Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

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malcom2073
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Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

First off, Hi, I'm new! Comments thread here

A little background, I'm 27 years old and work as a robotics technician at a local robotics company. It's really not nearly as cool as it sounds. I'm into programming, carpc's, microcontrollers and electronics. I like to think I have enough background to embark on a project like this... but if I don't, I certainly will by the time I'm done! I plan on turning my Camaro modern, while keeping it looking and feeling late 80's.

Now, about this car. Over the past few years I've been building a 1987 Chevy Camaro. I purchased the car several years ago with a bone stock 305 in it. Did some drag racing at the track, and blew up the engine (spun a rod bearing). So over the course of the following 3 years, I built and installed a 383 in the car. The car itself is a 1987 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z T-top, red, with some body damage. I'll try to get some pictures soon.

The engine:
383 Stroker, 2 bolt main
Holley Stealth Ram instake
AFR 195 heads
Hypereutectic pistons, cast rods/crank
Cheap dynomax 2.25" dual exhaust
COMP cams xfi cam


Currently I've been playing around with the stock ECU trying to tune it, and have been running into issue after issue with the datalogging communications. Finally I gave up and decided that I was going to buy an aftermarket ECU. 25 year old ECU's just aren't built for what I am trying to do. I looked into a couple, including megasquirt and there were a couple good options. Then I ran into Fred on irc, and he pointed out this system. One of my goals when I first got this car was to build my own ECU. I was vaugly familiar with megasquirt, and having looked at the schematics I knew that I could at least design the hardware without too much effort. FreeEMS seems to be pretty much exactly what I was looking for. It lets me design my own sensors and control interface, while providing a (at least semi at this point?) stable code base that I could work with. As an added bonus, it looks like total cost will be significantly less than the megasquirt system that I was looking to buy.

So this is where I am today. I'm still in the process of doing all the research into the hardware that I am going to use, but with any luck I will be able to start purchasing some hardware within the month, and get started developing the sensor and control interface for my car.

Sensors on that that need to be integrated:
MAP/IAT
MAF - Haven't done enough research to know which one I should use with this sytem, but both are an option.
Coolant temp
Throttle position
Tachometer output from 7 pin HEI module
Narrow and wideband o2 sensors. Both are 0-5V output from a single WB sensor/controller
Knock sensor - Not a priority, but a "wish list" item.
Speedometer input - Purely for datalogging purposes. I'm not sure it has any real tuning value. on my car, it's a hard cable going to the gauge cluster, then an electronic signal FROM gauge TO ecu.
Fuel Pressure/Oil Pressure - These two would be nice, but aren't manditory. I'd like to work in a check engine light for malfunctions like a drop in oil pressure or fuel pressure

Controls that are required:
Injectors (Two banks of 4, batch fire. Sequential eventually?)
Spark control - hooking up to a computer controlled HEI, I hear DeuceEFI is the guy to talk to about this)
IAC - GM Stepper type I think? have to check
Fuel Pump - I don't know why, but I'd like this ECU controlled instead of ignition key controlled.
MAF burnoff - If needed, I need to figure out what this is, and why my car had it.

Fortunately, as a reference I can use the megasquirt documentation, since most of my sensors are compatible with the MS. This should make interface development go slightly faster and require slightly less component research.
Last edited by malcom2073 on Tue May 08, 2012 8:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

After having looked through both the Ravage and Jaguar schematics, I've hashed out a rough plan for hardware. I've made some substitutions due to availability from mouser, but everything I specced should work decently enough. I'm well aware that this is going to require extensive testing to ensure the components will work, however I'm well prepared for that :).

