Alpha-N for 325i

[UweM3]

Hello everybody,
I have recently joined E30 zone. I own a 87 M3 which I just have converted to run on Alpha-N without the AFM. After long consideration I have decided to use a piggy back system and went for the MAXX Alpha-N plus.

And now we are coming to the reason of this post. While I was over there in Germany at MAXX's place to get my system up and running I saw someting in his Garage you might be interessted in.

He is running his personal 320i touring on Alpha-N and as far as I understood he would be willing to offer a kit for M20 engines if there is some demand.

I don't want to bore you with all the details if you want just click the link
http://www.maxx-automotive.de/ftp/alpha ... lus00e.pdf

Maybe not as cheap as an off the shelf chip, but I am really happy with the install and quality of the kit. Many other's as well.

[Simon]

Welcome to the zone Uwe, not interested myself (not for M20 anyway) all my money is going on the M3, and not the other 2 E30's I have!
Maybe you could share your S14 knowledge on the zone, not many E30 M3 owners on here really.

[M5pilot]

Did he have some sort of special intake plenum aswell?

If not then the same sort of thing can be done with MBE and emerald engine management which eliminates the need for an AFM.

I already done this on my old 2.7 and its already on a C2 2.7 Alpina a friend of mine has.

The throttle response is lightening quick and throught the rev range the power is fantastic.

Please get prices though!

Excellent post by the way.

[M3RAGS]

hello Uwe,

again, I have no interest in the 325 gear, just saying Hello and welcome to this forum.

Share your knowledge!

RAgs

[LOOPYLEE1965]

welcome to the zone mate

[UweM3]

Emerald was one of the systems on my list as well. Prices are ok and support seems to be spot on.

I decided to go for the MAXX for the ease of use. I am sure you can do more with EMERALD, but you have to ask yourself can YOU do it?

It was important to me that I am capable myself to run and maintain the system without help from the manufacturer. No ignition tables to be messed up, no warm up tables, no sensor values and curves etc.

And no major wiring! If ever something happens to the car and the insurance takes it, I just unplug the MAXX box and leave the loom behind.

You couldn't do this with a full sytem.

MAXX doesn't supply and intakes for the M20, but with running the throttle body only you can do whatever you like.

The kit for the S14 is 760 EURO plas 16%german VAT. But this includes shift lights which are a bit expensive. He uses only high quality day light LED's. If you are not after that sort of stuff you might save a few quid on the package.

I will link some pictures later which I have posted on the BMW carclub website.

[UweM3]

Here are some links to the BMW car club site. A lot to read as well, sorry

http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_ ... 76&KW=MAXX

http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_ ... 00&KW=MAXX

http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_ ... 57&KW=MAXX

http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_ ... 76&KW=MAXX

[e30_Turbo]

Emerald was one of the systems on my list as well. Prices are ok and support seems to be spot on.

I decided to go for the MAXX for the ease of use. I am sure you can do more with EMERALD, but you have to ask yourself can YOU do it?

It was important to me that I am capable myself to run and maintain the system without help from the manufacturer. No ignition tables to be messed up, no warm up tables, no sensor values and curves etc.

And no major wiring! If ever something happens to the car and the insurance takes it, I just unplug the MAXX box and leave the loom behind.

You couldn't do this with a full sytem.

MAXX doesn't supply and intakes for the M20, but with running the throttle body only you can do whatever you like.

The kit for the S14 is 760 EURO plas 16%german VAT. But this includes shift lights which are a bit expensive. He uses only high quality day light LED's. If you are not after that sort of stuff you might save a few quid on the package.

I will link some pictures later which I have posted on the BMW carclub website.

Welcome to the zone too

I've installed a MS ECU, a fully mappable system giving the end user full control over everything and the best part, you can do it in car via a laptop. I'm/we're 80% on sorting the extra parts to run ignition too and will then have full control at the mo just fuelling is poss, but not a big issue. Some of the software is designed to make life easier and does so much for you, just give it some basic info and it helps you plot the required maps etc.
I suppose I HAD to have this really as the turbo's gonna need some serious mapping to prevent it going POP!
It's cheap and easy to install, new sensors etc but nothing to silly.
At first the whole mapping side seemed a bit too technical to understand, but I'm getting there now, after a few sessions working out whats what, I feel it's gonna be ok, my car share work collegue has been doing his research too so he's got something to play with on the 25 miles I do each way to work.
I did't spend anywhere near that amount of money either and if I had of been a brave and bought the ecu in kit form I could have had it for a 1/3 of the price......
I think TURBOBROWN is aiming to map his emerald himself so it must be possible....

