I have decided to take another leap into the abyss and play with some newer technologies. In short, now that my engine is done and has been tested to the Nth degree along with some of its platform siblings… I sold it to a customer as part of his TT package since its already completed, and I am going to build a new one out of the new Gen-4 engine platform. LOL!
Since I am going Gen-4 this time around, which has such toys as Continuously Variable Camshaft, MAF/Speed Density Hybrid, and Coil On Plug… my only option is to control it with a Motec M880, and design some sort of a hybrid control system that retains the OEM PCM for gauge & Bus control and emissions testing. [FUN…?]
To anyone that has Motec experience, do you know if there is any way to have the Motec output crank and cam sensor “simulations”? Basically, the Motec will be reading a Gen-4 style crank/cam sensor setup, but I need to find some way of sending the OEM PCM Gen-3 style Crank/Cam signals. I am also having SCT look into adding control tables to alter the Gen-3 PCM to Gen-4 trigger types, but that might not be possible.
how come you never advertise your business? id love to see some of the customer cars, are they all drag and such? cause i think i would notice a TTV10 driving around
The majority of my customers are not local, it just works out that way since Vipers aren’t that common. I build packages and supply parts, then ship them out. I do have plenty of local guys, but for the most part, they aren’t “HUGE” builds. There are a couple large builds that will be floating around next season however.
I don’t advertise primarily because 99.99% of it would be wasted locally… I already know most of the owners. I do advertise where it matters for my business. The other reason is that my business is still growing, and I don’t want it getting too big too fast. My primary concern is catering to the exotic car owners, and a business that is too large, too fast without the resources is a recipe for failure.
New York State is a pain in the ass in situations like this. The issue is two fold. The car must remain OBD-2 compliant in order to pass emissions here, so the PCM must be retained, and also must be actively reading the engine sensors so that it will pass the OBD-2 monitors. The second issue is that the Viper’s interior is completely controlled by a data bus. The J1850 protocol used connects the interior gauges to the PCM, and the PCM supplies the gauge information over this bus- another reason that the OEM PCM must be retained.
The biggest issue here is that since I am mixing generations of engines and controllers, I am also mixing crank and camshaft trigger configurations. I am trying to come up with a way of utilizing a single set of pickups, without having to go dual. I wish it was as simple as swapping in the newer VENOM controller for this engine type, but that new controller is not tunable yet, doesnt have the bells and whistles the Motec does, and does not have provisions for controlling a hydraulic fan motor drive. Not to mention the fact that it is a VERY finicky computer, and will throw you in to limp mode if it senses anything strange at all. [and I can gaurantee that traction controls, fuel cuts, boost-by-gear, and other Motec toys will do just that]
The easiest solution would be to just have SCT write the tables for the Crank/Cam pickup configuration so I can see if I can get it to recognize the newer pickups, but that may not be possible, so I am looking for alternatives.