NorthWet

An idea of what I was considering for the processing heart: Basic - http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-ATmega328P-CABLE-Included-Arduino/dp/B006GX8IAY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370127148&sr=8-3&keywords=Arduino+uno Higher performance - http://www.amazon.com/151185025-Arduino-Due/dp/B00A6C3JN2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370127047&sr=8-1&keywords=Arduino+due These are "jelly bean" parts, developed by a community of like-minded people whose interest was and is to provide a free ("open") hardware platform. The bootloader and the development environment are free (no-cost). All of the important signals and inputs are brought out to headers. Connect your product to those header pins, write the code to control those pins, and your product is ready to test.

Should be at least 3 ways: Disconnect the ignitor, disconnect the coil-packs, or pull the ECU fuse.

The EA82 2-row radiators were predominately on turbo models. Most (all???) US aftermarket suppliers of complete radiators include the transmission cooler in their radiators, not differentiating between manual or automatic.

Sometimes, electronic ignition systems get really upset if you disconnect the spark plugs and still run the ignition; they can be damaged this way.

The plugs could be fuel wetted. How did you turn the engine over, from the ignition switch? If so, did you disable the ignitor or coil-pack first?

Is there a reason why there should be a fuel leak into that cylinder? Was this the one with the screw problem? Did you replace the injectors? Could that one be leaking into the intake? Could fuel be leaking into the other cylinders, but didn't get a chance to lock the cylinder?

In what way does it sound like it is seized? Does the engine turn at all? Does it turn until one of the pistons comes on on compression stroke (indicating hydrolock)? Does it turn over ok if you pull the spark plugs?

Without seeing what "piece" you are referring to, it is probably either the "ignitor" (coil's switching-transistor) or the doodad that reduces RFI noise caused by the ignition. If you are in fact getting a good spark, properly timed, then the ignition system has already been eliminated as the problem. The TPS is mostly used for telling the ECU if you are idle or WOT... a couple of on/off switches. Are your spark plugs wet with fuel? If not, probably not a flooding condition. Something is not set the way you perceive it to be.

Regarding the ATF's temperature on engine coolant temperature, under "normal" situations it should be negligible. BUT... GG is not talking about "normal" conditions, but rather heavy load conditions. The tranny itself produces very little heat in steady-state conditions (it will produce a little more during shifting due to the sliding of friction materials); most of the heat comes from the TC when it converts torque. If the lock-up clutch is engaged, no conversion takes place, things run cool. When the LU clutch is disengaged, the TC turbines have a speed differential, causing them to shear the ATF, generating heat. I would expect that heavy towing causes the TCU to unlock the clutch. As the ATF heats up, it allows an increase in turbine speed differential, which heats things up more... Regarding venting the underhood area: Any vent should be well forward of the windshield/cowl intake, as this is a very high pressure zone. (At least one US "musclecar" had a rearward-pointed intake hood scoop to take advantage of this pressure.) Regarding auxiliary engine coolers: IF you had the room, I hear that the VW radiators (little half-sized things) work really well. If some room but not much, the heater-core idea is good. If no room, increasing the thermal transfer rate can be done by spraying a water mist onto the radiator core when needed. (Big bang for the buck.)

IIRC, the usual cause of top land failures is a loose fit between the ring and the groove wall that causes the ring to pound on the lands as the piston reverses travel. Anything that causes the groove to wear (mileage, damage while cleaning the groove, extra ring mass from a thick ring) will aggravate/accelerate the issue. The distance between the top ring and the piston crown is also a factor. My apologies for being the first one to open this distraction from your post.

The reason to use the stock pump as scavenger is because it already does that without any extra work. Just run a remote filter adapter (really cheap at Amazon.com) to your tank, and from the tank to the external pump. Lots of things to consider and check to make it work, but that goes without saying. I don't recall the flow specs on an EJ, but the PS pump puts out around twice the flow rate as an EA82 oil pump. And greater flow rate pumps are as close as your auto dismantler.

