The New GoWesty EFI Parts Kit

[RBEmerson]

Um... all I want here is just to get the Digifant system off and gone, and replace it with a system that wasn't designed with the help of a steam-driven abacus. I've got places to go and things to do.

Other than that, I leave you to sort out your concerns with GW. I expect the discussion won't take long and their parting word will be "no".
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[pushkick]

i have no concerns with gowesty they can make their own path/decisions. i was just mentioning my experience and observations for discussion on this forum from a technical perspective. given that, i think gw has moved the ecu ability of the vanagon to a level that is close to existing/comparable opposed engines but this statement is from reading this thread and not actual experience with their system. if it was my decision to improve on the digifant ecu i probably would have gone with a existing system that subaru uses and made a deal with them to modify their firmware code/hardware to fit this application. they have all the sensors and hardware already developed. if subaru had a modular /flexible engine management system this would be a relatively easy task. this is why i like the megasquirt concept of ems. some people want it done for them and some want diy.
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i see said the blind man to his deaf dog
i am going to quit smoking and drinking and die a healthy man. gotta laugh
there is no deed to the planet earth
1990 vw automatic camper

[RBEmerson]

Part of the decision process (motor behavior aside) was looking into "how modern is the GW-EFI?" After I raised, with Tom (Motorcar guy) the possibility of doing the conversion, he did some research on the GW-EFI. (It's one of the reasons why MM is my bespoke Westy maintenance specialists)

Not too surprisingly, Digifant is, at best, early 80's technology come to service in the mid 80's. No surprises there. Tom looks at the GW-EFI components as being '10-ish technology - certainly not bleeding edge technology.

Obviously, the biggest change is the ECU. By analogy, it's moving from a "toaster" Mac to an iMac. The "barn door" no longer makes any contribution to the system. The distributor and rotor are gone - replaced by a cam angle sensor. Sensors - crank angle, knock, etc. are added. The wiring harness is completely re-done. But none of it is really "trick". There's no laser glowing away, the air and fuel plumbing bits haven't been redone. There are no piezo-electric injectors.

Read GW's change log for the system. It's instructive to see how the system evolved. One of the last major changes was the crank angle sensor. They were relying on the cam angle sensor to keep over timing right. It didn't work out because of gear lash; every cam gear is different and there's no simple way to, at a production level, bring every cam/sensor set into spec. As it was, each ECU was programmed differently and a custom driven gear was installed. The crank angle sensor ended that.

But it took the kit from a shade-tree installation (mostly pulling wire and fiddling with the air path) to a "the crank pulley is serious business" job. I imagine, at GW, there were more than a few "oh s***" moments over that.

So... GW-EFI is back from the bleeding edge, which means a fair degree of comfort. Most of the parts are off-the-shelf and not headed for NLA. In effect, a big chunk of the motor becomes no different than any other motor that's been on the road for the last few years. I don't see that as a bad thing. Unless I was racing. But there it's "speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?"
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[RBEmerson]

Back to "where can I find a signal to drive my cruise control".

The CCS-100 (CC-100 is wrong - my error) accepts either a low voltage pulse from an ignition coil or a VSS signal from a hall effect sensor sensing a magnet on an axle. The GW-EFI removes the coil, and I don't use the VSS signal.

My first hope is to use the ECU-tach signal. With the GW-EFI, the tach signal comes from the ECU, as it does with the Digifant.

The second possibility is tapping one stick coil ignition (spark!) lead. Long story short, Murphskits reports attaching the CCS-100's coil sense lead to one coil stick on a four cylinder (motorcycle) motor works.

If GW used a three wire connector to a coil, I'd be in good shape. Hot, gnd, and ign wires - tap the ign wire. But the GW harness has four wires for the ACDelco D522C coil. Google will happily show me who sells these, and what the look like. Terminal call-out? Not so much. Even on the ACDelco site. I think the fourth wire is a return for the ign lead, but maybe not. Does anyone have an idea about where I can nail down what wire does what on this particular ACDelco part? GW doesn't say a thing about it.

Plan C is the VSS sensor needed for the OBD-II gizmo. I prefer to using motor speed as before.
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[mtnride1]

Well my new kit is in and........ I have always said "don't get the first release of anything, but I couldn't help myself. Anyway there appears to be a "software problem" because I have an automatic, REALLY? GW has been working on this since 2014 and they did not put it on an automatic? The guys at Broad St (These guys do great work) are waiting to hear from GW for the fix but nothing yet. Well I am waiting to get it back hoping for good news, I got places to go.
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87 westy 2wd (NED)

[RBEmerson]

Mercifully, I have a manual Westy, but you really have my attention on this one.

