Well, I'm glad after a couple years a few people see it my way. The current rule is poorly thought out, counterproductive, and only serves to further seperate the haves from the have nots. Convoluted is the word I love to use. I am fully supportive of opening the rule to include any aftermarket ECU as well as being allowed to modify or replace the stock harness as is needed to install the aftermarket ECU. And for the record, and anyone can go back and read my old posts, I have been a proponent of "putting the genie back in the bottle" from the start. I'm not here trying to sell an EMS.
I left IT this year and this rule was on the list of determining factors. It's not so much the rule in and of itself but what the short sightedness of the rule represents within the SCCA process as a whole. For example, differentials are a free item. A 5:12 ring and pinion for an ITS RX-7 costs around $1500 to purchase new and modify to work in the stock housing. Most are strong and run several years but they do break. No one crys because it's too expensive, makes the car way too fast, or bitches because it's a complex welding/machining operations that few shops in country even want to attempt. Hey guess what, I can set up any IT car with a brand new EMS, harness, sensors, installation, and tuning for about what you'll have in an RX-7 diff and it should last forever. And that's about about half the price of the "Motec in a box option". Clearly anyone basing their lack of support of a change in EMS rules on the cost factor is not seeing the big picture.
Why is it perfectly OK to spend $1500+ on a wear part ring and pinion, $1000+ per corner on shocks, but we must use the stock 20 year old rotten, greasy, pain in the ass wire harness? Because we don't want rules creep? We want to keep expenses down? The rule as it is now written is the most expensive solution possible. Period. By convoluting any attempt to allow easier access to aftermarket EMS by requiring the use of a stock harness or stock sensors only continues to make it more expensive to achieve the same end results. If aftermarket EMS is allowed the easiest, cheapest, most reliable solution will be to allow those systems to run on the harness they ship with as well as the sensors they are intended to untilize. Why?
Strictly speaking of sensors, only the highest end systems are capable of being programmed to use sensors of alternate output outside the range of sensors that the EMS manufacturer originally intends them to be used with. By requiring stock sensors you automatically rule out the less expensive entry elevel systems. The ubiquitous Motecs are programmable...and expensive. Price starts around $2500 for a kit with harness. Again the process is convoluted in using the stock sensors because you need to have knowledge of that sensors output pattern and reprogram the ECU to work with that pattern. Not rocket science but it's easier , less time consuming, to use the manufacturer's sensors. Requiring a stock harness for that EMS simply means we'll need to build a patch harness between the EMS and the stock harness. Again plugging my brand new wiring into something that is 20 years old, dry rotting, and suspect. Why? To prevent someone from cheating? More on that later...
On the low end there are full stand alone systems that are trigger adaptive (can be configured to work with practically any stock trigger negating the need to install some sort of crank and/or cam trigger). These systems ship with wire harness and sensors (coolant temp, intake air temp, throttle position - all needed for speed density injection systems...can't run correctly without them as some might have printed). Starting price? Around $1000. My shop charges $400 for basic install and we usually end up with around 4 hours invested in dyno tuning to optimize the system. You have brand new sensors (most all aftermarket EMS use GM sensors that are available at any Autozone) and brand new wiring. And guess what...very often a warranty!!! Only downfall of speed density is that they are not friendly to mods that alter VE. Change a header, flow more air, and you need to retune. I can see how the HUGE financial investment has all of you cringing!
Speed density...what is it and why do I care? It's what most all aftermarket EMS rely on to control fuel. Speed density uses inputs from a MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor, coolant temp, intake air temp, and throttle position sensors to compute the mass of air entering the engine and then lookup the desired amount of fuel for that mass of air. Who cares? Well, again, that's what most systems use. Problem is most newer OE EFI systems (Honda being the notable exception) use some form of either vein air (usually pre-1990 systems) or mass air. Mass air directly measures the mass of air entering the engine without need for input for the temp and TPS sensors. The vein meters measure airflow from a combination of the common flapper door and an air temp sensor usually internal to the flow sensor. Some Japaneese makes use other systems such as the karman vortex sensor. Problem is only the highest end systems support vein air or mass air meters. Good luck getting someone to help you setup that karman vortex sensor! Again, by requiring stock sensors we have inadvertently raised the price of entry. How much? Again base standalone EMS can be had for around $1000 plus install and tuning. The base Motec that supports mass air in around 2.5x that cost. The cost is further escalated in time invested by the user or tuner matching the EMS to sensors no one else uses. The knowledge base in EMS is in speed density. Want a system installed and tuned? It will be orders of magnitude more difficult to find someone fluent in mass air adaption than in a straightforward speed density install and tune.
In the end mass air is a more precise control system as the mass of air is directly measured. But practically no one in the aftermarket works in it. Talk to any EMS supplier about shipping you a kit and they'll immediately presume you'll convert to speed density. If so we need a MAP sensor. Does your car even have a MAP sensor now? Does it fit the output specs for the EMS of your choice? "Most EMS have the MAP sensor already in the box. Just run the hose to it". Wrong. Some do, some don't. Some of the least expensive don't. And who can justify the thought process that says if the MAP sensor is inside the box it's OK and we can run a hose from the intake to the box but adding a sensor outside the box is crazy talk and leads down a long dark road of rules creep? I'm sorry but that's a head in the sand/SCCA point of view.
There are a few misconceptions I've read of what the aftermarket ECUs can do and how they work. As a dealer/installer/tuner some are obvious to me and it would be a shame for any new rules to be written based on those misconceptions. Those that would re-write this rule, if that time came, should approach more than one person with advanced knowledge of engine management with their intents and ask honest questions about the what the unintended consequences may be. Preferably NOT someone with a vested interest in selling products to IT racers. Clearly the current rule was written with a very narrow viewpoint that left IT with a big mess. One thought that comes to mind is a spec ECU. This is the direction GA Cup is moving and where several drag racing bodies have been for years. If you want to use an aftermarket EMS spec one of the lower tier systems that does not support traction control (if TC is such a huge fear). This is precisely how TC is controlled in some drag racing. There are systems in the sub $2000 range that support variable cam systems but do not support traction control or ABS.
The above deals specifically with standalone EMS. It doesn't even touch on the world of piggyback systems. Some are very good, don't require auxilary inputs, are cheap (Apexi's SAFC can be had for around $300 new), are easy to program and install, and produce real results. They do require that you hack into a few wires on the stock harness. GOD FORBID! THE SKY IS FALLING!
And to prevent someone from cheating like I mentioned earlier? If you all really wanted to prevent that we'd have some kind of real tech. We'd protest and bounce people that cheat. But we don't. So we sit back and write rules that try to balance placating the cheaters out of violation and appease those that don't want the rules to change. And we end up with a bastardized version that no one likes. If you're going to placate and appease let's make it the cheapest most reliable method of doing so.
I also understand that OBDIII with send out a signal when ever the system operates outside it's design parameters, so that hand held tuners and resistor cluges designed to make the motor think it's always cold will trigger an alert to notify the smog authorities of a non-compliant vehicle. Smog tickets in the mail anyone??
