Date:         Sun, 20 Apr 2003 14:51:33 EDT
Reply-To:     FrankGRUN@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: trip computer - Excellent Solution
Comments: To: jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In a message dated 4/19/03 11:03:04 PM, jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET writes:

<< he's talking about http://oztechnics.com.au/ .. anybody know if

these are available from some importer in the U.S. (and other

non-australian countries)? >>

Joel and interested parties,

This is an excellent product. I purchased the EFI kit version from the
Aussies about a year ago. Took about 2 weeks for delivery (very Vanagon
vendor-like). Built the unit in a few hours. In addition to providing a full
range of information given by current model automotive computing systems, the
system calculates instantaneous fuel economy by following the duty cycle of
the fuel injectors. Since purchase and building I have not permanently
installed the unit as I have been redesigning the dash pod to accommodate the
trip computer in the nacelle, along with an additional 6 VDO gauges to
support the various inputs and control functions with the turbo charged Audi
engine. I have also taken advantage of the sensor serial input/output board
to interface to the GTech Pro Competition meter and the road dyno package.
The serial input is excellent for reading the actual boost pressure
(differential pressure manometer head following manifold pressure vs. outside
air pressure) and fuel line pressure (I'm using a rising rate fuel pressure
regulator to maintain proper fuel delivery at elevated boost pressures).
These pressure corrections can let the display correct fuel usage as the
turbo kicks in.

Unfortunately, this like many of my other projects languish on the workbench
as my field and lab experiments continue to adsorb all of my free time.

But back to the beginning. The trip computer is an excellent solution for
both monitoring and rally games. It is not a substitute for the digitool
without a bit of programming. It does go nicely together with a basic stamp
micro computer to integrate the output with the digitool and the Gtech,
possibly with a GPS as well, but I'm not yet finished with that.

Frank Grunthaner