HI-TECH ELECTRONICS- GTO - Dave Wolin Inc
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Those of you who have carburetors and points can read this for amusement, but, fact is, this isn’t your father’s Pontiac. The new GTO has a phenomenal elec- tronic fuel management and ignition system that not only keeps it emission legal, but also produces 20+ mpg on the highway and 13-second quarter mile times. And, while it’s not politically cor- rect to brag about GM these days, this latest version of the LS-1 engine and electronics is pretty slick in stock trim. Prior to our first open road racing event, we wanted to be able to monitor a variety of parameters that might influ- ence performance and found a new out- fit producing just what we needed. Aeroforce Technology makes neat gauges that monitor, in real time, virtu- ally all the outputs of the computer, ranging from ignition advance to fuel injection pulse duration to inlet air tem- perature. And they simply plug into the diagnostic terminal on the car. Since our GTO is a race car, we skipped the nice- ties and just mounted them on a piece of aluminum bolted to the dash, so our navigator could read and note them as we made our way down the racecourse. What we learned then enabled us to make changes in the com- puter programming as required. For more info about Aeroforce Technology gauges, take a look at their website, www. aeroforcetech.com Now that we knew what was hap- pening in the stock computer, our friends at Superchips built us a pro- grammer to modify the factory settings as required. These are pretty easy to use, plug into the diagnostic terminal and tune the pre-determined Superchips per- formance upgrade by just pushing a but- ton or adjust your shift points, shift firmness, fan setting, rev limiter, speed limiter, and gear ratio as required for your specific needs. And, another push of the button will return the computer to its original stock configuration if neces- sary. Along with an increase in perfor- mance, customers report fuel economy gains of 1 to 2 mpg. Horsepower gains up to 10% over stock are typical through Superchips Performance tuning. It’s worked so well on the GTO, that I’ll be doing my tow vehicle, a GMC Dualie, next. For more in- formation, look at www.superchips.com. Then we built our own system for reading tire tem- perature in real time. One of the dangers in open road racing is tire failure. Obvi- ously losing a tire at 165+ mph can be catastrophic and there hasn’t been any way to satisfactorily monitor tire pressures and temperatures in real time. The tire pressure monitoring devices currently available don’t react quickly enough for racing purposes though they’re just fine on the high- way. Since tire temperature is a prime indicator of impending tire problems, we found a simple infra- red sensor-driven tire temperature measuring device would meet our needs. Most professional racing teams use some sort of data acquisi- tion system to monitor a variety of performance related items during a race and taking a line from them, we built a basic system using an infrared sensor mounted in the wheel well that reads each tire temperature on a rotating basis, changing every 10 seconds. Using a baseline of 200 degrees, an alarm system lights a warning light when that tem- perature is exceeded, giving us the op- portunity to slow to reasonable speeds if necessary. It hasn’t been, so far. If you’ve been camping, fishing, fly- ing, or driving a rental car, you’ve prob- ably used a GPS. We use two, one to read top speed and average speed and another to function as a stopwatch and as a backup in case of driver or GPS failure. Accuracy on these is +/- 20 feet; close enough for what we’re doing and they help if we can’t find our way back to the hotel. If you look carefully, you’ll see the GPS reads 159 mph as the maxi- mum speed it’s reached so far. (For more information on the Dave Wolin GTO road racing project– as well as other race info– check out: www.davewolin.com/motorsports.) Hi-Tech Electronics for the ‘04 GTO By: Dave Wolin • Oakhurst, California 26 SMOKE SIGNALS OCTOBER 2005
Transcript of HI-TECH ELECTRONICS- GTO - Dave Wolin Inc
Those of you who have carburetors andpoints can read this for amusement, but,fact is, this isn’t your father’s Pontiac.The new GTO has a phenomenal elec-tronic fuel management and ignitionsystem that not only keeps it emissionlegal, but also produces 20+ mpg on thehighway and 13-second quarter miletimes. And, while it’s not politically cor-rect to brag about GM these days, thislatest version of the LS-1 engine andelectronics is pretty slick in stock trim. Prior to our first open road racingevent, we wanted to be able to monitora variety of parameters that might influ-ence performance and found a new out-fit producing just what we needed.Aeroforce Technology makes neatgauges that monitor, in real time, virtu-ally all the outputs of the computer,ranging from ignition advance to fuelinjection pulse duration to inlet air tem-perature. And they simply plug into thediagnostic terminal on the car. Since ourGTO is a race car, we skipped the nice-ties and just mounted them on a piece ofaluminum bolted to the dash, so ournavigator could read and note them as
we made our waydown the racecourse.What we learned thenenabled us to makechanges in the com-puter programming asrequired. For moreinfo about AeroforceTechnology gauges,take a look at theirwebsite, www. aeroforcetech.com Now that we knew what was hap-pening in the stock computer, ourfriends at Superchips built us a pro-grammer to modify the factory settingsas required. These are pretty easy to use,plug into the diagnostic terminal andtune the pre-determined Superchips per-formance upgrade by just pushing a but-ton or adjust your shift points, shiftfirmness, fan setting, rev limiter, speedlimiter, and gear ratio as required foryour specific needs. And, another pushof the button will return the computer toits original stock configuration if neces-sary. Along with an increase in perfor-mance, customers report fuel economygains of 1 to 2 mpg. Horsepower gains
up to 10% over stock aretypical through SuperchipsPerformance tuning. It’sworked so well on theGTO, that I’ll be doing mytow vehicle, a GMCDualie, next. For more in-formation, look atwww.superchips.com. Then we built our ownsystem for reading tire tem-perature in real time. Oneof the dangers in open roadracing is tire failure. Obvi-ously losing a tire at 165+mph can be catastrophic
and there hasn’t been any way tosatisfactorily monitor tire pressuresand temperatures in real time. Thetire pressure monitoring devicescurrently available don’t reactquickly enough for racing purposesthough they’re just fine on the high-way. Since tire temperature is aprime indicator of impending tireproblems, we found a simple infra-red sensor-driven tire temperaturemeasuring device would meet ourneeds. Most professional racingteams use some sort of data acquisi-tion system to monitor a variety of
performance related items during a raceand taking a line from them, we built abasic system using an infrared sensormounted in the wheel well that readseach tire temperature on a rotating basis,changing every 10 seconds. Using abaseline of 200 degrees, an alarm systemlights a warning light when that tem-perature is exceeded, giving us the op-portunity to slow to reasonable speeds ifnecessary. It hasn’t been, so far. If you’ve been camping, fishing, fly-ing, or driving a rental car, you’ve prob-ably used a GPS. We use two, one toread top speed and average speed andanother to function as a stopwatch andas a backup in case of driver or GPSfailure. Accuracy on these is +/- 20 feet;close enough for what we’re doing andthey help if we can’t find our way backto the hotel. If you look carefully, you’llsee the GPS reads 159 mph as the maxi-mum speed it’s reached so far.(For more information on the DaveWolin GTO road racing project– aswell as other race info– check out:www.davewolin.com/motorsports.)
Hi-Tech Electronicsfor the ‘04 GTO
By: Dave Wolin • Oakhurst, California
26 SMOKE SIGNALS OCTOBER 2005
