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I started fitting the charge pipes today. I'm going to move the intercooler back (towards the radiator) a tiny bit for a better fit but I'm happy with the progress. This bumper literally snaps off and

All of my oil lines are hooked up, I've put gaskets on all of the exhaust connections, everything is set to start. I have tried to start it but I'm getting a laundry list of codes in HP tuners. Nothin

While reading the HP tuners forum I came across a reference to a YouTube channel, Goat Rope Garage. I've watched a few videos that have been incredibly helpful and relevant for the 2014 Chevy spark ec

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On 1/18/2019 at 6:19 PM, kicks012 said:

Beyond excited to see the end result. I came across this while wondering how to tune my 2013's ECU. I have always thought about trying my hand at a turbo now that I'm past warranty... and after driving my new (to me)mini cooper s, the spark takes patience to drive. I am curious since the 13-15 sparks are just about the exact cars, would they all be e78 ECUs? Its hard to find definitive evidence of that. I have been very interested in some more modest upgrades lately.

 

Good luck! Keep us posted!

From the responses I have gotten on the HP tuners forum, the e78 is covered. It is not specifically listed by vehicle make model and year on the HP Tuners vehicle list but neither was mine until I reached out to their customer support. If you are interested, I would reach out to them and ask if your vehicle is covered. Let me know if you have additional questions

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  • 4 weeks later...

Since my last post I ordered a new wiring plug for the injector. I have wired up the new plug and it fixed the misfire issue and injector 4 seems to work fine.

 

I filled my tank with e85 and the vehicle starts and runs on the fuel just fine with the new pump and injectors. The idle is not terrible for how little tuning I did to it and my lack of experience in tuning. 

 

Today, I'm working on hooking up the wastegate to start building boost. I'm picking up a new battery and some hose clamps for the radiator hose I put the 90 bend in. I'm also going to move some exhaust hanging points around to tidy up and finalize the exhaust. 

 

I also need to finish hooking up the wideband for air fuel ratio and the boost gauge.

 

The only check engine codes are for o2 sensors and my throttle but no major issues as of now.

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I changed up my oil feed line to the turbo. I had a metal braided line before but I needed a restrictor. I ended up using this black and blue line and I picked up an adjustable valve so I can adjust the oil fee as needed. It fixed the oil problem now I need to tune the car.

 

I found a few videos explaining how to use the wide band, vcm scanner, and hp tuners to adjust where needed and taking out the guess work. I'm going to learn how to do it and post a video once I have everything set up and ready to tune. 

 

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Edited by LittleBlue!
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I'm still working on setting up all of the channels that I need to log to properly tune the spark but it appears my flex fuel sensor is working properly and is being tracked in the vcm scanner. I also got the blow off valve to chirp a bit in the clip below. My AFR gauge is reading lean because the o2 sensor was open at this time. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, considering an after cat system but really not sure about the heat effects on the cat. This would negate the sensors since it would be after them.  Several manufacturera have done this with mixed results. Thinking of mounting the turbo in front of the transmission on the drivers side. And running the exhaust back to the stock route. Only looking at 5-8lbs of boost at most due to engine internals.

 

Update:  Its a go! Started ordering parts for the custom set-up. Going with a low boost t3/t4 hybrid turbo with built in wastegate.

 

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5 hours ago, Shinobi777 said:

I meant to ask, when you upgraded the fuel pump, did you have to make any modifications to the pump assembly, or was it mostly just plug and play? 

 

Btw , good work on the progress. 

Thanks! I did have to modify the fuel pump basket but not the actual fuel pump. The fuel pump was quite a bit bigger so I had to cut the basket a bit to allow the pump to fit. I also soldered the plug for the pump. Other than that it was pretty much plug and play. Hope that makes sense.

 

I took quite the break on this project but I have the wastegate mounted and I plan to resume tinkering today after work. 

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After dragging my feet and many distractions I'm ready to start seriously trying to get the tune dialed in. From what I have read, I will want to disable the mass air flow sensor and long term fuel trims to adjust the volumetric efficiency table. This is called open loop. Once that is successful, I will turn back on the MAF sensor and the tune should be very close to complete. Hopefully, I have this thing on the roads sometime next week. Update: the idle has improved quite a bit. My wideband is reading in gas scale so 14.7 is ideal.

