Mazda Rotary Club

General => General Technical => Anything Engine/Performance/Tuning related => Topic started by: Devil\'s Refugee on September 28, 2006, 02:05:34 PM

Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: Devil\'s Refugee on September 28, 2006, 02:05:34 PM
How hard/ easy is it to learn how to map the PFC by yourself ?
Is it recommended to even attempt this with basic knowledge of an FD and fuelling ?

Based up here in Scotland, I don\'t think we have anyone who is qualified to look at an RX so for basic mods/ mapping can you DIY or do we bite the bullet and head for Pip or whoever south of the border ?

Is there even a way of recording and passing around other maps which people use with similar mods, and just tweak or is this a very simplistic view of things ? :3Confused
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: John Yorke on September 28, 2006, 02:54:05 PM
Your best bet is to have a word with Roberto on FDUK he has mapped his old car on the road and has access to Datalogit, unless you are confident my best advice would be to have a chat with Robbie, I know he is down to Donnington for Jap Fest 2 this Saturday which would be the ideal time for you to show off your wheels on your way home to Jockland:Laugh
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: ianelvar on September 30, 2006, 01:09:14 PM
Just my 2p\'s worth, but if you\'ve got the head for it I\'d say go for it with the tuning. I\'ve done a couple of cars with the megasquirt DIY fuel controller. It\'s not hard. I did a whole bunch of reading up in books and on the //www.megasquirt.info site. Once you know the basics it\'s plain sailing picking up the rest. I\'d also recommend reading a book on forced induction. I learnt a lot about fueling, spark timing, denonation, pre ignition etc. that way.
There is also the added bonus that you get a whole bunch of knowledge you can apply to any EFI setup, stock or aftermarket. EFI used to scare me, but now I know how the underlying stuff works it\'s a lot easier. I prefer it to carbs now.

I\'ve never done a rotary, but it\'s on my plan of stuff to do. The principal is the same at the end of the day. It breathes air and drinks fuel ;)

One thing I would suggest is to get a wideband:

http://techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/

It will make tuning much more straightforward, but do read through their documentation as there are a few quirks with turbos and WB sensors you need to watch out for.

In short - Go for it! I\'m really big on people gathering knowledge and using it themselves. This country is going to be in big trouble if no-one continues to do anything using their own skills rather than paying someone else to do it, and I always love seeing people achieve something and feeling proud because they did it themselves.
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: John Yorke on September 30, 2006, 01:29:13 PM
/\\ /\\ I admire your encouragement, the only thing I will say is if you make small mistakes on a boinger you tend to get away with it, on a rotary that is not the case, been around these beasts long enough to appreciate that a little knowledge is likely to lead to rebuild if it goes t1tsup, if you have access to someone who has gone down the road of self mapping my advice would be go talk to them - pick their brains AND  do all the reading on the subject that you can.
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: TRex on September 30, 2006, 10:09:07 PM
Being as straight talking as my norm....

 \'Forget that bud!\'
 
 Just last week were asking very basic questions about Turbo sizes and use etc.
   You have followed up recently with alot of questions (which is good),  but judging from your present knowledge of mechanics and function, then I can honestly say to you to do not even attempt trying to tune or mod a car yourself. Or even consider learning this side of it.....

 Not saying for you never to get into that side of things, but you seriously need to read and actually get involved in Auto fundamentals first and understand the basics before you can even attempt anything else..

 Don\'t take this the wrong way, but you must creep before you walk...
 
 Rgds
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: shaunwil on September 30, 2006, 10:25:47 PM
Just have a readup on rx7club, they have a whole section about mapping the pfc. As said if your green to it try and read up as fully as you can before even buying any of the bits.

Remeber you will need a datalogic and a wideband lambda before you even start to tune and that will probably set you back 600quid alone.

Shaun
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: BlitzBoy on October 01, 2006, 12:01:09 AM
you need a wideband and a datalogit, as said before good doc on American forum, but becarefull, intially add extra fuel across the map, start of very rich then start tune and take fuel out, but as said before very easy to get it wrong!!!!
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: mikeyh on October 01, 2006, 04:37:10 PM
so it is possable then just need to ge tthe reading glasses on(not me of coarse im really thick)lol
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: ninjasx on October 04, 2006, 01:28:35 PM
I would also add if you are going to have a go at learning to map yourself start off in the off boost area and spend a lot of time slowly and carefully getting that right,there is far more headroom for error there so you are less lkely to break something and by the time you come to do on boost you should be very familiar with the software an how things work:Thumbs-up
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: RobEVo5 on October 20, 2006, 03:08:39 PM
Quote from: shaunwilJust have a readup on rx7club, they have a whole section about mapping the pfc. As said if your green to it try and read up as fully as you can before even buying any of the bits.

Remeber you will need a datalogic and a wideband lambda before you even start to tune and that will probably set you back 600quid alone.

Shaun

Possibly going down the self map route myself - Will try and find the link you desribe would be interested to here whats being said - you got a link by chance ?
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: shaunwil on October 20, 2006, 04:30:10 PM
this may help :

http://www.rx7club.com/forumdisplay.php?f=47

Shaun
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: CJay on October 20, 2006, 07:54:53 PM
Specific to Skylines in parts but worth reading if you\'re starting out with the PFC:
 

http://paulr33.skylinesaustralia.com/docs/powerfc-faq/powerfc-faq.htm

CJ
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: Tintin on October 25, 2006, 07:32:48 PM
I\'m going to have a read through those threads and anymore I can find , wouldn\'t even think about having a go myself ( well not yet anyway ) but I\'m always interested in learning new stuff

Being new to the PFC I\'d love to know more about how it all works , can anyone recomend any books aswell ???
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: RobEVo5 on October 25, 2006, 10:09:15 PM
Quote from: TintinI\'m going to have a read through those threads and anymore I can find , wouldn\'t even think about having a go myself ( well not yet anyway ) but I\'m always interested in learning new stuff

Being new to the PFC I\'d love to know more about how it all works , can anyone recomend any books aswell ???


I was lucky enough to be able to learn quickly by learning (and still am learning) from a couple of friends who map. One has been playing at it for years and producing chips as well as PFC mapping, and another who maps scoobs, mr2s\' and others in the south east. I would only be happy playing with my car as If I do any harm I can only blame myself. But like everything in life you only learn by trying and practice.

The PFC handcontroller manual is a good place to start, but without at the VERY least a wideband. I wouldn\'t attemp changing anything. But once you get started its very difficult to not want to tweak more and learn more. Its all part of the fun IMHO.
Title: Apexi PFC DIY mapping
Post by: Tintin on October 25, 2006, 10:23:59 PM
I\'ve read the commander manual ( well the pdf file ) and I\'m starting to get my head round it , think I could do with refreshing the basics as it was quite a while back