Honestly Greg, what a load of cobblers.

If anyone is getting confused about professional interests and personal feelings here it is you. Perhaps you would like to explain how your posting on this thread relate to the subject which was:

What's the current state of play now that the Possumlink is becoming more common??

Whos running it to what success?

Also which of the additional LINK products are worth having (i.e Knocklink etc)??

When you have finished ranting, you might add something to the debate as I'm sure BPM would have some useful info.

Rgds,

Alex




[This message has been edited by AlexM (edited 24-02-2000).]

 

OI, STOP IT - NOW

This post was going down an excellent track in discussing the merits of a PRODUCT. Amazinglingly, given some burgeoning controversy over the approach taken to mapping the PRODUCT - this thread has brilliantly avoided the taking of sides.

I, and I am sure many other board users want TO LEARN ABOUT THE CAPABILITIES, STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES of the Possum Link product.

Greg/BPM - whatever sympathy I have with your view in terms of flavour of the month - WHY RUIN A GOOD THREAD BY BRINGING UP YOUR SENSITIVITIES HERE.

Now - air your concerns for sure - BUT NOT IN THIS THREAD.

Rannoch - shouting on purpose

PS A big thank you to Pat, Mike, Bob, Steve, Lee and all others who have posted valuable views in this important thread

 

Sorry - I was so p*****d off that I posted it twice - I was TWICE as angry as I thought I was

[This message has been edited by Rannoch (edited 24-02-2000).]

 

Apologies on my part that I did start airing my opinions on this thread.

I still stand by what I said and will choose a better thread to voice my concers.

 

Here we go again....Im with Rannoch here, why oh why does this BBS insist on snapping at peoples comments. My apologies for enquiring about Greg's edited post, I was mearly enquisitive. That freedom of speech stuff was a joke (I thought that was the idea of smilies??).

In addition, what was wrong with what Greg has said about recent goings on?? I think the treatment of DP and SS has been atrocious in that one minute they're up, the next down, irrespective of their service it is unfair to jump on the bandwagon and have a pop. Fair enough e-mail them, phone them, but lets not slag them on a BBS, its not in anyones interests, least of all the companies who strive to offer (and do) a service. I also agree with Greg for not marketing any product which they do not manufacture, because one failure of a component or product could seriously jeapordise their market.

Anyway, feel free to come back to me on this, but for heavens sake, lets just talk LINK!

Thanks again to all of you who have given me some good gen about the PL, cheers

Richie.

 

IMHO this thread would benifit if competent vendors step in who know the product and give tips and tricks on the installation and operation of the product.

I know taht this works for a fact as there is an ECU from LINK for the Mazda MX-5 available and the main vendor (and thus developer) is on a mailinglist giving ideas, tips etc. to setup the ECU and asking for feedback on improvements. This has even led to the fact that there is now somebody outside LINK working on the software to improve it's operation.

Since the PossumLink is a joint operation between Link and PossumBourne Motorsport, I was hoping that Possum B would step into this. Tried contactimg them, without luck.

In the UK you are extremely lucky to have Bob Rawle. He competent and helping out people, setting up ECU's (even if he asks for a small fee it's still a bargain). He does what a vendor should be doing.

Now that I have that off my chest, it's time to return to the regular program.

Regards,

Nico van Steen
Netherlands

 

DEEP BREATHE!

I HAVE NEVER "PICKED ON BNP PRODUCTS!"

I AM PROUD THAT BY ALERTING THE VIRUAL COMMUNITY TO THE DANGERS OF REMAPPING VIA MY DESTROYED ENGINE, THAT THE VIRTUAL COMMUNITY THOUGHT TWICE.

I HAVE NOT DESTROYED POWER ENGINEERING I REGUALRLY CONVERSE WITH THEIR SUB OPTIMALLY PLEASED FORD AND VAUXHALL CAR OWNERS.

FACT: IF YOU REMAP IT IS NOT ABSOLUTELY SAFE.

FACT: "THE REMAP" WAS SOLD TO AN UNSUSPECTING VIRTUAL IMPREZA COMMUNITY AS A SAFE UPGRADE!

