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ECU/electronic tuning for BMC 2.2


Mike_T

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hi there everyone new user, just looking into the possibility of adding an ecu or electronic tuning box/equiptment for my boat engine bmc 2.2 , i have experience with some landrover tdi tuning boxes, not a full ecu or remap but it gives you some options on effecting fuel effeciency and engine output.

 

i was wondering if there was anything like this for the bmc engines, obviously being a vintage engine i know my options will be minimal and i would have to fit a number of sensors myself, iam just curious if there are any enthusiast engine management systems out there that you guys know off.

 

thanks in advance, Mike_T

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Presuming your engine doesn’t have a turbo and has mechanical injection, I can’t really see what there is to “tune”. These boxes work with vehicles that already have an ECU, turbo, electronic fuel injection and various modern emission reducing devices like an EGR. In a boat whose engine is operating mostly at a steady rpm, I can’t see what could be done with or what could be improved by an electronic tuning box. Unless you plan to replace the mechanical fuel injection system with an electronic one, again I can’t see what an ECU could control.

 

Oh and welcome to the forum!

Edited by nicknorman
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30 minutes ago, Mike_T said:

hi there everyone new user, just looking into the possibility of adding an ecu or electronic tuning box/equiptment for my boat engine bmc 2.2 , i have experience with some landrover tdi tuning boxes, not a full ecu or remap but it gives you some options on effecting fuel effeciency and engine output.

 

i was wondering if there was anything like this for the bmc engines, obviously being a vintage engine i know my options will be minimal and i would have to fit a number of sensors myself, iam just curious if there are any enthusiast engine management systems out there that you guys know off.

 

thanks in advance, Mike_T

s-l500.jpg

I don't see any advantage on an old design slogging engine.It's just more stuff to go wrong.

Had a new motorbike,fuel injected,ECU controlled,with sensors for air density,throttle position,crankshaft,camshaft and exhaust.

It wasn't particularly economical or more powerful than the older carb model without an ECU.

I think a boat engine should be as simple as possible.

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Unless it has a Pietzo clamp for no. 1 injector pipe, I can't see where you will connect it on a 2.2 or any other BMC diesel. I also can't see the timing strobe that would be required to "see" the injection mark on the flywheel - even if you have suitable access with the flywheel housing in position.

 

On all the BMC diesel with DPA pumps you use a timing gauge to take the backlash out of the drive and then set a pointer that is aligned to a line scribed on the pump flange. On the inline 2.2s you use a swan neck and do spill timing.

 

I have no idea how you think an electronic device can alter the mechanical adjustments on a DPA or inline injector pump to alter the fuel delivery. You need a large pump test and setup machine to do that, and all the adjustments for fuel delivery are inside the pump itself.

 

If you have an inline 2.2 then it's a pneumatically controlled injector pump and you will be doing well to stop it surging on idle.

 

You may like to read the FIE notes on my website that may help you understand these old injection systems:  http://www.tb-training.co.uk/CIsys.htm

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ok so what i am hearing is no. OK well excluding directly using computer control to manage the engine, what about using automotive sensors connected to a micro controller (arduino) to provide quantifiable data on the mechanical adjustments and upgrades I am applying, for example oil temperature, exhaust gases, engine speed, throttle position, that sort of thing. I want to be able to squeeze as much life out of the old girl as possible and I was hoping some automation in the data processing might be worth while.

 

Thanks for the fast replies I will certainly be looking into the above information. I can take a look at the engine next week and find out some more about it.

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19 minutes ago, Mike_T said:

ok so what i am hearing is no. OK well excluding directly using computer control to manage the engine, what about using automotive sensors connected to a micro controller (arduino) to provide quantifiable data on the mechanical adjustments and upgrades I am applying, for example oil temperature, exhaust gases, engine speed, throttle position, that sort of thing. I want to be able to squeeze as much life out of the old girl as possible and I was hoping some automation in the data processing might be worth while.

 

Thanks for the fast replies I will certainly be looking into the above information. I can take a look at the engine next week and find out some more about it.

