New 'Hobby' Project, carb tuning gone high tech Options

[McMark]

EDIT: I know about tube-and-water setups. You can't drive with those. I'm building some different.

I've been pondering this project for awhile, and now I'm finally getting ready to start. Every time I synch carbs I think about how terrible and approximate the process is. What I'm going to try is using a small, programmable computer called an Arduino. There are add-ons called Shields to expand the functionality, and I'm using a LCD screen shield. I'm going to hook up 4 to 6 MAP sensors to the Arduino and output their readings on the screen. Using this tool, I'll be able to numerically evaluate the relative balance of the carb throats.

One possible shortcoming is that the intake pulses may create fluctuating values that are difficult to interpret. Although, I have some ideas that may deal with this. Some sort of averaging could help. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

Here's what the Arduino looks like (this is the Uno version)
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.adafruit.com-419-1381898348.1.jpg)

Here's the screen shield
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.adafruit.com-419-1381898349.2.jpg)

Here's the MAP sensors I'm going to start with.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/thumbs4.ebaystatic.com-419-1381898350.3.jpg)

I'm also probably going to have to make some plates that will go between the carb and manifold with a vacuum port on it. This would be the easiest way to access manifold vacuum since I can't count on carbs to have vacuum ports. Oh, and this will also be useable while driving to evaluate dynamic synch.

[McMark]

This will be interesting to see if you can get all 4 or 6 outputs on the same screen. Or are you going to use a numerical index if the screen won't print nice lines?

The Arduino microcontroller works at 16MHz. I don't remember the video resolution on that shield's screen. If that shield can't keep up with all 4 or 6 simultaneously ...

I'll have to deal with this as it comes up. Not worth speculating. There also may be some old school efficiency tricks out there as well. Once upon a time coders had to be really creative writing their code to optimize for the platform restrictions.

What ever happened to large water draw vacuum tubes. to measure balance?

Don't get me wrong cool project, I just would rather spend my time and $$ doing other items that benefited my time and $$$. If its is just for your enjoyment then carry on.

I have one of those I've never used because it's so impractical. I'm sure it would work just fine, but I'm hoping for something that can be used while driving as well.

Putting a plate between the carb and manifold seems like it would work to get a vacuum port....but when cars come in to be tuned, you would have to put a plate under each carb first,

That's the idea. I very often weld in O2 sensor bungs on cars that come in. Installing plates permanently underneath the carbs would be my approach. I could even make them out of some phenolic material to help with heat transfer.

Why do you feel the regular methods are not accurate enough?

I guess to be clear, they are accurate enough but again, this info can't be assessed while driving.

If you need some help with that let me know, we do that sort of thing on a daily basis.

Will do. I'm planning on keeping this thread up to date including code. I know we have a lot of coders here and I'm looking at this as a bit of an open source project. Hopefully with more eyes the code can evolve in efficiency and accuracy.