!!!


Methanol Control

Sytem can control a methanol pump automatically varied pump speed bases on methanol requirements. Can also be implemented with other methanol systems to switch fuel and timing maps automatically. Complete fuel and timing control as well as boost levels automatically switched based on whether or not methanol is spraying.

Flex Fuel

By simply adding a flex fuel sensor, the ProEFI computer automatically adjust fuel and timing, as well as boost levels based on ethanol content in fuel!!

Multiple rev limiters.

Up to four rev limiters for launch, burn out, 2 step and main as well as separate boost control levels for each!!



Top 10 reasons why ProEFI is superior to other currently offered EMS systems


1. O.E.M. Factory tested, factory developed hardware.

- Honestly, who knows more about building electronics than someone like Continental/Motorola? They spend Billions of dollars in development of reliable electronics to meet and exceed the demands of the O.E. automobile manufactures. These demands are not just there for reliability, but LIABILITY, which is a lot more important. You can stand to have your car break down and have it towed, but it’s a lot more to take if those failures cause you bodily injury or death. The ProEFI ECU is the ONLY aftermarket ECU put through those strict standards. NONE of the other aftermarket ECU’s have to be able to pass these tests.

- The ECM is designed to meet automotive industry standard under hood environmental requirements for 12 volt and 24 volt systems, and also meets marine industry environmental requirements. Validation tests included extreme operating temperatures (-40° to +105° C), thermal shock, humidity, salt spray, salt fog, immersion, fluid resistance, mechanical shock, vibration, and EMC. It is the responsibility of the application engineer to assure that the application does not exceed the demonstrated capabilities of the unit; vibration or thermal. It may be necessary to perform additional tests to validate the unit in the application. 6.2 STORAGE TEMPERATURE: -40° to +125° C 6.3 OPERATING TEMPERATURE: -40° to +105° C 6.4 THERMAL SHOCK: -40° to +125° C transition within 10s for 500 cycles 6.5 FLUID RESISTANCE: Two stroke motor oil, Four stroke motor oil, Unleaded gasoline, ASTM Reference 'C' fuel 6.6 HUMIDITY RESISTANCE: 85% humidity at 85°C for 1000 hours of operation. 6.7 SALT FOG RESISTANCE: 1000 hours 6.8 IMMERSION: Submersible in 8% saltwater solution to 10' 6.9 MECHANICAL SHOCK: 50 hours of 50 g's 6.10 DROP: Random drop tests on concrete from 6' 6.11 VIBRATION: Engine mountable and tested to high-performance levels

Vibration Test Chart.jpg

6.12 ABNORMAL SUPPLY VOLTAGE RESISTANCE:

Conditions Supply Voltage Time

Reverse Battery -24VDC 5 Minutes

Abnormal Alternator Output 36VDC 5 Minutes

Minimum Battery 6VDC Indef.

Put any one of our competitors through any of these tests = FAIL! Purchase new ecu, no warranty! We could stop right here, but let’s continue.

2. The ProEFI’s Engine control strategy is the culmination of years of O.E.M. research and development for the best, most accurate engine control strategies to meet strict Emissions requirements (don’t kid yourself, emissions requirements is what drives this technology!). ProEFI uses the latest state of the art Engine control strategy, while most of the competitors (including the Gold box) are using mid 80’s technology….look up tables for fuel and timing adjustments. This technology was ditched so fast by the O.E.’s most people never realized they used it. By 1984 Mass airflow sensors were being introduced in mass production cars in place of map sensor look up tables. Some of the O.E.’s began using true speed density systems around the same time. While the aftermarket likes to refer to their ecu’s as ‘Speed Density’ it really is not anywhere near the same thing.

