MaxxECU swap for Vanagon

[sinky]

Hi all!
I wanted to do a small write up if someone else was interested on swapping to an aftermarket ecu.

I have had my Vanagon westfalia over 10 years and travelled quite a bit with it.
It is an import from US to here in Finland so it had the 1,9l injected engine.

Over the years the headgasket started failing and I decided to swap the engine to DJ spec I had lying around and to swap the transmission to a 5speed that had LSD.
I have never worked on Engine or transmissions and only done some simple 12v upgrades so nothing much.

I decided that I wanted to learn a new skill so I decided to go with an aftermarket ecu.
Few things to set straight.
-I did not expect to save money i think this increases cost
-I have very high opinion on factory ecus. So this was just to do something new.
-I tought it would be cool to add some extra sensors and engine protection
-I tried to buy ready made solutions where it made sense

So my setup
-engine was rebuilt in machine shop and measured to make sure it was well within spec.
-I changed the cam to a very mild update Schleicher Nockenwelle VW Wasserboxer 292 Grad
-Mansi injectors
-GW efi throttle body and coil brackets. I used same coils as gw setup as i like their setup
-dubshop trigger wheel and cb performance microcam
-added oil pressure and oil temp sensors

I think doing the wiring took some time but really was simple in the end. I read alot and watched a ton of YouTube videos

Setting up the ecu was bit intimidating but the dyno tuner I used helped and at the end of the day maxxecu is really simple to setup. I managed to configure everything and drive it to dyno which was pretty cool.

[valvecovergasket]

right on!

curious to see more about your mapping, max timing, target AFRs, etc
might help folks compare to whats going on in the factory controller now that there are some of those digi read setups floating around

[sinky]

I will pull the config from it tommorrow and post the details.
Btw it drives really nice the difference to the 1.9 is just amazing.
It is very responsive and just overall a really nice drive.

[panel]

Was that the AFR through the whole dyno run ?
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My '65 Bus~Subaru EJ20 Megasquirted Turbo conversion

[djkeev]

I hadn’t heard of MaxxECU previously.

Here is a link for those interested in mapping your own fuel injection control

I find the concept interesting but it is no place I’ll ever venture. 21st century carb jet changing I guess.

https://maxxecu.com/

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[Mudpool]

I think that the WBX as the end of line boxermotor is very well suited for the VW T3, but the original ECU is almost 1. edition of engine management and because of that a modern ECU is a huge upgrade.

I have upgraded my Syncro dj with a Microsquirt, I still need som fine tune but it is the bedst upgrade I have done.

//Ben

[4Gears4Tires]

Those are some really impressive numbers. I assume they are calculated for flywheel and they are not the numbers at the wheels?
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[sinky]

Hi,
So just to confirm on the dyno run the box below only shows barometric air pressure not AFR and the measurement is calculated in the dyno for engine so that is not wheel HP.

I chose maxxecu as I think it was good value for money. It has Lambda included and I have the Sport version which has bluetooth that I can use with their mdash software to get a very nice set of gauges for my engine and some additional data. I can also run e-throttle which I would love to fit but maybe later.

I also like the idea that all engine wiring is new and done well as the may original wiring had some parts that were pretty close to failing and the fact that if my ecu would stop working I could just order a new one with my config in it next day instead of hunting for one online for a very expensive price.

There is the sequential injection bragging rights too

It would also be cool to add the mansi rockers to see if they would have an affect but that is a bit too expensive just to test

[valvecovergasket]

it looks like your table are all scaled for ~20psi boost - seems like you could pick up some resolution scaling that back, or are you planning a turbo next??

id probably run a few tenths richer at full/three-quarter load but i bet it runs really well on the edge there ~14:1 at full tilt.
maybe even leaner at light load cruise - up into the 15:1 or so zone


thanks for sharing, good info for others doing mapping

[sinky]

Heh yeah I agree. I forgot to scale it for resolution. Turbo is a bit way off and that is another can of worms and maybe the DJ is not the best engine to turbo as it is relatively high compression.

On the tune however.
I definitely agree that there is room to run leaner on cruise

I think that the next step on learning is to fine tune and test but I think that will be next year as now I am just enjoying the car.

Thank you for the improvement ideas.