I AM PLAYING "DILL THE DOG" TRYING TO PULL ALL THE OTHER POWER ENGINEERING VICTIMS IN WITH ME FOR A CLASS ACTION.


I AM LEFT WITH THE MONSTER REBUILD BILL


Dear Grig,

As much as you think I am a bad person for "airing risk" remember I never target your products, I might have teased you about your style!


I have been without my car for over 6 months!

I could go on and only get nasty!

[This message has been edited by Anders (edited 25-02-2000).]

 

I have a new Zealand friend, the Sorcerer, the Sorcerer's apprentice, Professor Ferrarri and Benny all to make sure I do not hav a Possum failure!



[This message has been edited by Anders (edited 25-02-2000).]

 

I think that in the right hands a Possum link is potentially a great piece of kit.

I am just glad that I know a few of the main "players"

[This message has been edited by Anders (edited 25-02-2000).]

 

Unbelievable !

I find myself being more and more dis-interested in this BBS. Perhaps there is a reason why people like Firefox/Colin Pearce don't post as much as they used to..

And now Bob is a true commercial outfit I daresay we'll see the end of his golddust postings - for fear of saying something wrong and the company taking a battering.

It would seem to me that all the talent out there is being forced underground into silence.

 

Peeps,

I attempted to restore a bit of levity and perspective to all this by creating another thread for the continuation of the "political" side of this discussion:

 

to go back to the subject. anybody care to comment on any pitfalls of the link ?

as for all of you stressed out people out there my advice is as follows:
make sure you are not working on Saturday. wake up late and go to the gym, have a late lunch and then start consuming copious amounts of alcohol ( may i suggest vodka and redbull-or any other energy drink if not available.)till the early hours of Sunday morning. also make sure you buy yourself a kebab in the way home ( don't argue it will come naturally and it will feel like the most logical thing to do, just follow your instinct). and here is the tricky part, you are probably too drunk to eat anything so keep it in the fridge for breakfast ( this is again would be the most logical thing at the time). make sure you pass-out in some obscure location in your house so your wife/girlfriend is even madder when she is trying to find you at 6o'clock am. spend the whole of Sunday recovering and believe me you will feel a lot better by Monday.

 

Thanks Mike, its appreciated, this thing could just go on and on.

Lee, my sentiments exactly, my interest is waivering by the day!

Richie.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with Mike's posting.

It's only an idea but maybe there should be tighter controls on posting - these dodgy aliases don't do this BBS any favours....

If people are accountable for their public comments, it would reduce the temptation for posting libellous/slanderous material.

Maybe I am being naive but any steps in the right direction would be good

Thanks

Gavin

 

Lee,

thanks for the info regarding the Link and its quirks. Shall try to get closer woth ROWFUEL and then let the auto lambda do its stuff :-)

With respect to the wideband lambda sensor, I have yet to find a supplier of the LSM11 UEGO, but I shall keep looking.... IIRC they are supposed to cost about USD200, making them one of the cheapest UEGOs around (bar one used by Honda, but its output is *weird*).

As far as the lift off det goes, I think I'll try to kock back the timing and richen up in zones 160 upwards, it might help :-) Of course the water injection will help when I get that running :-) :-)

With respect to engine remapping, there are certain dangers.... Subaru didn't spend millions of dollars and a few man-years of research time developping a map without getting something in return.... a map that will run reliably on 100RON fuel without any problems, regardless of how much fun you're having. Any attempt to push the engine closer to its performance envelope is going to eat into the safety margin provided by Subaru.

Anyone who claims that such an operation is *completely* safe must either a) have dyno-tested the mod to be sure or b) be very optimistic :-) There are inherent risks in any departure from the manufacturer's spec. But it's a case of pitching the risk against the potential reward...

