JohnK

Been reading about the system at http://www.racelogic.co.uk/ . Look forward to hearing about it, and any details you may feel like sharing about how the implementation goes with your Lowcost. I mentioned earlier that I drove a Porsche Boxter and found that it's version of traction control interfered with my driving. You said you liked how the Racelogic system behaved in your M3. Did it take you long to learn how to leverage it, and do you change settings when driving conditions change?

I have an UlraShield Pro-Drag #12020 (16" ) that I got with my kit. I will probably set it out with the aluminum recycling at some point in the future. It has support wings that come around your sides which are great for lateral support - however they're right where my elbows are in normal driving position - "awkward" does not do justice to how this seat feels when you've got your hands on the steering wheel. I'm 5' 8", 160 lbs, normal proportions. I've heard exactly the same complaint from at least one other Se7ener. Ultrashield's tech support were very helpful on how to bend these wings, but were I able to bend them in enough to get them out of the way of my elbows, I'd not be able to get into the seat. Now in order to be fair, I just looked at their website and the picture they show LOOKS like these wings have been reduced on the current product - perhaps there have been enough complaints that this model has been redesigned. Perhaps the picture doesn't show the wings accurately. Maybe they just don't belong in a Se7en - after all they are called "Pro-Drag", and how much time do drag racers spend enjoying the twisties? Caveat emptor. AMENDED I spoke with Ultrashield today (4-18-08), and as usual the person I spoke with was friendly and helpful. I was correct in interpreting the photo that the latest Pro-Drag seat has reduced wings. The depth of mine are 6" and the latest version is 3". according to the support person. I am fairly certain that the narrower wings would relieve the seat-elbow interference problem and am going to modify mine as follows. For anyone out there with the early seats, the support person said it was OK to cut the wings down to 3" and that they sold the aluminum edging for $2 per foot, and that the edging when welded in place is moderately structural. For those interested, the seat alloy is 5052 which is pretty stiff and not disturbed by welding; the edging is 6061 T6, but can be welded in place without loosing too much strength. I think that modifying the seat cover would be straightforward for an upholstery shop

I certainly agree that comparing the rates of angular acceleration for driven and non-driven wheels would be a solid indicator of wheelspin, but thinking of part count and implementation effort involved in this encourages me to look for a simpler solution, if a good one is possible My questions is, in order to identify the wheelspin condition, isn't it sufficient to calculate the time required for the drive shaft to complete small angular displacements, say every 5 degrees, on a continuous basis and compare the current time-to-complete-5-degrees interval with the previous? An difference in interval time greater than some empirically-determined value would identify wheelspin. I THINK this would be independent of road or tire conditions or weight transfer, and wouldn't need to refer to the rate or to changes in rate of acceleration of the car. Even if the car is very powerful, the rate that it can accelerate itself should be much less than it can accelerate the driveshaft (and diff and moments of the half-shafts and wheels) when there is suddenly reduced traction. And since the controlling value is the difference between the current and previous intervals, the value is relative and should be independent of which gear the car is in, or how much power it has, or how light it is. I'll guess that some programming would be required to handle some things like windup of a limited-slip differential. It also would be interesting to figure out how to synchronize the driveshaft speedup detection event with the engine firing cycle in order to reduce engine output. One inspiration for this is the production Ford ECU program. It looks at crankshaft position change when there is a firing event due, and expects to see a shortened interval between timing mark detections due to combustion-caused crankshaft speedup. If it does not record this reduced interval, it signals a missfire condition to the ecu for a fuel management adjustment (a false too-lean condition). Aren't computers fun? As an aside: Your student-days project reminds me of something done my an ME friend who had to design a timing circuit for a rocket, well before the digital revolution. He timed the run-time of the motor using a silver solution contained in a glass cylinder which was wired so that it completed an electrical circuit. The current flowing through the silver solution caused the electro-chemical deposition of the silver on the walls of the cylinder. The amount of current and the concentration of silver in the solution determined the run time.

