fbekholden.com

thats looking really good man... loving it

cheers
Nathan

More progress. Injector loom all connected and fuel lines plumbed, and sensors all wired and ready to go. Fuel pumps working and rail measuring 40psi. Fire up ECU spin the distributor and the injectors give me a satisfying series of shots of atomized fuel. Primed oil pump and cranked without plugs or fuel to ensure oil pressure comes up. All good. Baby step here. Taking no chances on the rebuild. Even leaving the installation of push rods and rockers to minimize camshaft wear during all the cranking and messing around.

After much farting about with ignition and fuel settings, a few "almost theres" a couple of backfires and a tired battery charger, she's a goer!! Sounds pretty sweet through the 2" system, as well. Only problems now are that she's getting pretty hot, which I think is part to do with the advance being a bit too aggressive (showing about roughly 24 degrees at 2000 rpm) and the radiator is not working too well. Time to lash out on a new 3 core. Kinda strange tuning via laptop on an FB! felt s bit like Doc Emmett Brown working on the DeLorean! Listened closely for any weird engine noises while doing the cam run-in. Only mechanical noise was the ticking of the injectors. So now I can pretend I've got solid lifters in the FB, just like the old grey in the EK.

Good stuff!

More tuning. This time, I made sure the timing offset was correct, then dropped the advance back to normal levels (6-12 degrees at high idle) temperature was less of a problem. Also adjusted mixtures (all this point and click on a laptop). This is real fun, normally running a car in the shed makes my eyes water from fumes, but this time she burns nice and clean at idle.
Below is the laptop connected to the FB (yes, the EK makes a fine table). The board is the controller, and the screen shot shows the fuel 3D map, which you can adjust on the fly while watching the Oxygen sensor feedback. Same style table for the ignition mapping. Welcome to tuning old Holdens in the 21st century!

seems so good but yet so bad

Witch craft I say .

Did you get the idle down?

Yep, I re-shaped the 3D map for my timing advance to approximate an original dizzy, and a 750rpm idle is much smoother. I'm gradually getting running and better each time I run it with the laptop connected up. If you apply the same theories to engine control you do with traditional means (carburettors and mechanical ignition), then the sky's the limit. With closed loop mixture control, fuel economy and clean running is also achievable.

Big day today. For the first time in 6 years, the project is out of the shed. , and moving under her own power first time since I started. Drove her up and down the street, very happy with the way she runs. Not bad for a roughly mapped ECU. The fine tuning will come with more driving. Took her out to get some photos for the Insurance company. Just got to get the 28 Day permit from VicRoads, then in for a noise test, weighbridge test then to the Engineer for final inspection. Also a roady in the meantime. Funny to drive this thing up and down the street, remembering how I felt when it was a bare metal shell on the twirler, with huge holes where the floor, hump and inner sills belonged! She might look fairly stock in the pics, but the illusion goes when you start her up.
Happy days!

Richard and Julie - you must nearly have tears in your eyes...?

Your creation looks magnificent.... and I very much look forward to you taking me for a spin..... just hold off a bit, we're not quite home - yet....
I've thrown both anchors out the back of the van.... we are in absolutely no hurry to travel further south.... we have noted a definite drop in overnight temps... from Cooktown only as far down as Rollingstone (north of Townsville).....

Guess I'll be looking for an "optic" in early Sep..... you should be well and truly at leisure with "the project" by then....

frats,
Rosco

looking fab richard, mine is back on the road too .. still fine turning a few bits ..

Ross,
I Hear you there with the temperature thing. I know the seasons' effects can be subjective, but here I go anyway- this winter has been rediculously cold and wet!I trust the climate scientists when they say that the world is warming up, but it ain't doing that here in Melbourne right now. Also I love whinging about the cold. Roll on summer!

Dave,
I'd love to compare notes with you re your EFI tuning, I'm still learning, but I've learnt a lot about no only about EFI but also engine theory. I still have your intake assembly with the VT(?) throttle body.
I stuck with the original VK TB and fitted a rheostat TPS from a Toyota. The pacemakers fitted the motor fine, but I had to modify the outer secondary to get it around the steering idler. Also blocked the EGR port and welded a bung for the O2 sensor. My system has an autotune feature, where you activate it and just drive. The computer will adjust your fuel mixture while in various parts of the mixture map to get a reading from the O2 sensor to match the AFR table. I've only used this function in the garage. Next thing is to drive out to some quiet roads and see how it goes.

You blokes are worlds out ahead of my simple comprehension of these parameters........ and I thought I was at the cutting edge in 1983 by fitting "Lumenition"...... hope yours is as reliable....

Richard, I won't tell you that I'm still in bed at 10:14 trying to catch up with mail.... and that we have the a/c on in the van - because the sun is beating down on the side of the "fully insualted" - (yeah! right!) van and it is simply just too hot already to try and come to terms with the labours of the day.... so, I won't mention it - OK?

Your work sounds very impressive - I can't wait to get my beady little eyes on "the project" and listen to the ECU do it's stuff on a working motor...... undoubtedly, you will probably decide to go with a "modest note" - so that even we, with very much industrially damaged hearing will too, enjoy the chant.......?

frats,
Rosco

ps time to get up - put my pith helmet on and go fight off fellow vanners from the ablution block.....

Looks great Richard. So close to hitting the road. Sorted and rego just in time for winter to end, it's almost like you planned it!