Lanos 1.6 (VEMS and turbo on the way)

[bob3825]

Well i just ordered my VEMS and its on the way, just wanted to introduce my project and say what a huge fan of VEMS i became after mr_G set my eyes on the controller, I live in Egypt and own a lanos 3-dr

Well here is how my system was configured:

 Assembled v3.3 controller
  - primary_trigger: VR
  - PS2 connection: no
  - MAP connection: 300kPa (6/4mm pneumatic)
  - LCD connection: no
  - secondary_trigger: HALL
  - Knock and EGT: yes
  - 1-wire interface: no
  - Flyback: 30V flyback
  - ignition driver: 8

and of course the EC36 and EC18 harness, a fuse holder, serial connector, econoceal crimp tool, MAT sensor, and a wideband connector since i already have a wideband sensor



Now to the car:

It started its life as a 1.3 lanos that came with some exterior mods but no performance mods what so ever

I started by the usual mods: short ram air intake,carbon fiber muffler, splitfire spark plugs, 16" momo rims, and some interior momo goodies too and then i decided it was enough spending on this poor engine and started planning an engine swap.
















For the engine swap i settled on 3 options, either the C20LET, the T20SED, or the A16dms

The C20LET was available here but the problem is there isn't a single spare part for this engine available, then i thought of the T20SED but again i couldn't find the pontiac Lemans mounts and i had to modify the stock mounts which isn't a good option since i'm not a good welder and there are no good welders here, so i went with the 1.6 16v and turbocharge it later on, so the next day i took the car to my mechanic's shop and started the work













I initially ran the car with the, new 1.6 full suspension and brakes, 1.3 wiring and ECU which was fine but this wasn't the performance i expected but i had no time to fool around with it since i had my midterms in college (4th year with double major computer science and computer engineering) so i just left it the way it was, i just installed a strut tower bar, a jvc DVD stereo (AVX1), and some other small stuff.

Then a while back a friend of mine who owned a 2.0 turbo nubira and now the proud owner of an E34 with a 4.0 V8 told me he had a spare 1.6 ecu, so i took it but couldn't get it to work since my car had a freakin immobilizer, so i went and got another 1.6 ecu coded KF which runs without an immobilizer but to my shock the performance dropped :S so i just thought since I'm going turbo soon, i would just buy a standalone and make it run perfect first and then when the turbo comes i could just modify it to suit the new setup and this is where VEMS came in


Here is a pic of me and the E34, i know my car is a bit of a 4x4 but the car had cut springs when i got it and i couldn't stand them, so its running on a stock 1.6 suspension temporary just for now until i get my springs and shocks




I will be needing a lot of your help because there isn't a single DYNO in the country so i'm just counting on the sensors and my butt so fingers crossed and hope i can get some good performance out of the engine

just want to say thanks to rob, jorgen and mr_g for all the help they provided

[jadzwin]

Please look at my poject (the topic DU Espero 2.0t), actually I put 2.0 turbo engine into Lanos ('cos Espero crashed).  I use c20xe, with custom pistons and cast conrods). It is quite hard to find c20xe and especially c20let in good condition so maybe it is good solution for you to buy used c20xe engine,  overbore it and put there new low comp. pistons and conrods  (they qre quite cheap in USA).

I don't think that idea with the 1.6 lanos engine is good, because it will be hard to make serious power from that engine
In Poland there was lanos 1.6 Turbo with power around 200hp but it seem maximum that can be achived....


Greets
Jadziwn

[bob3825]

Yeah i thought so that around 200 would be the max but i thought i'd give it a go until i find some pontiac lemans mounts, as for opel engines all together i can't, because our regulations say that you can't put an engine in a car of a different manufacturer so it would be illegal and that's one of the problems i had with the C20LET

I'm going to take this engine to its max potential and then do some weight reduction, and then drop it and put in a T20SED which has the same block as the C20XE i guess, so all the options for the internals would apply to me, and good luck with your lanos, I really wait for your updates and pics

[gunni]

Why on earth can´t this 1.6 handle 200hp?

rods ?
pistons ?
crank ?

If none of the above then it´s not a problem

[bob3825]

No one said it can't we were just saying that around 200 would be its limit, because i've yet to see anything for it other than forged pistons, other than that i haven't seen a single internal part that was aftermarket, but you can always go custom on everything which would cost a fortune and you could get the same power with something much more affordable

[gunni]

I´ve never seen or heard of an engine that can´t even support such small powerlevels.
I´m surten that 250hp would be easy on that engine.