- Volumetric Efficiency – This one is a no brainer to those that truly understand engines

i. Requires less work by the tuner! Once the basic setup is completed, most modern engines are quite well designed and with 4 valve pent roof cylinder heads flow pretty consistently across the board.

ii. Gives perfect accuracy in the tune because the computer knows air flow (even in speed density) because it is calculated based upon the efficiency of the engines airflow, engine size, and Manifold pressure. The calculated airflow in Grams/sec is then compared against the target air/fuel (Desired Equivalency). The injector characterization lets the computer know EXACTLY how much fuel will be injected in grams/sec with a given injector opening. So for example a cylinder that is 100% efficient and is has 500cc of swept cylinder volume (displacement), the computer knows that there is 500cc’s of air in that cylinder. So if a mixture of say 10 to 1 is requested (not from O2 feedback) the computer will then inject 50cc’s of fuel. This is not “Theory” this is how the O.E.’s do speed density, it is as accurate as the information given it by the tuner. This eliminates COSTLY mistakes in tuning as well. Since one of the first things you do in the setup is enter your target a/f in the target air/fuel table, when you start making runs, by default, you can’t be too far off.

3. Engine position calculation

i. Engine position in the ProEFI is the same as the O.E.M.’s use. It is programmed in hard code, and therefore cannot be adjusted in calibration. This is so the engine position is calculated at the speed of the processor (56 MHz in the case of the 128), not foreground calibratable speed. The makes for a much more accurate calculation of engine speed, and you can easily see this when putting a timing light on the crank pulley and revving the engine. Rock solid timing like the stock computer had! This is a HUGE Deal!

4. Safety measures

i. All of the features in the ProEFI are tied in to what is called “Fault Management”. Fault Management is exactly what it sounds like. The tuner sets up fault conditions and the computer constantly monitors the sensors for faults. If a fault occurs the computer instantly compensates for those faults, saving your engine, and even possibly saving you from crashing your automobile.

1. Faults include but are not limited to

a. Lean condition

- Shut down Nitrous, boost, engage a rev limiter, turn on a check engine light, etc…

b. Over boost

c. Sensor faults

- Sensor faults will engage back up strategy to allow you to limp home if you will.

d. Nitrous fail safes

e. Oil Pressure

f. Radiator pressure…. Etc….

g. Drive By Wire

i. The ProEFI utilizes O.E.M. strategy and safeguards for controlling the Drive By Wire Throttle

- Failsafe are able to be set by the tuner in 4 Power limit modes

- For example – Engine temp is to high, limit power to 40%

- Electronic Throttle spring tests – Upon each shutdown event the tension of the Electronic Throttle return spring is tested to ensure proper working condition of the throttle before the next engine operation is performed.

- Of course sensor deviation fail safes to power limit modes.

- Check engine light for DBW failures

5. True Check Engine light with MIL Codes

- The ProEFI actually utilizes the check engine light to give fault codes for user feedback

- This obviously saves time and headaches

6. Override engine simulation

- This gets incredibly complex very quickly. In short, you can override ANY sensor, simulate the engine running, and test ALL outputs to help diagnose problems in coils, injectors, or any other ancillary device.

7. Built in peak and hold injector drivers for up to 12 injectors

- This just scratches the surface of the I/O of the Pro128

i. 12 injector drivers

ii. 16 EST coil drivers

iii. 34 analog inputs

iv. 10 Low side outputs 6amp capable

v. Dual wideband Lambda inputs

vi. Dual Channel knock control

vii. 3 H-bridge drivers for DBW, Stepper motor control etc..

viii. Tach Output

ix. 8 Digital inputs

x. 2 speed inputs

xi. 2 CAN 2.0 Channels

xii. Cam

xiii. Crank

xiv. And these aren’t unless this is used or that is used…..these are ALL available at ONCE!

8. Knock Control

- O.E.M. knock control strategy utilizing its own designated Knock Chip inside the ECU. This sole purpose of the knock chip is knock control, nothing else.

i. True bore size frequency based knock filtering

ii. Knock window filtering

iii. Individual cylinder based

9. Nitrous control

- Nitrous Control is actual airflow based

- Simply enter

- the jet size

- number of jets

- wet or dry kit

- Input nitrous pressure from a sensor or enter the default pressure used.