There are some relatively new LEDs that are called "ultrabright" and only come in red-orange wavelength. Allied has them for around $0.30 last time I looked (they drop 2.4 v and draw 50 mA). Epoxy four of them in series along with a 40 ohm resistor into a holder of your choice and you'll have a lamp you can't ignore, or perhaps a turn signal and only pay 0.05 A for the signal. These tend to be a bit directional though and may need a reflector of some sort in the packaging to be more visible when used as a turn signal. Recently there've been released some 3 watt LEDs which cost a few dollars. I haven't had a chance to play with these yet. They're very bright and at 3 watts make a cheap (power-wise) replacement for incandescent lamps in a tiny package. http://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/1243019567_LED01.jpghttp://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/328715997_LED02.jpg

21 years ago on a brand new Honda Hurricane (CBR600) I made my way south from Cincinnati on Kentucky route 27 eventually to Cumberland Falls resort, 'though I can't remember the details of getting past Lexington to Route 25 and thence to the park. Stayed at the resort, hiked for a couple of days and then took 27 and then 127 back to Cincinnati. Roads were very clean and deserted and the stretches that were boring were few. Kentucky is pretty, spacious, and moderately hilly, more so the further East you get. 127 to Frankfort is a nice short trip; pick it up off I-71 maybe 20 miles south of Cincinnati. There are some "B" roads off 127 that are worth some exploration. I was surprised to see that there were no national or state park areas in that stretch - it certainly felt as if I were driving through such. Cheers,

I should put a disclaimer in when I suggest these things - I'm a scientist by training and all of these issues are really interesting (at least to me) because they give insight into how the car behaves when you're driving it somewhere around a limit. What the limit may be like, what it is sensitive to, . . . It makes driving fast even more interesting that it already is, if that's possible. And the net is that you may be able to build something that allows you to explore what's going on. I (and Carroll Smith) have found that the dirt-track guys are often a good place to start here because their stuff isn't subtle (as subtle as, say, F1) and is accessible to the beginner, not to mention that their stuff works. Talk to a serious dirt track racer about the benefit of traction control and see what they have to say about it's effectiveness. AND they know how to CHEAT (not that that's what I'm after but if you can hide what you're doing it adds sophistication to the system). In that regard, I recall reading about an add for a system that works without wheel sensors, figuring out when you've got wheel spin by looking at changes in in the rate of angular acceleration - all in a very little box that listens to the rpm of the drive shaft and grounds spark plugs in a random sequence to limit output / wheelspin. Pretty impressive. I spent years archetecting and designing information systems for a "large mid-west consumer products company" that were really complicated and learned about system decomposition and prioritizing. This is the same sort of thing, but FUN (even if it pays not quite so well). This sounds like an ideal project for the several months when it's too cold in Ohio to drive or work on the car. Again, Lotus did this in several years for a complete F1 suspension system, producing the Lotus-Honda 99T. Allan Staniforth does a good job of describing the nature and value of this accomplishment in his "Competition Car Suspension". One of the the intriguing things about attempting something like this is the speed of programmable processors that you can buy for literally a few of bucks and which have interfaces built into them that can save months and months of work. When Ford delivered its ECU in 1986, the processor did all of the work necessary to figure out how much fuel to deliver into each cylinder and when to fire the spark plug for that cylinder in 1/4 of a crankshaft revolution at 6000 RPM. I should mention that any Ford that you see driving down the street is weighing the amount of air its engine is inhaling. calculating the A/F for the engine conditions for that mass of air, and calculating when to fire the spark plug based on the amount of oxygen in that mass and the delivered fuel - for each cylinder, and in real time. It's also listening to the angular acceleration of the flywheel and the amount of oxygen in the exhaust for that cylinder to trim subsequent fuel delivery and tell if there's been a misfire. So, how hard can wheelspin be to control? Anyway, controlling wheelspin sounds like a really interesting area for those who like to experiment with technical tweaks to ho

EXACTLY! - It's just that you have to figure out how to get a microprocessor to do that for you, just enough plugs and just when you need it. Cheers,

