Once again here I am, blatantly contravening one the forum's posting rules and I quote: "Write concisely and do not ramble". Shame that, rambling is what I do best 
. Apologies to all concerned.
My rambling prowess has reached such a fine pitch that this write-up occupies two posts, as the forum limits the amount of words you can fit into one post...
Although the point of this post is to recommend a new service that I've found useful and solves many problems, I feel that for newbies benefit I ought to start at the beginning and fill-in a bit of background.
It's now just over 16 months (June 2010) since TuneECU, the "lite" version, was tried out on the EFI Bonnies. This is the thread detailing that momentous event:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-f...elp-tips-and-tricks/144252-tuneecu-diagnostic-software-for-efi-bonnevilles.html
At D'Ecosse's request and with his expert guidance I tested it on my own bike. At that time we could only do diagnostics, read fault codes and reset the MIL light, balancing and testing. No re-mapping yet.
Just over 3 months later (September 2010) the full version, complete with map reading, loading and editing was deemed ready to be used on the Twins. I was, once again, asked to do the trials but I chickened out...someone braver than me was found. Don't know his name but I, for one, am grateful not just for the adventurous chap that tested it, but to its originators Alain Fontaine and Tom Hamburg. This software is a God-send for those of us addicted to fiddling with engines and had, until now, been denied that pleasure by our inability to delve into the complexities of fuel-injected bike's ECU's.
This is the thread where the full-featured version of the software was revealed to us by D'Ecosse:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-f...-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/154666-huge-news-tuneecu-now-for-efi-twins.html
In the link shown below, there's a very useful thread, a full description/tutorial with pics is available for beginners to learn what's needed to make it work. Essential reading for beginners, specially when used together with the manual downloadable from the programs site:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/141608-tuneecu.html
And, of course here's the official web address containing the program, user manuals and huge collection of standard and alternative tunes. This is being updated all the time with maps sent in by users. All very noble and altruistic. There is, however, a facility for donations to help this very useful work along, and if you're happy with the program and can afford it, I would advise to send something, if only to pay for the maintenance of the site, and the URL, and some beer...:
http://tuneecu.com/
Until this software was available some of us tried all manner of tricks, fiddles, bodges and workarounds by modifying the analogue signals from the various sensors using external components to tune our bikes for mods that could not be taken care off by the scarce availability of official Triumph maps, these being limited to the standard map, one for TOR silencers and a couple of Arrow exhaust map variants. I experimented with TPS settings, modified O2 sensor signals, interfered with temperature sensors, etc and did reach some good compromises but was never really happy, thinking it was all wrong somehow.
The reason for this was that none of those Factory maps could compensate for mods to things like the airbox. We've had several examples where removal of airbox and the fitting of pod filters yielded nothing in the way of additional power. The existing factory maps just couldn't cope with it. The main reason is that our speed-density EFI systems, unlike cars and more sophisticated bike set-ups of the MAF (Mass Air Flow) type, have pre-calculated airflow figures in look-up tables. These are determined at the development stage and remain fixed. The system has a very limited capability for self-adjustment apart from adapting to barometric pressures, altitudes, etc.
The factory has modified these airflow tables in their OEM maps to account for additional airflow with official accessory exhausts like Arrows and TORS, but do not contemplate (and certainly don't approve) of airbox removal or mods to it.
This thread is just one example where the full benefit of airbox removal was not realised, worth reading through the whole thread for some expert opinions:
http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-technical-talk/136227-my-efi-bonnie-dyno-run.html
Some of us became very excited at the thought of being able to fiddle with all those numbers shown on the map tables, myself included. Once I found out how easy it was to load modified tunes and fiddle the figures on the tables, I removed all my workarounds and did a few changes. These were disastrous, the bike ran like crap and used more fuel than Concorde...of course this was well before I read Wayne's (Power-Tripp) post discouraging unskilled fiddling with the settings:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/180815-just-because-you-can.html
Don't go away yet, continued on next post...
