Apex Speed Tech: Blog Posts

[Apex Speed Tech]

New MOTEC CDL3 Dash/Logger

Just coming back from PRI, I'm pretty impressed with the MOTEC CDL3 Dash Logger. I wrote a short blog post about it here; something to consider for people looking at entry level data products:

http://www.apexspeedtech.com/motec-c...-products-2012

I think this is going to be a big hit with the track-day crowd. For a very reasonable price, you can buy a kit that has GPS options, plugs into many aftermarket or OBD-II ECUs and records data while providing a really high quality dash display at a great price. What's cool is that this is its from the same family of products used in many pro BMW race cars, and this broadens the market to a lot more BMW owners.

-Neel

[Ron ///Man]

Look awesome!! I may have to consider one even though it still exceeds my budget for the car by quite a bit.

[Apex Speed Tech]

MOTEC RaceGrade Keypads

Wiring switch panels can be a time consuming, and even the best ones are big points of failure on racecars. I should still have nightmares about the Synergy Racing BMW-Doran Grand Am Daytona Prototype, which had this insane relay/breaker panel on the passenger side that had a dozen Bosch 5 pin relays, probably 20 assorted circuit breakers and lots of cascading/interwoven circuits. There were huge bundles of wire going through multiple connectors running to the driver's switch panel and out around the car. It was quite a job to do anything behind that panel.

Later on, we did a restoration on another Synergy Race Car, this one the 993 GT2 Turbo that was the last podium-finishing air-cooled Porsche at Daytona. It was a technological tour-de-force during its time, with ABS, electronic boost control and advanced data logging, but those switch panels were frightening. 3 of our engineers worked on reverse-engineering that panel at different times, and the work to rebuild them was really time consuming.

So these Power-Distribution-Modules have really gotten our attention. They're basically solid-state breaker/relay centers that allow you to laptop-program how things turn on and off, and what the current capabilities are. You eliminate all those relays and breakers - just have switches and wires going to devices. I'm going to do a blog post on those soon, as their prices have gotten into the range where a lot of club-race cars and custom builds (the next Singer Porsches will likely have some sort of PDM) can really benefit. In the meanwhile, MOTEC has come up with something brilliant - CAN keypads. These button pads, which can have custom icons, have 4 wires coming from them - CAN Hi/Lo, power & ground. With 4 wires you can control up to 15 functions, and you can have multiple panels throughout the car. And the panels are priced less than $600!

So as someone who wires race cars for a living, I'm excited about this. Check out our blog post here:






-Neel

[Jake]

Apex Speed Tech: Blog Posts

Combined all blog posts.

Jake

[Apex Speed Tech]

Vi-PEC Plug & Play ECUs for M50s!

Vi-PEC has just released a Plug & Play ECU for BMW M50 motors! This unit is fully sequential and plugs straight into the stock harness, controlling everything and giving FULL CONTROL to the tuner. Plus, it has a 4 bar MAP sensor built in, making controlling turbo or supercharged applications simple. Its retail price is in the mid-$1800 range.



I'm always talking about new products, but for the BMW community I think this is going to be HUGE! This will cover a lot of the 6-cylinder BMWs, especially US market, built from 1991-1999. There is simply no better way to control an M50 or M50TUB motor at anywhere near this price. No bulky adapters, no piggybacks, no messy wiring - this just plugs in where the stock ECU went and you drive off. Plus, it has options for knock control, boost control, launch control, anti-lag and even traction control. I've written a blog post on it, check it out!

http://www.apexspeedtech.com/vi-pec-...6-bmw-m50tub25

[Ron ///Man]

Great for the M50 crowd, but is the S14 next??????? I'd be first in line for it esp if I can fit it inside the stock Motronic case. SCCA has a silly rule on aftermarket engine mgt having to fit inside the stock case for IT classes...

[///Mflossin]

Agreed. Great if you've got an M50 I suppose but I'd like to see something for the S14.

[Bruce]

Already working for an S14. Jimmy P has 2 on his 2 cars. Dunno if they fit in the stock ECU box.

[Gregg]

The S14 engine harness is the limiting factor on a standalone EMS (insignificant gains in fuel or spark control). An aftermarket standalone must have a custom harness to surpass the Motronic limitations, so a plug and play is pretty useless.

I've talked with Neel and Alex and they were very helpful in providing all the odds and ends for a harness (Mil-spec wire, Raychem heatshrink, etc.). They even suggested an alternative to the pricey DR-25 tubing (bonus!!).

FYI, I have a Link G2 (a previous gen equivalent of Vipec product, similar to V44) that I'm finishing up now. Will post a thread when complete.

Gregg

[Apex Speed Tech]

The S14 engine harness is the limiting factor on a standalone EMS (insignificant gains in fuel or spark control). An aftermarket standalone must have a custom harness to surpass the Motronic limitations, so a plug and play is pretty useless.

That's why for our S14 kits we also offer a standalone harness to go with the ECU. But its still plug & play - the whole system plugs into the stock chassis harness and runs the entire stock vehicle. Its been a very good product for us.

[jimmy p.]

Great for the M50 crowd, but is the S14 next??????? I'd be first in line for it esp if I can fit it inside the stock Motronic case. SCCA has a silly rule on aftermarket engine mgt having to fit inside the stock case for IT classes...

I thought they did away with that silly rule. I guess not. I know it had been lobbied for.

The out of the box V44 wouldn't fit into the stock Motronic metal case (too thick), but if you took the electronics out of its housing I am pretty sure it would.
I can take some photos of the V44 next to a stock box and send to you Ron.

It would be a shame though. The V44 case construction is super robust.
Like you could drive the car over it robust. Really well made.

I think its safe to say through helping several of us through the adoption process that Neel and Apex probably have developed the most "plug and play" solution to the S14 on aftermarket EMS. They really know the platform inside out now.

As has been posted the stock engine harness is a limiter, but if you can part with that Neel has very much invested the time on the S14 to make it as painless as it can be (and then you need to get him to tune it, which is where the real value is).
The hardware is only a small portion compared to getting Neel in the car on the dyno.

[Apex Speed Tech]

The hardware is only a small portion compared to getting Neel in the car on the dyno.

Thanks Jimmy, and Merry Christmas! Thanks to our customers, we've been improving and refining our base maps to the point where the base tunes are pretty strong, and now that we offer live tuning over the internet, we can provide hardware and great tunes at competitive pricing.

-Neel

[Apex Speed Tech]

Newest Blog Post - Injector Technology

We've seen some benefits from the advances in injector technologies over the last few years, especially coming from aftermarket suppliers. Here's a blog post I just did on the topic:

http://www.apexspeedtech.com/how-inj...-a-better-tune



Let me know what you think!

-Neel