Adapt9S12XDP512M2 XGATE MCU Module, Full Configuration
TA Card
Adapt12MAX Experimentor Card for H1
Possibly using two of these for prototyping, then moving to solderable breadboards for in-vehicle.
JimStim
I know that it's not really recommended, but until there is another option I need something to test my hardware frontend against.
Megasquirt-II to GM TPI 1986-1989 Adapter PCB
Because I would REALLY like to be plug and play with my stock ECU :)

Mouser parts lists. These won't mean much unless you're familiar with the Jaguar/Ravage schematics enough to understand what I'm aiming for.
Ignitor Driver
Need 2 of these for 8 ignitors. I may actually not need this, I think my dist has a regular input for ignition, I have to check.
Analog Input
7 of these? (CTS,IAT,TPS,WBO2,MAF,Fuel/Oil Pressure)
MAP Sensor Input
1 of these
Power Supply
1 of these
Injector driver
Need 8 of these, the them together on the back-end so I do 4 sets of 2 injectors.

Things I still need to source parts for:
Optoisolated digital inputs for... knock input?
Digital Outputs (relay controls) for fuel pump, cooling fan, torque converter lockup, anything else?
VR frontend for reading dist tooth output.

Things I don't need for the sake of simplicity
MAF - I'm running it into the ecu, but it'll be unused for now.
Narrow band o2 - My WB controller outputs it, no need. I can just use the WB output.
Knock sensor - I'll run it in, but I don't foresee using it yet.
Fuel Pressure/oil pressure - I'll eventually run these in, but I don't have sensors yet, so I'll leave provisions for it but not wire them.
IAC - I can wire this to a switch for cold starting, but eventually I want the ecu to run it.
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

I opened my mail today and this showed up
Jaguar board
Jaguar board
Thanks Kenny!!!

It may actually be cheaper to turn this into a dev board as opposed to purchasing a TA card... we will see.

I've still not done much work on my schematics, I really need to get going on them and get them posted up here for review.
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

I have purchased my TA card. It should be here Monday the 9th, so I can start purchasing some components, soldering them up, and who knows... maybe within the next two months the engine will turn over under its own power :)
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

It's been two months, and I lied.

However there has been progress on the planning side of things! New plan is twofold:

Plan A
1) Purchase semi-assembled Jaguar board from DeuceEFI, finish assembling it and install.
2) Get car running on Jaguar A3 with stock dist. VR pickup
3) Wasted spark dist-free system
3) Install crank+cam toothed wheels
4) Proper spark
5) Sequential fuel injection??

Plan B) Purchase parts to complete my CubeEMS, just for fun. Think, TA Card + 3x Backplane. This will allow me to tailor the hardware for my particualr vehicle. More details will be forthcoming

Plan A will be the primary plan, with Plan B being executed in the background as I have time and money, and will also allow for a plug and play swap between A and B.
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

Update with some pictures. CubeECU as it is being called, is coming along nicely.

The plan is to have three daughter cards, connected via backplane to the H1/H2 connectors on the TA card.
4 Boards in total:
TA Card
Injector Card
Analog Input Card
RPM Sense, Ignition output, and MOSFET relay Card

The backplane connectors are set up in such a way that I will be able to expand with as many backplane cards as I want at a later date. I think three will do me for now though.

Image

The Injector Card
Image
Image
Image

The almost finished Analog Input Card
Image

No pictures yet of the RPM Sense, Ignition Output, and MOSFET relay card, nor a better name.


And while I was taking these, I stumbled across two old pictures.

A teaser of the engine bay:
Image

And some random picture of relays. I had replaced the stock relays (who's connectors were falling apart and shorting out), with these awesome $13 waterproof relays from waytekwire
Image
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

Suppose I should mention, all my parts and schematics came off the Jaguar A3 BOM. The sole exception being my injector drivers, which are a VERY near equivalant, since the Jaugar A3 uses SMD drivers, without a direct TO220 corrosponding part.
malcom2073
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by malcom2073 »

Couple of pictures of the assembled ECU. I'm not convinced I'm ready to plug it in yet... going to take it apart and recheck all my connections, maybe put in some electrical tape to help separate the boards more.

Image
Image
Image

Injectors, timing advance, and VR sense aren't wired in yet, haven't figured out how I'm going to handle them yet, but I have plenty of room for the components required.
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Fred
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Re: Mikes 1987 Chevy Camaro - Build Thread

Post by Fred »

Very cool! :-)
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