KR-Throttle bodies-megasquirt-mk1

So how does an over throttled car feel/compare? I run 42mm butterflies.

 

Personally, if the car in question is indeed a track car and it's about the go and not the show, I wouldn't bother with MS at all.

You may as well just get the kdFi ECU, which is cheaper, has more funtions and will save you loads of time soldering, etc. And it accepts a JAW chip to upgrade to direct wide-band input for 30 quid

Fits inside a digi ECU case too The only dissadvatge is you can't tell your mates you built it yourself...

 

Haven't come across those ECUs - have you got any details? I'm very happy with the results I got on Megasquirt, but I'm running a very simple setup with out any fancy idle control, or forced induction related complications.

 

^check it out here Mike:

http://www.k-data.org/pages/index.php/page.60/kdFi.html

It is virtually a MS2 V3.0 but smaller, ready made, cheaper and with more functions.

 

This ECU seems to be based on a M3.57 and would seem to breech theft of MegaSquirt intellectual property rights.

Thread about it here. Bruce and Al did respond in this thread stating...
"Bruce Bowling and Al Grippo here...


Let us make our comment on this... This unit does not have License Agreement in place for reproducing MegaSquirt hardware. Reproduction of MS requires a specific license agreement for the end product if it encompasses MegaSquirt IP. MegaSquirt hardware and control algorithms are patented, and the code is the respective copyright of the authors. "

Read more about their statement in the link I just sent.
Turbo Bricks forum also has a similar thread with the same outcome.

Do not know what is so special about this ECU, as its features are already covered by MS2 or MS3.57 and uses software developed for MegaSqiurt. Features that are often not required in MK1 and MK2 applications. Furthermore to "cheap", where is the support when something breaks!

I really do not know what is the real problem on this thread from what was a question that has been already answered.

 

If it's "about the go and not the show" a different ECU, based on the same hardware, will make zero difference to the "go" whatsoever.

It merely appears to save money.

This is potentially worthy of a separate thread, to discuss the pros and cons of various ECUs

 

Are throttle bodies better or a single throttle on a plenum? Well I think this comes down to requirement really.

The VW 16v inlet plenum make a 180 degrees turn before entering the head. Now this in theory is very bad for flow and port velocity as the incoming air doesn't like to make such a turn. Mr Hillclimber highlighted the reduction in flow when a plenum was attached to a head he knew the flow of.

Now by using the correct length throttle bodies with the right taper gradient and butterfly size you can reduce the flow loss compared to a VW plenum and maintain or even increase the torque right from low rpm. There is another problem that throttle bodies are designed to overcome when compared to single throttle plenums and that is cylinder air supply. Single throttle plenums tend to supply more air to some cylinders than others down to the way the air comes in from one end of the plenum. Throttle bodies overcome this by having individual supply to each cylinder thus balancing out air supply across the engine which could net more torque/power.

All these benfits are all well and good but at the start I mentioned requirement. The thing is I don't think a mildly tuned VW 16v be it KR/9A/ABF really needs throttle bodies until you overcome what the factory plenum & throttle combo can supply. Maybe a straight swap of my plenum to TBs and a map tweek to see if there is any gain on an otherwise factory engine on my car would show any gains? I am all open to be proved otherwise but bang for buck, I think you can go a long way to getting close to 200bhp before throttle bodies really help.

Also, individual TBs can be perfectly daily drivable when spec'd correctly. In the case of loss of low range torque maybe down to oversized TBs or no compensation on the mapping for increased air?

Gurds

 

cheers for all the replies guys. Didn't mean to stir up a hornets nest.

The car is definately for go and not show and as mike says I am lucky to have pretty much everything you need to build it at hand thanks to my job.

I have had a look at that ecu mark and might need to investigate that further.

I understand that the throttle bodies may be of no benefit on there own but I plan on some cams and some decent headwork aswell and also no one can deny the awesome sound the bodies make

 

On an ABF with some moderate cams and the head work you could see figures around 185bhp+ and 160lbft+ and plenty of mid range, a KR will be different and it would be interesting to see how well it performs. Maybe 150lbft? Eddie might have a better idea.