 

 

 

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On 5/2/2019 at 9:39 PM, thismarks said:

Looks great, keep up the good work! I'm researching the 2017 model for turbo install. Fortunately I have a Chevy Master mechanic with HP tuners setup that will tune mine for $600-700. The turbo manifold will be the big issue with the single output on the 1.4l Spark ecotec

Would your mechanic do a remote tune? I have learned a lot on what I need to do but I haven't seen any significant results so I'm becoming more and more open to the idea of just paying for a good base tune. I'd certainly be interested if your mechanic is open to remote tuning. 

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18 hours ago, thismarks said:

I'm not sure if he would be open to it. I imagine if he had all the details and was able to monitor it, then it would be possible. I can check with him. 

Thanks for checking, I appreciate it! I have found a few local places that may work. One quoted me at $579. I might end up trailering my car there but they are booked until July 12th.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Holy crap! I apologize for my lack of progress. I have been learning a ton doing research on how to tune the E78 ecu. My plan is to get all of the quirks worked out and put together a how to video. I can also send out the scanner settings that I used to make the changes which should help others who are looking to tune this car.  If everything is set up correct it is literally a copy paste after that. This is all assuming I am successful, of course.  I plan to hit it hard this weekend.

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On 5/20/2019 at 5:57 PM, Fire Spark said:

That idle sounds much smoother than your earlier video!

Thanks, it's been a slow learning process but I'm finally starting to see some results. The idle is pretty good now for park, neutral, and drive. It runs a little rich in park due to the unnecessarily large injectors I went with. I think I can lean it out more but it isn't too bad.  

 

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I took the spark on it's first drive today. It was very short but I am finally able to log good data and not have the car stall. This should make things so much easier.  If I did it all over I would look at the injector duty cycle of the stock injectors and keep them if possible. Otherwise get good injectors with good injector data. I had to guesstimate on a lot of the injector data as I bought cheap decapped injectors. After tinkering, I was able to get them close enough so I can now log good data and fine tune the fueling. 

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Here's a video update of the tuning process. I have the idle set at 800rpm here. In the video, I am logging data to show how far off my actual fuel ratio is to what the car is asking (error). The error is shown as a percentage either too rich(negative) or too lean(positive). My wideband is set up in lambda which means the ideal condition here would be a 1. You copy this table and paste "special multiply by the percantage" onto the virtual volumetric efficiency (VVE) table. In order for this to work you must set your mass airflow sensor to fail and prevent your o2 sensors from adding or subtracting fuel. This would result in inaccurate data due to the adjustments. Anywho, listen to what it's slowly becoming!

 

 

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On 6/21/2019 at 10:16 PM, thismarks said:

Sounding better! My project is going a bit slow as I have been running from North to South of the US with my car.  Just nailed a killer deal on my turbo. GT17 for $50 new. Bit of modding and some welding to get things just right but, I'll eventually have all my parts. 

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Nice budget so far and you have a lot of the components. If you keep the stock fuel system tuning should be relatively easy. I'd be curious to see what the injector duty cycle is at with the added turbo. Keep us posted. I'm about to take a drive and hopefully dial the speed density tune in a bit more (vve table). 

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After entering the correct injector data things have been moving much faster.  I took the car out for the best drive yet and have been dialing the air fuel ratio in for partial throttle. I also noticed the ecu is pulling a good amount of timing in idle so I will start working on that as well. Good news is the spark has variable valve timing that can be modified with HP tuners that should result in decent gains. I'll post an article here and hopefully a video of the process on our car soon. My car requires adjustments due to modifications but it seems the stock settings leave room for performance improvements. Happy friday!!

 

"But with VVT, it’s possible to advance the cam slightly at lower engine speed, which improves the low-speed torque, throttle response, and even fuel mileage. Then at higher engine speeds, the cam can be retarded several degrees to offer horsepower advantages. These power advantages can easily exceed 10-15 lb-ft of torque at low speeds and 10-15 horsepower at peak engine speeds. Why leave that power on the table?"

 

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engines-drivetrain/1808-advantages-of-vvt-cam-in-gen-iv-v-engine/

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