(03-18-2009, 07:59 AM)ForcedInduction (03-18-2009, 07:51 AM)Tymbrymi Won't work on our old mechanical injection diesels...
The idea behind the thread started out as in-cylinder EGT monitoring, VGT and rack control then evolved into building a common-rail injection system.
And I'm still unclear as to what the point of doing either would be. I concede that either would be a really awesome project, and I would just love to have the level of control that a computerized, electronic common rail system would afford. However, I don't have 6 months and $30,000 so its not going to happen.
As far as the in-cylinder EGT is concerned... again, whats the point? Aside from being a cool project, I don't see how it can be particularly useful. Would it be used for fine-tuning each IP element? In that case, what you want is one thermocouple that plugs into the glowplug hole so you do each cylinder one-by-one, and there's no need for computerization, just use a voltmeter. Even so, this seems like a bad idea because the cylinder temperature is dependent on a hell of a lot more than just the IP settings, and should probably be expected to vary some in 250+kmile engines..
For simplicity, I could see the benefit of adding electronic rack control to an engine that was in a vehicle with a manual transmission for purposes of removing the vacuum system. This would allow for some fancy computer tricks like a loop that keeps the EGTs from getting too high ("limp mode?"), optimization for performance or economy with the flip of a switch, basically a variable ALDA on steroids. But would it really be that much better than the ALDA?