1. There is a circuit to keep the QH’s memory using power from the Keep-Alive-Memory voltage supplied to the ECM with the key off. This should decrease the amount that the QH’s own battery is used in cars regularly driven.
2. The BR2331A solder-on battery has been replaced with a socketed CR2032 removable battery. (commonly available)

This version of the QH is shipped without the battery installed. You should install it prior to use.

1. Open bags and unpack everything. You should have a loose battery along with a QuarterHorse module:

Quarterhorse and battery unpacked

2. Turn the battery so the “+” side is facing up. Slide it under the metal spring end of the battery holder.

First, slide the QH under the metal clip side of the battery holder

3. Push the battery gently downwards and toward the metal spring. The end of the battery opposite the metal spring should slide under the brown plastic retaining clip and lock into place.

4. Once installed, the brown plastic clip will hold the battery pretty tightly.  Should you need to replace it, the easiest way to remove the battery is to gently pry on the metal clip with a small screwdriver until the battery clears the metal retaining clip and can be gently pulled out.

We probably get 20 emails a week of the form:

“Dear Moates,

My name is ________ and I have a _________ Ford.  Can I use your products to tune my car/truck/van/etc. ?”

Identifying J3 Port ECMs

Our Ford products (F3 chip module, Quarterhorse) will work on pretty much any ECM that has a J3 port.  This is 95% of 87-2004 vehicles.  Most ECMs have a black plastic protective cover over the J3 port.  The picture below shows what a J3 port looks like with the protective cover removed:

Again, our hardware products will work on any 1, 2, or 4 bank EECIV or EECV ECM that has a J3 port.

Software Support

I bet you thought that was too easy!  It is…

Our HARDWARE works on just about everything Ford ever made with a J3 port,

***BUT software support for Fords is not as guaranteed***

There are three applications that are known to work well with our hardware – TunerPro, EEC Editor and Binary Editor.  Each application supports different vehicles.  Some vehicles are supported by all three, some vehicles are supported by only one, some vehicles are supported by NONE.

We need to know some information about your ECM in order to be able to tell whether there is support for your vehicle.  This information is the “Strategy” (or “operating system”) that your ECM uses, which can usually be determined from the “Box code.”  Your “box code” can normally be found in the center of the label with the barcode where the wire harness connects to the ECM.  See picture below.

Once you have found your box code, you can take a look at the box code-strategy cross reference to determine which strategy your ECM uses.  The list of supported strategies will then tell you which (if any) software supports your ECM.  If you can’t find your ECM, please email [email protected] and remember when you contact us inquiring about vehicle support, please include the “box code” pictured above!  Without this information, we cannot provide you with accurate information about software support.

Although you can use our Ford hardware ( F3 Jaybird QuarterHorse ) on just about any 86-2004 Ford, software is much more lacking.  Currently (2021) there are three primary software packages that support our Ford hardware – Binary Editor, TunerPro RT, EEC Editor.  Each software package has a different set of ECMs that it works with, although there is quite a bit of overlap on more popular strategies.  US ECMs are best supported – Australian ECMs and European models are quite lacking in comparison.

There is a section of this site dedicated to answering what you need for some common specific Ford vehicles.

Note that most of the information about software support on this page will deal with STRATEGIES not processor codes.  We also have a box code-strategy cross reference.  If you don’t see your box code listed there, we will generally be able to help you figure out which strategy your ECM uses most of the time from its box code – send an email to [email protected].  Worst case, you will have to read the stock computer (with QuarterHorse or F2E ) and do the reverse engineering work to make a definition yourself.

The following information is REASONABLY up to date as of 2020.  (I will try to update it periodically)

Binary Editor Supported Strategies

The best way to find out if your strategy is supported in Binary Editor is to download the software and install it!  Let it update itself.  It should download the latest and greatest strategies available.   You can also take a look at the strategies download page at EECAnalyzer.net for more information. Strategies are stored in “C:\Binary Editor\DEF” in a unique folder for each definition.

Please note: datalogging and editing are controlled by the same definition file in BE.  You will have to load the definition along with a tune file to get an accurate idea of what exactly is supported.

Please also note: some definitions (that end in “.xls”) can be used by anyone with the software.  Other strategy files (those with the “.cry” extension) require additional registration with their author to use them. Derek Fenwick is a particularly excellent strategy author to look for.

Supported Strategies:

(This list last updated 1/3/2018 – always check http://www.eecaalyzer.net for a current list!!!)
Free strategies (vehicles) included “out of the box” with standard version of Binary Editor:

CBAZA (94-95 Mustang/Cobra V8)
CDAN4 (96-97 Mustang and Cobra 4.6L V8, others)
ELK1 (? – check)
U2L1 (? – check)
FBJR3 (? – check)
GUF1 (Fox body MAF – auto)
GUFA (Fox body MAF – Cali?)
GUFB (Fox body MAF – manual)
HWAD4 (? check)
KMAK6 (? – check)
LA (? check)
LA3 (? check)
LB2 (? check)
LHBH1 (? check)
LUX0 (87-88 Mustang 5.0 speed density)
NVMG8 (? check)
PE (? check)
VEX1 (94-95-ish MAF trucks)
VHAF7 (? check)
VP1 (? check)

(This information was gathered from looking at http://www.eecanalyzer.net/index.php/strategies-calibrations and is provided without any guarantee for fitness. You should always check compatibility with your application before purchase. This is simply a list of free strategies available for download. They were not checked, validated or otherwise examined in any way. Do not assume that these files have all the parameters you require to change or have complete logging capabilities before examining them yourself, which can be done with the free trial version of BE)

Binary Editor – Core Tuning Strategies:

Core Tuning offer (arguably) the most comprehensive support for a wide range of vehicles out of all the software which works with the QuarterHorse.  Many definitions for popular EECV applications which are not publicly available otherwise are available on a paid commercial basis from Core. You can purchase them from www.coretuning.net if you are interested.

Here is a list of their supported strategies:  http://www.coretuning.net/index.php/strategy

Important: it is almost always cheaper to buy a “QuarterHorse bundle” from CoreTuning directly versus buying hardware from us and then software from them.

