Emerald ECU... Some questions before I take the plunge!

[thenick]

Right, I have finally had enough of waiting for TVR power to co-ordinate me and the RR guy to have a session to sort out my fueling problems and my rather drastic alternative is to skip a year and go straight for the Emerald system. (Edit to add: My car is a 97 Chim 450)

Before I commit to this though, I have some questions:

1. What exactly do I need?? - So far I know of ECU, coilpacks, leads, sensor, trig wheel.

2. Do I need a wideband lambda sensor to go with this lot? - what are the benefits?

3. Where would this wideband sensor be mounted? - Is it just a case of drilling a hole in the downpipe and screwing the bugger in?

4. How do I mount the trig wheel and sensor? - has anyone done this before who could provide me with a bit of advice please?!

5. How easy is it to wire parallel to the Lucas system? - I have quite a bit of car electronics experience but haven't touched the ECU yet...

6. Is this system the dogs danglies?

7. Does anyone want to order the system with me? I've been quoted 754.93 for all the bits from Emerald (excluding the trig wheel and coil packs as these are bought separately for an additional 80ish quid from trig-wheels.co.uk). They said they will offer discounts if more than one are purchased - they didn't say how much exactly, but it is more than a 10'er i'm assuming!

Thanks in advance - It seems to be a bit of a steep learning curve but i'm learning slowly!

ps. Does anyone have this system already installed somewhere near Caterham (junc 6 m25) who wouldn't mind showing me how it works?

Edited by thenick on Monday 23 July 16:03

[trackcar]

I've fitted loads of these now and can tell you it's an easy piece of kit to fit and set-up. By running a wideband and the latest K3 software you can have full fuelling mapping on a target lambda map maiking it easy to get the car running properly, with fully configurable load and rev sites for full controllability. Dave and Karl are great at Emerald so you can't go wrong IMO.

Go for it, you can't lose

[CRE]

Wot E said ^

Jamie

[Graham]

Im on my second one of these. Joolz put the first one on my chim and we retained the dissy for the crank sensor, we then moved it onto the tuscan racer, and finally upgraded to a new k3 emerald or this season, with coil packs.

I think there a great bit of kit, I used the John Eales trigger wheel and sensor and cerb coil packs.

I think Emerald recomend a wideband lamba sensor, I dont think the threads are the same on the standard tvr lamba's so its a case of drill another hole and weld in th boss that comes with the sensor...

good bit of kit

G

[dnb]

I'm using a different system, but the principles are all the same.

Go with the wideband sensor even though it means some messing about with drilling and welding a new boss in. It's worth every second of time you spend doing this, because you'll more than save that time when it comes to mapping.

I too use the John Eales crank sensor kit. It's performed flawlessly for 18 months. It all just bolts on and works, so although it's expensive it is probably worth it in saved time.

Bin the Lucas wiring loom and make your own. It's the only way to be sure! The Lucas has 4 injectors per bank and fires them in 2 batches. This is plain silly for a modern system, so I have all 8 wired independently and run them sequentially. The minimum I'd do is have pairs of injectors connected together. The amount of work needed to make an injection loom in addition to the ignition loom is minimal, so it may as well be right from the start...

I think that any halfway decent aftermarket system that is set up properly will produce results far in excess of what you can do with the Lucas and clockwork dizzy, so you're answer to 7 is "yes, but you can always buy a more expensive box of tricks that has even more features you won't use much... "

[Vixpy1]

The chim could well be getting an ECU, coils etc later this year, but then the ECU is gonna be a bit special

[GreenV8S]

dnb said:

I too use the John Eales crank sensor kit.

Can I assume yours is a serpentine/intermediate front end?

dnb said:

The Lucas has 4 injectors per bank and fires them in 2 batches. This is plain silly for a modern system, so I have all 8 wired independently and run them sequentially.

When I tried to buy an Emerald system their eight cylinder sequential system had to be made to special order. I gave up after about six months of waiting for them to get round to it ...

[jeffsy]

When I got mine off Emerald they recommended a NZ guy for the loom - Paul Dove PJD Wiring Co - 01953 789559 - he did a very pretty job on the loom, quick turnaround and was also VAT free which was nice

[That Daddy]

Sequential is only of benefit to emissions and very lean burn technology(other benefits too,(but not worth mentioning at this level),this engine is never gonna be frugal and you aint aiming for lean burn,but performance is what your after, firing banks of 4 cylinders is fine not state of the art i know but then neither is the RV8, just my cents worth.Its the mapped ignition thats gonna give this engine what it deserves.

Edited by That Daddy on Tuesday 24th July 08:50

[Graham]

I think the standard v8 emerald ( you need to specify as it needs an extra ignition driver to standard to go dissy less) batches the injectors in pairs now

G

[That Daddy]

Graham said:

I think the standard v8 emerald ( you need to specify as it needs an extra ignition driver to standard to go dissy less) batches the injectors in pairs now

G

Injectors fired in pairs,better still

[Bluebottle]

I was under the impression that the "Innovates LC-1" wb sensor will fit the existing manifold boss. Can anyone confirm this?

