Volvo S40 (updated 15/09/08) Pics and LC vid

[rob@vems.co.uk]

Stick with your original plan - you need to use the OEM grounds where ever possible

Otherwise you end up potentially sharing the grounding path for the sensors, injectors and alternator all through the chassis.

[Andy P]

Ok, in that case whats the best way to group all the vems power grounds and sensor grounds together and then have them split into 4 seperate cables?

Small update -




Head has been torqued down. Its looking more engine like every day

Andy

[rob@vems.co.uk]

Ok, in that case whats the best way to group all the vems power grounds and sensor grounds together and then have them split into 4 seperate cables?

The best bet is to run the wires from the grounds on the vehicle loom to the common ground.

The engine is comming together very nicely.

[Andy P]

I see..

I've got the problem of the battery being in the boot, grounded to a big seatbelt bolt in the back with a big power cable running to the engine bay. Engine is grounded to the chassis in the original place but grounding wires have been vastly upgraded (oem is one cable from the gearbox!) I'll be running thicker grounds coming from various locations on the engine and components to the chassis.

Tomi has told me he runs the same setup however his vems is grounded to the bolt on which his battery is grounded to in the back.

Andy

[rob@vems.co.uk]

I hate grounds
With the battery in the boot you have issues with voltage drop over the wires which gets worse with weak batteries and heat from cranking current.  This means that you really only want one long wire in the circuit - the positive, and the ground should be connected near the battery to a significant part of the car's structure like the chassis rail, which will make the whole of the chassis the return for the negative.
Because you can get a larger voltage drop across the positive wire its a good idea to run a positive feed direct from the battery to the VEMS, via a relay, the seperate wire doesnt carry the cranking current and will provide a nice supply.

The contract that the VEMS has with the engine is to provide a ground path for the injectors, solenoids, sometimes the ignition, the wiring harness is made with this in mind, which is why I'm pushing for its use.  Improving the standard grounds is never a bad bet, but it would be best done to a single point on the chassis or there is the danger of ground-loops - this is why those grounding kits work well and all terminate at the same point.

Rob

[Andy P]

I hate electrics in general! Haha.

Yes, the battery is grounded to a solid part of the chassis with a short thick wire. The engine will be grounded with a kit comprising of 5 thick wires all grounded to the same point in the engine bay. Like you've suggested I'll run a seperate power from the battery via a relay.

Hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer before its all fitted in the car. Most things are done - just all the little odds and ends I've got to sort out. Only major thing is the exhaust manifold and downpipe!

Andy

[Andy P]

A bit of progress with the engine -

















Hoping to get the engine in over the weekend if I can get the manifold sorted out before hand, then its a short fire up on the OEM ecu to rule out hardware as a non running issue and then on with the VEMS and mapping!

Andy P

[Andy P]

Ok, time for another update...

Got round to putting the engine in on a rather wet bank holiday monday. Didn't have access to an engine hoist so the engine had to go in the way I took it out (out the bottom) but this time it was complete with head so we had to jack the front up scarily high!

























Unfortunately the manifold wasn't completed in time so the engine is in minus the turbo. Manifold has been tacked up ready for trial fit before it gets fully TIG'd up -





And the V-band flange my mate made for me -



Finally got Vems powered up inside the car however I'm having trouble getting the laptop to communicate. I'm using a USB-> Com lead which is working (MT recognises a com port available) and when I connect it to VEMS I get the windows "bleep" that lets me know something has been connected however I'm getting "no response" from the ECU.

I spoke to Tomi and he had a similar problem with his because his VEMS was runing an outdated version of the firmware. Since he's updated to 73? he's not had a problem connecting. Just means I've got to borrow an older laptop with a com port to update.

Anyhow, heres my ecu harness -



Cheers, Andy

[Andy P]

Ok another small update...

The engine bay is getting there slowly, a bit more tidying required -





STILL no turbo fitted because of the manifold but its getting there! Its currently looking a bit like this...



Pretty much ready to be TIG'd up.

Inside the car I've mounted the LCD in the centre console, not the greatest pic but the only one I have at the moment -



Andy

[Andy P]

Ok, I've not updated this for a while but I've made plenty of progress!!

I got most of the bits in a while back and this is how it looked....











You might notice theres no turbo fitted, that was because the manifold still wasnt finished, but....





It took LOADS of pissing about to get the bastard thing in, I dont think Volvo ever anticiapted people trying to squeeze in tubular manifolds and GT turbos between the block and bulkhead!

With everything plumbed in I had a go at starting it which posed plenty of other problems had to be sorted (5ft fountain of fuel to name just one!)

Tried turning it over but was getting a very odd ignition - sounded to be fireing with the exhaust valves open... Plenty of head scratching later I decided there must have been something wrong with the cam timing and took off the cam cover to investigate.

Turns out that the OEM timing marks were 120 degrees out!!! The pulleys are held on with 3 bolts and there are no locating dowels to prevent this happening. I didnt change them and assumed they were correct when i recieved them! All sorted now though

Finally last night at 11pm it fired up!!! Only for about 15-20 second though, no downpipe fitted so didn't want to annoy the neighbours. Sounds nice and smooth though and idles perfectly - a little low but I guess thats due to me cranking up the fuel pressure to eliminate an earlier problem.

Hopefully a video to follow!





Andy :D:D:D

[Andy P]

Nothing particularly special...



Idle control isn't setup yet (or not working!) so currently its idling on the throttle screw..

Andy P

[rob@vems.co.uk]

What do you mean nothing particularly special???
You've got your car running and idling on a stand-alone ecu.

Top work mate

[Andy P]

Yeah I guess so! Even though I'm cheating a little with the idle "control" haha. Hopefully I'll figure out exactly what the crack is with the controller. Hopefully its just a simple task! However going by previous "simple tasks" on this car I'll be at it all night


Andy

[rob@vems.co.uk]

I'm reading this thread while sitting in my car trying to get it to idle - with no idle controller.
Getting idle right is a long old process and because its temperature dependent can take months to get the range of cold start warm-ups sorted.

[Andy P]

Calling all competant VEMS mappers in the Hampshire area! 

The car has been on the roads for a few days now. Thankfully Tommi's map runs my car quite smoothly which has allowed me to use the car daily for work.

Now the challenge of tweeking and futher developing the map to suit my engine is leaving me a bit cold. Having very little mapping experiance I know all of the principles but I'm not too sure how to go about it - especially since it could always result in liquid spec pistons!

Any guidance to point me in the right direction is appreciated!

Andy