Binary Editor – Derek Fenwick’s definitions

1DEB – Australian EB series 5.0l XR8
1DGA – Australian EB series 5.0l XR8
2DCA – Australian EB series 5.0l
A4A1 – 94 Lincoln Towncar
AHACB – covers a variety of trucks, e.g. VEX1, WAY1. HOG0
ANY1 – covers a variety 4.0L ’93/94 Explorers and Rangers
C1A1 – ’92/93 2.3L Mustang (C1A1 and D1L1 catch codes)
CAW0 – ’91/94 F series TCM (CAW0 catch code)
CBAZ0 – ’94/95 5.0L trucks and 3.8L Thunderbirds
CBAZA – ’94/95 5.0L Mustangs
CCAQA – ’94/95 4.6L Thunderbird, Cougar and 3.8L Mustang
CCAQE – ’94/95 4.6L Thunderbird, Cougar and 3.8L Mustang
CDAN4 – ’96/97 4.6L Mustang, Thunderbird, Cougar, Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria, Towncar and 3.8L Mustang, Thunderbird, Cougar
CDAN6 – ’96/97 4.6L Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria, Towncar
CNAB1 – ’98 4.6L F series
CZAJL – Lincoln Mk VIII
CZAW0 – ’94/95 3.8L Thunderbird
DC – ’87 5.0L Mustang (DC and DE catch codes)
GHAJ0 – 2.0L Escort Cosworth
GSALC – ’91 3.8L and 5.0L Thunderbird
GSALI – ’92/93 3.8L and 5.0L Thunderbird
GURE ’89/90 3.8L Thunderbird, Cougar
LHBL0 – ’93/96 covers a variety of Lightnings and other trucks
LHBL1 – covers some trucks (e.g. P2Y0 catch code)
LHBL2 – covers some trucks (e.g. ALT0 catch code)
LUX0 – ’87’88 5.0L Mustang
NVAF91 – a variety of Australian EF series 5.0L
NVMG84 – a variety of Australian EL series 5.0L
NVMG85 – a variety of Australian EL series 5.0L

To purchase a registration to use any of these definition files for Binary Editor contact him directly.
be sure to include your machine code from Binary Editor’s Register >> Strategy Menu, type the “Strategy Name” just as its listed above
in the “Name of creator of the Strategy file” type in “Derek” with no quotations.

Strategy files are $25 each and gives you the ability to tune an unlimited amount of vehicles with that ECU strategy.

TunerPro / TunerPro RT Supported Strategies

TunerPro RT supports the QuarterHorse as of version 5.0 but QH and strategy support is still sparse.  There is extremely solid support for GUFB (A9L / Fox body) and CBAZA (T4M0 / J4J1 / 94-95 Mustang). You can download the TPRT5 specific files here from our site.

Most of the EECV support has been done by Michael Ponthieux.  EFI Dyno Tuning has a wealth of information and definitions for using TunerPro for tuning.  There is a comprehensive list of definitions along with starter bins for various conversions.

EEC Editor – Supported Strategies

The best way to find out what strategies are supported by EEC Editor is to download and install it!  After you have updated the software, you can see all supported strategies by looking in the directory “C:\Program Files\EEC Editor\definitions”  which contains a file for each strategy EEC Editor can open and edit.  You can see which strategies support datalogging with the QuarterHorse by looking at the directory “C:\Program Files\EEC Editor\dlms”  Please download the software and play with your computer’s definition / DLM prior to purchase as not all strategies are equally complete.  EEC Editor is not currently (2021) very actively developed but it does have support for some vehicles that none of the other software packages do.

Supported strategies:

1990F250.DEF (edit only)
1DDB.DEF (edit only)
1deb.def (edit AND datalog)
1dec.DEF (edit only)
1dga.def (edit only)
2dbd.def (edit only)
2dca.DEF (edit only)
2dda.DEF (edit only)
3dea.def (edit only)
a9u2.def (edit only)
AGANF.def (edit only)
AKAM9.def (edit only)
akama.def (edit only)
AKAMH.def (edit only)
akc0.DEF (edit only)
AOAG3.def (edit only)
ATAN0.def (edit only)
bnaf9.DEF (edit only)
boae4.def (edit only)
c3p2.def (edit only)
C3W1.DEF (edit only)
cbaz0.def (edit only)
cbaza.def (edit AND datalog)
CCAQA.def (edit only)
CCAQE.def (edit only)
CDAN4.def (edit only)
CDAN6.def (edit only)
CDAP3.def (edit only)
cdba4.def (edit only)
cfak7.DEF (edit only)
cmai3.def (edit only)
cmai7.def (edit only)
cmai9.def (edit only)
cmba0.def (edit only)
CNAB0.def (edit only)
CNAB1.def (edit only)
cqab1.def (edit only)
crai8.def (edit only)
CRAIA.def (edit only)
CRAIB.def (edit only)
CRAIC.def (edit only)
craj0.DEF (edit only)
ctbae.def (edit only)
cvae6.DEF (edit only)
cvae7.DEF (edit only)
CVAF1.def (edit only)
cvba0.DEF (edit only)
cvba2.DEF (edit only)
d9s.DEF (edit only)
DA1.def (edit AND datalog)
GVAKA.def (edit only)
gvakb.def (edit only)
gufa.def (edit AND datalog)
gufb.def (edit AND datalog)
gufc.DEF (edit AND datalog)
gure.def (edit AND datalog)
hug02.DEF (edit only)
HWAD3.DEF (edit only)
icy1.def (edit only)
kmak6.def (edit only)
kqad2.DEF (edit only)
kraf5.def (edit only)
LA3.def (edit only)
LB3.DEF (edit only)
m2y.def (edit only)
maag4.DEF (edit only)
MMAH0.def (edit only)
MPAM1.def (edit only)
mrad2.DEF (edit only)
mrad3.DEF (edit only)
odal1.DEF (edit only)
ODAL1.def (edit only)
OMAD3.def (edit only)
OMAD4.def (edit only)
OMAE1.def (edit only)
OMAE2.def (edit only)
p2y0.def (edit AND datalog)
PCAG2.def (edit only)
PCAG6.def (edit only)
pf3.def (edit only)
pybd3.DEF (edit only)
pycl5.def (edit only)
PYCL7.def (edit only)
QAAC5.def (edit only)
qbaa0.DEF (edit only)
rbadb.def (edit only)
rbaed.DEF (edit only)
REAC3.def (edit only)
reac4.DEF (edit only)
RGAF2.def (edit only)
rhagb.def (edit only)
RQAD6.def (edit only)
rtai0.DEF (edit only)
rtai1.def (edit only)
rtaj0.DEF (edit only)
RVAF1.def (edit only)
RVAF3.DEF (edit only)
rvafa.DEF (edit only)
rvafb.DEF (edit only)
rvai1.DEF (edit only)
RWAI2.def (edit only)
ryae0.def (edit only)
RYAF0.def (edit only)
RYAF1.def (edit AND datalog)
ryak1.DEF (edit only)
RYBE2.def (edit only)
RZAN0.def (edit only)
RZAO1.def (edit only)
rzao2.def (edit only)
RZASA.def (edit only)
rzaso.def (edit only)
tauf0.DEF (edit only)
VET1.DEF (edit only)
way1.def (edit only)
X2S2.def (edit only)

Australian EEC Support list

Tuner Pro seems to be the weapon of choice for most Australian EECs.  You can get more info and an updated list of supported cars, box codes and strategies here:

Australian EECs : http://www.tiperformance.com.au/technical.html

PCMHacking.net also has some Ford information.

