Feedback for my custom AFC project

[Lex]

Hey Guys,

This semester at university, i will be doing a group project to make a custom AFC for our cars. Basically i would like some feedback to see what all of you want...

So Far:

-it will be made to be tuned ever 100rpm (not 500rpm like the apexi). the air fuel ratio will be tuned up to a maximum of +-25% from the normal reading.

-We are thinking of adding in a multi stage shift light using a bank of LEDs, where the user can define what rpm to set this point.

-there will be a performance mode and a "stock" mode, so you will be able to return the AF ratios back to stock if need be, without losing the performance settings that will be stored in memory...

-There will be a vacuum fluorescent display and push buttons for an easy user interface.

- We are also planning to have a digital tach readout on the display as well as throttle position percentage.

-additionally (we are still working out this one) we would like to add an idle stabilizer unit to help out the guys who are running large cams in their cars. Hopefully we will be able to make the car idle better with larger cams.

- also, we are thinking of incorporating a way of uploading and downloading AFC settings and correction factors using a laptop from the unit. Do you guys think this will be a good thing to have in order for people with similar mods/cars to share settings?


Is there anything else that you guys would like to see?? we are planning to make a bunch of these units after we get a prototype working happy on my car . Not sure of the price as of yet, but i am sure it will be much low than the current AFCs on the market...

feedback is appreciated.

[THEGOLDPRO]

jeez guy, that sounds like a crap load of work.

[D323]

very interesting..... are you looking at making yours as a prototype, then offering some for a group buy, or are you only going to make 'X' amount of these when you make the orginal one for your class.....

sounds interesting. Would be nice to have an afc that was custom tailored to to the bpt.

[Lex]

We are planning to make as many units as there is interest for. We will work out all the bugs on the prototype before offering it for sale.

Are there any other features you would like to see on this? It will be made to work on more than the BP/BPT motors. We are also planning to only use existing sensors on the car (O2, TPS, VAF/MAF, tach etc) so the price will be kept low. This means no EGT/Boost gauges on the unit, and also no wideband O2 sensors.

Basically, it will be similar to the Apexi SAFC on the market ... but we are trying to add more features. The two ideas we have so far are making the adjustment intervals smaller and being able to download/upload the settings from the AFC.

[Lex]

It also looks like we will be incorporating an A/F meter in our device, so that is good news for all us turbo people

[THEGOLDPRO]

do you have any kind of prototype drawing??? whast the unit look like?, dimensions?

[Lex]

do you have any kind of prototype drawing??? whast the unit look like?, dimensions?

No set in stone dimensions yet. As stated above it will have a vacuum fluorescent display that is 32 char x 4 lines big ... with 140 pixels accross (colour is bluish/green).

It will have push buttons for menu navigation.

The casing is not our main concern right now. We will try and pacakge it as attractively as possible, but this will be after all PCB layout and internal wiring will be finalized.

[D323]

would the harness be plug and play? Or would there be some tuning involved?

[redfox]

it would be leet ownage if it had a turbo timer built into it! i know i would get 1 then....an AFC and a TT in 1 unit....mmmmm.....

[92_2_fast]

Ya to bad Im all apexi'ed out. Damn that would be some cool shiat!!!

[Escort91GTX]

im in for a group buy on this

[Lex]

Just to answer a few questions:

The unit will hook up to the power, TPS, O2, and tach signals of the car. It will splice between the air flow meter and the ECU. This hookup is very similar to the Apexi. So, wiring will not be a very difficult, but a couple of wires will have to be spliced. Install instructions will be provided.

Due to the nature of the product, we are not going to have a turbo timer on there, sorry.

However, we are attempting to have a much higher resolution for the A/F gauge readout. Narrowband A/F gauges are not very accurate due to our O2 sensors which only have a range between 0-1Volts and a huge part of that range is around the 14.7:1 ratio (stoich).

So, we are making a readout that has a 5x higher resolution than the normal (Autometer) A/F gauges. This won't be for fine tuning the car by any means, but it will be quite useful to determine the dangerous LEAN condition early.

More specific specs are going to come through as this project is implemented. By the end of February we should have a mostly working prototype. (The sooner this is done, the sooner I can drop in my GTX

Depending on the interest of the group and how the project comes along, I will decide on how many of these we will make in an initial batch.

I will keep you guys posted. Also, keep the feedback coming, I am always looking for good suggestions.

[D323]

awesome.

[Escort91GTX]

about how much are we gonna be lookin at , money wise?

[Lex]

The price depends on several factors:

1. How many of these boxes will be made

The more we make, the cheaper it becomes .... so once the total price of parts is added up, ordering these in bulk will greatly reduce the price.

2. How fancy they will look

The electronics are going to be as much as the enclosure if the enclosure is done professionally. The most expensive part of the electronics right now is the display which is about $40.

So it depends on how nice we want the thing to look really ....

One thing is certain, the unit will be a lot cheaper than the Apexi, and it will have more features. We are hoping to make it about 1/2 the price of what an Apexi unit is.

Exact pricing will be determined after we have the 1st working prototype however. I will post any progress on here.