Another Memcal Question...

[dezrik]

Yes, yet another question about memcals. But this one is really basic.

So I didn't even know what a memcal was about a month ago but I've been doing my reading.

Now I'm upgrading the cam as I'm rebuilding my 5.0 litre, and I see there's the cam/chip combos from the likes of COME etc.

From what I can tell the memcal/eeprom is the 'chip' right, and if I be cheeky and put my newfound knowledge to the test I can save $400 - $500 and make my own chip to go with my new cam/etc.?

Or am I better off just buying a cam/chip combo.

Opinions would be appreciated!

Also, I see all the stuff about EEPROM burners and the like, but with an ALDL cable and a laptop plugged directly in can I tune on the fly without having to pull it all apart and burn different settings?

[hakhawk]

ok, firstly, the aldl cable will only show you limited data, not realtime tuning.

to do that you will need eprom emulator hooked to a laptop.

im not sure what its like to tune a cammed motor yourself, greenfoam or doctor bob might be able to enlighten us.

but if you want the most out of the tune, id suggest taking it to a dyno tuner and getting a custom tune done once the motors built. the cam and chip packeages only cater for the cam and possibly exhaust usually.

custom tune will cater for the cam and anything else you've done and will get the most power out of the motor.

im all for doing the tune yourself, as im going to do it with mine, but id suggest playing with a stock 5.0l and tune first. cams cost money and you dont wanna use a bad tune on it and stuff it up.

[dezrik]

Good advice I think... Up North here I don't think there are many places in the near vicinity that will actually do a real time tune or the like, so maybe I'll rebuild it with the ACL Race kit first and then after mucking around with that for a while I'll get the upgraded cam... Hopefully the veterans you mentioned (Greenfoam and Dr. Bob) might be able to enlighten me on tuning for cams.

At the moment I'm looking at the 890 cam from COME Racing, basically cos I don't want to fork out for a hi-stall.

[greenfoam]

If you want to get into tuning your own car and it's a good idea if you are building the engine yourself then you should tune it yourself too, it's only fair right?. I can't see the value in paying double price for a cam because they include a tune that's probably not even close to being peaked out anyway, it's human nature to be willing to push your own stuff that little bit closer to the edge than you would with someone elses.

All old school 308 carby/dizzy rules for tuning apply, the engine still likes the same amount of spark it allways did, it's just that you don't have to get your hands dirty and you don't have such problems with bad vacuum at the carby and fuel drop out. There are plenty of old hsv tables that were for mild cams that will show you what needs to be done to make them idle straight. One or two will be about spot on for the cam you want, ready to go.

Search around the forums a bit and post up a question or two when you get stuck on something.

You can also do real time tuning, but you will need a cable from Micheal, a VR manual type computer and an eprom emulator, then you effectively have a home made version of kalmaker

[dezrik]

Awesome - I like the sounds of this home made Kalmaker style suite. I know such a service would be around here locally where wankers travel 500 km to get an $800 chiptorque chip (+ sticker) with NOTHING else done to their VS V6 Ecotech that mummy bought them and suddenly think they have the hardest car. Evah.

- So I will need a cable from Micheal... um, who's Michael? Sorry if I missed it in another thread.

- VR Manual Type Computer? Is there another thread about this or could I be enlightened here? Info on where to get one?

- Eprom emulator? Piece of software for the computer to emulate the eprom I take it and do real time write-changes?

Thanks, y'all rock.

[hakhawk]

michael is a member here who makes aldl cables for the ecu to hook upto computer to read data.

vr manual ecu is the same ecu as vn, but it has a faster data output, more suited to realtime tuning. but onl yhe vr manual ecus will work, as the vr auto is a different ecu.

eprom emulator is a piece of hardware that plug into the eprom socket on the memcal and hooks to computer so you can do realtime write changes. but theyre not cheap

[dezrik]

michael is a member here who makes aldl cables for the ecu to hook upto computer to read data.

vr manual ecu is the same ecu as vn, but it has a faster data output, more suited to realtime tuning. but onl yhe vr manual ecus will work, as the vr auto is a different ecu.

eprom emulator is a piece of hardware that plug into the eprom socket on the memcal and hooks to computer so you can do realtime write changes. but theyre not cheap

Cool, I figured he might be a member... Will look for him in the near future (rather than Ebay.)

VR Manual ECU... I suppose I can find that somewhere. Does it matter if it's from a v6/8? What about aftermarket upgrade/replacement ECUs? Can they be used?

[Snotty]

i think he's the one that sells them on Ebay. the USB version