Do I need to Tune(VS Ecotec)with lighter F/W

[Jervies]

Has the flywheel been mirror balanced? U may throw out the engines balance and cause bearing killing vibrations. Im using a 14point7.com wideband sensor with a digital gauge it seams to work pretty well. And at 150 its cheap as

[CRACKER/AI0]

PCM - powertrain control module, does both engine & trans
ECM or ECU - engine control module or unit, does engine only
TCM - transmission control unit, does trans only

Gets a little confusing on later models like VT where the same computer is used on both.

Yoda69

Thanks for that.
Thats cars for you. Just when you get the nack of it they change it.
Actually tht's probably with just about anything.
I think its funny when the give it a name like progress or improvements. I can think of a few more but then I'd be
Sorry probably am already
I better go back to the shed and get the PCM (from the auto VS)and the 2 ECM (manual VN & Manual VS)from the shed so I can check out the numbers.

Anyone know how long a USB Comm board takes to arrive in the post?
I'm hoping mine will come tomorrow

[CRACKER/AI0]

So had a look in the shed and I have:
1 VN V6 S1 ECU which is a 489 !!?? Possibbly for sale
1 VS Ecotec ECU which is a 728 Not for sale YET. I will get the Auto 1 working as a manual setup first. Then

Has the flywheel been mirror balanced? U may throw out the engines balance and cause bearing killing vibrations. Im using a 14point7.com wideband sensor with a digital gauge it seams to work pretty well. And at 150 its cheap as

Will tuning on the fly work with just a NVRAM and ECM with the USB COMM Board?
Wont have enough for the wide band sensor yet.

Well, I'd love to get it mirror balanced but finding it quite hard to find anyone who can do it down here in Cessnock.
I think the closest would be Dr Maks near east maitland sort of. But they send it away for that anyway so I'm sure the cost would be up there.
There's 1 place in Newcastle but cant find where they're at yet.
I don't want to spend heaps for postage to get it done either.
It's the one thing that's been bugging me. I've just about got it ready to bolt up and am making sure it sits on centered and with ZERO wobble.
(The crank was sloppy for being square. Used a Micrometer to find it (the CRANK to F/W mating surface) was out by .45mm.
That from near center (75mm diameter on the CRANK not because of the F/W) adds up to alot at the outer diameter of the F/W.
Spent ages carefully filing the crank to flywheel mating surface and checking with the Micro M. till I had it balanced out.
At least when I have it together I'll know its balanced as far as centered goes and with no wobble on the CRANK to flywheel.
If I notice vibration once its together I'll have to pull it down again and get it mirror balanced somewhere??

[Holden202T]

my mate usually sends his stuff to jack jones i think for balancing, he is in newcastle somewhere, theres also tetrins in newcastle too

i have a MTX-L wideband, its a good option if you also want a gauge on the dash aswell as the PCM wideband input

this is the american product website http://innovatemotorsports.com/products/MTXL.php

and you can get them locally from here at a reasonable price. http://kadespeedandmarine.com.au/Welcome.html

[CRACKER/AI0]

Thanks H202,
Just searched and found it. He's in Lambton.
I'll ring him in the morning and see what the cost is to get it balanced.

[CRACKER/AI0]

It's been a while since my last post.
Had other stuff happening so it's taken ages to get the car finished.

Just a refresher of the cars specs

VS EcoTec 3.8l with:
T5 5spd conversion
MODDED light weight 6 bolt to 8 bolt converted flywheel weighing 9.5 kg approx (as compared to the 8 bolt F/W I have here that is over 11kg)
70mm MAF
heads ported
custom modded extractors with 2" to 2.5" y-piece
3" high flow CAT (off of a subaru WRX!!??)
straight through 2.5" muffler with no dampener and Twin 3" tip.

I rigged up the balance (or rather offset balance) on the flywheel I made by removing the counter weight from the flex plate and locating it in the correct location on the flywheel. Bolted and silconed in place.
Definately a wild idea but I couldn't get anyone near me to do mirror balancing. The guy in Newcasle "Jack Jones"
wouldn't touch it and said OOOHHH not another buick!!! (more or less).
The offset balancing (or rather externally balanced engines) are a no go for him unless he has all the engine parts and basically blue prints the lot for a price of around $350 to $400. I might do that later but when I'm ready to build the turbo engine.
The car is finished and I've been driving it around for about a month. The engine has no noticeable vibrations due to my home made flywheel setup.
Revs are very responsive and surprisingly the car has heaps better economy that it did when it was AUTO.
I get about 11 km's to the litre. That with being a lead foot + half around town driving and half open road.
Before the conversion I was lucky to get 7:1 ratio. that was when trying to be frugal with the fuel too.

I've been reading up and trying to connect the laptop to the ECU with no luck yet.
I had to update the software on the laptop which did help to get TunerPro RT working and even get a connected confirmation but I'm still to work out how to get it emulating and start logging.