Unfortunately, we can’t give you a straight answer to this.  It’s not because we’re trying to be difficult – it’s because there are a LOT of variables.

Some things that impact battery life:

• How much the QH sits vs. the car runs.  The battery on the QH is only used when the key is turned off.  If you drive the car more, the battery will last longer.
• The temperature that the unit is stored at has a huge impact on battery chemistry.  Self-discharge increases dramatically with storage temperature.
• The temperature that the battery operates at has a huge effect on its performance.  Lower temperatures decrease the useful life of the battery.
• Extremely high temperatures (>60C) contribute to extremely rapid death.
• Batteries discharge while being stored.  We try to buy the freshest stock possible.  We do production runs annually to minimize the time that batteries sit on a shelf prior to being deployed in the field.
• The conductivity of anti-static bags (like what we use to ship the units) is such that sitting on a shelf prior to sale can adversely affect the battery life.  A technote from Panasonic recently highlighted this. (we’ve altered our storage methods to combat this)
• There is a decent amount of variation among individual batteries.

The “show car” in a cold climate (i.e. comes out a few times a year) that stays in an unheated garage is pretty much the worse case imaginable.

For a healthy QuarterHorse, we’ve come up with a worst case figure of about 2.5 years and a best case figure of about ten years for battery life.

The chips (F3, F8) that we sell use non-volatile Flash chips that (at least on paper) have guaranteed memory retention of at least 20 years.

While many people think of the QH as a chip and leave it in their vehicle full time, the QH was never intended to be a permanently-installed piece of gear.  It was intended as an emulator, a tuning tool, something to be tethered to a laptop for use.  In cases where the vehicle will no longer run on a factory computer, a dead battery on an emulator will strand you unless you have a laptop handy to re-load the tune.  Like all of our other emulator products, we recommend that a chip be used for long-term operation.

The QuarterHorse Ford tuning tool is supported by TunerPro RT version 5 and newer.  This document will briefly cover the steps necessary for using the QuarterHorse with TunerPro RT.

General Setup

First, the QuarterHorse must have its drivers properly installed.  The QuarterHorse uses the same FTDI device drivers as most of our other products.  Please see the USB Device installation article for more information on installing drivers.  Having the driver’s latency settings set to one will make a difference in how the QH behaves.  Visit the USB Troubleshooting 101 article to for screenshots of how to configure latency in the advanced driver options.

TunerPro Setup

Once the drivers are configured properly, launch TunerPro RT.

TunerPro should make a “beep” to indicate that it found the QuarterHorse and you should see a notice indicating hardware was detected in the lower-left information bar:

If you do not see “Found QuarterHorse vX.XX” go back to the USB troublehshooting guide.  TunerPro will need to have found your QH to continue with this guide.

Next up, we need to configure TunerPro to use the same port for datalogging and emulation.  Go to the Tools menu and select preferences.  Once you are looking at the preferences, select the Data Acq./Emulation tab:

In this screen, there are three options you need to set.  First, choose “Use Plug-in” for the interface Type.  Second, click the “Configure Plug-in Component” box.  Third, choose “Shared With Emulator” and then click OK several times to get back to the main application.

Finally, you need to make sure you have the appropriate XDF and ADX files loaded.  Support for the QuarterHorse has to be made specially for Ford definitions.  You can find the latest definitions that we maintain here or visit EFI Dyno Tuning for another source of definitions.  You can also browse TunerPro’s website for others but be warned – most of the definitions on TunerPro’s site will NOT support datalogging with a QH.

In addition to any definitions you might find on TunerPro’s Webpage or TI Performance‘s webpage, there are also some definitions we try to maintain.  If you are going to use the QuarterHorse with any of the strategies on this page with TunerPro, these are the definitions we recommend you use.

TunerPro Defs from Moates

89-93 Mustang / Cobra GUFB strategy – A9L, A3M, A3M1, X3Z, S0Z, etc.  A9L-GUFB-TunerPro Download (Created by Sailorbob and modded by Michael Ponthieux, Craig Moates, Dave Blundell)

94-95 Mustang / Cobra CBAZA strategy – T4M0, U4P0, W4H0, J4J1, etc. T4M0-CBAZA-TunerPro-Download (Created by Sailorbob and modded by Michael Ponthieux, Cody Hindman, Craig Moates, Dave Blundell)

Random Community Definitions

These definitions were found randomly.  Little is known about their origins, accuracy, author or maintenance.

CVAF1: CVAF1_TPRT

CVBA2: 99-00ish 3.8L V6 Mustang CVBA2_TPRT

Decipha’s Definitions

Michael Pontieux / Decipha has put together a pretty wide range of definitions for TunerPro. Some of these are designed to be paired with a custom ROM like the “A9L2” where Ford’s routines have been modified. Some like FBGI0 are definitions that work with “pure” Ford code. Following his instructions, many 99-04 ECUs can be supported. Be prepared to do a lot of reading on his site before trying to use these definitions as there are a few tricks that make things different from other Ford tuning softwares. You may need to grab base tunes as well as definitions to have a working set of tools. Downloads here.

List of supported strategies as of 3/2017:

• GUFx / 89-93 Mustang V8 (modified GUFB to add extra features, more info on his site)
•  CBAZA / 94-95 Mustang V8 (note: files available for using CBAZA with EDIS coils)
• CDAN4 / 96-97 Fords, mostly Mustang
• CRAJ0 / 98 Cobra & V6
• CVAE7 / 99 Cobra
• CVAF1 / 99-02 Mustang V8
• MPAM0 / 00 Excursion V10 6.8L 4R100
• OMAE2 / 02/03 Harley F-150
• FBGI0 / 03-04 Cobra
• FBFG2 / 03-04 Mustang V8 (99-04 V6 as well.  Can be used on other ECUs with code modification, read on his site for more)
• RZASA / 03/04 Marauder
• RZAS0 / 03/04 Crown Vic/Linc Town
• PRDO0 / 2006 Ranger 4cyl
• CMAI9 – 97/98 Mark VIII (Pending Maintenance – available upon request)
• DOAV7 – 02/04 Escape (Pending Maintenance – available upon request)
• MQAH1 – 99/03 F-150 4R100 (Pending Maintenance – available upon request)
• MZAK0 – 99/04 F-250 (all 4r100) (Pending Maintenance – available upon request)
• RWAI2 – 99/03 F-150 4R70W (Pending Maintenance – available upon request)

One of the most common modifications that require recalibration of the ECM are changing injectors and changing Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensors.

For the rest of this article, we’re going to assume that you’ve already read the articles explaining basic MAF operation and a model for injectors.  We’re going to discuss how to properly change the tune to compensate for new fuel injectors.

You should also take a look at the article on MAF Calibration as they often go hand in hand.