If you have a "pulser" on your machine, learning to use it will make Aluminum welding work correctly. If you don't, learning to flutter the pedal at the right rate (roughly 1/2 sec period) will do. Aluminum turns to something not quite the consistency of water moments after it melts (you know this already) - you want to dial in enough heat to melt it, and then back off a tad so that it doesn't become a hole or something that runs away from you. This is a balancing act between pulsing the heat and dipping the rod directly into the center of the puddle (which cools the puddle just as backing off the heat). This is not easy to do for most mere mortals- your left hand has to become amazingly dexterous. It's a rhythm that you get going (at the start you may think that it's when the moon is in just the right phase and when the god that's in charge of such things (I forget his/her name) is smiling on your efforts) and your bead winds up looking like something out of a text book. What I finally paid attention to that made Aluminum welding something I could do successfully and repeatedly was heeding the directions from all the instructions that speak to such matters is that everything (gloves, rod, tungsten metal, work surface, ...) had to be clean. This is true for steel too, but not so conspicuous as aluminum. If you see little black specs in the puddle, turn up the "cleaning" - that black stuff is soot and contaminates the weld, but more importantly will make it difficult to control the puddle. Soot can also be from not enough Argon - increase the CFM. That brown spot right of center on your lower photo is where the tungsten touched the puddle. When that happens, the steel wicks into the Tungsten which contaminates (weakens) your weld since there will be oxides produced in your weld. When that happens, stop and resharpen the electrode I have a local supplier who's specialty is abrasives - I got a Boro??? adhesive-backed disk to reshape the tungsten. The shape of this electrode is dependent on the power source you're using and the process ( AC or DC). Tungsten is really hard and commercial sharpeners use diamond wheels for this purpose. If you grind any metal other than tungsten with it, the other metal will contaminate the tungsten. Persevere. Learning how to TIG weld opened up a world of stuff I'd only dreamed I could do, and new things keep appearing on the horizon. It's an incredibly enabling technology Cheers,

Any of you guys with software and hardware experience been thinking about building systems that can manage power delivery for the driver? It dawned on me that a limited-slip diff does this for the suspension, and a system that listens for wheelspin can be seen as doing the same for the drivetrain. Have played with the PIC microprocessor enough to make me think there could be something done in this regard, definitely inexpensively, and possibly without too much difficulty (he was last heard to say). I imagine doing the code to tune the behaviour of such a thing so it really increased drivability could be really interesting. Consequences: throttle technique becoming a lost art ('cept for people who like to ride trials motorcycles in the woods during the winter). Lotus did the entire bleeping suspension in the mid '80s for their F1 cars so how hard could it be? Cheers,

At the risk of being called a 'conservative' there is much to be said for purchasing one's first Se7en of a make that is close to the "mainstream". Caterham, Birkin, Superformance S1 (please feel free to add other member's views here) are traditional and common, if that term can be applied to a Se7en, cars and therefore you will find many kindred souls who can give you support as you learn the ins and outs, not to mention the joys, of owning a Se7en. What is most significant to me about the car you are interested in is that this car is right-hand-drive. Are cars in Alberta all left-hand-drive? And, if so, consider what it will be like trying to move from the right lane and pass someone who's in front of you when you are in the wrong seat to view oncoming traffic. Any Se7en can be quite beguiling. If you take the time to step back and reflect on what things are important to you, it can save you quite a bit of heartache. Cheers,

Bung for O2 sensor is 18mm - 1.5mm pitch thread, some US cars use that size spark plug. All of the systems I've worked with only listen to the signal from the O2 sensor when doing moderate driving - it doesn't enter into the running of the calibration during aggressive driving. The sensor sends a small voltage to the ECU when there is little oxygen in the exhaust stream (i.e. running rich), so without the signal from the sensor, the ECU will think the engine's running lean. Since the range that the O2 sensor is listened to by the ECU is limited to modest driving, the safest thing to do is drive real fast ;-). Depending on your ECU, there may or may not be an issue; question is, is the ECU smart enough to know that the sensor is not working and ignore it in its calculating. I would expect that a standard FORD MAF controlled ECU is that smart. I've never heard of anyone frying an engine by running without this sensor, but if the engine is high output (runs closer to the edge), I'd be a bit concerned, particularly during light throttle steady cruise. Cheers,

Hi Martin, This is indeed the manufacturer. I got a sample from the factory in Canada and, 1) "300 Paper" 1/4 inch thick weighs 84 grams per sq foot - I figure around 2 lbs and change for the 12 sq. ft. it would take to do an Ultralite, and 2) if you drop something on it it breaks the fibers - so I can't imagine it living very long without something stout (perhaps Lizard Skin) between it and ordinary road debris. My question is from whom do you source it? The factory told me that their US distributor and value-added supplier is Tritex in SC, and that the smallest quantity was 125 sq. ft, at $2-3 per sq. ft. Since I only need a tenth of this, I was looking for someone to split up a roll with me to save money. Again, my take on this is that it's light and very highly insulating, and sounds like a good partner with Lizard Skin. Cheers,

7even, I've been looking at a product called Fibrox. It's a hi-grade glass insulation/sound-deadener that's used in manufacturing (e.g. between the catalytic converter and the aluminum shell around the converter) of production cars. It's light and really heat resistant (1500 degrees F), has very high insulating value, and does its work as thin sheet (1/4 inch). The downside is that, since it's inorganic/glass, it's not impact resistant. The combination of this insulation covered by Lizard Skin (for protection and additional insulatin+deadening) sounds like a good combination. What'dya think? Cheers,