I have recieved a number of error codes that I need to sort out. 1 is VSS has "ISSUES". I was wondering if the gearbox and speed sensor ratio is for a manual vehicle with something like a 3:45 ratio crown and pinion and my car still having a 3:08 ratio from the auto is causing problems. Speedo works fine and I have the VSS signal going to the ECU at D2 (I'm using an ECU from a T5 Manual VS commodore)( or that is what the seller confirmed it to be)
the car runs and idles really good. However, from time to time it will stall when changing down gears at lights or intersections and at initial start when cold and even when car is at running temp it will Idle high at around 2300 to 2500rpm for about 30 seconds like the choke stays on. It aslo revs high for a bit too long (same again for about 30 seconds) before coming down to 850rpm when accelerator has been used. It aslo had an error saying there was no reference signal at startup??
I am yet to reset the check engine light and check it again.
There are other errors aswell, but they are asking about the signals from the AUTO (which are now obsolete) so I dont think they matter (I thought it was strange to get those errors though, due to it supposedly being a manual ECU). I will try to find the list of errors I wrote down and/or check the car again and post them up if anyone would be so kind as to help me nut it out.


I still need to get the wideband setup. I have a sensor but no guage yet.
I like the look of the PLX P6 I think it is called. It give the option of multiple readings on the 1 guage. Only downer is the fact you have to buy a controller for every different guage reading you want. But to start with its $200 for the guage including 1 controller to get the wideband connected.
Then $100 for each other controller you want to piggyback for other guage reading, IE: rpm, coolant temp, oil pressure turbo boost, etc...

When I get the wideband connected, will that replace the narrowband or be an add on.
My guess was that it replaces the narrow band sensors and that you use the converted signal from the controller to connect to the ECU where the narrowband used to connect.
Also, being an Ecotec with 2 O2 sensors does this mean I need 2 wideband sensors or only 1?
I am embarrassed to say I am a complete NOOB when it comes to the Wideband and ECU tuning.
Thanks to anyone and everyone who can give some help.

PS: VL400 put in the $51 manual tune in the NVRAM I have in the car ATM If I remember correctly.
But did say I would have to do some fine tuning once the car was running (understandably)
Thanks for any help

[trikky73]

with your wideband you normally get a bung welded in just before the cat and leave both the stock O2 sensors alone

Your stalling will be caused by running an auto ECU wit the T5, the VSS is different for the T5 manual. Auto and Getrag share the same type of VSS
You will need to either get a T5 manual ECU or have yours modified (extra components added) and then modify your wiring harness, once this is done your stalling will stop

[CRACKER/AI0]

Thanks for the response.
The ECU is a manual ecu.
I bought it specifically for the conversion and is (factory) labeled manual aswell.
What I might do though is open the case and compare it to confirm it has the extra components on the board.
The guy I bought it from advertized it as a VS manual T5 ECU so it "should" be one.
I paid $160 for it at the time and then found out later about delocohacking.net and converting the auto ecu's.

As I always say to others. It's a process of elmination.
Sadly, this time it's my car that needs the process of elimination.

With the bung for the wideband. does it need to go roughly the same distance from the exhaust ports or can it go at the 2 into 1 Y peice.
Being a V6 does mean it will only be working on over all air/fuel ratio (which goes without saying I guess).

I might try putting the genuine memcal in that came in the ECU when baught to see if it changes anything.

I'll have to convirm the sensors are all OK aswell.

I have checked TPS to be OK. at Idle is registers .45v and goes up in increments till it eaches a top of 4.8v.

Will check the MAF aswell. I swapped the Idle solenoid over with a spare I had and the was no difference.

I still need to figure out how to get the Laptop connected and logging. Did I need the wideband for data logging or is the wideband just seperate with it's own guage so you have real time and more accurate air/fuel readings?

The only other thought I had was did the VS ecotec even come out with a T5 manual option? or did they only have the getrag manual?

[antus]

got a pic of the ecu showing the service no?

[CRACKER/AI0]

I just got home.
I'll take a pic now and post it.
When I left my destination to drive home (technically before I left) I swapped the NVRAM over to the genuine/stock memcal to see if it helped.
CEL went out and Idle was perfect straight up. No more high revs at Idle and no stalling for MOST of the trip home.
I say most because 1 thing I noticed when I hopped in the car to swap the memcals over the interior light was DIMM?.
Car started OK and ran perfect with the stock memcal. after 20minutes of driving and when I was coming into Cessnock CEL came on again and the car starting missing and stalled once when coming to an intersection. Idle is still good though(as in no high revs anymore).
Then when I opened the car door the light was still dimm or even duller than the first time I noticed, so I tried starting the car and though it started, the starter motor was turning over allot slower.
Hence battery has gone flat and/or alternator is playing up. I'll check that out in the morning. I have the battery on charge now so I'll see if the car runs right with the volts back on track.
Talk about anoying. Just when you thing something is working it stuffs up somewhere else.
Fortunately I have a spare alternator or 2 that are in new condition so I can swap that over if I have to.
Will get a pic of the ECU and post it now.