About Injectors on Ford ECMs

Ford uses the concept of injector slopes, breakpoints and battery voltage latency adjustment to cover the behavior of injectors.   Slopes represent the flow of the injector at high and low pulsewidths.  Breakpoints determine the pulsewidth required to switch from the low slop to the high slope.  Returnless fuel system cars add additional compensation tables related to fuel rail pressure.  When changing injectors, it is best to have a complete set of test data.  If you have good data, the amount of tuning required after inputting full injector data can be extremely minimal – think minutes versus hours with unknown injectors.

• In many cases, injectors purchased from Ford Racing will include all of this information.
• If you’re using a larger OEM injector (Cobra, Lightning, etc.) you can generally obtain valid data from the OEM calibration in which the injectors were used.  Some Ford vehicles which use desirable injectors:
  • 2014 GT500 52# Bosch EV14 (sold by Ford Racing who publish data)
  • 08 GT500 SXH1 48# Bosch EV14 (sold by Ford Racing who publish data)
  • 03 Harley Truck data i.e. EKO2 processor code is recommended by Decipha for 42# “green tops” (formerly sold by Ford racing.  warning: currently heavily counterfeited)
  • 03 Cobra AMZ2 for 39# “blue body” (warning: unusual spray pattern may cause issues with 2V / pushrod cylinder heads)
  • 05-10 Mustang GT CDC3 24# (sold by Ford Racing who publish data)
  • 97/98 Cobra AOL1 or AOL3 24#
  • 94-95 Cobra 24# injector data is NOT recommended.  Look at it sometime and see if you can figure out why.
• If you don’t have complete test data, you can make do.  You will need a wideband.  Recommended procedure:
  1. The rest of this procedure assumes you have a SOMEWHAT sane MAF transfer function.  If your MAF transfer is jacked, you may need to adjust, retune MAF then readjust a few times to get things properly aligned.
  2. Start with the data of the injector closest in size and design to the one you are using (slopes, inj latency, etc.).  If you can’t get any good data on other injectors, then your stock ones will do.  We will call this the “old” injector.
  3. Figure out what the injectors you are installing are rated for (i.e. 24#).  Remember the size of you old injectors (i.e. 19#).  Divide your NEW rated flow by your OLD rated flow.  Make sure your injectors are rated at the same pressure.  24/19 = 1.26 in this case
  4. Multiply both the LOW SLOPE and HIGH SLOPE by the value from above, in this case 1.26.
  5. Set your target AFRs / Open loop targets to a a UNIFORM value.  (i.e. 12.5 for a NA car)
  6. Do a WOT pass on the car.  Observe AFR.  Adjust BOTH high and low slope until actual AFRs resemble the target AFRs you have set up in your tune.
  7. Repeat #6 until the car is as close as possible to what you are commanding.
  8. Let the car idle.  Turn off closed loop if necessary.  Observe AFRs.   Adjust latency (battery voltage table) so that observed AFR is close to commanded AFR.
  9. Drive the car at low – light throttle.  Hopefully, Observed AFRs will be close to commanded AFRs.  If so, skip ahead to #11
  10. If observed AFRs differ significantly from targeted at part throttle, determine how badly they are off.  If they’re really far off, re-adjust in order to get things as close as you can.  After this, make SELECTIVE adjustments to the MAF transfer function at idle in order to achieve targets at idle while maintaining proper operation at light throttle.
  11. Once you have a preliminary set of slopes, latency values it is time to tune battery voltage tables.  First, observe battery voltage and AFR while IDLING.  At idle, the injectors are open the smallest amount of time so changes from battery voltage have the largest effect.
  12. Next turn on headlights, blower motors, brake lights, EVERYTHING you possibly can to put an electrical load on the motor.  Observe changes in battery voltage and AFR.  Make adjustments to the injector battery table in order to compensate for fluctuations.  I.e. if the car goes lean when you turn on the headlights, INCREASE the latency value at the voltage that the ECM reports with the lights on.
  13. Once you have the engine operating in a more consistent AFR range under electrical loan, rev the motor up and make sure that you don’t go too rich when battery voltage increases as a sanity check.
  14. At this point, you’ve probably done a more thorough injector calibration than most tuners will.

Creating definitions for datalogging with the QH is a complicated, involved process.   Regardless of which software is being used, there is a common core set of tasks that need to be done to allow meaningful real-world data to get spit out.

Overview

Before I get into the specifics, it probably helps to understand how the QH works a little better.

The QH sits on the J3 port of the ECM, which is a bus connected to the processor.  On a stock ECU, both the external program memory (RAM) that stores active processor states and the internal program memory (“ROM”) which stores the strategy and calibration are present on this bus.  The QH overrides addresses on the bus allowing the processor to use RAM on the QH instead of ROM native to the ECM.  You can make changes while tuning by modifying the contents of RAM on the QH.  This is the same mechanism that F3/F5/F8 chips use to allow you change the program on the ECM.

The QH also builds a “shadow” copy of external RAM used by the processor by passively observing communication between the processor and RAM over the J3 port.  Where things get complicated is that not all RAM can be observed by the QH – a portion of it remains internal to the processor, unable to be seen by the QH.  Patch code exists to move or copy memory addresses that we care about from memory the QH cannot see to memory the QH can access, allowing you to log these items.  To reiterate – the QH doesn’t interfere or change communication between the processor and RAM on the ECM – it just observes all transactions, building a “shadow” copy of RAM that is used to supply logging data.

A Datalogging Definition, Dissected

In order to understand the software tasks involved in QH communication, we are going to examine a TunerPro ADX for the CBAZA strategy.  Other software follows the same steps to initialize and log from the QH, so you can read between the lines if you’re not using TunerPro.  The TunerPro definition is open so you can download it ( here ) and follow along because the whole initialization and logging process is broken down step by step.

Fire up TunerPro.  Load one of the existing Ford ADX files. (CBAZA.ADX)

Go to Acquisition menu… Edit Definition

Looking at the ADX Header Data, you will see 3 important commands:

• Connection Command (run when you connect to datalog)
• Monitor Command (run continuously while logging to gather data)
• Disconnect Command (run when you disconnect)

Next, lets examine the Connection Command closer, as it has most of the magic in it.

Go to Commands… Configure QH for Payload.  This is a Macro command that simply executes a bunch of other commands:

1. Pause for Data Rate (simple pause to let things settle)
2. Write Patch Code (modify the ECU program to allow the QH to log all items – more on this later)
3. Write Patch Response (wait for a valid response from the QH to the code modification)
4. Config Part 1 of Q (configure the QH to watch the RAM locations we desire – more on this later)
5. Config Reply to Q (make sure QH gives a valid response to the configure command)

Step #2 writes the patch code needed to move things we care about from private internal RAM to RAM the QH can snoop on.  This patch code is UNIQUE to each strategy.  It must be hand-crafted by someone with knowledge of the internal workings of the ford processor.

Step #4 configures which bytes of RAM the QH is monitoring.  The bytes used are unique to each strategy and are also dependent on how the patch code is written.

Continuing, logging happens by the Harvest Data Macro.

