Version 0.5

Posted in Electronics on October 27, 2003.

10/27/03: Version 0.5 - tweaked the cold start tables, AIS tables, and other fuel tables.  The engine starts and idles fine, even when cold.  Decel mixture is good.  Fuel mileage is better than the ND cal was, though still below stock.

Version 0.4

Posted in Electronics on October 16, 2003.

10/16/03: Version 0.4 - richened-up the part throttle curve at high boost levels and leaned the no-throttle curve some.  Also adjusted the cold-start enrichment curve down a bit.  The mixture looks pretty good for me.  The only outstanding issue is an idle surge when coming to a stop when the engine is cold.

Version 0.3

Posted in Electronics on October 15, 2003.

10/15/03: Version 0.3 - reapplied the v0.2 changes to the real stock 1987 Turbo II calibration and tuned for 55psi of fuel.  I ended up with different curves that seem to be too rich during no-thottle decel and lean at part throttle over 12psi of boost.  Idle mixture is good, as is cruise and WOT.

The Daytona: October 14, 2003

Posted in Automotive on October 14, 2003.

Well, the car has pretty much been sitting all summer.  I spent most of it working on the house and yard, but I do now have 60A service to the garage.  I also have a compressor and a stick welder.  I just hope I get the paint on the car before the weather turns cold.  I have a heater, but I don't dare use it while painting.

I started getting serious with the floorpans a few weeks ago, but then work sent me out of the country for two weeks.  I now have all the rotted sheetmetal out of the passenger side (ended up being most of it).  The damage from the previous owner's incident with the pothole is quite extensive.  Much of the floorpan and firewall on that side is buckled and cracked, which is what caused it to rot out.  The frame rail was pushed up and outwards, but remained completely rust-free.  Apparently, the impact to the front of the K-frame, caused the K-frame to "pivot" on its front mount and mash the rear mount up and back.  Quite franky, the car isn't worth fixing, but it is too late for that now.  I managed to push the frame rail back down and over somewhat.  The position of the rear K-frame mount still isn't right, but I think it is closer to where it should be.  I bent some really huge 2" angle iron and plate steel trying to straighten the thing out. I will compensate by shimming down the K-frame on that mount and hogging-out the stud hole to give me more freedom.  Hopefully it will be enough.  The right-front K-frame mount is squashed and only partially connected to the frame rail, but it is accessible enough to fix.  Right now, I am stripping the paint off of the remainder of the floorpan and rail so that I can paint everything with POR-15.  The last thing I want is to have all this work rust-out on me.  If the car still shakes under acceleration after all this, I will be really pissed.

The CSX: October 14, 2003

Posted in Automotive on October 14, 2003.

Well, I spent much of the summer working on house and yard related things, so the Daytona sat for a long time.  As such, the CSX has been my daily driver all summer and probably will be all fall.  On the upside, some of that work included running 60A service out to my garage, which allows me to power my recently aquired compressor and stick welder.  Hopefully I can get the Daytona back together in time to get the CSX back in the garage before winter.

On a whole, the CSX has held up well.  There seems to be a coolant leak coming from the radiator.  The radiator has desperately needed recoring since I got the car.  I have also been using a custom calibration in place of the ND Performance cal I had before.  It is much improved, though still has idle issues.  The ND cal would always die two or three times at cold startup, but would eventually get going.  It also would break up real bad around 5000rpm and had a part throttle lean spot around 10psi of boost that would cause the engine to cut-out.  Aside from the idle problem (which may be mechanical), the new cal has none of these problems.  It seems that I have the mixture setup right, but we shall see how my gas mileage is.  See my Automotive Electronics pages for more info.

Version 0.2

Posted in Electronics on October 13, 2003.

10/13/03: Version 0.2 - richened up the top end a little, but may be too lean for you, as I forgot that my fuel pressure is 60psi right now.  Gas mileage seems to be good and it gets enough fuel all the way to 18psi or so, even at part throttle.

Version 0.1

Posted in Electronics on October 11, 2003.

10/11/03: Version 0.1 - first working cal, actually based on the MP CSX Stage II cal (needs 93 octane).  Has trouble at cold start, as it likes to die a few times unless the throttle is blipped.  Could be a mechanical issue with my motor.

X10

Posted in Electronics on August 05, 2003.

Since purchasing a home, I have been trying to make our living space more comfortable and convenient through home automation.  To implement this, I started with the X10 system.  The X10 technology has been around for a very long time.  It uses your house wiring to transmit low data rate signals to various modules plugged or wired into it.  Though slow and prone to noise, the system does work and is very easy to install and configure.  X10 also offers a wirless solution for control over the system.  A special tranceiver module receives the signal and transmits it to the modules through your wiring.  You then have many transmitters to choose from, such as keypads, keychain remotes, multifunction remote controls, motion sensors, etc.

X10 (the company) is only one vendor from which you can buy X10 (the technology) devices, though they are generally the cheapest.  There are other vendors, such as SmartHome, Leviton, PCS, and Home Pro that also offer X10 products, often of better quality and flexibility than those from X10 (the company).  Still, the quickest, most cost-effective way to get started is using one of X10's (the company) starter kits.