QTC: ECU Upgrade ... WAS: Re: Ned's Rebuttle

[steveb@newkla.kla.com]

> > As for the resistor mod.  It's like the story about the furnace repairman 
> > that comes to your house says he can fix the furnace for $500, you say 
> > yes, he whips out a big ol hammer whacks the furnace and writes you a 
> > Itemized bill that says: $5.00 for the hammer and $495 Knowing where to 
> > hit the furnace with the hammer.  I get a obscene day rate for what I do 
> > (I Shoot Movies for a living and am a STEADICAM Owner/Operator) I really 
> 
> Right, but ned imply's hes doing a chip mod. He also never tells exactly 
> what he does. (I can understand not giving away vitals, but he should at 
> least be honest). And for the TQC computers, they should be priced 
> accordingly.
> 
> Wouldnt you call that furnace repair man a crook?!
> 
Unlike the unscrupulous furnace repairman it is still true that Ned does
provide value above the cost of the modified components, and even the effort
and time that he has put into researching the upgrade.  Ned has demonstrated
that he supports his product ... quite well from what I understand.  As I 
have said before Ned provided information that helped me solve my shutdown
@ 4000 RPM problem (which he got from the IST documents).  It does bother 
me a little when I see those copyright messages on things that are virtually 
lifted directly from the IST manuals.  I still am slightly disappointed to
find that there was no effort put into allowing the system to operate to a
higher boost level without affecting the performance at lower boost levels
(as would occur when component values were modified).  The only thing that
has prevented me from purchasing an upgrade from IA for my QTC was the fact
that I never could find out what was being affected by the mod, and I guess
it may be true that if I found out the truth I probably would have passed 
on it anyway.  

As long as you feel that the performance of your car is acceptably improved,
and the motor doesn't blow itself up prematurely you shouldn't feel cheated
for paying for the IA upgrades (or any other for that matter).  

... let's cut to the chase.  The ECU on the QTC is limited by the fact that 
it can't affect the boost level and that it doesn't have a knock sensor to 
detect impending doom.  The system on the newer cars does have these features.
Has anyone out there attempted to retrofit a knock sensor/boost controlling 
ECU to their QTC motor?  It seems to me that the biggest issue might be the 
fact that the newer Bosch system uses an electomagnetic pressure regulator 
in place of the PWM method used on the '83 QTC.  I've also heard that the 
ECUs for the newer cars are much more available and cheaper than our beloved 
MAC 02s.  Has anyone hacked into a newer ECU to find out how easy it would 
be to reverse engineer?  If I could buy one for a couple hundred $$$ I'd be 
tempted to buy one.  Does anyone on the list have a blown up ECU for a newer 
motor that they'd be willing to part with for a reasonable price?  

... I'm trying not to think about how I sneak this thing past the smog police :)

Bob [aka] Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)