1. Pause for Data Rate (this controls how fast the QH logs data, in hertz)
2. Query (retrieve a frame of data, as configured by Config Part 1 of Q command)
3. Data Packet (retrieve a packet.  fixed size is used here because the same packet is always configured by the Config Part 1 of Q command)

Datalogging values are defined relative to their spot in the packet you’ve requested in the format specified by the Config Part 1 of Q command.  Same deal for bitmasks.  Formulas for turning raw data into real world values can vary but are generally at least somewhat consistent among ECMs of comparable generations.

Summary

If you want to make a datalogging definition for a processor, you’re going to need to:

• disassemble the code well enough to pinpoint RAM locations for things you care to log.
• For any items that are stored in ram locations 0x0000 through 0x0100 (EECIV) and 0x0000 through 0x0400 (EECV ??? need to verify, may be different for 2 vs. 4 bank.  You can generally tell because private locations will always return the same data), you are going to need to write patch code to relocate these items to blank/unused space.  You can relocate items to either RAM or “ROM” space (because the QH gives read-write access via the J3 port to “ROM” locations stored in RAM on the QH) but you need to make sure NOTHING ELSE IS USING THE ADDRESS SPACE.  If you use RAM or “ROM” that is already in use for other things, you will end up with a processor that does not run properly!!!
• build a definition including the patch code you’ve come up with
• create an initialization macro for the QH specifying which RAM addresses need to be included in each data packet, using both stock and patch-code-remapped locations
• do some analysis to come up with formulas for converting from raw values to real world data
• build the data values using the formulas you’ve come up with and the packet structure you’ve specified with the QH initialization packet

I know that’s a lot to chew on, but the QH isn’t exactly a simple tool…  You can find more information about QH command structure by reading the Hardware Interfacing guide.  We’re always excited to have more people getting involved in the task of building definitions so feel free to email us if you get confused or stuck.

Memory Addressing – EECIV

Note: these addresses are for the QH’s addressing scheme.  If you want to use the 16 bit addressing of the ECU, lop off the MSB of 0x03 present in each one.  Ever wonder why chips get programmed from 0x032000 to 0x03FFFF ?

0x03 00 00 – bottom of memory
0x03 00 FF – top of internal 8061 MCU memory
0x03 01 00 – start of xram/others
0x03 1F FF – end of externally addressable memory
0x03 20 00 – start of ROM
0x03 FF FF – end of ROM

This PDF should be very helpful for understanding what is going on. (thanks Tom Cloud)

Tools

CATS Disassembler – a disassembler which can be used for the processor found in EEC-IV

Questions you may have coming in:

• How do I determine what is needed? Keep reading!
• What vehicles are compatible? Hardware will work with all 2004 and older Ford vehicles with a J3 port, depending on software support.
• What are the capabilities of Moates hardware? Realtime tuning, logging live data, burning chips, switching between multiple programs
• What hardware and software options are available, and at what cost? Keep reading!
• How do I learn to tune EEC? What learning resources are available? Keep reading!  We’ll provide references.

Vehicle Compatibility

• Hardware is compatible with all year/model Ford vehicles that have a J3 port.  This generally covers 86-2004 model years.
• If you already have a binary file (bin) or hex file (hex) that is tuned for your vehicle. you can use one of our chips.
• If you need to make changes (tune) to get your vehicle where you want it, you are limited by software support.
• Some ECMs are simply not supported in software that works with our hardware because of lack of definition information.
• It’s important to check for software support before purchase. If you have an uncommon vehicle (for example, a 1995 Festiva) you may be out of luck with our products.
• We need certain information to tell if your vehicle is supported. (click)  Email us to check before purchase!

Overview of Tuning Process

• Determine your target vehicle boxcode and strategy.
  • The Boxcode is typically a 3 or 4-digit letter/number code on the EEC computer. ( ‘A9L’  or ‘T4M0’ for example)  This represents a calibration for a particular engine/transmission using a particular strategy.
  • A Strategy is the set of procedures that the ECM follows to run an engine.  Combined with a calbration, this determines how the engine will operate.
    • The strategy will determine things like whether a MAF or MAP sensor is used, how spark and fuel are calculated, how idle is controlled, etc.
    • Each strategy needs a definition (or ‘def’) to work.  The definition tells the software how to interpret the binary and display it in a format you can understand with tables and real-world values.
    • For instance, the A9L boxcode, belongs to the GUFB strategy.  The A3M boxcode also belongs to the GUFB strategy.  You can change a bunch of parameters on a A3M computer and have it run 100% identical to a A9L computer.
• Review your software options in terms of availability.
  • First: figure out which software supports your box code.  Support varies from package to package.  Check with each software vendor for the most up-to-date supported options.
  • Next: download software and install it.  You can check out the interface and features at this time without paying for anything.
  • Finally: After you have found a software package with an interface that you like which supports your strategy, go to our web store to purchase.  You will need to have already installed software prior to purchasing in order to provide us with information to license it.

• Determine your tuning needs to guide your purchases.
  • Do you just need to burn chips?
  • Do you want to be able to make changes while the vehicle is running? (emulation)
  • Do you want to be able to log vehicle parameters while the engine is running? (datalogging)
  • Do you want a more accurate measure of the air/fuel mixture? (buy a wideband)
  • Decide what capabilities you need and then purchase hardware as appropriate.

• Install hardware.
  • Clean that J3 port PROPERLY!
  • To clean the J3 port, you generally must remove the case from the ECM, gently rub the J3 port with Scotchbrite or a mildly abrasive kitchen scrubber.  (‘mildly’ is important – you do NOT want to rub hard enough to remove the copper traces from the circuit board!)  A final clean with brake clean, starting fluid  or another mild solvent doesn’t hurt.  A properly cleaned J3 port will have a very, very slight crosshatch visible on the ‘fingers’ of the connector.
  • Golden rule: ALWAYS TAKE THE KEYS OUT OF THE IGNITION (CAR OFF!!!)  WHEN INSERTING OR REMOVING THINGS ON THE J3 PORT. Failure to do so can result in a fried ECM, fried chip/QuarterHorse or both.
• Install USB drivers
  • The same USB drivers are used for all Ford products
  • USB driver is a free download from the webstore, it comes with config instructions. (download)
  • If you need more visual directions, there is an install guide available on the Moates support site.
  • If you have trouble with the install, there is troubleshooting guide available on the Moates support site.

• Setup software and perform initial configuration
  • Establish communications, check settings – this procedure will vary depending on software package you are using.
  • Select the appropriate strategy for your box code and load any appropriate definition files.
  • Program hardware with a calibration to serve as a starting point.  A stock tune with a few key parameters modified to suit the vehicle at hand is great.  You’re just looking for something good enough to get the car to fire and (hopefully) idle.
  • If you are datalogging, select and configure datalogging payload matrix (PIDs) – i.e. what you’re interested in monitoring.