A common way with an intact bearing/bushing is to fill the center bore with grease, and then use a cylindrical object that fits tightly into the center bore to act as a piston, tapping it to force the grease to push out the bearing/bushing. Heat might also be useful.

I didn't really rule out increased fuel economy, just that the initial emphasis would be towards basic, modular functionality. Once the solid foundation is built, more functional modules could be built. If an EA person wanted to switch over to coil-packs or coil-on-plug, a relatively simple module can do that. Once you go to either CP or COP, you can monitor the spark gap for each cylinder fairly easily. This provides spark-duration info, misfire detection, compression/power stroke detection (no need for a cam-position sensor), sparkplug erosion monitoring, and similar. Once you monitor the spark gap, with a little more hardware (and a heap of processing cycles) you could use ion-sensing to actively monitor the combustion process in real-time. A/F can be gauged, peak-pressure-point can be computed, and knock can be sensed even if it is light and the engine is running at high RPMs. Modularity would permit getting the extra processing power by stepping up to more powerful processor modules, like a quad-core 1GHz ARM module. Adaptive/heuristic techniques can be used to customize the ignition/fuel maps. Lots of good stuff could be done... IF a solid but flexible foundation is built. BTW, I have a bit of a background in digital electronics, and spent over 25 years in Data Processing, including some 15 years as an assembler-language programmer. Microcontrollers just sound like wonderful fun to me.

I am too lazy... er, "busy" to double-check at the moment, but IIRC the 91 should be glued in. One of the minor changes in the Loyale.

Yes, I found that site a few weeks ago. I have gotten some very useful information, and leads on what to look for elsewhere. The impression that I get is that there are a bunch of people "doing there own thing", with little common goal or coordination. Lots of energy and time and money expended trying to "reinvent the wheel". Their's does not seem to be a "LEGO" (interchangeable building-block) concept, which I think is crucial to making something like this practical. I want to use a common and cheaply available processing platform (which starts out with more capability than our original ECU processors), use general-purpose sensor hardware and control hardware, a simple interconnect between modules... and well designed, modular software.

I imagine the valve actuation would need to be electro-hydraulic or electro-pneumatic. I would think that direct solenoid actuation would not work well above a relatively low RPM (the power demands would be too great). Although I love to "blue sky" engineering ideas, lets see what would be simple and beneficial in the here-and-now. As I typed earlier, one of my wishes would be to have open-boxes near where they would be used, rather than tucked away in a nice, dry and climate-controlled passenger compartment. I have not as yet convinced myself that I know how to keep boxes dry and not too hot. Anyone with experience in this so I don't have to "reinvent the wheel"?

The radiator's tubes tend to get plugged. When the engine is up to running temp, pass your had across the radiators fins, top to bottom. Feel for cold or hot bands. If their are cold bands, the radiator is probably too plugged.

The spacer is in a larger diameter portion of the knuckle, one that is usually filled with grease. As stated just push the bearing radially out of the way. Really important that the drift is brass (or some other soft material). Otherwise you are likely to gouge the knuckle surfaces and make your day a whole lot longer...

The injector connectors are pretty standard, IIRC. Haven't looked too closely at the EJ's other connectors. You could use pretty much any sensors that you want, as long as the data you need can be extracted. Industrial MAP sensors and TPS are pretty cheap (I am planning on doing a TPS/emulator for my SVX-only TPS). The connectors are likely to be the most expensive part, if the rest is done right. Basing it on one of the Arduinos would be useful, as Amazon.com and Radio Shack carry these. I forgot to mention that the Arduino project was started by artisans, not total computer geeks. The idea is to open up new possibilities in the Arts/Industrial-Arts. On the engine/tranny control side of things, MAXIM and FREESCALE (a division of MOTOROLA) offer very useful, highly integrated ICs. MAXIM has a "dual knock-sensor" processor, and a "dual VRS" processor, both for less than US$10 each. FREESCALE has an interesting series of ICs, including one that will actuate and monitor coils and injectors for a 4-cyl engine (MCZ33810), some that will do similar for a single coil, single injector engine. They also have load drivers (solenoid, lamp, etc) and others that monitor if solenoids actuate properly. There are automotive "ignitor" IGBTs (transistors) for around US$2 each (1 needed for each coil). A veritable smorgasbord of LEGO blocks...