[thenick]

Right how much is this John Eales Crank sensor kit then? Sounds a little complicated from all this talk of injector wiring!

What are the benefits of this type of system as opposed to a Mark Adams chip? Seems to be about £400 cheaper and obviously wont have mapped ignition but would I notice with fast road driving with possibly a few track days?

Nick

[GreenV8S]

Bluebottle said:

I was under the impression that the "Innovates LC-1" wb sensor will fit the existing manifold boss. Can anyone confirm this?

No. It uses the standard Bosch sensor which is physically completely different to the standard narrow band one. You will need to add a new boss for each wideband sensor.

[GreenV8S]

thenick said:

Sounds a little complicated from all this talk of injector wiring!

Taking two wires to each injector is a piece of proverbial - if that's putting you off then get somebody to install it and set it up for you.

[350Matt]

thenick said:

1. What exactly do I need?? - So far I know of ECU, coilpacks, leads, sensor, trig wheel.

Make sure your existing throttle pot and coolant sensors work OK , you'll also need a MAP sensor just to offset with air pressure - take a look down the breakers

2. Do I need a wideband lambda sensor to go with this lot? - what are the benefits?

If you're happy to set it up just once on the rollers then fine no wideband req'd, however you may want to know whats going on post mapping and a wideband is a great tool for refining the map on the road. Plus the latest emerald will map itself with wideband input.

3. Where would this wideband sensor be mounted? - Is it just a case of drilling a hole in the downpipe and screwing the bugger in?

No you need to weld in a boss

4. How do I mount the trig wheel and sensor? - has anyone done this before who could provide me with a bit of advice please?!

Buy the kit from trigger wheels and it bolts behind your existing pulley

5. How easy is it to wire parallel to the Lucas system? - I have quite a bit of car electronics experience but haven't touched the ECU yet...

Throw away your lucas loom and start again, you'll get a wiring diagram with the emerald and you'll only need a couple of feeds off your existing fusebox.Most reliability problems are down to electrics so this is your chance to make it much better than before


6. Is this system the dogs danglies?

For the money - yes
You can spend 10 x what emerald want but unless you need logic ouputs to operate control valves, run differentials and give you launch control whilst slipping the clutch for you the emeralsd will do a splendid job

7. Does anyone want to order the system with me? I've been quoted 754.93 for all the bits from Emerald (excluding the trig wheel and coil packs as these are bought separately for an additional 80ish quid from trig-wheels.co.uk). They said they will offer discounts if more than one are purchased - they didn't say how much exactly, but it is more than a 10'er i'm assuming!

I'd love to sadly I'm skint due to moving house....

Edited by thenick on Monday 23 July 16:03[/footnote]

[footnote]Edited by 350Matt on Tuesday 24th July 13:49

[rev-erend]

Mine is on order .. been waiting for a little while.

It's a special order to have a V8 running wasted spark and they said they had a delay with a component and could not ship...

[Johno]

jeffsy said:

When I got mine off Emerald they recommended a NZ guy for the loom - Paul Dove PJD Wiring Co - 01953 789559 - he did a very pretty job on the loom, quick turnaround and was also VAT free which was nice

I can recommend Paul as well . . . Top bloke.

I have a loom which will support coil packs and nearly all the sensors required to run the Emerald, was made for an Emerald.

I have chosen to go a slightly different route, but make me an offer on the loom and it's yours . ..

[AntonyJ]

Does anyone have a list of items to be included in the loom?

Such as

Lambda
Crank Sensor
Coolant Temp
TPS
Injectors x 8
MAP sensor
Coil packs
IACV
Air Temp
Knock sensors (if used)


Just trying to compile a list of whats in a loom.


Also , dont suppose anyone has the wiring (Schematic) for the Emerald K3 for RV8 wasted spark?

Edited by AntonyJ on Tuesday 24th July 20:15

Edited by AntonyJ on Tuesday 24th July 20:16

[thenick]

AntonyJ said:

Does anyone have a list of items to be included in the loom?

Such as

Lambda
Crank Sensor
Coolant Temp
TPS
Injectors x 8
MAP sensor
Coil packs
IACV
Air Temp
Knock sensors (if used)


Just trying to compile a list of whats in a loom.


Also , dont suppose anyone has the wiring (Schematic) for the Emerald K3 for RV8 wasted spark?

Edited by AntonyJ on Tuesday 24th July 20:15

Edited by AntonyJ on Tuesday 24th July 20:16

I would also be interested to see a wiring diagram if anyone has one! How much did this nz guy charge for a loom out of question? I'm pretty sure I could do it myself but if its not too bad then I might as well get one from him...!