Emissions
What do we mean when we say we are a full service partner? We offer decades of engineering experience with more than just ECU calibration. Flyin’ Miata engaged us to help on the redevelopment of their emissions legal NC Miata turbo kit. As part of the early phases, we reviewed CAD models remotely to improve the design of a completely new manifold, downpipe, and MAF placement to help avoid costly headaches later during the tuning process. The result was a hardware system that delivered immediately on both performance and reliability, saving hours of valuable calibration and dynamometer time later.
We helped choose the right fuel injector for the project to minimize impact upon transient fueling and emissions, while leaving customers room to grow with their power upgrades.
Testing of the injectors on our proprietary bench allowed us to demonstrate the best positioning in the fail for optimum spray targeting. Exact flow, offset and nonlinearity data for the injectors allowed the engine to fire on the first try without drama when the new injectors and turbo kit were installed.
Testing showed that the injectors should be rotated 45 degrees from the original orientation
Next, we removed the MAF sensor and associated plumbing for off-vehicle flow characterization testing. This required removal of the front fascia in our shop, but that’s no big deal here either.
With everything back together, we were able to perform both on-road and dyno lab testing to develop a safe calibration for the target (91 octane) fuel and boost levels. Occasionally, we need to add some instrumentation, but we’re prepared there too. Testing revealed a mismatch in datalogger configuration that was easily spotted with our wideband installed.
Next stop: dyno time. This is the glorious part of the project that everyone seems to focus on, but it’s really just confirmation of what we already knew from earlier testing. Load bearing sweeps allow us to safely replicate the conditions this vehicle will see on the track and street while investigating fine tuning of cam angles, spark, and temperature compensation. Being able to test in worst case conditions for sweep time and heat soak means we develop a safe tune that won’t leave customers stranded. We can always go make the hero run on an inertial dyno later for marketing numbers.
While on the dyno, we also get a head start on catalyst temperature monitoring and preliminary emissions numbers. With the top end of our calibration complete, we can now turn our attention to emissions refinement and cold start.
When we’re done, the project will have reliable top end power, great street manners, and clean emissions. The primary goal of the project was to retain compliance with the existing CARB EO for the product with our engineering evaluation. Later emissions data will prove this. Even better, the calibration that we developed locally on one test vehicle in Michigan is working equally well on another vehicle in Colorado. The client was able to drive a vehicle that we haven’t even seen in person in Detroit from the high altitude of Colorado to an event down in Tennessee and back home without trouble using the same calibration we developed here. Building this level of confidence will save the client massive amounts in future tuning and customer support costs.