Scott, that was one of my thoughts, too. I am likely to EJ a Brat for my wife, and it would be nice to do little more than mount a couple feet of wire and a box or two. BTW, the thing that got me started on this thought -path was coming across an "Arduino", a design concept from a school in Italy. I really liked the philosophy behind it. Most of the Arduino products use ATMEL 8-bit processors, but at least one uses a 32-bit processor that runs at up to 85 MHz. (That may not sound like much,but the EA series processors were 1 or 2 MHz). ATMEL MCUs come in a dazzling array of capabilities, and start at less than US$1 each. Distributed smarts, anyone???

Not answering your request, but... Have you considered EA82 SPFI or MPFI pistons?

The real advantage here is that it would be completely open to change. Megasquirt is closed off to the user, and the decent ones, last time I priced them, were closer to US$350. I think that I can come in under US$100 (maybe even US$50 for the ISPF), and have a platform that I can expand or simplify as I please. There is also some VERY interesting stuff that can be done using the the spark-plug as an intrusive sensor... but you have to be able to monitor the coil(s). Simple electronics, but processor intensive. Perhaps the most useful items might be emulators, open boxes that allow the use of generic sensors such as TPSs, MAFs, temp sensors. Or convert from MAF to lost-cost MAP sensors. Or emulate an Optical SPFI distributor using a standard EA81 distributor.

The possibility exists of making a separate, simplified harness. If one goes to distributed processing, it is possible to reduce wiring to a few nodes connected by little more than power, ground, and a comm cable similar to network cable.

Edit: Added some new thoughts at the bottom of this post. endEdit: If you could have a cheap electronic box that made your modding easier, what would you want? I am not talking adding performance, but rather making things simpler to do, such as "EJing it", or putting SPFI onto an EA81. For the last couple of months, I have been looking into nearly off-the-shelf hardware for engine management. The realm of microcontrollers has really blossomed since I last looked at it some 20 years ago, as has process-sensing/-control electronics. There has also been a movement, similar to LINUX in the computer world, to provide "open" access to both software and hardware that make microcontrollers practical for many different projects. For as little as US$15 you can get a fully functioning processing heart (and its compiler/assembler/software-tools) to add it to nearly any project that you can dream up. Just add power and the hardware that you want to monitor and control. For US$50, you can get 5-10 times the capabilities. Along with this, many electronics companies are producing low-cost ICs for use in industry and engine management. Most are designed to interface directly with the cheap microcontrollers. I am working towards a couple ECUs for myself: an MPFI one for me EA82s and EJs/EGs, and probably a simpler one for SPFIs. These would be basic units at first, just as proof-of-concept. If they work out, they open up a very wide door for me. With a little effort, virtual reality comes to engine-/system-management. Parts can be made to appear as something different, signals can be altered or synthesized. Any thoughts or wishes? Added 06-06-13: Helpful gadgets are also something to think about. Something that should be simple is an electronic heater-fan controller to replace the failure-prone resistor pack. It is likely to be nearly the same price as a new resistor block, but with the added advantage of being customizable. Another thought would be various gadgets to fit in the clock hole in the dash. GPS, inclinometer, MP3 player, clock... lots of possibilities.

The commercial units are pretty spendy (as in, more than I have ever paid for a car). I have been considering something much more shade-tree: Use the existing oil pump as the scavenge pump and using a power steering pump (or similar) as the pressure pump.