Returnless Fuel System Tuner Results

[mjchip]

Hi Folks,

Like many of you, I have an '03 with upper Lightning pulley, high-flow x-pipe, cat-back, and K&N FIPK. Now that I have an actual boost gauge in my car, I see that the L pulley gives me 12-12.5psi of total boost just as calculated.

Just like others with these same mods, my car was running really lean in the midrange and it was in need of a serious tune. Not wanting to go the chip route YET, I decided to try to alter my air-fuel ratio with the MAFterburner. In case you missed it, with the L pulley, the '03 Cobra pegs the fuel tables and no matter what we do to the MAF signal, the car will run a preset BUT limited fuel curve. The MAFterburner works fine on the '03 Cobra AS LONG AS YOU ARE RUNNING STOCK BOOST but has no effect on the WOT air-fuel curve for increased boost levels.

I was originally distressed about this BUT it gave me an idea!!!! Why not use the MAFterburner to modify the fuel-pressure in order to tune the car. You know, kind of like you would do with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and FMU on a return-style fuel system. However, the product couldn't be used "as is" so with a little software tweaking and a couple of hardware changes, I hooked up this soon-to-be NEW product and went off to the dyno.

My goal was to get my car running 12:1 air-fuel across the board. Here is a dyno chart of my first and last run showing stock air-fuel and modified air-fuel with the new FP mapping computer. Tuning took about 6 runs and around 1 hour. The dyno chart speaks for itself!! In summary, my max. HP stayed the same at 442.9rwhp SAE but the torque dropped from 438rwtq to 429.9rwtq SAE. IMO, this drop in torque is well worth the piece of mind of having the car running more SAFELY at 12:1 air-fuel.

Well, I'm really excited. It's time to put this new product into beta testing. Look for its release in 2-3 months time frame. Now all I need to do is come up with a name! I'll offer you folks the same deal as the guys on the Corral: email me your suggestions for this digital fuel pressure map tuner and if I pick your suggestion, I'll send you either a MAFterburner or this new product when it hits the market (only 1 unit will be awarded). You can email your suggestions to: [email protected].

Cheers,

Mark Chiappetta

 

[mjchip]

A bunch of people originally emailed me and and asked where the graph went so I reloaded it just now. The blue line is the stock tune with the 2.93" pulley and bolt-ons as listed in my sig. The red line is after tuning with the Afterburner-eFPC.

The Afterburner-eFPC is an electronic Fuel Pressure Controller designed specifically for Ford vehicles with RETURNLESS-style fuel systems. The device is laptop programmable with a simple and intuitive interface. It allows +/- 50% adjustment of Fuel Pressure in 1% increments in 400rpm intervals from idle to redline. In the Stage1 unit, there are two maps, one for closed-loop driving conditions and the other for WOT driving conditions. The tables are switched between when a fully-programmable WOT breakpoint voltage is reached.

The Stage2 device has two banks of two tables that can be switched between "on the fly" via an external toggle switch.

The Stage 3 device has the capability to read a GM-style MAP sensor and create both maps of FP vs. RPM/WOT and also FP vs. BOOST!.

The Stage1 and Stage2 eFPCs will be on the market this November. The Stage3 eFPC will follow in spring of next year.

If you have any technical questions about this future product please do not hesitate to email me at: [email protected]

Cheers,

Mark Chiappetta

 

[Fast03Cobra]

You mean to tell me that this gizmo will allow ME to change and tune the Air Fuel mixtures? At home or do I need a dyno?

If I can plug & play at home and tune the A/F I WANT ONE!!!!! This has a HUGE effect on the cars performance and longevity.

 

[bassin247]

Originally posted by Fast03Cobra
You mean to tell me that this gizmo will allow ME to change and tune the Air Fuel mixtures? At home or do I need a dyno?

If I can plug & play at home and tune the A/F I WANT ONE!!!!! This has a HUGE effect on the cars performance and longevity.

It will allow you to change it, but you should verify the changes you make are the ones you want with a dyno. Basically, you can do your own dyno tuning with it.

I saw this product on Mark's car at New England Dragway 3-4 weeks ago. It was pretty neat. I wish he had his laptop and showed me a little more.

 

[mjchip]

Originally posted by Fast03Cobra
You mean to tell me that this gizmo will allow ME to change and tune the Air Fuel mixtures? At home or do I need a dyno?

If I can plug & play at home and tune the A/F I WANT ONE!!!!! This has a HUGE effect on the cars performance and longevity.

Hi,

You will need access to a wideband O2 sensor but with that, the answer to your question is YES you can tune your own air/fuel ratio to whatever you want, whenever you want. The Stage2 device allows you to have a street/strip pair of tunes.

The most important thing here is that this product simply gives you very flexible and accurate control of your car's fuel pressure maps. Up until now, the returnless-style fuel system has proven to be a huge road block for tuners who work on big horsepower cars. At a certain level, most just abandon the 99+ returnless systems for pre-99 return-style systems so that they can use traditional, adjustable fuel pressure regulators. This no longer has to be the case.

Hope this helps,

Mark

 

[mjchip]

Originally posted by bassin247


It will allow you to change it, but you should verify the changes you make are the ones you want with a dyno. Basically, you can do your own dyno tuning with it.

I saw this product on Mark's car at New England Dragway 3-4 weeks ago. It was pretty neat. I wish he had his laptop and showed me a little more.

Mike,

Anytime you want to learn more, just let me know and we can hook up.

Mark