HellFire Status & release date annouced

[rcb280z]

She is a beautiful little girl. Lucky man! Glad all is well! And good to hear from you.

[superlen]

Everyone,

Thanks for the accolades for the princess. I'm already dreading the years 2028-2034. And thanks Blue for noticing my pedicure. Note, also I'm working in my PJs quite a bit lately.

Len

[EuroDat]

I'm already dreading the years 2028-2034.

Len

My two are now right in the middle of it.

Nice to hear everything is going well. Looks great.

Chas

[superlen]

Just a quick update.

We have finally settled into a routine with the new baby & I can slice up some time for HellFire. I began flow testing the AFMs I have today.

Bob, yours is one of the three I'm playing with now. As we discussed, it has an offset that should have been running your car waaay rich. I can see it in the flowbench numbers. woot woot! Why am I excited that his AFM is way off? Well, it somewhat confirms my flowbench I built is at least in the ballpark.

I did have to modify my bench to give me more resolution at lower cfms & I also determined that I was giving up too much resolution on the actual AFM input to the HellFire. Some quick resistor changes on the HellFire board brought the signal back to where I want it at, and I had to machine some smaller flowbench orifice plates to bump up my signal for reading the CFM through the AFMs.

Give me a few days to digest the data and actually understand it a little better & I'll post a summary and some graphs.

Lenny

[Captain Obvious]

Lenny, Was just thinking about you today and wondering when you might start to find time in the shop again.

So you say that Bob's AFM has an offset that would make his car run rich? Couple questions...

First, you're talking about an offset in the "airflow to resistance curve" right? Bob's takes less air than normal to move the vane? (Mechanically speaking, he's got a spring loose?)

Second, you've measured enough AFM's to be able to spot an outlier? If so, that's fantastic! That means you've got enough data to identify what "normal" looks like???

[superlen]

Captain,

Bob's definitely got a spring loose. However, his AFM offset is primarily because the wiper is mechanically shifted on the carbon track so even at rest it can't show a small enough airflow to the ECU, so the ECU then meters too much fuel (particularly at idle). I see this in the data, I see it fuel my car poorly at idle (rich of course), and Bob (rcb280z) was reporting the same thing.

The curve on the AFM actually isn't too far off. He did some spring adjusting and got it really close in the upper RPMS by of course loosening his spring (way to go Bob), but with that offset, there would have been no way to get it back perfect. Idle is where the problem is. He would have failed smog with this one for sure!

As for knowing what "normal" looks like. I'm not there yet, & I'm still kinda going in circles, but the circles are getting smaller. Once I play with my flowbench some more and begin to trust it's numbers, I'll bring in a factory calibrated unit and check my work. I have a buddy with an "in" at Oreilys and he can get me one to play with for a few hours without actually have to BUY a new one. I'll only need it for 30 mins. I hate to just buy one to confirm what I already know....in theory.

Len

[CG240Z]

Glad to hear some updates and progress is still being made! I'm still staying tuned in.

[CoeGuthrie]

I'll be watching this! Great idea! ! !

I know you're busy with the new little one, but looking forward to updates!

[rcb280z]

Wow, how did I miss these updates?! Hey Len, I figured I was close but not close enough. Its good to know you see the same thing. Any closer at getting it right? I was thinking, if you have it ready I could put it in my Z and loan you the one that I passed smog with so you would have the "calibrated" readings. Let me know if that would help.

[CG240Z]

Glad to see some activity on this thread. I was starting to look into mega squirt because I thought this project was on permanent hiatus due to kids. My stock FI doesn't like my cam and it creates some questionable performance sometimes.

[superlen]

Hi All,

Sorry for the slow/non-existant updates. I've been playing with the new baby & friend/family projects have been needing my attention when I did have some free time this summer. I had seriously forgotten how much time a cute baby can occupy. Of course, my older boys have been blowing engines, & 4 wheeling in the creek...with the car! It seems to never stop.

I've been slack on HellFire progress, but it's still on like Donkey Kong. I have 10 prototypes built up and ready to send out once I get some code finished up. (primarily bootloader code and AFM calibration numbers). Capt. O and I did some brainstorming on the phone a few days ago on a good plan to get an accurate picture of the AFM. I just need to get my test setup wired up and run some more numbers. Look for some good data within 2 weeks. If not, start blowing up my email/PM on why I'm loafing.

Len

Len

[Captain Obvious]

The garage is calling. The mice want company too. :laugh: