Wiki
What we had to look up
Pinouts, ECU wiring, cooling and braking notes — written down while building the cars, because we needed them and could not find them. Every page says where it came from, and every page can be wrong: if you find one that is, it lives in a file you can send a correction for.
13 pages · 5 subjects · 8 tools
The wiki, and the reference on every part page.
Tools
Every calculator →Calculators and configurators that run in the browser, nothing uploaded and no account. Each one sits under a page that explains what it does.
- Configurator
FIS-Control configurator
Set up a FIS-Control's screens by picking your engine and what you want to see. Opens and saves the unit's own fis_control.dat, byte for byte.
- Calculator
Compression ratio, and how to work it out
Static and effective compression from bore, stroke, chamber, dish, deck and gasket — with the formulas written out, and a calculator that applies them.
- Calculator
Density altitude and dyno correction
How much air there is today, why a hot damp day at sea level is worth thousands of feet of altitude, and what the difference is between an SAE number and a DIN one.
- Calculator
Estimating horsepower from airflow
An engine makes power in proportion to the air it can pump. Working from that gives an estimate you can argue with — unlike a multiplier for 'large turbo'.
- Calculator
Gearing: road speed, rev drop and tyre size
How gear ratios, final drive and tyre diameter set road speed, and how to read the rev drop between gears — the number that decides whether a gearbox suits an engine.
- Calculator
Lambda, AFR, and what the gauge says
Three ways of writing one mixture, and why a car on E85 at a perfectly good lambda reads 12.1 on a wideband — both numbers correct, only one an air/fuel ratio.
- Calculator
Sizing a turbo from the compressor map
Work out the mass flow and pressure ratio your engine will actually run at — the two axes of every compressor map — then take that point to the maps of the turbos you are choosing between.
- Calculator
Sizing fuel injectors
What size injectors a target power needs, what they really flow at your fuel pressure, and why the same set that was fine on petrol is marginal on E85.
By subject
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ECU 1
Standalone engine management: what the inputs and outputs actually are, how to wire them, and what the settings mean.
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Plumbing 1
Hoses, fittings, fuel and oil lines, and the sizes and thread forms that have to match before any of it seals.
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Engine 7
Sensors, ignition, fuelling and the mechanical side of making one run.
- Compression ratio, and how to work it out
- Density altitude and dyno correction
- Estimating horsepower from airflow
- Gearing: road speed, rev drop and tyre size
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Honda 1
Engine and gearbox specifications for the B, D, H/F and K series — the part-by-part numbers the calculators are preloaded with.
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VW and Audi 3
Diagnostics on VAG cars: the measuring blocks every control unit reports, and the tools that read them onto the dash.
By car
Recently updated
FIS-Control configurator
Set up a FIS-Control's screens by picking your engine and what you want to see. Opens and saves the unit's own fis_control.dat, byte for byte.
VW and AudiFitting FIS-Control and coding the cluster
Which VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda clusters FIS-Control works with, the cluster coding it needs, the sensor pinout, firmware updates and start logos.
VW and AudiVAG measuring blocks
What VW and Audi measuring block groups are, the standard group numbers for petrol, TFSI, TDI and DSG, and which reading sits where.
VW and AudiAN fitting sizes
Dash sizes, tube diameters and thread sizes for 37° AN/JIC fittings, with what each size is normally used for on a car.
PlumbingDensity altitude and dyno correction
How much air there is today, why a hot damp day at sea level is worth thousands of feet of altitude, and what the difference is between an SAE number and a DIN one.
EngineLambda, AFR, and what the gauge says
Three ways of writing one mixture, and why a car on E85 at a perfectly good lambda reads 12.1 on a wideband — both numbers correct, only one an air/fuel ratio.
Engine