• Gather performance data, analyze it, and make changes toward an optimized result.
  • Parameters are gradually adjusted to achieve desired targets.
  • This is an iterative process, where adjustments are made and the results are evaluated followed by further adjustments.
  • Please see our subsequent chapters on Ford Tuning (available separately).
    • Basic Tuning Techniques and Common Examples
    • Advanced Tuning and Tricky Combinations

Chapter 2: Hardware Selection and Installation

Several types of hardware are available and needed depending on desired functionality.

Laptop PC

• Windows XP/Vista/7 are all compatible with the Ford tuning software.
• Something 5 years old or newer is recommended (no old 486 machines!).
• Internet access is recommended to facilitate licensing and software installations.
• USB ports (at least 1) are required. All needed cables are included with the hardware.
• If logging wideband, a serial-to-USB converter may be needed. ($37 on our webstore – link)

F3 Chip modules

• These modules install onto the J3 port of the EEC box.
• One per vehicle, $60 per unit – link.
• J3 port MUST be thoroughly cleaned, both sides, before installation!
  • Disassemble case, scrape off coating with non-metallic scraper or fingernail.
  • Clean both sides with Scotchbrite, not sandpaper.
  • Don’t be too rough, just polish it to a nice crosshatch, not down to the copper.
  • Clean with paper towel and alcohol or toluene.
• Two-position switch capable with user-added toggle.  Directions for switching are on support site.  (link)
• Reprogrammable many times using Jaybird.

Jaybird mini-USB chip reader/writer

• Small size, low cost, $75 – link.
• Allows reading and writing of the F3 modules.
• No datalogging or emulation with the Jaybird. No EEC box reading.  Most basic chip programmer available.

Quarterhorse Realtime Emulator and Datalogger

• Hardware unit is $249 – link.  All cabling is included, along with ferrite shields and USB bulkhead connections.
• Optional rotary switch ($30 – link) can be used to select from several different programs on the device, switching on-the-fly.  Works for EECIV ONLY.
• Fits onto J3 port like a chip module –  port MUST be clean as with F3 modules.
• On some early EEC boxes, several components will need to be gently bent out of the way for clearance during installation.

• The Quarterhorse is an integrated unit that can do several things:
  • Realtime Emulation
    • Changes in the calibration take effect immediately while engine is running.
    • No disturbance in engine operation or communications.
    • Changes in software are synchronized on the Quarterhorse.
  • Datalogging
    • Requires special definition file with ‘patch code’ written for the QuarterHorse, allowing RAM on the EEC to be shadowed onto the Quarterhorse.
    • Unprecedented access to variables and sensor values through the QuarterHorse without additional datalogging hardware.
    • Logging rates in excess of 5 kHz possible.  Most software logs around 20 Hz, which is great for tuning.
  • EEC Reading
    • EEC must be installed and powered in-vehicle with QH installed.
    • You can read the tune from the EEC box and save it to file.
    • This can be done with a stock EEC to acquire the base calibration.
    • You will be able to harvest the active calibration that has been programmed with a flash programmer this way.

Burn2 with F2A and F2E adapters

• The Burn2 ($85 – link) is a general purpose chip programmer that can be used for many different devices.
• When used with the F2A adapter ($10 – link), it can be used to read/write F3 modules.
• If the F2E adapter is added (another $10 – link), you will be able to read EEC boxes.
• No emulation or datalogging – this is a simple chip programmer only.
• This hardware combination is best suited for people that plan to tune vehicles from many different manufacturers.  If you plan on tuning exclusively Fords, consider the Jaybird as a less expensive alternative.

F8 chip module with Destiny programmer

• No emulation or datalogging – this is a simple chip with switchable tunes.
• Available exclusively through our distributor DP Tuner
• The $165 F8 module holds 8 switchable tunes and can be reprogrammed in-vehicle without removing the chip from the EEC!
• The $150 Destiny programmer is used with a 4-pin switch cable while F8 module stays installed on EEC.
• Once programmed, the $30 rotary switch can optionally be connected as a calibration selector.

Wideband O2 Sensor and Controller

• Used to sense your engine’s Air-Fuel ratio through exhaust gas analysis.
• Units such as the Innovate DB-Red LC1 Gauge Kit /w/ O2 ($209 – link) are very affordable.
• Software (discussed separately here) supports direct logging of the Innovate device data using a serial interface.  This is the preferred method of logging wideband data because it avoids all the pitfalls of using analog signals.
• Analog outputs from the wideband (such as the LC1) can be connected directly to the EEC in some cases (unused EGR pin on A9L for example).
• Wideband O2 readings critical for tuning fueling parameters.

Chapter 3: Software Selection, Installation, and Licensing

Several different software packages currently work with our hardware.  Cost varies considerably considerably from package to package along with capabilities.  Each software package also has its own unique flavor of interface – you will probably like one better than another.  Luckily, you can download and check them out prior to purchase.  Also remember that support for various box codes / strategies varies considerably from package to package.  It is important to investigate not just whether there is ANY support for a particular strategy but whether the items you require to tune your vehicle are supported – definition files vary considerably from software to software.  Fortunately, the availability of ‘trial’ versions makes it possible to ensure you to find a software package that fits your needs without having to purchase each one.

Binary Editor ( http://www.eecanalyzer.net )

• Written by Clint Garrity.
• Currently has the largest user base.
• Cost is $80 for the base application which is registered to a specific PC.
• Includes many of the most common and popular definitions (GUFB, etc) with no additional cost.  ( this list has almost all the “free” definitions along with some pay defs )
• Other ‘premium’ encoded definitions available at extra cost ($50-150+) from the definition author.
• Tends to benefit from a faster/newer laptop. Code is a bit heavy, so older PCs are taxed.  Think 2Ghz P4 / 512Mb ram realistic minimum.
• Includes EEC reading, chip reading and burning, datalogging, and emulation capabilities when used with the appropriate hardware.
• Also includes logging for wideband (Innovate, PLX, etc).
• Also includes optional support for standalone dataloggers, J2534 interfaces.
• Companion software EEC Analyzer is available for an additional $50. Not necessary, but it helps with data interpretation.
• Licensing occurs after you install the software from the available downloads, through a menu item within the BE and EA software programs.
• Both BE and EA licenses can be purchased from the webstore with information from the program.  See webstore product page for further instructions.

EEC Editor ( http://www.moates.net )

• Written by Paul Booth.
• Fairly lightweight software – does not require a very fast PC to work well.
• Cost ranges from $20-65 for each strategy depending on options.
  • EEC-IV is $20 for editing DEF (emulation and chip burning) plus $25 for datalogging (DLM) .
  • EEC-V is $10 more ($30+$35).
  • In order to have a comprehensive tuning solution for a typical fox body Mustang, you would need to order the GUFB def ($20) and the GUFB DLM ($25) along with a QuarterHorse.  This would allow you to tune any number of vehicles using the A9L, A3M, etc. processor codes.  You can also burn chips with the Jaybird/BURN2+F2A for any strategies you have purchased.
• Includes logging for Innovate Wideband (LC1, LM1, etc) at no additional charge.
• List of available supported strategies is listed on the webstore.