- Enter the target air fuel while nitrous is active

- Enter spark retard while nitrous is active

- Nitrous has 4 stages

- Can be active under conditions as well as time based triggers
__________________
10. Launch Control and Traction control

a. Easy to use Launch control and traction control

- Launch control is time or Vehicle speed based

- Starts a timer from a clutch switch or transbrake input

a. Limits engine power to allow for maximum traction on bad tracks.

b. Traction control has several different settings

- Vehicle speed based – For automatic cars without differential wheel sensors

- Engine based acceleration per gear (6 speeds) – For manual Trans cars without differential wheel speed sensors, or All wheel drive cars.

- Driveshaft speed vs. time – for those crazy 10.5” tire 2000+hp cars that hang the front tires for 300’

- Differential Wheel speed – Control the slip between driven and non driven wheels.

11. Last, but not least

a. No repair issues

- Less down time

b. Save thousands over a remotely comparable system

- Take your family on a nice European vacation

- Buy an even bigger turbocharger!

- Buy new wheels and tires.
 
Additional information:

It has 32 inputs, (user definable)
there are 12 inj outputs and 10 extra outputs.... so if you only use 6 injectors, you have 16 outputs that you can do anything with
there are 4 digital inputs
one extra can channel input
2 speed inputs
dual wideband inputs, built in wideband controller
dual knock sensor inputs
dual H bridges for controlling things like electronic throttle bodies, idle control motors, etc
pulse width control for fuel pumps
 
Well a bit of an update. The ignitors running the factory coil pack didnt quite produce enough spark power under load (10psi+), so we switched to running coil on plug using proefi coils (however GM coils may be used). No additional ignition box or control box is required, and the coils are wired directly to the proefi, and now our spark issues are resolved. This same coil on plug set up has made over 2500HP in Paul Majors turbo vette.

Car is now tuned on 93oct and E85, and the proefi uses the flex fuel sensor to adjust the tune based on ethanol content in the fuel that I can also monitor on the proefi color can display in real time. The setup currently makes 575rwhp on E85. There is definitely more in it, but I'm not looking to kill it and it was blowing through the converter pretty bad on the dyno.

I wanted to bring this GN back to a totally stock interior appearence, and so I have removed all guages, shift light, etc. All that remains is the color can display mounted under the radio on the center console. I will be posting pics once I get the interior cleaned up nice in the next couple days, but wanted to mention that now the factory indicator lights on the dash cluster are functioned by the proefi, so when you turn the key on the check eng light comes on, when you crank it and it starts the check engine light turns off as soon as it sees all sensors are reading properly and that oil and fuel pressure are within operating perameters. Since I have eliminated the guages, but still wanted a shift light, the proefi is using the "check coolant" indicator light on the factory display as the shiftlight :cool: but if while driving the oil pressure drops, fuel pressure drops, sensor is not reading properly, etc.. the check engine light will indicate that there is a problem.

I took the car on a test drive yesterday on e85 for a bit, and it ran very strong and smooth. The two-step function works perfectly with the trans brake wired through the proefi, and we have also set a rev limiter on the line lock function as well (although I didnt test this yet).

All said and done, this car will look totally stock on the interior with the single can display and no other guages at all, but yet the can display itself provides me with the visibility to any of the functions that you would want to have a guage for, from fuel pressure, oil pressure, rpm, boost, timing, ethanol content of fuel, water temp, inlet temp, etc., etc...

I will be cleaning the car up for some pics and video shots by the end of the week and look forward to sharing them on here.
 
Subscribing...


Cliff, What is the fuel system like on the car with the E85. Thinking of E85 as a winter project on my GN... that is if my winter of 2009 projects wraps up this summer. :mad:
 
Subscribing...


Cliff, What is the fuel system like on the car with the E85. Thinking of E85 as a winter project on my GN... that is if my winter of 2009 projects wraps up this summer. :mad:

The fuel system is as follows :

Twin in tank double pumper set up with dual walbros, stock pump hanger with -8 fitting welded to feed line. Single -8 feed line to stock fuel rail with -8 fitting welded on, then the factory return line is used but intercepted in the back of the car to run to a -6 line that connects to the flex fuel sensor before running back to the tank. (flex fuel sensor is mounted on the inside of the rear bumper) and precision 120lb/hr injectors.
 
