Re: motronic stuff

[Brett Van Sprewenburg <brett@shell.netacc.net>]

I just can't stay out of the this discussion because I went through
some of the exact same questions.  :)  Not to mention that I actually
enjoy a technical discussion on car tuning.


> FYI
> http://www.auto-amd.com/kstar.html#Price
> 
> Seems like an alternative to Motronic for us 16 valvers.  I am
> curious if anyone has used this, knows of anyone who has used it,
> etc., especially the UK listers.  Its not cheap, but its not 'that'
> expensive.  I guess the trick would be finding someone in the US who
> has experience tuning this system.

Well converting 290 UK pounds (for the KS3-01) to USD is between $400 
& $450.  In order to be comparible to Motronic, is has to be the KS3-01 
at least.  Add shipping and you're probably closing in on $450.  The 
K-Star system sounds like a tuners delight!  My thoughts on this is that 
is essentially what I paid Garrett Lim to do...run dozens of times
down the 1/4 mile and many hours on a dyno to find out where "my" engine 
runs lean, where it can stand more advance, retard, enrichment
at what RPM's...etc.  Pretty cheap for only about $130 IMHO, for 
what it does.  I freely admit that I probably could have gotten
closer to my ideal with a K Star like system, but it's a question
of time vs money for a street car.  On a more all out car (race
or turbo applications) where exact timing / fueling is the difference
between 1st and 3rd or a burnt valve or melted piston...it's 100%
worth it...no contest.  16v tuning (or extreme engine tuning) is 
not cheap, it just isn't.  We've all heard the addage of "how
fast do you want to go?" is tightly related to "how much do you
want to spend?".  

On a related note, the horsepower per dollar spent ratio on the
16v is sorta-lopsided in that many dollars don't always equal a
lot of horsepower.  I've spent what many people would probably
say is too money on my motor, and it's probably one of the fastest 
(with an eye towards reliablity) non-forced induction, non-NOS MK2 
16v's left on the planet ...  Sure, those are fightin' words, but 
I can probably back it up. :) (especially with that new 3.94 FD)
*And* I've got about 1k to go on mods for another 15-20hp, so I'm
not even done.  

What does this all mean?  We have a hobby, hobbies don't have to
make us money, just happy. :)  Well, most the time anyway...

Have a plan, save up the $$, do it well and you won't be dissipointed.
If a fully user programmable management system is part of your plan,
by all means do it up. :)  Just write it all down and take lots of
pictures so the rest of us can read your tech procedure write up. :-)

> 
> Victor
> 

==Brett


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