Rcr 40-31

Chris Kouba

Supporter
Hi Paul,

Not sure about the phonic wheel? What does that do? Where would I find it? The timing is triggered by a shutter wheel with 8 windows and 8 walls in the distributor itself. One of these is smaller and one is larger than the remainder, which is how the ECU finds cyl #1.

I hope to be able to unplug the chip and transplant into a new ECU. Otherwise I am indeed quite screwed...

No wiring diagram, not sure where to even seek one out. I don't have an inertia switch anywhere that I am aware, and I wasn't accelerating in a manner which should have triggered it (although I understand if I had one it may be malfunctioning).

I will try to research the Alfa forums and see what solutions they have.
 

Ian Anderson

Lifetime Supporter
Hi Chris
Have you checked the distribitor gear that runs on the cam shaft?
Been known to fail and that stops the ending dead!

I hope it is not this

Ian
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
I can check it this weekend but I was driving it on the highway when it died. It cut out and back in twice ~3x over the course of ~20 seconds. No crunching or otherwise foul noises.

Failure of that gear shouldn't take out the hand-held module...
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Inertia switches are normally in the fuel pump circuitry.
Is there no one higher up the support ladder at Edelbrock?
I would be calling and writing until I got Camee’s attention..
 

Rick Merz

Lifetime Supporter
"Conversely: There is no activity upon key on/external relay clicking - fuel pump does not cycle ~3s like it always did
Hand-held calibration module is dead - It does nothing (no sign of power even being delivered to it); supposed to display temps, RPM's, advance, idle settings, etc... No spark. "

Sounds like the processor went belly up since the processor would be turning the fuel pump on for 3 seconds to prime it and you said that the pump is not priming now. The hand-held gets it's information from the processor as well so it sounds like the processor is DOA.
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
Sounds like the processor went belly up since the processor would be turning the fuel pump on for 3 seconds to prime it and you said that the pump is not priming now. The hand-held gets it's information from the processor as well so it sounds like the processor is DOA.

That's exactly what I have been thinking all along, just surprised the Edelbrock tech wouldn't really commit to anything. I just don't think he wanted to be bothered. Everything which depends on the ECU to light up is dark, and I can tell you with enthusiasm that everything was running very well right until the point it shut down.

I have a place locally which might be able to troubleshoot the board but I haven't been able to find a wiring diagram which I presume would be very helpful for them. I may also just pull the trigger for the used ECU above and get on with it.
 
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Chris Kouba

Supporter
Some good news... The car is running again. The bad news- I probably didn't have to buy a replacement ECU.

I swapped the replacement ECU and it still didn't run. A handful of 4 letter words later, I went back to the basics. Am I getting 12v to the ECU? In this case, the answer was no. This was weird because I would have sworn I tested that at Vaughn's as step #1. I had voltage from the ignition switch to the wiring harness into the ECU, but there was no juice at the pin which sent electrons into the ECU box. Upon removing a panel to further check some wires, I stumbled across a pair of fuses which I had mounted in a convenient but out of the way location. The three amp one was blown...

After replacing it and reconnecting the harness to the ECU, I turned the key and fuel pumps primed. I pushed the starter button and the motor once again leapt to life.

Everything seemed to be fine until I realized the little Gameboy-sized calibration module (allows you to tune the EFI) wasn't working. It allows you to play with maps and set idle and redline, as well as read sensor output of temps and pressures, etc... Clearly the motor runs without it though, and knowing that I never moved it off of the base tune, the car runs just as well as it did before this incident.

I will still spend some more time weeding through it to see if I can get it to light up. It was nice to have the digital gauges as duplicates.

I also don't know what would have caused the fuse to blow in the first place, so I will continue looking through that. I also know that there is a loose connection with the fuse holder as well, so I still have a little bit of work to do.

The even better news is that I got it all put back together, and as a little bit of inspiration for Alan, drove it over to his place on Weds for his First Start day. Coincidentally, it even managed to sneak into the pic of him, Kasey and me:

start-2-jpg.95706


It's nice to have another GT in the neighborhood and I enjoy the pressure he's keeping on me to make sure I have mine running/sorted when his is ready to go (it sounds SUPER healthy!!!). I think it will be a good driving season coming up!

Chris
 
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Hi Chris,
lessons learned, put all your fuses visible somewhere, and one question........ why do you need an 3amps fuse? is that recommended by the manufacturer?
other question would your engine run with the other purchased ecu? did you try? like to know the output on that one.
perhaps you could copy the chip, and prepare an true spare ecu .
any way happy your car is running again.
Cheers
Paul
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
The 3A fuse was from Edelbrock and presumably protects something quite sensitive- probably the ECU itself.

The motor DID run on ECU #2 when I swapped the chip to the Edelbrock one. I then swapped back to the original one when the module didn't light up to see if it was a module issue or ECU. I'll see what I can do to troubleshoot.

I am VERY happy it's running again without $2k for a new EFI!
 
Chris,
for shure make a copy of the edelbrock chip..... if you have somebody around you who can do that kind of operations.
one day it will usefull.
Paul
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
I've stumbled across a neighbor, Butch, who is positively addicted to driving his FFR roadster... Addicted as in he has logged over 180,000 miles on it in about 15 years (I forget exactly how long ago he built it). He makes a point to drive it every month of the year, and Fri morning there was a rumble in my driveway. We had a fantastic stretch of weather over the last ~3 days, sunny and in the 40's (yes, Fahrenheit)- basically any time it's not gray and/or soggy in the NW, it's fantastic weather.

Cutting to the chase, he was out for a brief errand at that point, but coerced me into making the effort to get out and join him for a real drive the next day (Saturday). So at precisely 10:22 AM, I belted up and headed over to his place to connect.

In Butch's driveway:
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We headed south for fuel in a nearby town, and then just meandered briskly through the countryside. After a bit we got hungry and stopped in the booming metropolis of Marquam for a little lunch. We looped a little further south and then worked our way home through the toolies, but not before stopping to mock a friend who was responsibly working away in his yard.

In the parking lot at lunch:
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Somewhere along the way:
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All in all, we logged about 70 miles and had a lovely excursion. Excellent company, good food, lovely roads, and a fantastic day! It was great to get the car out when I wasn't even really thinking about doing it. Also, big milestone for the car- rolled the odo past 5k!

Chris
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Everytime I see a 40 parked next to a Cobra, I am amazed.....
Good times!!!
 

Chris Kouba

Supporter
More wheel time today. Butch is the man when it comes to getting around. No heater/defrost/AC in his roadster (no windows or wipers either). I'm sure you'll notice the backdrop... The Gorge is beautiful but it was a little earlier than we (read: I) realized. Yes, that is snow all around.

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Great day! Over 200 miles, minimal traffic, great food in Hood River, great times with great people:

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Great to see you on the road and putting some miles on the car. What are you up to? I'm at 7000 mi and 1st set of rear Avons are about done! Have fun out there, wish I could join you!
 
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Chris Kouba

Supporter
If you ever head this way Tom, please drop a line. I'd be happy to burn a little gas with you. The local Cobra Club (FFR) guys are fairly tolerable too!

I am over 5300 on the clock now and the car is such a blast.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
Something I almost never do- care enough to go to a movie on opening night. I was "that guy" tonight:

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Great to get it out! Movie was good enough and my wife enjoyed it too.

I actually cringed when I saw the above photo!
I could never bring myself to park one of my toy cars UNATTENDED in a public parking lot. Especially at night!
You obviously have faaaaar more confidence in the general public than I!
 
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