DIYEFI FAQ

[Stuart Baly]

DIYEFIers,

OK, this is something that has been playing on my mind for a while now - I 
believe it's time for a DIYEFI FAQ. A week or so ago I had a think about 
writing a FAQ, and this is the basic outline I came up with:

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0. How does my engine work?
4-stroke
        Basic anatomy - crank conrod piston cyl valves
        Basic operation - 4 parts of cycle
        Valve operation
                Side valve
                OHV pushrod
                OHC
                DOHC
                4v vs. 2v
        Ignition
                How it works (Kettering, CDI)
                Importance of timing, significance
        Mixture
                rich/lean effects on power, fuel cons, emissions
        Throttling
                Significance of throttle pos./ manifold vac. on power
        Cooling system
                Why, how
        Exhaust
                Why, how 

turbo 4-stroke
        Basic supercharging.
        Boost control - wastegate.
2-stroke
        basic operation
        advantages and disadvantages from 4-stroke
rotary
        basic operation
        adv and disadv from 4-s
diesel
2-stroke diesel
other weird ones

1. What is EFI?
        Mech. systems, analog elec. systems, digital elec. systems
        How does the XXXXXX sensor work?
        Input sensors -
                TPS, MAP sensor
                crank, cam sensor
                mass air flow sensor
                intake temp, coolant temp, cyl head temp sensor
                exhaust gas temp sensor
                exhaust gas oxygen sensor
        Outputs - 
                Fuel injectors, ignition module
                Boost control

MY CAR IS A XXXXXX. WHAT TYPE OF MANAGEMENT HAS IT?
List of cars, systems

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS SYSTEMS
K-Jetronic, L-Jetronic, Motronic, Monotronic, LH-Jetronic
ECCS, EEC-4, etc.

I'D LIKE TO MODIFY MY XXXXX SYSTEM. WHERE DO I START?
Sources of info.

IF LIKE TO DESIGN MY OWN SYSTEM. WHERE DO I START?
Existing systems.
Starting pts. e.g. 80552 boards, EFI332 proj, 68332 boards 68HC??? boards
Hints from those who have done it before e.g. power supply probs,
        temperature extremes, filtering etc.
Info on sensors - sources
Circuit cookbook - ign. and inj. drivers, temp. sensor circuits
Info on injector flow rates etc. - sources.

LIST OF AFTERMARKET ENGINE CONTROLLERS
web sources

GLOSSARY
crank fire, open loop, closed loop, wastegate, speed density
n-alpha, alpha, BMEP, V.E., advance, variable reluctance, VR
Hall effect, absolute pressure, pressure, EGO, TPS, IAT, MAP
BAP, any others?

LIST OF REFERENCES

THANK YOUS

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I'm sure there are many other subjects/questions to be answered, but these 
are the ones I came up with in the hour I spent on it.
This is a fairly big task, even though many of these questions are probably 
answered in FAQs elsewhere, and there is already a good list of references, 
parts etc. in circulation.

Here's the deal - I've decided against writing it, for the following
reasons -
1. <PATHETICWHINE> I haven't got time </PATHETICWHINE>
2. I haven't got the experience. I've got a fairly good understanding of 
the concepts etc., but I'm yet to lay a hand on an EFI vehicle in anger, 
which kind of puts me at a disadvantage.
3. A curly one - which audience should it be written for? I can see 
conflict arising over the need to be easily understood by the average Joe, 
and the desire to be 100% technically correct. We've all seen seemingly 
simple statements stretch out into week-long threads discussing the 
minutiae of the argument down the the nth degree (not that I'm complaining) 
- just imagine what would happen with a 100k document full of simple 
statements.

So there it is - maybe someone will take the ball and run with it, in which 
case I'd be happy to do my little bit, or maybe this post will be ignored.

Apologies to all for bombing the list with such a long post, but I
really think it's time for a FAQ.

Cheers,
Stuart.

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             Stuart Baly (S.Baly at BoM.gov.au)
'71 Datrat 1600, '89 Kawasaki GPz900R, '81 Yamaha RD350LC
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