And i get to ditch the AFM too

Goodluck with your car

[UweM3]

I had a look at MS ECU as well but decided not to be too brave.
The re-bulid of the S14 with 2.5 block was a lot of money and I was a little worried to blow it up.
Since I have seen the MS I can't get the idea out of my head to buy a 318 tourer and install a MS just for the sake of playing.
But at least one of my cars need to be a reliable workhorse and I have bought a Passt TDI Estate

I also bought a Techedge Wideband Lambda from www.wbo2.com which is a MUST in my opinion if you fiddle around yourself.
Especially a set up like yours with turbo need to be monitored as good as possible.
How are you setting the fuelling up?

[Turbo-Brown]

Think I'll be doing some tweeking on mine, but I do have a base map that Emerald supplied for a VR6-Turbo which they reckon will get me going.

Once the car's run in though, I'll be going to Emerald to have it set up properly. I'm really scared about melting a piston or something!

[e30_Turbo]

I had a look at MS ECU as well but decided not to be too brave.
The re-bulid of the S14 with 2.5 block was a lot of money and I was a little worried to blow it up.
Since I have seen the MS I can't get the idea out of my head to buy a 318 tourer and install a MS just for the sake of playing.
But at least one of my cars need to be a reliable workhorse and I have bought a Passt TDI Estate

I also bought a Techedge Wideband Lambda from www.wbo2.com which is a MUST in my opinion if you fiddle around yourself.
Especially a set up like yours with turbo need to be monitored as good as possible.

I'm saving a few more pennies to get a INNOVATE LM-1 WB kit, only Ԛ£100 or so and I agree a must for tuning properly. The MS uses a NB system as std and I think we'll map on WB and run on NB till I get the WB setup installed.

How are you setting the fuelling up?

The Ms has a datalogging system, so plan is to fit the kit, download a base map we have been sent and take a slow/short run, check the datalog and adjust the map a little at a time. TBH I'm yet to actually do it, when it's on and running I'm sure it will all be a bit more obvious and easier than I think it will be. And the additional software I have will make life a lot easier

No matter what system I looked at, MS was the best allround solution, it's constantley being improved on, new software available and a good help line direct to the guys that wrote the program if needed. MS2 is now about there and looks to be a huge improvement and much more features, but I'll be happy just to get this on and running and hopefully to a point where I can tune N/A cars too as the cost of a MS in a kit form is less that Ԛ£200.

The big decider for me to get MS was control, with the FMU or RRFPR route you just don't have anywhere near the control, no maps, just faith which wasn't where I wanted to be after 9 months and Ԛ£1.5k+ of parts!

[e30_Turbo]

Think I'll be doing some tweeking on mine, but I do have a base map that Emerald supplied for a VR6-Turbo which they reckon will get me going.

Once the car's run in though, I'll be going to Emerald to have it set up properly. I'm really scared about melting a piston or something!

Can you not plug into a PC yourself then?

And are you going to see Dave Walker?

[Turbo-Brown]

Yeah, apparently it is possible to map it yourself, but I don't really know what parameters to set or how it would affect things.

Plus, for Ԛ£235, peace of mind and a chance to meet the legendary Dave Walker, think I'll entrust it to the experts.

There's just so much to change with a turbocharged engine as one speed and load site could have any amount of boost (within your boost limit) depending on what's been going on one second before

Will probably be able to have a fiddle with mappings which are obviosuly not right, but think we're limited to a narrow band lambda and a multimeter to keep an eye on mixture.

[UweM3]

Yeah, apparently it is possible to map it yourself, but I don't really know what parameters to set or how it would affect things.

Plus, for Ԛ£235, peace of mind and a chance to meet the legendary Dave Walker, think I'll entrust it to the experts.

There's just so much to change with a turbocharged engine as one speed and load site could have any amount of boost (within your boost limit) depending on what's been going on one second before

Will probably be able to have a fiddle with mappings which are obviosuly not right, but think we're limited to a narrow band lambda and a multimeter to keep an eye on mixture.

