Practical Standalone Tuning: Ignition Table Configuration
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Ignition Table Configuration
02.20
| 00:00 | The base ignition table is actually easier to configure than the fuel table mainly because the engine is much less critical on ignition timing than fueling. |
| 00:08 | What I mean by this is that the engine will run quite happily with a very wide range of ignition timing. |
| 00:14 | Let's say a idle anywhere from zero degrees through to 40 degrees will probably have the engine running. |
| 00:20 | If you tried to vary the fueling by this much, the engine would just stall. |
| 00:25 | Let's start though with the axis configuration. |
| 00:28 | Generally, we're going to want to retain the same axis we used for the fuel table. |
| 00:32 | This means if we used manifold pressure for the fuel map, we would use manifold pressure on the ignition map. |
| 00:38 | The only exception here is if we're tuning a multi-throttle turbo engine. |
| 00:43 | In this case we'd want to use manifold pressure for the ignition table load axis so we can properly account for boost pressure. |
| 00:50 | Since the engine is not as sensitive to ignition timing, we don't need to be as worried about the map resolution. |
| 00:56 | I would have RPM zones every 500 RPM, and load zones every 20 kPa for manifold pressure, or 20% for throttle position. |
| 01:06 | When it comes to putting some numbers in the map, we want to choose a safe and conservative ignition advance that will be unlikely to result in detonation while we start tuning. |
| 01:16 | You will see once we move into the steady state tuning section, that we'll be able to quickly optimize this ignition map from these base numbers and start to build up a picture of what the map will look like. |
| 01:27 | I'm going to start here by entering an advance of 15 degrees everywhere. |
| 01:32 | This is a naturally aspirated engine though and that is not particularly knock sensitive. |
| 01:37 | If you are tuning a turbocharged engine, I would run 15 degrees up until the engine starts transitioning into positive boost. |
| 01:45 | You can then retard the timing slightly to give yourself a wide safety margin. |
| 01:50 | Ignition advance of around 8 to 10 degrees at one bar of boost will be a safe starting point for most engines. |
| 01:57 | Always confirm your ignition timing with quality knock detection equipment to ensure the engine is not detonating while tuning. |
| 02:05 | So by the end of this module you should understand what input to use for the load axis on your tables, how to configure the axis, and what number to enter into the maps to get started with tuning. |