My guess is it'll probably early next week before I'll get the Westy back, with the GW-EFI and OBD-II gizmo, from Motorcar. Needless to say, if there's a problem with the customer-supplied parts, I'll hear about it. So far it's been nothing but crickets. So far...
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[Ahwahnee]

[RBEmerson]

One of many reasons I like Motorcar is Tom, my "bespoke tech". We talked about driving the CCS-100 in my Westy. He sketched in his plan for that issue. Given he rarely punts on things, I'm sure he'll get this one right, too.

The CCS sensor coil and magnets have long since disappeared into wherever I put them so I wouldn't forget them. Dropping $190 for a new kit, to replace the missing bits, isn't high on my to-do list.
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[pushkick]

[mtnride1]

Ok I see GW is sold out on this system. Could ANYBODY tell me if you have an automatic how the system is performing? I know I can't be the only one with a problem or am I?
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87 westy 2wd (NED)

[RBEmerson]

Could be you're just a special case.

FWIW, I haven't gotten my Westy back, so I can't comment on the results. I checked with Motorcar Makeover Friday and they were just finishing pulling the cables for the ECU. GW says this is one of the "fun" parts of the job. BTW the GW-EFI order included the ScanGauge OBD-II reader and display. The package includes a 20 foot Cat5 cable to carry data back to the ECU. I guess there's something to be said for being an early adopter. So far...
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[mtnride1]

Yup I got the scan gauge thrown in with my order. Everything is in but the guy who is working on the software took off for 10 days to go to a race so I am left with no van till they get the software fix done.
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87 westy 2wd (NED)

[RBEmerson]

You've hit on a big reason why I don't love GW. Their support varies from "OK I guess" to sucks. Unless there's a way to get to The Guy Who Knows for a given item...

Rant warning: The last GW product that p***ed me off was the side door hinge project. I ordered if after seeing the YT how-to. I was tired of the noise it made. The bearings/rollers for the front door guides were basically a no-brainer. The hinge was the job from hell.

I figured out two days later that YT video was simply dead wrong. I made the mistake of trusting the video and not reading Bentley. For anyone doing the job believe and follow Bentley completely. One sample of the idiocy: one of the hinge's guide wheels has a V profile. The video goes through some contortions (lean here, angle there, twist elsewhere) to get it on the guide rail. VW very cleverly left a wheel-sized relief in the bodywork over the rail. Slide the wheel into the wheel-sized groove, drop the wheel onto the rail, all done.

Armed with doing it right, I quickly found there was absolutely no way to get the back of the door flush with the body panel behind it. Likewise, I couldn't line up the edge of the door with the rest of the sheet metal. The hinge was simply f***ed up. It took a lot of sending pictures, etc., etc. to take it back. GW was certain there was no way it could fail. "I call BS"
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[RBEmerson]

I called Motorcar Makeover to see where my Westy and the EFI installation stand. Not good. GW didn't include one of the two coil brackets. The crank pulley / hall effect wheel (spiky thing) bolts are too short. I forget the other issues, but Motorcar is stalled waiting on GW to pull their finger out. And... I'll get to pay for time wasted while trying to fix GW's mistakes.

Yet again GW has shot themselves in both feet. I now assume that something else in the EFI system will prove to demand GW support. Which may or may not be forthcoming or of real value. [/ looking seriously PO'ed ]
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[MarkWard]

What problem is the automatic causing the GW EFI system?
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☮️

[Luckyphil]

Well over 2 months since initial sold out and still not 1 post here from anyone willing to report that they are happy with the kit. Now sold out again. Why wont people speak of their experience except 1 brave soul. Was a lot of hype and cost a lot of $$$ but now all gone quiet, why?

[RBEmerson]

I certainly can use some "don't worry, it's going to come out OK". But think about how many units went out (not a huge amount). How many of those units went to people active on this site? It looks as though I'm the designated Samba GW-EFI reporter. Lucky me...
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[Steve Arndt]

There is an install thread on VOG on facebook. I can dig up the link.

[mtnride1]

OK my van is still sitting in the shop. Software issue not solved. I called GW and they are working on it they said "You know Apple puts out a new phone and they have some issues so they said GW is not immune from that" So my van sits and I have now spent a thousand bucks on a rental car for a month. I better have my van back before Syncrofest.
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87 westy 2wd (NED)

[Altoona]