ECU6 EFI system construction

[Al Lipper]

A number of people have sent me mail indicating a desire to work on the ECU
project - this is great!  I beleive that we can end up with a much better
system with a dozen people each focusing on a specific aspect of the
project than lots of people trying to do it by themselves.  If people are
interested in this, I would be happy to coordinate the development process,
as well as use my homepage as a central location for communicating project
status among people (http://members.aol.com/ALIPPER/  It is also linked to
the projects section of the DIY_EFI web site).

In particular, we need people to specialize in the following areas:

- Programming the 8051 (or derivative with advanced features like counter
arrays)
- BASIC programming (Preferably with experience in real-time control systems)
- Detailed EFI operational theory (to help guide the programmers)
- Electronics design (with microprocessor/microcontroller experience)
- Automotive electronics experience (dealing with noise, driving high
currents, etc.)
- PC board layout & routing
- Building and testing the system on your own vehicle (for giving the
designers feedback)

There are probably many more areas that will arise as work progresses, but
for now, this should give us a good start.  Also, if anyone has the ability
to have balnk PC boards manufactured in small quantities for a low cost,
that would be great (I've already tried non-professional fabrication of
these boards, and they're way too dense and complex to have this work
reliably).  I've had some of them made so far and paid about $130 for four.
 If we could get the cost down, that would be good.

Someone asked for additional info on how well the system works.  I drove
around with it for about six months and it worked surprisingly well.  It's
still missing some "features" like an accellerator pump, has a slightly
rich mixture at idle and the learning routines need work, but otherwise it
was quite drivable.  Only once did I have a system failure, and that was
due to my neglecting to put any kind of a heat sink on the injector drivers
(I didn't think they were that hot...)

As far as who owns the result of a group effort like this, I think we all
should.  If it finds its way to the market someday, I believe that people
who contributed to the effort should receive a proportional part of any
profit.  But that's not really the point.  I'm in it for the fun and not
for the money, as I'm sure is true with everyone here.  So...If you have
time to devote to this project, let's get going! 

				Al

Al Lipper
efi at cardozo.org
(650) 322-9112