I'll offer the following as a TIG newbie (those with experience can have a good laugh). -Get comfortable gas (oxy-acetylene) welding before you attempt TIG welding. -Roses are red, welders are blue (not the people, the machines). -An Inverter (as opposed to a rectifier) gives you a LOT for the difference in price. -If your budget is large, a water-cooled outfit will allow you a lighter,smaller handle and line; much easier to use. -Aluminum is a piece of cake, provided you: ensure cleanliness; learn how to use the pulser; ensure cleanliness; learn what 'balance' you need; ensure cleanliness; learn that what you do with your left hand (dip, dip, dip, in time with the pulser) is just as important as where and how you're pointing the torch (kinda like playing the violin); ensure cleanliness. Spend time running beads on 1/16" 1100 or 3003 - if you have trouble with the puddle being manageable, stop and clean everything. -Personal prefs: I bought a thumb operated contactor and am very pleased that I did so - when I need to get into some awkward position on the car to put on a tab, it makes it vastly easier. Even when I can use a foot contactor, I prefer working with my thumb - the control is much much better IMHO. I've found that 5356 rod makes a huge difference when welding any aluminum, from 1100 to 6061. I flows like brass under a gas torch - but this is most likely a function of the Inverter. Overall, I've found that this technology opens all kinds of doors because it gives you extraordinary control and flexibility - you can even braze with it - and you can craft stuff that looks "factory". BUT, you have to keep everything really really CLEAN (did I mention that?) Cheers,

This is such a test of one's discipline. Too many cool things, too little time. I'm at the tail end of a project where I designed a brake system for my car from scratch. If I hadn't taken the time to learn a CAD package, I couldn't have done it. If I'd taken the time to do a CNC setup, I could have done it even better (and perhaps cheaper). Being able to create things you'd like to have for your car is really fun, BUT is it worth the time away from time you can spend getting crossed up in the twisties out in the boondocks? Cheers, PS, thanks for the URL - it'll be helpful as I'm in the process of deciding whether or not to buy a Grizzly G0484 Mill.

This topic was on the USASe7ens list. It started it with a question about disconnecting the alternator along with the battery to save the alternator's diodes when such a switch was used. I've posted a synopsis of that thread at the end. With regard to the Harbour Freight switch, there was a 1967 Ferrari 412 P on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum last month and I noticed the characteristic handle of one of these switches poking out of the bodywork just behind the right door - on the exterior of the car for First Responders. That started me thinking that one of these switches would be a cheap insurance policy when connected in series with the battery ground. While, as Mazda pointed out, this may not prevent the engine from continuing to run sans battery, it can allow you to prevent the battery from dumping all its energy into your wiring in the event of a catastrophy. snip ----------- - I have the FlamingRiver switch. What lead me to buy it immediately is that it's a push-off rather than a paddle that needs to be turned in the correct direction- I figure if I'm ever in a situation where I have to shut the car off in a hurry, the last thing I want to do is have to think about which way to turn a lever. The FR switch works admirably in this regard - you wind it up to turn it on and it gives you a button nearly 2" in diameter that just needs a good slap to pop into the off position. It's mechanism is very positive. Workings. -A subtlety that needs to be appreciated when looking at a hook-up diagram for this switch is that the high amp terminals of the FR switch connect current which flows FROM the Battery to the system, but also FROM the Alternator to the Battery (when the alternator is supplying energy to the system and battery). The wire on the far side of the switch which feeds the System, is also a feed, back to the Battery. Now, the FR and Pegasus switches have three switches in a single package, all operated by the same lever / button. The first is the Battery to System switch which is Normally Open (i.e., when the switch is OFF, the battery is disconnected from the System. The second switch is also Normally Open, and the third is Normally Closed. All three change state in unison when the lever / button is toggled. To run the car you toggle the lever / button ON which closes the first and second switches and opens the third. The first switch supplies current from the battery to the system as a whole. The second switch can be used to feed power supplied via the ignition switch to the coil, isolating the engine run-control to the FR (and Ignition) switches. Use of the second switch in this way disconnects power to the coils when the lever / button is toggled off, ensuring that the engine stops. The third switch is wired by the owner to connect the system side of the first switch to one of the third switch terminals. the other third switch terminal is connected to ground through a low value resistor. When the lever / button is toggled OFF, this switch closes connecting anything supplying current on the System side (typically the alternator) to ground through a small resistance. Cherik's point about the system continuing to run even after the battery's been disconnected points out the importance of draining the output of the alternator while the alternator is still spinning and creating current (unless the ECU is smart enough to turn it off). What really muddied the waters for me is what FR ships. The 3 ohm resistor they supply is 1/8 watt (!!!) which would certainly blow out the first time the switch was turned off- and the documentation states that this resistor is used to protect the ECU. Their diagram shows the first of the three switches connected to the Starter. Somebody at FR needs help. -Unresolved - the stock setup on an S2000 has a 100 A fuse between the alternator output and the positive terminal of the battery. Knowing Honda's reputation for reliability, I doubt that the blowing of this fuse would also take out the alternator d

