mjdm

Sure I read somewhere that the S2000 was the first Honda to have an engine that rotated in the same direction as the rest of the world ? So maybe it's unlikely to be a CTR conversion... Mike

Martin, YHM - hope it helps ! Mike

Mick, you can read up about the LC-1 on the Innovate website at http://www.innovatemotorsports.com. You can download the manuals and they have FAQs on wideband oxygen sensors. On the Emerald side, there is a brochure produced by Emerald detailing the capabilities of the K3 ECU. This should give you an idea of what is possible. Otherwise Karl at Emerald is probably your best bet for more info. My wish for getting this system running is so that I have more flexibility to try out some ideas on my Seven without having to RR it everytime. I'm also going to be moving abroad soon so it should help to be a bit more self-sufficient. Mike

Okay, okay, sounds a bit confusing *tongue* But I know what I mean ..... I think Mike

Martin, to get the self-mapping working you need to go to the closed loop screen (part of the injection screen). If the settings are all blank (which I think is the default) you can copy the settings from one of the other maps in the installation directory, have a look at the VR6 map to get an idea of what is needed. Then you need to set the feedback mode to adaptive for the sites you want to self map. The closed loop settings determine how and when the measured lambda is used to define a correction. The corrections to the base map appear in the corrections table and can then be applied to the base map. This is all from reading between the lines and making some (un)educated guesses. Karl at Emerald is the one you need to talk to - he is getting the closed loop section of the manual written - don't know when that will be available. If you want to use the self mapping feature then you really need to have a map that is already pretty close and a good signal to noise ratio from the LC-1. I'm still experimenting with mine and have only got it mapping a few sites at a time - not helped by the weather ☹️ Hope that helps, Mike

Been getting my LC-1 to work with an Emerald K3. I was getting lots of code 8s. The LC-1 would initially turn on correctly but then after a short period of time it would start flashing the dreaded code 8. I believe I've now pin pointed this to the heater calibration. I had to do the heater calibration (disconnect the sensor, turn the LC-1 on, wait at least 5 seconds, turn it off, reconnect sensor) several times ( 3 or 4) before it would run reliably. It all now seems to be working okay. Might be worth a try if you're still having problems ? Mike

Had a reply from Karl to say there are some known problems with some USB adapters so I guess a software update probably won't help , thanks anyway Oily The closed-loop part of the manual isn't available yet but from looking at the software it appears that the self mapping requires a base map that is reasonably close to begin with. There are limits to the variance in AFR, beyond which I guess the nonlinearity of the whole engine/induction system makes it unreasonable to try and interpolate the required injection settings. I may have this completely wrong but it looks like the self-mapping works as long as the measured AFR is within +/- 1 of the target AFR. So to self map the whole load/speed site range would require some human interaction to make some estimates as to what to do with the sites that are out of the bounds of the software to bring them close enough for the ECU to take over and do it's stuff. I'm sure there are others out there that can give the definitive (correct !) answer Mike

Yep, just tried another laptop with a genuine serial port and that works fine. Looks like a new USB adapter is on the cards. Mike

Hi Oily, glad to know it's not just my K3 Hopefully it's a quick fix - then I can see what it's doing. Can I ask what the fix was for your K3 ? Mike

Not sure if it's just a firmware upgrade or whether there is a bit more to it than that. The guys at Emerald upgraded the ECU in a little over a week (bit of a backlog due to the Autosport show). The upgrade allows the ECU to work in adaptive mode, closed-loop or open-loop modes. It creates a correction table to allow the existing map to be updated based on the output from the oxygen sensor. I'm using an Innovate LC-1 (about £130 quid from Bill Shurvinton - another top bloke ) but apparently you can use a number of suitable wide band sensors. There is a brochure produced by Emerald detailing what is available with the K3 upgrade (also includes upto 3 maps in memory, exhaust gas temperature, variable sensor settings, wheel speed sensor inputs, boost control etc, etc) Mike Edited by - mjdm on 4 Feb 2007 22:41:52

Received my Emerald back last friday after having the K3 upgrade and have spent the weekend fitting it back in along with an LC-1 wide band oxygen sensor. I've now set the ECU to run in a mixture of closed-loop and adaptive modes (dependent on load and speed sites). Over the evening I've taken it out a couple of times and it's definitely running a lot better than it was in open loop mode before the upgrade . The next step is to see how well the closed-loop correction mapping works over the next few weeks. The only slight problem is I can't read the map back from the ECU (I can write to the ECU, no problem) so can't see how the corrction table looks yet This is probably a serial port communications problem and I'm waiting to hear back from Karl for his thoughts. The upgrade is definitely worthwhile , congratulations to Dave & Karl for bringing it out ! Mike

Rob, thanks, I realised I was being daft after I posted it my excuse is I've just got back from a friends wedding and am feeling a little jaded . I was also working on the worst case scenario and readying the wife for my absence to the garage for most of the weekend... Cheers, Mike