 

If you want to squeeze the maximum life out of that engine on the UK inland waterways, your best bet is never going over the recommended oil and filter changes. My guess with the full length marine sump would be every 200 hours.

 

The prop is so inefficient, I doubt any tweak you could do to the engine would make a noticeable difference. Good luck in finding a true throttle on the DPA 2.2 for fitting a throttle position sender. You can fit a rev counter to most alternators, even it they need a mod.

 

Messing about in the throttle area of an inline 2.2 could end in a runaway and that will do nothing for longevity.

 

What do you intend to do with exhaust gas, oil temperature, etc. data? By all means, fit a temperature gauge so you know when it is starting to overheat and oil temperature gauges are available, but I would not want to fit another oil leak opportunity by drilling the sump.

 

The exhaust gas analyser will certainly show permanently running very lean on the DPA 2.2, although that is not so certain on the inline pump version. If it shows excess carbon or CO then the injectors probably need overhauling.

 

The bottom line is no BMC 2.2 is ECU controlled with electronic injectors, so forget all this nonsense and go boating. If you manage to tweak the pump to deliver more or less fuel at a given "throttle" opening the net result will be that the engine runs either faster or slower than before, that is what non-ECU diesels do.

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1 hour ago, Mike_T said:

ok so what i am hearing is no. OK well excluding directly using computer control to manage the engine, what about using automotive sensors connected to a micro controller (arduino) to provide quantifiable data on the mechanical adjustments and upgrades I am applying, for example oil temperature, exhaust gases, engine speed, throttle position, that sort of thing. I want to be able to squeeze as much life out of the old girl as possible and I was hoping some automation in the data processing might be worth while.

 

Thanks for the fast replies I will certainly be looking into the above information. I can take a look at the engine next week and find out some more about it.

I’m struggling to see what you would do with the sensor data. The only idea I’ve had in the past is some sort of load sensor. Getting plastic bags and bits of string/rope, bras and knickers etc around the prop is a routine hazard especially with urban canals. Sometimes it’s obvious that a weed hatch trip is needed, other times I am not quite sure and occasionally we have a weed hatch trip unnecessarily, other times we carry on for ages and finally give in to a weed hatch trip, then realising just how bad it’s been for the past several hours.

 

A load sensor could either compare the fuel delivery with the rpm in order to see if it was more than expected, although I think this would be tricky because it’s hard to access the fuel pump lever position (built into the governor) and also hard to measure the fuel flow in many engines because quite a lot of fuel is returned to the tank.

 

The other way would be a torque sensor, again comparing the actual torque for the rpm with the expected. I have wondered if it would be fairly straightforward to measure torque on flexibly-mounted engines by measuring the displacement of the flexible mountings to give a rotational angle that represents the torque.

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14 hours ago, Mike_T said:

hi there everyone new user, just looking into the possibility of adding an ecu or electronic tuning box/equiptment for my boat engine bmc 2.2 , i have experience with some landrover tdi tuning boxes, not a full ecu or remap but it gives you some options on effecting fuel effeciency and engine output.

 

i was wondering if there was anything like this for the bmc engines, obviously being a vintage engine i know my options will be minimal and i would have to fit a number of sensors myself, iam just curious if there are any enthusiast engine management systems out there that you guys know off.

 

thanks in advance, Mike_T

s-l500.jpg

I'll tell you now, tunning boxes do not increase efficiency. They work by fooling the engine ECU with false information and in turn the ECU increases the fuel rail pressure. Your on board car computer may show a better mpg but it's making the calculations from false readings. 

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Just now, Rushy said:

I'll tell you now, tunning boxes do not increase efficiency. They work by fooling the engine ECU with false information and in turn the ECU increases the fuel rail pressure. Your on board car computer may show a better mpg but it's making the calculations from false readings. 

 

This is my understanding too. In fact I wonder if the OP has really grasped how utterly different a modern common rail diesel is from an old skool diesel like a BMC. 

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