TwinTurbo.NET: Nissan 300ZX forum - ECU stuff, NIStune install, and progress
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Subject ECU stuff, NIStune install, and progress
     
Posted by apudapus on February 04, 2008 at 7:15 PM
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Message I've been working on my car for the past 6+ months and it's nearly coming to an end. I told people a while ago that I'd comment on NIStune but I haven't had a chance to work on ECU stuff until this past weekend. After working with NIStune for a short time and getting familiar with some of the features, I am very impressed with the GUI, layout, and all the things that it can do. It is intuitive and easy to use and it works well for being a beta release. The main points that made it a definite purchase for me are:

-the price: $400AUS~$360US for software and board.
-interface with a wideband O2 sensor and other sensors: you can connect 2 other serial devices to your laptop and NIStune can monitor and datalog those values as long as it is supported. This means I can connect a wideband O2 sensor that has a serial output and multiple 0-5V sensors like a fuel pressure gauge, oil pressure gauge, EGT, etc. I haven't verified this feature yet, but I have an AEM UEGO wideband to try it out with. I am planning to buy one of these http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/products/ssi_4.php to connect future sensors to (I haven't verified if NIStune is compatible with this particular product yet but in the documentation they mention interfacing with Innovate's MTS, Modular Tuning System.

The coolest feature that I discovered was the "compare" function. You can load up 2 binaries and NIStune will point out where the differences are and show them to you on a 2D and 3D map.

Now onto the pics...

ECU Stuff


New ECU bracket







New ECU sub-harness





Everything cleared out



Test fit sheet metal



Relocate some modules (I removed the stock alarm so there is plenty of room on the right side).



Here's what the sheet metal is for:


A module to trick the ECU into thinking that an EGRC and EGRT exist. I still need to add circuitry for the carbon canister checks. This is all for OBDII and since I'm using an OBDI ECU right now I won't need this until smog testing.



A relay for ignition.



A fuse box for ignition. I have 15A fuses in there right now, they'll all be dropped down to match the devices that are hooked up to them.



Test fit the harness on top of everything to check wire lengths. There were a couple of wires that I had to lengthen. I didn't leave enough slack for the sub-harness to rest when I have it AWAY from the devices like so:


This is how it looks right now and it's not done yet. I need to organize the wires coming in from the engine bay and tie things down with some wiring loom, electrical tape, and zip ties. It is a lot cleaner and organized than the rat's nest I had before: a lot of wires soldered in at numerous points for every time I added a new electronic device. With hindsight you learn alot. I am very happy with the way it is now. I made sure everything is easily removable so I can take things out and put it on a bench to work on and not in the cramped, dark foot panel area.


NIStune Install

Before installing the NIStune board into the ECU, I wanted to pull the maps from the chip that I had in there originally and work from that bin.


The ROM download from Nissan Data Scan and ZTalk didn't work for me. So I used Calumsult to do the ROM dump (a free Consult-like software). I'm not sure if ConZult or the NIStune software can do it successfully.


Ready for the NIStune board after removing the old chip with the proper tools.



I had to bend some capacitors on the knock sensor board to make it fit without interfering with the NIStune board. This one provided the biggest interference problem. I'm assuming NIStune didn't expect the board to be used with a socketed ECU.







I also had to clip off the ends of some of the pins.



Not shown: I put a piece of electrical tape over the NIStune pins and the capacitor on the knock sensor board to prevent a short.



Since I'm installing larger injectors than I had before, I had to reprogram the NIStune board to account for this. Eric from the Nissan ECU Tuning forum made a nice little app that will do just that. You can download it from this post:
http://ecu2.forumwise.com/ecu2-thread1737.html
I could give out the direct link to it but I'd like to give him some credit.


As you can see, he has numerous presets for the different injector sizes available for the Z32. The injector k-value is changed plus the different TP tables and constants.



If you have the 615cc injectors like I do, you'll notice that there isn't a preset value for it in the rescaler program. No worries. The k-value for 615cc injectors is 173 decimal.
So just load up the binary you downloaded (with Calumsult) from you old ROM, choose the k-value you want, process, and save. Now you have a new binary to load up into the ECU with NIStune.

NIStune has a built in injector resizing function that will change the injector k-value and the appropriate TP values. I did a comparison of what NIStune did and what Eric's program did and I liked the values given by Eric's more. If you have NIStune, you'll see what I mean.




Load the rom, sync, and perform a permanent write and you have an ECU rightly sized for your injectors. You'll probably have to change the injector latency value manually to smooth out any rough idle. The rom rescaler doesn't do it automatically since it differs greatly from car to car.

You'll notice that I was using Windows Vista to load up the new binary. I found that NIStune doesn't connect well with the ECU when used with Windows Vista and a usb-to-serial device. It worked once with that laptop. It works perfectly everytime on an old laptop I have with Windows XP and a real serial connector in the back. I don't know if it is Vista or if it is the usb-to-serial device I have. It's most likely Vista. Calumsult doesn't work with Vista either.

I'm almost done with my build...

I installed my upper manifold on Saturday. The thing I like about the 300 degree fuel rails is that you can remove/install the upper manifold without having to disconnect any fuel lines. This allowed me to test the fuel rails on the car with fuel pressure and check for leaks and not have to disconnect the fuel lines and deal with fuel spraying everywhere when it came time to reinstalling the plenum. This was important to me because there were 2 separate times when I had 2 leaking o-rings (one of those times I checked for leaks before putting everything back together). Here are some pics of the greatness of the 300 degree fuel rails:




































This is how it looks right now. I tried polishing the plenum a couple years ago without much success. I decided to paint the plenum to hide my unfinished polish work. I used high temp spray paint. One spray can was enough to leave you with what you see. Here is one case where pictures actually make it look better than it really is. The quality does not match a polished, chromed, or powder coated plenum. It's clean enough for me.


Installing the wiring and balance tube on top of the stainless steel fuel lines was a great pain. I a couple hours squatting on top of that engine getting everything squared away correctly. I am a very small guy so it wasn't too bad. I'm not sure how larger people would do it.

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