A full mapping for Ԛ£235 is a very good price. Considering what Bexley is charging for a re-map only.
And I think Dave Walker has so much knowledge and experience it is money well spend.
It is very difficult to do some WOT runs on public roads anyway. I was able do get most of the WOT while we were in Germany. I am just learning to use the data logger in the MAXX to fine tune some areas.
The Techedge can log data as well and can be ordered as a DIY kit.
I bought it because MAXX has a dedicated input for the WBO and displays (and logs!) the wide band AFR's as well.

Would anybody like to see a screen shot? Or any other pictures?

[e30_Turbo]

Would anybody like to see a screen shot? Or any other pictures?

Go on then, be good to be able to compare the two.

Did you get much tuning done at the ring?
( An extremley good choice of venue and autobahns on the way back too , lucky sod )

[UweM3]

Would anybody like to see a screen shot? Or any other pictures?

Go on then, be good to be able to compare the two.

Did you get much tuning done at the ring?
( An extremley good choice of venue and autobahns on the way back too , lucky sod )

The WOT was set up in 30mins. We have spend the most time for very low throttle and mid range.

I wasn't able to fully floor it on the way back. Too much traffic I could feel the full benefit when I was back on familiar UK roads. The increase in midrange is quite aparent.
Get some shots done tomorrow.

One I have done on the way back while Steve was driving. (Before I noticed that it was pissing in my glove box like a waterfall!)

[UweM3]

Sorry for the delay, but weather has been to nice
Pictures are on the large side, but otherwise you would see a lot.

Here are some screen shots from the Alpha-N control software
The 9.1 in the top left corner is the wide band lambda display (engine is off!) if you have a device installed. (like TECHEDGE)
Top left bars show rpm, throttle and the signal the Alpha-N is sending tho the BMW ECU to simulate the AFM.
The BLUE cursor is the one you control with the Arrow keys to the Loadsite you wish to manipulate. The YELLOW curser is the actual position of the "car" (rev and trhottle related).
The spacing of the loadsites is fully amendable to whatever you want them to be.
The green and purple little arrows on the bottom of the screen are the Narrow band and wide Band Lambda values (engine is off so not a lot to see)


this shows the screen to control the ICV (didn't need to change anything here)


another screen showing the LAmbda Control of the Alpha-N (does not need to be used if you run closed loop with the BMW ECU) showing the current AFR of the engine.


There are a few more screens like the control of the shift lights which I have managed to install in my instrument cluster (call me Dr. Frankenstein!!! I feel like a bloody brain surgeon)

[e30_Turbo]

That looks really straight forward and simple, I hope mine is the same

The dash looks very tidy, nice too see all the extras have been added with not much given away, shift lights are a great idea, wonder if I have a option for them aswell, hmmmmmm.

I'm going to try and download the map we have to my ecu tonight and have a play, not sure how much I can do without the engine running so maybe just check all is working and make a few program amendments which need to be done ahead of fitting. Once I've got my head around what screens are what I'll get some pics up too.......

Great info thanks, Mark.

[Turbo-Brown]

Ooh multiple shift lights? Think the Emerald only has one, reckon staged ones muct be more useful. Wonder if you could set them up to be dependant on coolant temp a-la M5.

Thought piggyback type things usually had tables of + and - figures to add to or subtract from the maps stored in the standard ECU. That was the bit that struck me as being complicated but it looks like the software makes it all nice and easy!

Or have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick there?

[UweM3]

Actually it is dead easy. 2 ways to do it. (No2 assumes you have a Wideband Lambda)

No1:
Get the car on a RR, put the engine under load where you want it to be (the yellow cursor, rev and throttle position) move the blue cursor to the same location and "pull" the value with the + and - keys till you are reading the AFR you want to see or the best power output on the dyno.
Do that to all the load sites and your map is perfect.

No2: (what I have done)
take a laptop on your knees (on the passenger seat!!) let someone else drive the car and map it while you drive.

There is a No3 as well:
Drive on your own and use the inbuild logger. Stop and read the data, change the map and log again.

For sure No3 will take the longest

No2 can be a bit difficult on UK roads as you can't reallt do WOT run's to high speeds. But you can "prepare" the midrange and some WOT before you go on the RR to save some Dyno Time.

I am currently playing around with No3 but haven't really pushed it.
If you are average with Excel you can get some usable results with not to much of a headache.
Here a graph: