During the last week I have taken some datalogs of Pearl and taken a look at them. HP Tuners does support the VK56 engine but there are a few things within VCM Suite (VCM Editor and VCM Scanner) that are not setup correctly and it is taking a bit of time to find the right settings for our V8 engines. There are many parameters in the gauge screen of VCM Scanner that don't function and they don't function because their settings are wrong. I am slowly working through them and will send a message to HP Tuners so they can update the dongles so that scanning, and then tuning, will be easier.
Things I have noticed viewing the datalogs are:
1. Pearl rarely goes over 1600 rpm, with the occasional 3000 rpm foray when overtaking or on cruise control going up a steep hill at 100 kmh (actual not speedo).
2. Timing is set extremely high at cruise speed, 48-51 degrees btdc is not uncommon in the datalogs which makes me think there is not a lot of room to move with timing to gain more performance and economy.
3. On decel timing can go as low as -7 degrees (7 degrees atdc) idle timing is around 15 degrees btdc which is fairly normal for modern engines.
4. STFT runs between 0.2 and 6%. My intent is to try and get it to under 2% across the board.
5. LTFT on VCM Scanner shows 3 digit numbers, 420 comes up often. I reset it to % and it is hovering about 6% which is way to high.
6. The MAF is a voltage based MAF. As a comparison GM use Frequency based MAFs so rescaling the MAF, to get the ST and LT FTs back under 2%, is different to what I am used to. What makes it even more difficult is VCM Suite doesn't seem, atm, to have settings for the voltage based MAF. This is my priority at this time.
7. VCM suite doesn't have many settings for the automatic which I find disappointing. While the auto is great and extremely smooth I am well aware the torque converter locks and unlocks alot. In Toyota 200 series forcing the converter to stay locked for longer and locking earlier saves alot of wear and tear on the trans and helps them to run cooler. While I am not towing it is not much of an issue so I am interested in other peoples experiences when towing.
EDIT: My FB page for my projects
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