Have you had occasion to look at the cooling system that Carroll Smith sketched out in his "Prepare to Win" ?, and, if so, what do you think of it? It's clear that different manufacturers (engineers?) implement different looking systems, but I was wondering how "general" the Smith approach is. I used it as a guide in putting together a system for my Honda S2000 engine and got good results - in particular it self-bleeds if you hook up the "engine top bleed" to a surge tank that's higher by 1/2 than the bleed. I absolutely agree with you about carefully measuring how much coolant you put in. It's the only way I ever found peace of mind about trapped air in the cooling system. Cheers,

I'll offer that this isn't about frictional losses, it's about how well the car has its engine's "drivability" developed. You may strap a car down on a dyno and fiddle with things in order to record high peak HP at wide open throttle ( WOT) and wherever your torque peak lies, but this is pretty much a laboratory exercise and doesn't represent real-world issues. The last several cars I developed calibrations for were assessed by the owners in terms of how they felt on the road - and I can't remember the last time one of my clients asked for a printout of a pull on the dyno. The Dynojet, which damn near everyone seems to rely on as a measuring tool, is suitable for cars with carbs and distributors and only gives you a snapshot of a condition when everything is in one particular state. It is not a useful tool for measuring and developing output when running an electronic engine management system. Given current engine management technology, you can easily set things up so that you can FRY your engine driving down the road at 50 MPH. What this means is that, if you're just doing WOT pulls on a Dynojet, all you're tuning for is WOT. If you don't have a "load-bearing" dyno, and a test protocol for doing mid-range tuning, your car which measured 230 RWHP will most likely be an unmanageable slug that just happens to make power at WOT. Conversely, if you want performance and you're running an electronic management system, your tuner has to be able to set fuel and spark at optimums at each 500 RPM point on your power curve. If you can find someone who can do this, you will be dumfounded at the way your car behaves and you will most likely never even think about what it records on the dyno at the rear wheels. Cheers,

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions, guys. My goal in sharing is to make it easy for another Se7en'r to locate a topic of interest in my particular build experiences, and to access detailed information about that topic. I don't know of a friendlier interface for handling a random query than a collection of lists organized as a hierarchical tree for locating and drilling-down to a particular piece of information. However, the world changes, and I'm off to learn what I can about blogs, and find if it's possible to make them just as friendly to the user. Cheers,

I should start on a design for my website - for when I actually get my car done enough to share the experience. Anyone got what they think is the best value + technology at this point in time? Years ago I used a product called Net Objects Fusion which was really nice, but I'm not up on what the better choices are today. Anyone who knows of an app that runs on OS/2 gets undying gratitude ( and everyone says "What's OS/2?") As a point of reference, what was nice about Net Objects Fusion was that it was heirarchical from the get-go - was really easy to sketch out a site as a tree and especially easy to maintain and extend the tree; did a lot of the behind-the-scenes work for you so you never had to spend time chasing links. site uploading was packaged for you and it did link checking for off-site URLs you included. Cheers,

With due consideration of Randy Newman's song "Short people", I'd guess that this is an observation that some tall people drive S1s. Or perhaps one should make it a point to hunker down whenever you see someone pointing a camera at you so you look like you're in a F1 car.