TunerPro RT v5 ( http://www.tunerpro.net )

• Written by Mark Mansur.
• Software license is optional (nag screen) but encouraged for $30.
• Editing portion of software *extremely* lightweight – can run well on older PCs.  Parts of logging engine considerably more demanding.
• Many definitions are available for editing only, see Tunerpro.net and our website for details.
• Editing, chip burning and emulation are supported by TPRT V4 and TPRT V5.
• Datalogging using the QuarterHorse is supported by TunerPro RT V5 via new the ADX format.  See here for updated definitions.
• QuarterHorse vehicle support is very limited compared to other software, but some of the most popular ones (GUFB CBAZA etc) are well-developed and available at time of writing (December 2010)

Flash & Burn Interface ( Moates/TunerPro )

• This is a low-level utility for reading and writing F3 chip modules using Jaybird or  BURN1/BURN2 + F2A
• Capable of reading EEC boxes using BURN2+F2A+F2E.  Does not work with QuarterHorse
• If you have a raw binary file ( bin ) you can use Flash n Burn to program a F3 chip module
• No cost, can be downloaded from the webstore.

F8 Destiny Utility ( http://www.moates.net )

• For use with a Destiny and F8 multi-position in-situ chip module.
• Allows easy management of stacks of tunes on the module with PC-based selection.
• No cost, can be downloaded from the webstore.

USB Driver ( Moates.net / FTDI )

• Needed to allow PC to communicate with the USB hardware (Quarterhorse, Jaybird, BURN2, etc).
• In many cases, working drivers will be detected by Windows via plug n play.
• If you need more visual directions, there is an install guide available on the Moates support site.
• If you have trouble with the install, there is troubleshooting guide available on the Moates support site.

Chapter 4: Suggested Techniques for Effective Calibration of EEC Systems

Vehicle Inspection and Preparation

• CRITICAL part of the tuning process. Start here, really.  If you fail here, you will never succeed.
• Several areas of the vehicle should always be analyzed before you begin the effort.
  • Smoking – learn to identify fuel (black) vs. oil (grey-blue) vs. coolant (white/sweet smelling).  You cannot fix oil smoke or coolant smoke with a tune.
  • Compression – you should have all cylinders within 10% compression of each other.  If smoking, damage to old spark plugs or general appearances make you suspicious of the motor’s health, check it before you start.  It’s a lot easier to deal with a motor with poor compression BEFORE you beat the snot out of it in the course of tuning it.  Many people skip this but it is something to think about because a motor that is already hurt is very likely to blow up or experience a catastrophic failure during tuning.
  • Check base timing, adjust as needed. (all vehicles with a distributor)
  • Evaluate TPS voltage.  Minimum/maximum values should be within acceptable limits.  Check for reversed wires – voltage should increase as throttle opens.
  • Look at MAF intake routing, make sure there are no obvious vacuum / intake leaks between the MAF and the intake valves.  Think cracked/split/loose hoses, bad gaskets, open ports, dry rotted couplers, hoses connected both before and after the MAF, …
  • O2 sensors should be operational without any exhaust leaks before the sensors.  For some reason, cut and soldered “extensions” for long tube headers often cause problems.  Plug and play extenders are *highly* recommended.  If you know that you do not have proper stock O2 sensors, REMEMBER TO TURN OFF O2 FEEDBACK!!!
  • If you are using a wideband sensor, you need to make sure there are no exhaust leaks before the wideband.  Flex tubing, poor joints between headers- midpipes and cracks in tubing can all create havoc.
  • If applicable, pay attention to which bank the wideband is installed in – bank-bank differences can be a powerful diagnostic tool.  Pay attention to how far the wideband is from the engine’s exhaust ports – there is always some lag between combustion events and measurement.  When things are changing quickly, this is critical.
  • Widebands need calibrated periodically, generally in free air.  Wideband sensors need replaced periodically.  Leaded fuel kills them very quickly.  Proper care and feeding of widebands is crucial to their effectiveness.
  • Be aware of catalytic converters.  Always tap them (GENTLY) and listen for suspicious noises that would indicate a catalytic converter that is degrading.  Clogged cats can rob literally hundreds of horsepower.  It is possible to place a wideband sensor AFTER a catalytic converter but remember that the cat will very slightly skew readings.
  • Make sure you have enough fuel pump and injectors for the power level you are looking for.  For a V8, “Injector size in #/hr * 14 = max hp” is a crude rule of thumb.  There are tons of injector calculators to be found if you want a better idea.
  • Ensure that fuel pressure is sane.  40psi with no vacuum reference is generally about where most OEM regulators are set.  You should be able to see a difference in fuel pressure between key-on-engine-off, idle and blipping the throttle.  Fuel pressure should be lowest when vacuum is highest.  Fuel pressure should increase when you blip the throttle as manifold pressure increases.
  • You need a MAF capable of metering enough air for your power goals.   There are ways to increase the metering capacity of a given meter, but tuning that properly is an advanced topic.  Keeping it simple: get a meter that can handle your airflow needs.
  • You need a functioning alternator and battery.  Battery voltage plays a role in crucial things like injector opening time and coil charge duration.  If your charging system is not functioning correctly, your tune may drastically change if/when you fix it.  Rule of thumb: if your battery voltage ever drops below 13 volts with the motor running, you will run into trouble.
  • On a similar note, underdrive and overdrive pulleys can cause real issues.  Pay attention if you see them.
  • Check for emissions hardware ( purge, smog pump, EGR, etc. ) that is missing.  In many cases these items can be disabled but you need to pay attention to what is present compared to what the ECM expects.
  • Basic maintenance should not be overlooked.  If it is important for a “normal” car it is twice as important in a performance application.
    • Spark plugs: correct heat range, appropriate gap, not fouled.  Consider power level, fuel and ignition system.  AVOID PLATINUM PLUGS FOR PERFORMANCE APPLICATIONS!!!  Copper or iridium will serve you much better.
    • Plug wires: no cracks/arcing, properly crimped ends, appropriate length so there isn’t too much tension
    • Firing order: firing order is determined by the camshaft (mostly) not the block or computer.
    • Spark boxes: great for distributor engines, unneeded/problematic for mod motors
    • Coil packs: Coil-per-cylinder (99-04 generally) applications like ***OEM*** coils best. (according to Dave B.)  MSD, Accel, Granatelli, … are all cause for concern especially with boost.
    • Oil and coolant: always check fluids before starting.  Quick check, potentially horrible consequences if low/out.
    • Fans / overheating: it is always a good idea to check that radiator fans work.  A car that overheats cannot be tuned.
    • Belts and Idlers: All serpentine belts must be in good shape.  Cracks, missing ribs, etc. will all cause problems.  Any idler pulleys must spin freely.
    • Tension:  Belt Tensioner should not be extended fully with the engine off.  Adjust belt length so that tensioner is in the lower third of its adjustment range with the motor off.  (i.e. it can move 2/3 through its range to increase belt tension – it should be mostly compressed when motor idle)  This is particularly important for supercharged applications.
    • Fuel filter: Fords are *horrible* about clogging fuel filters.  Especially if the car has been sitting for any significant period of time, change the fuel filter.  Motorcraft/OEM filters seem to hold up better than many cheap aftermarket ones.
    • Fuel age and type: Gasoline degrades with time.  Do not expect fuel that is more than a month or two old to be of the same quality as fresh gas.  Be particularly careful with heavily oxygenated fuels (i.e. VP Q16) and alcohols (ethanol, methanol, E85, etc.) in contact with fuel system components for large periods of time.
    • Clean air filter and MAF.  Oiled filters generally cause MAFs to get dirty.  Clean MAFs only after they have had a long time to cool – hot MAF+liquid=death.  Clean *GENTLY* with brake clean, starting fluid, or other organic solvents.
• Remember, you can’t fix mechanical or electrical issues by reprogramming the ECM!!! The results you achieve with tuning will only be as good as the material you start working with.  Garbage in, garbage out.