. Apologies to all concerned.My rambling prowess has reached such a fine pitch that this write-up occupies two posts, as the forum limits the amount of words you can fit into one post...
Although the point of this post is to recommend a new service that I've found useful and solves many problems, I feel that for newbies benefit I ought to start at the beginning and fill-in a bit of background.
It's now just over 16 months (June 2010) since TuneECU, the "lite" version, was tried out on the EFI Bonnies. This is the thread detailing that momentous event:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-f...elp-tips-and-tricks/144252-tuneecu-diagnostic-software-for-efi-bonnevilles.html
At D'Ecosse's request and with his expert guidance I tested it on my own bike. At that time we could only do diagnostics, read fault codes and reset the MIL light, balancing and testing. No re-mapping yet.
Just over 3 months later (September 2010) the full version, complete with map reading, loading and editing was deemed ready to be used on the Twins. I was, once again, asked to do the trials but I chickened out...someone braver than me was found. Don't know his name but I, for one, am grateful not just for the adventurous chap that tested it, but to its originators Alain Fontaine and Tom Hamburg. This software is a God-send for those of us addicted to fiddling with engines and had, until now, been denied that pleasure by our inability to delve into the complexities of fuel-injected bike's ECU's.
This is the thread where the full-featured version of the software was revealed to us by D'Ecosse:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-f...-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/154666-huge-news-tuneecu-now-for-efi-twins.html
In the link shown below, there's a very useful thread, a full description/tutorial with pics is available for beginners to learn what's needed to make it work. Essential reading for beginners, specially when used together with the manual downloadable from the programs site:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/141608-tuneecu.html
And, of course here's the official web address containing the program, user manuals and huge collection of standard and alternative tunes. This is being updated all the time with maps sent in by users. All very noble and altruistic. There is, however, a facility for donations to help this very useful work along, and if you're happy with the program and can afford it, I would advise to send something, if only to pay for the maintenance of the site, and the URL, and some beer...:
http://tuneecu.com/
Until this software was available some of us tried all manner of tricks, fiddles, bodges and workarounds by modifying the analogue signals from the various sensors using external components to tune our bikes for mods that could not be taken care off by the scarce availability of official Triumph maps, these being limited to the standard map, one for TOR silencers and a couple of Arrow exhaust map variants. I experimented with TPS settings, modified O2 sensor signals, interfered with temperature sensors, etc and did reach some good compromises but was never really happy, thinking it was all wrong somehow.
The reason for this was that none of those Factory maps could compensate for mods to things like the airbox. We've had several examples where removal of airbox and the fitting of pod filters yielded nothing in the way of additional power. The existing factory maps just couldn't cope with it. The main reason is that our speed-density EFI systems, unlike cars and more sophisticated bike set-ups of the MAF (Mass Air Flow) type, have pre-calculated airflow figures in look-up tables. These are determined at the development stage and remain fixed. The system has a very limited capability for self-adjustment apart from adapting to barometric pressures, altitudes, etc.
The factory has modified these airflow tables in their OEM maps to account for additional airflow with official accessory exhausts like Arrows and TORS, but do not contemplate (and certainly don't approve) of airbox removal or mods to it.
This thread is just one example where the full benefit of airbox removal was not realised, worth reading through the whole thread for some expert opinions:
http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-technical-talk/136227-my-efi-bonnie-dyno-run.html
Some of us became very excited at the thought of being able to fiddle with all those numbers shown on the map tables, myself included. Once I found out how easy it was to load modified tunes and fiddle the figures on the tables, I removed all my workarounds and did a few changes. These were disastrous, the bike ran like crap and used more fuel than Concorde...of course this was well before I read Wayne's (Power-Tripp) post discouraging unskilled fiddling with the settings:
http://www.triumphrat.net/ecm-and-fi-tuning-help-tips-and-tricks/180815-just-because-you-can.html
Don't go away yet, continued on next post...
