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So these are 2 posters that I have in my man room, both illustrated by Erich Strenger.  These are both Spyder class victories.  One in France and the other in Mexico.  I'm sure there was no 356 in site but Strenger likes to draw in a 356 finishing just behind the 550.  Obviously this is for marketing purposes, the 356 being the sales leader.  And rightly so he places the 356 where it belongs.  Behind the 550.  HA!!!! BBBB2

Phil Luebbert

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Stan Galat posted:
550 Phil posted:

70 today in Virginia.  Starting to lose it.  I really need my car.

So... what the heck is the deal?

I was hoping I would not have to post this.  I was hoping John at Outfront would figure things out.  So EMS has discontinued making the ECU John is using for his engines.  My car was the first to have the new and improved ECU.  Of course the programming for the new ECU has to be done from scratch by John at Outfront.  Greg Leach has taken my car to Outfront on 4 separate occasions for reprogramming. I called John a couple of weeks ago and told him that I did not want to be the guinea pig for this new ECU.  I told him to find someone in LA to be the guinea pig.  He said he still had a bunch of the old ECUs at his shop.  He said he has used the old ECU on thousands of engines with absolutely no problems.  Kind of a no brainer.  I told him to use the old ECU.  Unfortunately that required sending the car back to Greg to have a new wiring harness installed and then sending it back to Outfront for programming and dyno.  Greg has the car back and will contact me this weekend to give update.  This is the only thing delaying my car.  

From far away you need the easiest fix solution

I went with a stock ECU for that reason 

but the old ecu your doing sure looks like a solid plan to me 

being a far away GPig is no fun for sure 

just make sure the sensors are all changed to match the ECU you are using so the total solution works after all the sensors may have been xhanged tfor the newer ECU

 

IaM-Ray posted:

From far away you need the easiest fix solution

I went with a stock ECU for that reason 

but the old ecu your doing sure looks like a solid plan to me 

being a far away GPig is no fun for sure 

just make sure the sensors are all changed to match the ECU you are using so the total solution works after all the sensors may have been xhanged tfor the newer ECU

 

Ditto Ray, I guess there is a reason Henry was a stickler on using the stock ECU.  Phil, waiting really stinks, but it's better they get it correct right from the get go.  

Just talked to Greg.  Car running like a champ.  Obviously I went in this direction because I really wanted a crazy fast car.  My first suby spyder was 165 hp with stock ECU.  Sure it was fast but nothing like this car.  A 2.5 L suby engine has so much tuning potential.  This car is going to be stupid fast.  And it will take advantage of higher octane fuel.  I really don't think I'm going to regret going for the extra ponies.  I'll let you know.  A month from now I'll be driving.

Well every builder has issues sometimes and even screws up.  Sometimes willfully or unwillfully by the choices they make or don't make.  

All in all when you build a car you rely on them making the right choice.  If they don't do it right or if they do not know the new platform they are installing, you end up with the agony of trying to figure out what is going wrong from across the country.  

I was fortunate to find a good Subie, race tuner around an hour from my home,  and they actually helped to diagnose a issue I had with my engine tuning.   Now my engine is well tuned and running the best it has ever run.  

So Phil, I wish nothing but a great tune with that ECU.

 

After about 30-40 minutes on the highway at a steady clip, car stalls out suddenly. It restarts itself immediately but the cut-out is very jarring. The first time it happened, near the DC beltway on I-95, I was sure the engine had died and so pulled over through four lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder. That was scary. 

Since then I've looked for the problem everywhere I can, with no luck. I'm used to it now, so on any long highway trip I just brace for the sudden loss of power after 30 minutes or so and then, when it happens, just shrug and keep going.

Irksome, though, at best.

Our Beaufort Taurus (yes, we owned a Ford Taurus - It was Kathy's "winter car" and she liked it - get over it).

Anyway, it did that, too, until I got fed up after the third time and grumped at the Ford Service Manager at O.C. Welsh at Hilton Head.  He brought over a tech who walked out, looked at the VIN and immediately said: "You need your ECU flashed - It's way out of rev."

Brought it in, fussed over it for about ten minutes and turned us loose (after coughing up $150).  Never did it again.

Last edited by Gordon Nichols
edsnova posted:

After about 30-40 minutes on the highway at a steady clip, car stalls out suddenly. It restarts itself immediately but the cut-out is very jarring. The first time it happened, near the DC beltway on I-95, I was sure the engine had died and so pulled over through four lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder. That was scary. 

Since then I've looked for the problem everywhere I can, with no luck. I'm used to it now, so on any long highway trip I just brace for the sudden loss of power after 30 minutes or so and then, when it happens, just shrug and keep going.

Irksome, though, at best.

Ed, I don't know anything about your electronic ignition system but on my Ford EDIS system, I have an electronic ignition pickup in close proximity to my 36-1 trigger wheel at the rear end of my engine crank pulley. I think the gap is specified at .040". 

While heading up from Florida to Carlisle a few years back I had ignition symptoms similar to yours. Engine would cut out, hair might turn more grey, a few new curse words were invented and finally pull over to the side of the road. Engine would restart perfectly and away we'd go. Two minutes later, stumble, maybe stop and restart right over again and go for a mile or twenty before doing it again. 

I changed out various ignition parts, coil...some other bits all to no avail. Problem was simply an incorrect gap on the pickup which reacts to the trigger wheel. .040" is specified and my adjustment slipped to about .045" or more..... borderline + on it's range. 

If your ignition system has rotating parts that give a signal to some pickups here and there ( cam position sensors...axle speed sensors ) that's the first thing I'd look at. 

 

Ed, maybe you've discovered Suby's version of the VW smog scam.

After xx seconds at cruise speed, with no steering input, engine shifts into low smog, low power mode and needs a restart to reset.

There must be some unadvertised sensor you didn't install to keep this from happening on the highway. Could be it needs to see maybe a crushed Budweiser can every five minutes or it triggers the smog test mode.

 

Ed,  It seems that your ecu is sensing a condition that is out of spec, and putting your engine in limp mode.  Not sure what your diagnostics are, OBD 1 or 2, etc.  You need to determine the fault code, since there are many that will result in this condition.  For example, P2138 is the code for DBW/throttle position sensor fault, which is one of many faults the ecu can sense and put the engine in limp mode.  Very disconcerting on the freeway, eh?

If you haven't already done so, you may want to install or update your diagnostics.  Code readers are not expensive and will clear most codes, but you need an OBD port to plug into.  Best of luck and please keep the group informed.

p.s.  You may want your own thread if this develops into a "stand alone" subject.

Last edited by Jim Kelly

I just replaced my almost 30 year old TPS(throttle position sensor) on my EDIS ignition system. It was acting wonky on startup and felt like the advance was all over the place. I hooked up the laptop and according to the visual TPS gauge, it WAS all over the place. Swapped it out in 5 minutes and all back to normal.

And Phil, I love the posters!!!!!

Jim: it's an OBD II system and it doesn't throw a code when it does this. That's the tricky thing. The codes I have are 1. something for an automatic transmission something, which I'm told is unavoidable and harmless; and 2. the Idle Air Control valve which I've cleaned twice now and will probably clean once more since it's several hundred bucks and the cleaning seems to help. That fault makes it idle a little "surgy" and sometimes stalls the car when rolling off-throttle to a stop light. Re-starts instantly and is a minor annoyance, but not related (apparently) to this other thing we're speaking of.

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