Possible to add aftermarket fly by wire throttle?

[450Nick]

I'm just looking around at various bits of kit before hopefully starting to build up a race car soon and I was just wondering, is it possible to add an aftermarket fly by wire throttle setup? The reason being that I've got my eye on an Elite sequential gearbox and I was just thinking how cool it would be to have auto blips on downshifting. Could this be done on a car designed to use a mechanical throttle linkage?

[GreenV8S]

Don't see why you couldn't fit an electrically operated butterfly as a bypass to the mechanical throttle, even if you keep the mechanical base. Alternatively, perhaps you could use a 'cable stretcher' system as used for some traction control systems.

[evonut270]

i think it will be more trouble than its worth really.

[stevieturbo]

There are quite a few aftermarket ecu's around now with the ability to drive a DBW throttle.

[450Nick]

stevieturbo said:

There are quite a few aftermarket ecu's around now with the ability to drive a DBW throttle.

Yeah this is my thought, never seen an aftermarket throttle control system though... Hmm I might have a look into it, then again as has been said, it could be more trouble than its worth. On the other hand, it eliminates any throttle cable issues

[annodomini2]

How about getting the ecu setup to cut the ignition on down blips?

[Boosted LS1]

I've got a spare vette FBW throttle if you decide you need one.

[350Matt]

Nick

Easiest way to achieve this is to fit a solenoid or small pneumatic actuator to give the throttle a kick on the down shift command from the ECU as the engine is declutched you don't need a variable setting just something to push it open a few mm each time.

The Motec ECU's can handle this with lots of other goodies besides, mabye DTA as well

[Pumaracing]

450Nick said:

stevieturbo said:

There are quite a few aftermarket ecu's around now with the ability to drive a DBW throttle.

Yeah this is my thought, never seen an aftermarket throttle control system though... Hmm I might have a look into it, then again as has been said, it could be more trouble than its worth. On the other hand, it eliminates any throttle cable issues

.. and throttle cables break how often exactly? Not very often compared to complicated electronickery IMO.

[450Nick]

Pumaracing said:

450Nick said:

stevieturbo said:

There are quite a few aftermarket ecu's around now with the ability to drive a DBW throttle.

Yeah this is my thought, never seen an aftermarket throttle control system though... Hmm I might have a look into it, then again as has been said, it could be more trouble than its worth. On the other hand, it eliminates any throttle cable issues

.. and throttle cables break how often exactly? Not very often compared to complicated electronickery IMO.

Well i've seen a couple break this season so its not unheard of... But I know what you mean, it is a complicated solution... Its only a pie in the sky idea, I just thought that if I put a seq box in, it might be a cool idea, since I've used ECU's before which have this function such as the Motec. I just wasn't sure if there was an aftermarket kit to do this or not. It seems there isn't!

[Mr2Mike]

Pumaracing said:

.. and throttle cables break how often exactly? Not very often compared to complicated electronickery IMO.

I totally agree, I can hardly imagine why anyone would want to use one of these horrible, complex systems when I've yet to drive a road car where it works well without introducing lag.

[Boosted LS1]

^ They give very precise throttle control so handy with a powerful v8 as well as being good for emmisions and providing another input for the ecu to use with it's calculations.

[Mr2Mike]

They are no more "precise" than a good cable setup, and always introduce some lag. What they can do is massage the signal from the drivers foot to give a smoother power delivery which may be desirable on a luxobarge, but I don't believe they have any place on a competition car in their current guise.

[Boosted LS1]

I'd hardly call a vette a luxobarge. They have a powerful engine and clearly the electronic throttle provides information as well as control. I doubt vettes are laggy either. A cable would have been far cheaper but GM chose the expensive route for their sports car.

[350Matt]

a proper electronic throttle can be a god-send in a race car particularly when your driver asks for 'more power at part throttle' you can program all sorts of responses into the curve to suit the response of the engine and even make it a 3d amp with speed and engine rev's

Better get used to 'em chaps another 5 years there won't be a cable in sight on modern stuff

[stevieturbo]

Im sure BMW's M5 isnt laggy either...or many of the modern DBW cars.


If it wasnt so expensive, I'd be tempted to have a go myself.

[Mr2Mike]

stevieturbo said:

Im sure BMW's M5 isnt laggy either...or many of the modern DBW cars.

I don't know much about the M5, but there have been numerous complaints about lag on the lower model BMWs that have electronic throttles.

Electronic throttles solve a whole host of problems on road cars, you can mask driveline shunt, deliver smoother power delivery from turbocharged engines, easily add cruise control and traction control etc. However, an electronic system simply can not ever have as fast a response as a direct cable connection.

[Boosted LS1]

Mr2Mike said:

stevieturbo said:

Im sure BMW's M5 isnt laggy either...or many of the modern DBW cars.

However, an electronic system simply can not ever have as fast a response as a direct cable connection.

I'd say it would be faster, computers aren't exactly slow and cables usually have slack in them so as not to raise the idle speed. Cables can have resistance in the sleeving, bends and kinks etc causing stiction. The cable may work but so does a carb. It's horses for courses imo and things move on.

[Zad]

I would be more concerned about the extra weight involved than the comparative reliability.

[Boosted LS1]

It's only a few ounces for the servo and peddle potentiometer. Less then a whole pound