DIY_EFI Digest V3 #101

[Kelly Murray]

>>So does this mean there are special-purpose electronic injectors
>>for methonal?  
>There very well might be - my pals and I are kinda of the junkyard sort :)

Hey, me too (see below), but if the parts won't work..
Ford seems to be able to run Methanol.
They have a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV) car that can run on methanol
or gas. You won't find many in the junkyard I'm sure, but I wonder
if their injectors are different.

>>My opinion/idea is why not use a common Intel x86 motherboard

>system.  First, I'd highly recommend the PC104 standard (www.pc104.com)
>since its a much smaller footprint, and utilizes +5V only, rather than
>requiring a -5/-12 power supply.  Great for automotive applications.  In

I'll check this out, but I'm also into using "electronic junkyard" parts.
I've got and can get old intel motherboards free..

>   Longer boot times.  PC's have to count memory, check disks, etc.  You'd
>have to hack into the BIOS to eliminate this.  Most embedded systems when

Certainly, but this is no different than hacking into GM ECU Proms!
I'd create a custom BIOS prom that doesn't count memory, check disks, etc.
I've looked into this before for non-automotive applications.
Is power draw really a concern?  The disks on a normal PC consume all
the power.  The power supply is an issue, but at the minimum a $40
12V->110V converter box would be used to simply plug-in a normal desk-top PC
power supply to power the motherboard.
An electronic whiz (not me) could probably build a powersupply
that would power the board directly.  How hard is it to generate -12V
and -5V from +12V?  No idea myself.

> I haven't seen it myself.  However, in the archives, there are instructions
> for running a 4.77Mhz PC system board as an EFI system for a Pontiac 6000
> (I think)... I downloaded the code a few months ago, written in basic, and
> was poking around.  The author had done a nice job with it.

Yeah I saw that.  Along similar lines to what I'm thinking. 

-Kelly Murray  kem at franz.com   Hercules, CA
 '63 Falcon Roadster 460   '70 Mustang Mach1 351W->TurboEFI6...