Cheers for the info Dave. I'll take the head off this weekend and double check which caps are actually fitted. I'd been told that the valve/spring/cap assembly would be okay for the SS cams - but of course they then need the hydraulic followers - and so it sounds like this is the problem. I'll be more careful who I get info from in the future :-) Thanks, Mike

Thanks for the info Dave. I've trial fitted the manual tensioner with a smaller size bolt to see how much slack there is in the belt - and there's not much - none at all really. Should I retap the existing hole and use the longer belt or have a new hole drilled, offset by the required amount and use the shorter belt ? Thanks, Mike

It's a new VHPD head, sourced from Ebay, the seller told me it was ex-Lotus (but who knows ?) it doesn't have the same drilled holes as my K16 head does, so at the moment I can't fit the return spring. I had thought about getting the longer timing belt - that should then allow some adjustment - use the spring to apply the correct tension and then bolt it up and remove the spring. Presumeably there is a suitable tensioner for this type of head ? Or did Rover leave it upto the end user (Lotus ?) to source a custom tensioner ? Thanks, Mike

Thanks for the advice guys. The engine has run for about 30 mins in total since I did the swap. Stu, yes you got the spec correct. I am expecting the fuelling to be off for exactly the reasons you state (bigger valves, more flow) so the uneven performance is not unexpected (an Emerald is next on the shopping list), its the noise that surprised me. One option might be to just run the engine for longer on the basis that one of the tappets still hasn't pumped up. Presumeably the Apollo tank will reduce the likelihood of aerated oil. I'll do as suggested and get the carrier off and reinspect the tappets and the oilways for clearance, I guess the next thing would be to inspect the tappets for blockages (yes they are hydraulic tappets) Thanks, Mike

I had wondered about that before getting the cylinder head, but it does indeed appear to have the oilways needed to feed the hydraulic followers. I had thought about using manual followers but was advised against it on the basis that this will ultimately be a fast road engine rather than a full race setup. Thanks, Mike

Having put the VHPD head onto an 1800 block I'm a bit puzzled by the cambelt tensioner. I have the older manual tensioner but this won't fit to the VHPD head for two reasons 1) The Allen headed bolt is too large to fit into the relevent hole on the VHPD head 2) if I use a smaller diameter bolt the tensioner 'just' fits but there is no opportunity for any adjustment because the hole in the head is closer to the engine centre line - hence inherently tightening the belt 3) there is no appropriate hole for the bolt that goes through the curved slot in the tensioner. Should I be using the auto tensioner since it doesn't look like this haed was ever intended to have the manual tensioner fitted ? Also should I be using the slightly longer belt to compensate for the tensioner hole being closer to the engine centre line and give me some scope for adjustment ? There's a theme developing here... Thanks, Mike

Finally got round to putting the VHPD head on last weekend. It is allegedly ex-Lotus and has had a bit of work done on it, mostly to the ports. I fitted this on to an 1800 block and (for reasons of lack of funds) reused the SS cams and followers (matching the followers to their relevent cam lobes. Set the cam timing (double and tripled checked that it was correct) and started the engine...hmmm it's a bit noisey ! Okay, the noise is most likely a lazy tappet (at least that's what it sounds like) on the exhaust side - that's where it sounds like it's coming from. However I am surprised at just how noisey it is, it certainly wasn't this bad before I did the head swap. It's also apparent that the engine has some issues, a slight hesitation when applying throttle and a bit of a flat spot around 3500rpm coupled with a disappointing performance at higher revs. Now I can accept that since I'm using the standard Rover ECU the fuelling and ignition will be out because of the head change but is this the sort of behaviour I should expect ? The idle is pretty rough (worse than before but it's never been that smooth) and coupled with the increase in top-end noise it is so far a bit disappointing. My next moves will probably be a programmable ECU (Emerald) and some verniers to time the cams correctly, but is there anything else I can do in the interim to a) sort out the noise (clean the followers ?) and b) improve the driveability. Thanks, Mike

I bought some smaller, chrome SVC headlamps and the only problem I had was the wiring from the lamps was a bit short. Only just long enough to go through the headlamp support tube so you might need to lengthen them. Mike Missing my 7 - and its only been two weeks so far.

Matt, that sounds great ! I've just got the standard Momo wheel for the Caterham so if yours is similar it should fit. I'm in Witney. Let me know when would be convenient and I'll pop round. Mark, thanks for the reply, I'll see if Matt's centre fits first 'cos he's closer, if not I'll take your advice. Cheers, Mike

Looking for the central padded section to fit the usual 260 Momo steering wheel. Someone must have one of these discarded after their SVA ? I'll be needing it for when I export my Seven to NZ (sometime next year) to pass their equivalent of our SVA test Cheers, Mike