car computers

From: Wayne Cox <wcox_at_mis.usaeroteam.com>
Date: Sun Aug 16 22:40:34 1998

On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
> > A quick question... How many people know how to work on their cars? How
> > many drive older vehicles without as much "black-box" stuff?
 - - -
> When I learn to drive I intend to get a car with (as R.A. Pease said)
> 'the right number of computers controlling the engine - none' !

I'm kind of surprised to hear that attitude around here! ;) I've never
been able to touch a carburetor without f**ing it up. Fixing, let alone
tuning one, seems to be black magic.

EFI on the other hand is logical; if you can follow directions and run a
DVM, you can fix it! And if you tweak the engine for more efficiency,
many of them automatically compensate -- no need to swap out jets and
other mechanical parts by trial end error.

And if you want to get hard-core and do your own mods, those "black boxes"
are just embedded microprocessors with a relatively small program. Many
are off the shelf chips w. documented instrution sets. A few talented &
adventuresome folks have even reverse-hacked some proprietary ones; like
Clark Steppler of Jim Wolf Technology who can make a Nissan EFI computer
do almost anything.

So back to the original question: cars are my main hobby, and I'm all for
electronics. My 122 cubic-inch Nissan econo-box turns mid 14 second runs
at the drag strip; akin to getting a MIP out of one of 'dem Altairs. Yee
ha :)

  -wayne
Received on Sun Aug 16 1998 - 22:40:34 BST