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

Monty is the first car I've owned without a boot, and I enjoy my trips to Le Mans with the boys and other road trip adventures that typically involve camping. So, 'Old Maynard' as my WW1 leather trunk is now known will be ideal for my tent, our sleeping bags, and camp beds.



Back on topic, the EMU Black Plug & Play ECU really is working out better that I ever could have hoped, it's only really been a few days since it was fitted but following some very minor tweaks of my own to Greg's excellent calibration Monty has never run so well and felt strong, as I'd hoped the ECU has allowed me to access the potential power improvements from my exhaust and inlet manifold mods

I must admit I was expecting to travel to Le Mans next week on my original Visten ECU while I developed the calibration and got to trust the EMU BLack, or at best take the Visteon with me for an emergency swap, but I've now decided the EMU Black is working so well I won't be even taking the Visteon in the car.

Yesterday and after giving Monty his first oil change in my ownership, in the early evening I went out for a run and the car is running so sweet, I wanted to test my new calibration and especially now I'm running 28 degrees of timing all out.



The opportunity to test this came when I rolled up behind a Mk3 Mazda MX5 (NC) with a rollover bar, clearly a bit of a track day guy. I went by him full chat and he gave chase; I took Monty to 6,800 rpm a number of times as we let rip on a good safe road.

For those that don't know the NC variant of the MX5 runs Mazda's version of the 2.0 Duratec with a variable inlet manifold and variable valve timing too, so the better version of the Duratec that Morgan used in their limited run Super Sports Plus 4. The MX5 NC Duratec makes 166hp @ 6,500rpm and 149 lb/ft @ 4,500 rpm, the car weighs 1092 kg, Monty should be 877 kg but I am running with a spare and the rack was on too as I prepare for Le Mans. I'm also a heavy guy and after meeting the slim young lad in the Mazda I'd say he could be as much as 40 kg lighter than me, but in theory Monty and driver should still be as much as 100 kg lighter than the MX5 with the young lad in it.

So, I'd say a good match for Monty's first test and a vehicle with essentially the same engine too, if admittedly the better variant, and at the time I had no way of knowing what tuning work had been done to the Mazda. Anyway, after I went by the Mazda the first time, no matter how hard he tried (and he was really trying!) he just couldn't catch me, TBH it was one of those epic drives that will stay with me forever and the most I've pushed Monty since buying him 12 months ago and almost to the day.

When we entered a residential area and back to driving calmly the young lad pulled up next to me at a roundabout and leant out of his MX5 and excitedly said '"I absolutely love your car", he was clearly a massive petrol head so I invited him to pull over and have a chat which he duly did. What a lovely 23-year-old lad Alex turned out to be and massively passionate about his MX5, we geeked out on Duratec tuning for a good 20 minutes, he was bright and well-educated with surprising knowledge on the subject so we hit it off straight away.

It turns out his engine performance improvements were limited to an exhaust, but he then tells me what he'd fitted was well known to deliver a 20hp increase on the stock 166hp, so in theory he was making 188hp and he admitted he just couldn't catch Monty, Alex also said the sound of my exhaust was absolutely epic! It was really cool to chat with this young lad, there was 30 years between us but this was completely forgotten as we blabbed about cars, the brilliance of the Duratec engine and how easy it is to get a good power increase out of it with just a few simple exhaust and inlet mods.

The EMU Black is now officially a genuine Plug and Play standalone ECU solution for anyone with a Morgan Duratec Plus 4

Nice case...

Looks the go....

Excellent, we’ll done.

Quite a novelty for someone brought up on modern cars to come up against something that looks like that, that goes like that! 😀

K

Exactly, this is precisely what I'm aiming for.

Young Alex was very surprised with the pace of the old green classic car



But he absolutely loved Monty, it seems there is hope for the 'Youf of Today' after all

D.

Your suit case looks very classic - I like this oldfashion look!

But for my part, I always shy away from the weight of such suitcases.

It's not actually that heavy, and it's there to act as a semi-perminant lockable boot for my upcoming trip to Le Mans.

We'll be using it to carry our tent, sleeping bags, camp beds and folding chairs so it won't be coming on and off, it's securely fastened and locked to the rack so it's staying put for the whole trip.

The trunk seperates camping gear from general luggage and frees up the parcel shelf behind the seats to be used exclusively for our two weekend bags carrying our cloths and toiletries etc.





It's the Le Mans Classic, so it's important to look the part chaps

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