I probably missed it in all the reading, but what are the internal data logging capabilities, or is something external required?
 
I probably missed it in all the reading, but what are the internal data logging capabilities, or is something external required?

To my knowledge, there is no internal datalogging available. You can datalog with the laptop connected to the ecu, or proefi does have an external datalogger available.

Also, I asked about the external logger, and it logs to a flash drive, so it can log 1000s of hours of data, and has an accelorometer built in to log how hard the car is accelerating as well.
 
The fuel system is as follows :

Twin in tank double pumper set up with dual walbros, stock pump hanger with -8 fitting welded to feed line. Single -8 feed line to stock fuel rail with -8 fitting welded on, then the factory return line is used but intercepted in the back of the car to run to a -6 line that connects to the flex fuel sensor before running back to the tank. (flex fuel sensor is mounted on the inside of the rear bumper) and precision 120lb/hr injectors.


Hows the duty cycle so far?
 
The guys at Sound performance are great guys to deal with. I have been very pleased with the performance of the Bigstuff 3 ECU with the flexfuel sensor and E85 tuning on a local TSM car I have been tuning up. It has made great power on the dyno and drive ability is great.
 
To my knowledge, there is no internal datalogging available. You can datalog with the laptop connected to the ecu, or proefi does have an external datalogger available.

Also, I asked about the external logger, and it logs to a flash drive, so it can log 1000s of hours of data, and has an accelorometer built in to log how hard the car is accelerating as well.

Did they finally release the external logger? It wasn't available when I last talked to them and there are no details about it on there website. This was the #1 reason I passed on the system two years ago.

I looked at the latest software and I have a couple of questions that plagued me last time. First what values does it use for "load" and are they consistent throughout the program? I can't figure out why the "load" values are different for the spark and fuel tables?? It is probably g/cyl BUT how is it being calculated? That number is something I would want to know. DFI uses MAP plus IAT and MST, FAST uses MAP plus IAT what is ProEFI using and how do they calculate the VE table value?

I really like the OE fueling strategy but I would bet there is no WOT WBO2 fuel control and WOT fueling is based purely on the EQ ratio in the PE table. This is actually a better setup than having the computer constantly adjusting fueling based on WBO2 values. I would just make sure fuel trims are where they need to be before making full throttle pulls. Can you log narrow band O2 info for part throttle and adjust VE and EQ fuel trims and does it consider fueling in part throttle based on Stoich values?

I see the high and low octane tables for spark. I take it there is adaptive tech in calculating spark? This would require some type of spark feedback control but I didnt see anything for that. Are you using a knock sensor and the module?
 
Did they finally release the external logger? It wasn't available when I last talked to them and there are no details about it on there website. This was the #1 reason I passed on the system two years ago.

I looked at the latest software and I have a couple of questions that plagued me last time. First what values does it use for "load" and are they consistent throughout the program? I can't figure out why the "load" values are different for the spark and fuel tables?? It is probably g/cyl BUT how is it being calculated? That number is something I would want to know. DFI uses MAP plus IAT and MST, FAST uses MAP plus IAT what is ProEFI using and how do they calculate the VE table value?

I really like the OE fueling strategy but I would bet there is no WOT WBO2 fuel control and WOT fueling is based purely on the EQ ratio in the PE table. This is actually a better setup than having the computer constantly adjusting fueling based on WBO2 values. I would just make sure fuel trims are where they need to be before making full throttle pulls. Can you log narrow band O2 info for part throttle and adjust VE and EQ fuel trims and does it consider fueling in part throttle based on Stoich values?

I see the high and low octane tables for spark. I take it there is adaptive tech in calculating spark? This would require some type of spark feedback control but I didnt see anything for that. Are you using a knock sensor and the module?

I'm going to let Larry from SP answer these questions as he is very familiar with the product, he can't post yet as he is awaiting account confirmation email...
 
Just got home at midnight from some "field testing"... have put 75miles on it since its first fill up on E85 and used a little over quarter tank thus far. Drives AWSOME. Like driving a stock GN except when you mash the pedal to the floor. :D
 
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