Mike, With respect to getting more power. To the best of my knowledge, the Ford system is unlike any other system out there. All the other systems run off calibration tables that fit a set of pieces (air filter, exhaust system, ...) If you change any of the engine fittings, the table(s) will be out of synch and the car will run worse. The Ford system is adaptive - it doesn't use tables, it runs an algorithm that figures out how much fuel to deliver and when to fire the spark for each cylinder each time each cylinder fires. It does this by weighing the air that the engine is bringing in and then looking at RPM, throttle position, throttle change, air temperature, and so on. As long as the things that the computer is listening to (like the Mass Air Flow sensor which weighs the air) and the things that the computer is talking to (like the injectors) are IDENTICAL to the system as it was originally put together, Things will work well. Not a fire breather, but you should see very very good DRIVABILITY, meaning throttle is always there, it starts and idles when it's 15 degrees or 105, it gets good economy, it even has the equivalent of a passing gear - making more power when you step on the gas quickly and a lot. This requires that everything is as it should be with respect to the configuration of sensors and effectors. If something's been switched or is operating poorly (the MAF can be a deadly player here), the computer will be doing it's calculations based on bad information. However you CAN run an efficient air filter, same with the exhaust, and actually get more power. You can even have the head ported and polished and get more power. The limit is the size ofthe injectors - they can only deliver so much fuel, and when they're maxed out, that's all you get. You can buy aftermarket setups and get more power - this is possible. However, all of my experience is that this nearly always leads to something that runs, overall, poorly and is very expensive and is very very disappointing. Huge numbers of people out there really BELIEVE that tuning just isn't that difficult, but then there are also people who BELIEVE that the Earth is flat. If you want power, buy an engine from an estabilshed company whose business is building engines and who have a reputation and who charge an arm an a leg. One footnote. Years ago a guy named Erick Goel reverse engineered the code in a Ford Mustang ECU and made a board that plugs into the back for the ECU and a software interface for the user. Using this, the owner can, say, install larger injectors and a larger MAF ( more fuel available, better breathing) then go into the computer, update the value of the injectors and the table that translates the output of the MAF into kg or air per minute, download the changes to the ECU, turn the key and the car will start and run not only better, but be drivable as well. This, in my mind is amazingly cool - and I don't think that there's anyone else out there besides Ford who has done this. All the other system require huge amounts of time to get their engines to run well. Cheers

Mike, If you're using the configuration that I'm familiar with - throttle body sticking straight up on a plastic inlet manifold, I was able to fit a reasonable inlet system on the Superformance S1 running a Focus ZX3 sourced Zetec. I found that with a rubber doughnut adapter, the inlet boot from a 1987 VW Golf provided a very nice connection. It gives you a right angle redirection to the airflow, is very low in profile, and incorporates a plenum so that it breaths well. This, with a hose clamp holding it and the doughnut-spacer - maybe 3/4" thick flat neoprene - to the throttle body was quite secure. Given this you can run a connecting tube forward toward the nose of the car and attach an airfilter. I was able to use the stock Focus (ca. 2000) air tube with minor modifications. The last part would be to pick up a cold air stream from the front of the car, and of course finding room to put a box or baffle of some sort to do the directing of the airflow. The S1 took air that came in over the top of the radiator (notice the large nose on an S1 with respect to a Caterham) and used a door that fell down in font of the radiator a little when the car was stopped so that the engine wasn't inhaling hot air rising off the radiator. Hope this helps. Cheers,

I'll vouch for this car, although I'm sad to see Steve and this S1 parting company. I tuned it when I was at Performance Engineering. The car performed so well afterwards that another S1 owner who ran along with it at a track day at Pocono, trailered his car from Philly to Cincinnati to have me tune his car. The other owner, running a Zetec with Piper cams, J&R pistons and a milled head, asked Steve "What engine are you running in that?" It's an excellent example of the advantages of running an electronic engine management system. (Disclaimer: I have no financial interests of any kind in the sale of or proceeds from this transaction.) Cheers,

Hi slngsht, > Can accept phidgets (these are generic usb based sensors. I have used them in the past for other projects, and they are fantastic - anything from pressure, motion, acceleration sensors, etc...) Re adding sensors to give you information beyond what your ECU's reporting: So this device is a client on the ECU's OBD-II network and/or CAN network, or maybe it provides a network? - I'm gonna have to find out how these are are related. So there's input possible for controlling things as well as seeing and logging what sensors are reporting. I remember articles on a standard for a network promoted by the auto industry (CAN) so that aftermkt folks can sell across brands (so all of us that want CD/DVD players in our Se7ens can have them connected to the system for our listening enjoyment :-) ) They say that Vehicle I/O is CAN, J1850VPW (GM Class 2), J1850PWM (Ford SCP), ISO9141, KWP2000. An embarrassment of riches! Cheers,