Hi Everyone,
Good news from the Arctic circle! My fingers have thawed and I'm now able to type again!
The trip to Autorotor's facility in Nacka / Stockholm, Sweden was a success.
I arrived in Stockholm on a Monday morning at 7:30 am after leaving Jacksonville, FL at 10:30 am Sunday (6 hour time change from EST, couldn't sleep on the plane). Took the bullet train into the city (the airport is well outside of town) then stood in the cold wind while waiting on a taxi for about 20 minutes (16 degrees F, which is really cold to a Floridian). Arrived at Autorotor's facility at about 10:30 am and met some of the engineers who were to work on the project. After a cup (or two)of coffee, I started installing the Supercharger on a stock (smooth tubes and filters only) Silver '99 GTS with sharp custom interior. Had lunch (couldn't read the menu) and finished the installation at about 5 pm (feeling pretty wiped out). Got a ride to the hotel and got some rest.
Tuesday morning, back into Autorotor at 7:30 where I had more in depth conversations with the electrical and software engineers about the project objectives. The car had been pre-wired with the development engine control module and was ready for testing to begin.
Testing and development continued Tuesday morning though Saturday evening. At times, the car looked like it was hooked up to a life support system with all the cables and laptop computers hooked up to it. Several hurdles had to be overcome along the way (electrical noise, program writing, things that were different about how the Viper PCM operated, etc). Work went on to 9:00 pm most nights and 3:00 am one night.
In between the times where they needed me with the car, I was able to make great use of the time there. The mechanical engineers took me through the plant and showed me how the Superchargers were built and tested. They have 4 Supercharger dynos and one of ours was running for a test (had a fairly flat volumetric efficiency of 93% at our boost level, which explains boost creep as a stock engine's volumetric efficiency must take a nose dive at higher RPM).
The electrical engineers spent some time with me as well. I was trained in the programming and use of the software. Further training in regard to engine management systems and injectors led to an elevated understanding on how to make full use of what we were creating for the Viper.
Finally, the result. The new Swedish built VEC2 completely eliminates any check engine light, ping or driveability issue that has come up in any of the 40+ installed Supercharger systems. It's a complete plug and play system which uses the original factory 10 way connections for the engine wiring harness (no cutting or crimping planned and looks like about a 10 minute install).
The system is programmed by slipping a smart card into a slot or by way of the software and serial cable interface. The smart card is quite slick as programming is as easy as slipping in a different card. We plan to make a few cards with different fuel and timing curves on them so owners can see which works best for their car. Further fine tuning can be done by those with the ability to utilize the software for their specific application.
The first systems are being built now. Letters will be going out to all the Supercharger owners with the information updates, price and availability. In brief, it will be about the 3rd or 4th week of January before the first ones go out to people (based on the timeframe discussed a couple weeks ago). The owners of the introductory run of Superchargers will be able to purchase them at cost. The next group of Superchargers (the finalized production run units) will go out only after all the introductory run customers have been taken care of and the new VEC2's are available for them. It will be worth the wait.
The VEC2 will also allow us to complete the process of getting emissions certification. All the test parameters can now easily be met.
Many thanks go out to all the people I met and worked with in Sweden. A special thanks also goes out to the owner of the GTS for his help and use of the car. The Swedish people are real craftsmen and an pleasure to work with.
Best regards,
Sean
PS.
If you have one of our Supercharger systems and are experiencing any of the above mentioned issues, use proper judgement and refrain from using the car if you feel that there is any risk of damage to the car. The recent reports I've read about a few cars heating up cats has me concerned. If the check engine light is on, it can mean the PCM is dumping in extra fuel, which can lead to problems if the cats overheat and are allowed to run too long. Contact us if you have any problems we may not be aware of.
<FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by Sean Roe on 12-30-2002 at 08:26 PM</font>
Good news from the Arctic circle! My fingers have thawed and I'm now able to type again!
I arrived in Stockholm on a Monday morning at 7:30 am after leaving Jacksonville, FL at 10:30 am Sunday (6 hour time change from EST, couldn't sleep on the plane). Took the bullet train into the city (the airport is well outside of town) then stood in the cold wind while waiting on a taxi for about 20 minutes (16 degrees F, which is really cold to a Floridian). Arrived at Autorotor's facility at about 10:30 am and met some of the engineers who were to work on the project. After a cup (or two)of coffee, I started installing the Supercharger on a stock (smooth tubes and filters only) Silver '99 GTS with sharp custom interior. Had lunch (couldn't read the menu) and finished the installation at about 5 pm (feeling pretty wiped out). Got a ride to the hotel and got some rest.
Tuesday morning, back into Autorotor at 7:30 where I had more in depth conversations with the electrical and software engineers about the project objectives. The car had been pre-wired with the development engine control module and was ready for testing to begin.
Testing and development continued Tuesday morning though Saturday evening. At times, the car looked like it was hooked up to a life support system with all the cables and laptop computers hooked up to it. Several hurdles had to be overcome along the way (electrical noise, program writing, things that were different about how the Viper PCM operated, etc). Work went on to 9:00 pm most nights and 3:00 am one night.
In between the times where they needed me with the car, I was able to make great use of the time there. The mechanical engineers took me through the plant and showed me how the Superchargers were built and tested. They have 4 Supercharger dynos and one of ours was running for a test (had a fairly flat volumetric efficiency of 93% at our boost level, which explains boost creep as a stock engine's volumetric efficiency must take a nose dive at higher RPM).
The electrical engineers spent some time with me as well. I was trained in the programming and use of the software. Further training in regard to engine management systems and injectors led to an elevated understanding on how to make full use of what we were creating for the Viper.
Finally, the result. The new Swedish built VEC2 completely eliminates any check engine light, ping or driveability issue that has come up in any of the 40+ installed Supercharger systems. It's a complete plug and play system which uses the original factory 10 way connections for the engine wiring harness (no cutting or crimping planned and looks like about a 10 minute install).
The system is programmed by slipping a smart card into a slot or by way of the software and serial cable interface. The smart card is quite slick as programming is as easy as slipping in a different card. We plan to make a few cards with different fuel and timing curves on them so owners can see which works best for their car. Further fine tuning can be done by those with the ability to utilize the software for their specific application.
The first systems are being built now. Letters will be going out to all the Supercharger owners with the information updates, price and availability. In brief, it will be about the 3rd or 4th week of January before the first ones go out to people (based on the timeframe discussed a couple weeks ago). The owners of the introductory run of Superchargers will be able to purchase them at cost. The next group of Superchargers (the finalized production run units) will go out only after all the introductory run customers have been taken care of and the new VEC2's are available for them. It will be worth the wait.
The VEC2 will also allow us to complete the process of getting emissions certification. All the test parameters can now easily be met.
Many thanks go out to all the people I met and worked with in Sweden. A special thanks also goes out to the owner of the GTS for his help and use of the car. The Swedish people are real craftsmen and an pleasure to work with.
Best regards,
Sean
PS.
If you have one of our Supercharger systems and are experiencing any of the above mentioned issues, use proper judgement and refrain from using the car if you feel that there is any risk of damage to the car. The recent reports I've read about a few cars heating up cats has me concerned. If the check engine light is on, it can mean the PCM is dumping in extra fuel, which can lead to problems if the cats overheat and are allowed to run too long. Contact us if you have any problems we may not be aware of.
<FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by Sean Roe on 12-30-2002 at 08:26 PM</font>