Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Monty Gets a New ECU

I thought it was worth returning to this post as over the last few months and following the fitment of a set of Newman phase two fast road cams I've been honing and refining Monty's EMU Black ECU calibration, this culminated in recording a healthy 173hp and 160 lbs/ft of torque, usable torque that's delivered early and sustained over a nice wide rev band.



As we can see, Monty has plenty under the curve which is really what makes for a fast car in the real world. Rolling roads are all well and good but Monty's brain transplant has now had the ultimate test at the Curborough Sprint Course and I'm pleased to report he passed with flying colours, here are a series of screenshots taken from the excellent EMU Black logging software as recorded during a lap of Curborough, the black vertical line shows Monty just passing peak power at 6,600rpm under full load.



At 6,600rpm under full load Monty's Duratec is seeing a bold 29 degrees of ignition timing burning an optimal air fuel ratio of 13.4:1, my volumetric efficiency number reaches 93.3 % with the injectors hardly breaking a sweat at 44% duty. Overall these are excellent numbers and show a healthy well tuned engine giving everything it's got, Monty is right on the edge of knock here but by initiating combustion of the perfect air fuel ratio at 29 degrees of crankshaft rotation BTDC Monty is producing his maximum cylinder pressures at 17 degrees ATDC where the con rods are able to apply their most leverage on the crankshaft, and as we all know this is how to make the maximum potential power from an internal combustion engine.

The next screen shot is moments later at 6,863 rpm and shows the base ignition table instructs 29.5 degrees which would be into detonation (deadly knock), but my ECU calibration saves the day by pulling ignition timing back to 27.5 degrees, this is how to make peak power safely.



This next screen shot shows my full fuel cut rev limiter strategy in action, the word 'YES' indicates the moment the fuel is cut at 7,171 rpm proving I was squeezing every last bit out of Monty as I crossed the line at Curborough with the engine spinning at its maximum allowed 7,270 rpm but with no load on it and the timing now further retarded to 25.5 degrees BTDC at this pont.



What we're seeing here is the ECU completely protecting Monty's Duratec from detonation with the ignition timing strategy, and from being over revved by ensuring all fuel has been completely removed from the combustion chambers above 7,270 rpm, pushing an engine to produce its peak power while ensuring it also stays safe and in one piece is ultimately what every good tuner is trying to achieve.

This is all very rewarding to see and shows I'm maximising every last available horsepower from Monty's current engine setup, and most importantly doing so in a safe way. However, in a way what I'm more proud of the way the car drives at slow speed through town and the fact my short term trims are pinned just 2.5% either side my lambda target to give a super smooth and flexible drive, but also with razor sharp throttle response from my carefully refined transients.

By lighting the fire 45 degrees before top dead centre at 62 kPa of load and below, i.e cruising in 5th at 3,500 rpm on the motorway, Monty is also able to retain his excellent stock Plus 4 fuel economy of 37.4 mpg, this depite the 20% uplift in horsepower and torque.



Suffice to say I'm really happy with the ECU Masters EMU Black, what an absolutely brilliant engine management system that I would highly recommend to anyone with a Duratec Plus 4




And unlike most aftermarket ECU installations, because this EMU Black is a true 'Plug & Play' system there's no building an expensive new loom and no splicing it into the factory wiring required, this removes a lot of potential issues while keeping cost down too. Furthermore, because the EMU Black hides inside the original Ford/Visteon ECU enclosure, even with Morgan's aluminum ECU cover removed it still looks completely stock