Sharkey's Wolf 3D
Engine Management System
(part 2— from v3.0 to v4.0)
While the Wolf 3D v3.0 ECU was a huge leap forward
over the primitive CB Performance system, it was not without its own faults.
I am sure that there are several satisfied v3.0 customers out there but I can
only
assume that my particular engine design simply pushes the limit of the
programmability of the older unit too far. The upgrade from v3.0 to v4.0
wasn't essential for my needs, but rather fell into being during the three month
hiatus at the end of 2003. Since I was installing a completely new,
completely custom intake system (complete with computer-controlled IAC system),
I took the opportunity to upgrade the ECU as well. I am fully confident
that the new system will provide me with a smoother starting, smoother idling,
cleaner burning engine. Even my early tests showed more promise over the
older v3.0 system that had been in my car — and
retuned repeatedly — over the last two years. It used to take two or three
cranks to get the engine to stay running on a cold winter morning. Now, it
starts right up and stays running the first time. Heat soak was also my
enemy and I usually had to hold the throttle partly open to restart the car
after it had been shut down after a long hard run. Not so anymore...
The v3.0 ECU has set map points every 500 RPM
and offers 8 load ranges, while the newer v4.0 has set map points every 125 RPMs
and offers 16 load ranges (forced induction engines
— especially turbo engines — will really benefit from the broader selection of
load ranges). "Post Start Enrichment" on the v3.0 computer was controlled
by a single programmable value (which basically modified a fixed algorithm
inside the ECU), while no less four values are available on the v4.0 computer
(more than that, when you consider that you can completely customize the data
curve coming from each temperature sensor). To put it in perspective, the
v3.0 manual is 82 pages long, including the index. The v4.0 manual is
broken down into three separate volumes ("User Guide", "Software Guide", and
"Installation Guide") and totals over 300 pages!
Where do I start? The left image shows the older v3.0 ECU while the right one is of the v4.0 ECU. Although I don't have a single picture of them side by side for comparison, you can see that the v4.0 is much large based on the size of the black rectangular wiring plug.
Both feature the same integral MAP sensor, although the v4.0 unit is rated at a
high PSI level. The v3.0 had about eight dip switches inside for various
features and a small potentiometer mounted on the PCB for fine tuning the
throttle position sensor. With the v4.0 ECU, everything is handled via
software. The v4.0 features eight times as many plot points for both fuel
and ignition maps and allows the user to use smaller increments when inserting
the fuel map values. The air and water (oil) temperature sensors can be
configured to work with almost any sensor on the market and they no longer have
to be linear. The v4.0 ECU also features twice as many auxiliary inputs &
outputs as the v3.0 (even more if you go with the "v4.0 Plus") and the v4.0 also
features a faster 16 bit processor.
The next four pictures show my Electromotive crank signal sensor, and how I had to modify the Berg pulley to make it all work. This modification was in place
back when I was still running the v3.0 ECU but I never actually got around to
posting pictures of it. The sensor is pinched in a
precision-drilled piece of ¼" aluminum, although you might be
able to make out a tiny piece of copper wire pinched in the first and fourth pictures to
compensate for a slight error in machining angle. The thin stamped
aluminum bracket secures a machined aluminum belt guard from
Billet Machine Products
(removed for photography). If you look carefully at the last picture you can see how the backside of the pulley was machined in order to accept the square stepped timing "teeth".
A local machine shop did this work for me and the teeth are in there pretty
good. They used an interference fit, along with a little bit of Loctite
just to be on the safe side. About the only way they're coming out is if I
were to drop the pulley on the ground or hit a tooth with something hard and
heavy.
The new v4.0 ECU can be programmed on any PC but you will need a direct serial connection to transfer data. Due to software issues regarding the parallel port used by the v3.0 software and ECU, memory cartridge data transfer via parallel port has been abandoned. This isn't perfectly clear on the Wolf EMS website but I assure you that it is true. So, upgrading to the newer ECU meant that I needed to purchase a laptop, but I had been planning on buying one anyway. I settled on a nice used IBM ThinkPad 600X.
Wiring diagrams showing how the rest of the car is wired can be found here. Full-sized 1280×1024 250 KB images are available upon request.