[bob3825]

Only time will tell how much the engine could take, i just can't wait to hook up my VEMS and start mapping

[jadzwin]

The weak point of this engine are pistons. This engine is 105hp in serie and I have never heard that someone made more than 200hp on stock "internals".  But I have heard about several engines that gave up at 200hp.

Jadzwin

[bob3825]

If its pistons then that's easy, there are Wiseco pistons i think available from daftart, i'd love to push the engine to over 200 hp

[Sprockets]

That looks basically like the UK vauxhall Ecotec engine, which is a nice unit once you get the horrid, horrid intake system off. People out there are selling 'Intake Power Boxes', which basically boils down to a well designed plenum!  The prices for these tho are often or not near ITB money.

Have a look at SBD website, these people are THE vauxhall people. They claim 164hp NA (from 109 stock) from only tapered ITB setup, and there are a lot of customer backup statements to this on MIG web etc.

I grew fond of mine (was in a Mk3 Astra).  Basically, what I'm saying is, even a well designed plenum will outperform the stock inlet, and will enhance the turbo kit immensley.  So get the welder out and polish up your sheet metal skills lol

Good luck with the project

-Gavin

*edit* Sorry, the power figures given were for the GSi head which is a better casting....tweak those figures down a bit for your casting! *edit*

[jadzwin]

In Lanos there is variable volume intake controlled by electrovalve but I don't know how good is this.
That is true that for Opel / Vauxhal ecotek engines changing intake manifold makes incredible power increase.

Lanos engine seems to be based on Ecotec engine, with the same DELCO IEFI ECU as is in x16xel.

What is funny if you put c20xe engine into Lanos, and you will use stock Lanos ECU and Lanos harness (withs some minor changes) you gain extra 10hp over stock engine

Jadzwin

[bob3825]

That looks basically like the UK vauxhall Ecotec engine, which is a nice unit once you get the horrid, horrid intake system off. People out there are selling 'Intake Power Boxes', which basically boils down to a well designed plenum!  The prices for these tho are often or not near ITB money.

Have a look at SBD website, these people are THE vauxhall people. They claim 164hp NA (from 109 stock) from only tapered ITB setup, and there are a lot of customer backup statements to this on MIG web etc.

I grew fond of mine (was in a Mk3 Astra).  Basically, what I'm saying is, even a well designed plenum will outperform the stock inlet, and will enhance the turbo kit immensley.  So get the welder out and polish up your sheet metal skills lol

Good luck with the project

-Gavin

*edit* Sorry, the power figures given were for the GSi head which is a better casting....tweak those figures down a bit for your casting! *edit*

Just as jadzwin said about the VGIS, but i don't know if i should get rid of it or keep it in there, i've thought of getting rid of it and making a custom intake before but i thought i'd just keep it for now and bolt the turbo setup and see what kind of power i'll make, and then make a custom one and compare and simply the better stays, and i'll just control the VGIS with the VEMS since i will only be using 4 injector drivers for sequential injection, so i'll use one of the free ones and engage it at 4500 RPM as the OEM does, because people have tried different engagement points but always resulted in loss of power, so i kind of like the variable bit in it where you can choose between short and long runners for torque and hp.

Actually right now i have alot of power that is lost and i can't find, when i had a drag with a friend who has 4 door 1.5 lanos(de-cat, CAI, Groundint kit, and some stuff) I just barely won the drag, with a difference of half a car, i'm sorry but this is just not acceptable, this was with the 1.3 ecu so thought it was an ecu issue and the difference in maps and stuff, but when i got the 1.6 ecu, the car became even slower and it backfires like hell, i tested the ignition system and all seems well, and tried with OEM injectors and bmw 316 bosch injectors and still everything seems fine, and that's when i decided to VEMS, i really hope for alot of gains or i'm going to go nuts because i can't seem to find anything wrong other than ecu.

[bob3825]

Guys i need a bit of help regarding my fuel pump relay, i just want to say i'm reusing my factory harness

so this is a pic of the ecu diagram regarding the fuel system and a pic of how the relay should be wired in the VEMS manual, and looking at it it seems to be connected in a different way, i just want to know will it work, or have i read the diagram wrong, or i should rewire it according to the VEMS manual?

[gunni]

The only wire you should need to wire is the
BLK/WHT wire on the diagram (going from A12-ECU to 85-Relay) to your relay into EC36-15

The car handles the rest of the pump operations , 12v to the relay, 12v to the pump , fuse for the pump

[bob3825]

yes that's the logic thing to do, but i just hesitated because it is routed differently than in the manual