Useful resources for getting started: Difference between revisions
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=== Getting tunes off of your car === | === Getting tunes off of your car === | ||
There are purists who will tell you that you are cheating if you so much as look at an existing tune on your car. Ignore them. Building on the work of others has always been the best way to make progress. The real reason for the tetchiness in this area is there are a lot of commercial interests tied up in engine calibration but, being software, it's hard to protect these interests. This leads to nervousness that reading tunes | There are purists who will tell you that you are cheating if you so much as look at an existing tune on your car. Ignore them. Building on the work of others has always been the best way to make progress. The real reason for the tetchiness in this area is there are a lot of commercial interests tied up in engine calibration but, being software, it's hard to protect these interests. This leads to nervousness that reading tunes off the car will open a Pandora's box of piracy. Our view therefore is stand firm, you own your car and the stuff on it, including the calibration, but do not post it on facebook, sell it on ebay or anything similarly stupid. | ||
* ECU bench tool will read Gen 1 B58s (Bosch MG1 ECUs with the SPC5777M chipset): https://www.ecuhelpshop.com/products/ecu-bench-tool-ecu-programmer.html. There are other more expensive professional options available, like autotuner and bitbox. | * ECU bench tool will read Gen 1 B58s (Bosch MG1 ECUs with the SPC5777M chipset): https://www.ecuhelpshop.com/products/ecu-bench-tool-ecu-programmer.html. There are other more expensive professional options available, like autotuner and bitbox. | ||
Revision as of 10:07, 4 March 2024
Torque-based ECU control
Modern ECUs work in the same way. The accelerator pedal input is converted into a 'torque request' and from that the ECU figures out air, fuelling and spark timing before moving onto the low-level business of how this translates to wastegate duty-cycle, injector pulse width, etc. There are many, many details. This makes it important to be able to step away to a high-level view.
Understanding the torque-based ECU control strategy: https://www.motorsport-developments.co.uk/Understanding_Ford_Ecoboost_Torque_Control.html
N54 and N55 Tuning
There are a lot of similarities but N54 tuning is simpler.
- Anjuna's N55 tuning thread: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1693922
- Cobb guide to N55 tuning: https://cobbtuning.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PRS/pages/828866941/BMW+N55+Tuning+Guide
- Marshall Hesse-Dreville's N54 tuning spreadsheet: https://github.com/dmacpro91/BMW-XDFs/blob/master/N54/N5X%20tuning%20spreadsheet%2003082016.xlsx. This is especially useful for the description of Vanos.
PID control
Dialling in boost control requires a familiarity with PID error control. Watch this video from Motec a couple of times and you should have enough knowledge to get started.
- Motec's video on PID control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Clfh5eBzg
Other B58 tuning resources
- ECUTek's B58 tuning guide: https://ecutek.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SUPPORT/pages/170557464/BMW+B58+Tuning+Guide
- RFP Tuning's B58 tuning videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzqAQwAJrdw
- MHD's excellent repo of tuner pro XDFs: https://github.com/dmacpro91/BMW-XDFs
Getting tunes off of your car
There are purists who will tell you that you are cheating if you so much as look at an existing tune on your car. Ignore them. Building on the work of others has always been the best way to make progress. The real reason for the tetchiness in this area is there are a lot of commercial interests tied up in engine calibration but, being software, it's hard to protect these interests. This leads to nervousness that reading tunes off the car will open a Pandora's box of piracy. Our view therefore is stand firm, you own your car and the stuff on it, including the calibration, but do not post it on facebook, sell it on ebay or anything similarly stupid.
- ECU bench tool will read Gen 1 B58s (Bosch MG1 ECUs with the SPC5777M chipset): https://www.ecuhelpshop.com/products/ecu-bench-tool-ecu-programmer.html. There are other more expensive professional options available, like autotuner and bitbox.
Creating tunes
- MHD's excellent repo of tuner pro XDFs: https://github.com/dmacpro91/BMW-XDFs
