on November 28 2011Configuring and using the DTA-S80Pro DTA Fast ECU
So what are the steps in getting the engine running for the first time? Once you've completed the wiring loom, and everything is connected, the first step install the DTA software, to allow you to see the view that the S80 has of the engine's sensors. The software is free, and available for download from the DTA web site.
Once the software is installed, and you've connected the ECU to the PC using the serial lead, you need to establish if there is a base map available for you to use. If you have a Duratec-HE or Zetec engine, then use the 'Zetec without Map' map, as this will give a good basis for a successful map.
The Zetec and Duratec both use a 36 tooth timing wheel, with a single tooth missing, in other words, a 36-1 timing wheel. This gives 10° of crankshaft rotation between each tooth (360° divided by 36 teeth = 10° rotation per tooth). The General settings page will already show 36-1 if you have used the Zetec map.
The crank sensor position before top dead centre, is 90° for the Zetec, and 90° for the Duratec engines. So make sure that you plug these figures in to the General settings page before trying to start the engine.
The reason for having the crank sensor sat 90° before TDC (BTDC) is to allow the ECU to advance and retard the igntion as required. Once the missing tooth has been detected by the ECU, it knows that in another 90° the piston will be at top dead centre. Therefore any time in the next 90° rotation, the ECU can fire the plugs or injectors, to ignite the mixture in the cylinder, or inject fuel in to the cylinder. So if the engine needs 30° advance, the ECU knows that in 6 pulses time (60°), the crank will be at 30° BTDC, and that the ECU can then fire the ignition to produce a spark at 30°
If the crank position sensor sat at 0° (TDC) then the ECU would never be able to provide advance ignition, as the event would have passed before the ECU could have any chance to do anything. So 90° is a good compromise that allows advance/retard to be automatically managed by the ECU.
The next thing to do is to turn on the Oscilloscope view, and crank the engine over with the ignition off. This will display a trace from the cam and crank sensors, and the program will establish the crank sensor BTDC position, and the effective crank timing tooth that the cam sensor is triggering on. Click Gather, and turn the engine over until the screen shows 100% complete. The pink numbers above the cam trace, are the ECU's interpretation of which crank tooth the Cam Timing has been triggered. The numbers should stay the same across the trace. On this trace it changes across the timeline, so in the ECU I have turned off Coil per Plug, and Sequential Injection, below 800rpm, so the engine will start more easily.
This is what the screen looks like on my Duratec engine.
The settings on the screen are then plugged in to the General Settings page as below.
My maps can be found here
http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/map
On Friday 27th August 2010 I took the Fiesta along to Northampton Motorsport for a dyno session, and we achieved 199bhp at 7000rpm, with much more to come.
In June 2011, after curing an overheating issue and changing the driveshaft, the car went back to NHM for another couple of hours mapping.
We raised the red line to 7600rpm, and Troy managed to squeeze 200bhp out of the engine again, but this time extending peak power to 7600revs. The car is simply stunning to drive. Its well mannered at low revs, and pulls like a train in all gears.
Here is the map (zipped) from the first Dyno session in August 2010
