LocostUSA.com

I'm with you on the eliminating-the-ECU track. That's what I did...I'm using Weber 45DCOE's on my 2 liter Zetec. Looks glorious - none of the miles of wires, hoses, senders, plastic plenum chambers, etc. that clutter up so many modern engines & make them look like a plumber's nightmare.

Of course, if you're using a modern engine (i.e., one without a distributor), you'll still need something to tell those plugs when to fire. Lots of folks hereabouts are using Megasquirt/Megajolt for such functions, and it sounds pretty straightforward. Back when I first started down the Locost road, MS was a build-your-own-circuit-board proposition, well beyond my skill set, so I got a standalone ignition system for my engine from Ehrlich via Quad4Rods.com (unfortunately, Q4R seems to be gone, their website up for sale).

It's a simple as you can get, and is based upon an OBD1 GM 4 cylinder ignition module, changed to permanent "run home" mode, albeit at full power. It has a total of 4 wires: (+), (-), wire to the crank sensor (adapted onto the main crankshaft pulley), and a tachometer feed wire. It uses standard, bolt-on, GM coils, available at any auto parts store. The bottom pulley is modified by having a few holes drilled & tapped in its front face to hold a reluctor wheel, and a bracket holds the simple pickup sensor. It's set at 10* static advance, and feeds in a bunch more as revs climb.

Honestly, I think this system could easily be adapted onto virtually any modern distributorless 4-cylinder engine with ease.

Does it work? While I haven't fired my engine yet (soon, grasshopper, soon!), I understand that a Zetec engine, on Webers, with that same Ehrlich ignition module, set a world land speed record at Bonneville for 2 liter engines.

The beauty of it is that, if you don't want EFI (and all the electronic falderol that goes with it), which I was dead set against, it's dirt simple and should be very reliable. One, single sensor, and no moving parts.

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

For the drive by wire cars, all you need to do is plug in the engine side of the harness to the ECU, and then hook up the power ground, K line and the 6 wires for the throttle pedal. Its not a big deal at all. That will get it running. Ideally you will need a few more simple things hooked up as well. This is in case you want to save a couple hundred bucks at the expense of an afternoon.

There are people making stand alone harnesses for these engines that will hook up just the same as the ford motorsport crate engine packages. If you guys are actually interested in this, I could do the harness and get rid of the immobilizer on the ECUs.

http://clubgti.com/showthread.php?20588 ... 8c9c07f23d

So the ecu harness is an engine only harness and there's not a jillion sensors that have to be on there to make it run?

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

No, all the engine sensors are one harness that attaches to the big plug on the ECU (very similar to the ford ecoboost packages). The big plug is all engine sensors and outputs. There is about 10 wires that need to be hooked up from the small plug depending on if you plan to use the cluster or not. The ecu is very similar to this, and this is what the harness will look like. The difference will be that you will still be able to use a VW cluster if you want.

https://www.cjponyparts.com/ford-racing ... /M601720T/

Notice how similar (both ECUs are Bosch).

Sounds a lot like what I was dealing with to make the SR20DET run in my last Locost. Engine harness plugged to ECU, then spliced on 5 or 6 wires to make the car run.

I really like Zetec7's solution. I wonder if I can get a simple setup to make the old 3 cyl two stroke run? I still have it sitting in a corner after the MSD box failed.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

I have done a few Nissan engine swaps, and it is very similar. In the case of the VW engine, you will need to add 6 wires for the DBW pedal and code out the immobilzer in the ECU (I do a couple of these a week, so its not a big deal). What you get with this is a wideband ECU with awesome data logging and tuning capabilities. The last car I street tuned with a stock longblock and upgraded turbo made 415whp using E85 on a dynojet. Weeeeeee

Does this apply to the odd little narrow single head V6 VW or just the I4's?

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!