Some of the safest things are:

1) adding clear indicators :-)
2) fitting a big rear wing
3) fitting alloys of the same size

a bit less safe, but still very very unlikely to cause problems include:

1) fitting larger alloys (more stress on steering components)
2) fitting a nice back box (more stress on sesnsitive ears :-P)
3) fitting after-market brakes / suspension (more stress on chassis)

moving into the slightly more dangerous areas:

1) fitting a downpipe (possibility of overboost due to better flow, stresses engine)
2) fitting an induction kit (does it *really* filter as well as the OEM job??)

more dangerous still:

1) engine remapping (you gotta do it right, and once it's done, keep an eye on it)
2) internal engine mods (you gotta uprate all key components, not just some!)
3) messing around with any control systems (like fitting antilag)

and finally "do not do unless you want to damage your car" :

1) fitting a Superchips "upgrade". very crude, but very effective at destroying engines
2) try doing an ice stage on slicks while maintaining an average speed of 100km/h; major panel damage will result
3) let me drive... :-) :-)

OK, back to the point.... the Link is becoming more popular, no question. The problems with the Phase II ECU on the Japanese imports running on low octane fuel has seen to that. Compared to MoTec and Pectel, the Link is a positive bargain. In the right hands (hi Bob!) it can do wonderous things for your car. In the wrong hands it will blow it up. In any case, it is a good idea to fit some rudimentary monitoring to the car once remapped, just to keep an eye on it. I'm not saying that anything will go wrong, but if something did (say a sticky wastegate control solenoid; no fault of the Link) you'de want to know about it since you're that much closer to the limit than with the JECS unit with Subaru map.

And finally....

Slagging off companies on the BBS just for the sake of it, or for silly little things (like a product taking 3 days to arrive) is quite unproductive. Fair enough highlighting inherent dangers in certain upgrade paths which may not immediately be apparent or which purport to be completely safe. [Anders, you have my sympathy, having "been there, done that" myself I know what it's like, although my experience was with another company, who shall remain nameless].

I have yet to come across a company which isn't interested in sorting out issues which arise with their products [note that I say *products* and not services].... why not give them the chance before slagging them off?

Cheers,

Pat.

 

Has anyone experienced problems with cold start and idle? Does it idle lower?

Does the car behave any differently, i.e lumpy until warmed up.

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks again

Richie

 

I havent had a problem with cold start although it does take a couple of extra cranks to get going.

when cold it does not idle at 1200rpm though it is enriched but stays at your set rpm point.

 

h

 

Hi Richie,

Ok, back to the matter at hand. There are basically three different sets of conditions to consider with starting and idle: cold, warm and hot. Cold and hot are self-explanatory, while warm needs a bit more consideration.

The link allows you to specify how much cold enrichment you want, which is equivalent to judging how far to pull the choke out on a carburettor-equiped car. It's fairly easy to get satisfactory cold running by fiddling with this, I have found. Hot starts are not a problem, IME.

Warm starts can be a trouble spot, but the problems aren't insurmountable. If you turn the engine off and leave it for 20-30 mins before restarting, the coolant is still pretty warm and the ECU won't dial in much "choke" or cold enrichment, if any. There are certain fuel zone values that become critical at this point, and if they are too lean the engine will start and die. Typically two or three attempts are required to get it to hold, or else some judicious use of the gas pedal. I have found that nudging up the fuel values by just 1% in the relevant zones sort this out neatly.

Idling is generally no problem. After startup the revs will rise to 1200-1400 for a very short while (5-10 secs) and slowly decline back to the set speed (850rpm for me). I have learnt that it is better to wait for this cycle to complete before trying to pull away, as it is easier to stall during this period. If you really insist on not waiting a few seconds, use about 2000-2500rpm and you won't have any problems.

Overall, the low-speed tractability seems as good as the stock ECU if things are set up properly. I have spent the last week tweaking mine, so it now runs absolutely rock solid all through the bottom end, with hardly any of the occasional surging or hesistation that I used to get with the standard unit.

Finally, I have made a rather gobsmacking discovery regarding clutch judder. While there is no doubt that this has a lot to do with the surface characteristics of the clutch plates (given that it can be cured by changing the clutch), another key factor is the fuelling.

I have found that if I set the fuelling too lean in the 1000-2000rpm band, hey presto! Clutch judder. Enrich it a notch, and it's gone. This explains why people often report that the judder goes away when the "clutch warms up" -- it's not the clutch that needs to warm up, it's the engine.

-= mike =-

 

I have edited this post

[This message has been edited by steve McCulloch (edited 28-02-2000).]

[This message has been edited by steve McCulloch (edited 28-02-2000).]