Datalogging: What’s important and what does it mean? What should we be interested in? What to select?

• There are certain sensors that you will almost always want to keep an eye on because they are critical to engine operation:
  • RPM – how fast the motor is spinning
  • MAFV / MAF counts – a “raw” value representing the reading from the MAF sensor
  • Airflow – a value calculated  by the ECM from the raw sensor MAF voltage that represents how much air is being ingested by the engine.  This is often represented in some form of “real world” value, like Kg/hr or Lbs/min
  • Load – from 94-2004 “Load” is the main factor involved in determining spark advance.
  • Spark Advance – when the ECM is commanding sparks to be fired.
  • TPS – Throttle Position Sensor.  How far open the throttle is, i.e. how hard you’re pressing the gas pedal
  • ECT – Engine Coolant Temperature(how hot or cold coolant flowing through the engine is)
  • IAT – Intake Air Temperature (how hot or cold air entering the engine is)
• Depending on what you are trying to do, there are other items you may want to pay attention to as well.
  • Injector Pulsewidth – How long the injectors open.  This can be useful both for “sanity checking” and to ensure you do not run out of injector – there is only a fixed time available at a given RPM to fire injectors.
  • HEGO1/2 – Heated Exhaust Gas Oxygen sensor.  Measures the presence or absence of oxygen in the exhaust in order to try to determine whether the motor is running rich or lean.   Watching the raw HEGO voltages can give you some kind of very basic indication of fueling.  These sensors experience a large change in voltage in a very small area centered around a stoichiometric mixture ( 1.0 lambda or about 14.7:1 Air-Fuel Ratio or AFR)
  • STFTs – Short Term Fuel Trims.  These are IMMEDIATE changes the ECM makes in response to HEGO readings in order to steer the air-fuel mixture towards desired targets.   If your EEC uses STFTs effectively (i.e. all modular motors) then these are generally more effective as a tuning tool than looking at raw O2 voltages.
  • LTFTs – Long Term Fuel Trims.  These are the long term difference between programmed values and target values.  Think of them as the average of STFTs over a long time.  If your EEC uses LTFTs effectively (i.e. all modular motors) then these are one of the most effective pieces of data provided by the stock computer for tuning fueling.
  • WBO2 – Wideband Oxygen meters can measure a much wider range of rich-lean conditions than standard HEGOs.  Having wideband data is often preferable to HEGO/STFT/LTFT.  In many cases (i.e. 86-95 in my opinion) it is often easier to disable closed loop operation/the O2 sensors completely and tune the car exclusively using a wideband.
  • ISC Integrator (‘integrator’) – this represents the difference between how much air the EEC is using to hold and idle versus how much it is commanded to hold in the tune.  Critical for proper tuning of larger camshafts and larger displacement engines.
  • Boost/MAP/Pressure – Although MAF systems do not differentiate between boost and vacuum, it is often very handy for sanity and safety to have an idea of how much pressure there is in the intake manifold.  For positive displacement blowers (roots, TVS, twin-screw) make sure you take pressure readings AFTER the blower on the lower plenum.
  • Pressure drop across injectors / FPDM duty cycle – most 99-04 cars control fuel pressure electronically.  These values are critical to a properly operating fuel system on these vehicles.

Recalibration: Modifying Parameters and Values to Achieve a Target

• First step: decide on target operating parameters for the engine
  • This may seem obvious, but something as simple as “make the most power” or “improve fuel economy” isn’t going to be be enough.
  • Second step: take a general goal like “make the most power” and decide on appropriate engine conditions to achieve that goal.
  • If you read these rules of thumb and say “this isn’t right for my engine” – GREAT.  You already know more than the audience these rules are aimed at.
    • If in doubt, “0.8 is great” – blatant simplicity.  Quoted me to once by someone who did OEM calibrations for Honda for a living.  It is very difficult to break anything due to fueling from running a vehicle at 0.8 lambda (about 11.6:1 AFR Gasoline)
    • 1.0 Lambda represents a stoichiometric mixture – exactly enough oxygen is present in the air to burn all the fuel supplied.  This is normally the best mixture for minimizing emissions.
    • Most vehicles make best power around 0.85 to 0.88 lambda (12.3 – 12.7 AFR Gasoline) – slightly richer than stoich
    • Most vehicles achieve best fuel economy at around 1.05 to 1.1 lambda ( 15.2 to 16.0 AFR gasoline)
    • Most vehicles need more ignition advance as RPM increases
    • Most vehicles need more ignition advance under cruising/low-throttle conditions than WOT
    • Knock is most likely close to peak torque, at high loads/low RPMs or at peak horsepower
• Next step: Get familiar with the strategy your vehicle uses.  Fueling, timing, idle, open-closed loop and just about everything else vary considerably from one strategy to another.  Being familiar with the strategy your ECM uses will help you figure out which tables to modify to acheive the results you seek.
  • eectuning.org is a good place to learn more.
  • the ‘Education’ section of moates.net is another good place to get information
• After you figure out where to look: set up what you can based on what you already know
  • Setup Engine Displacement / displacement of one cylinder
  • Setup injector size
  • Setup a reasonable rev limiter based on what you know of bottom end and valvetrain
  • Setup a reasonable (perhaps a little high to start) value for target idle
  • Setup a reasonable base calibration for MAF sensor.  If sensor came with a calibration sheet, this would be great time to use it.
  • Setup a reasonable target air fuel while in open loop
  • Setup a reasonable timing map.  A stock timing map adjusted for mods is always a good place to start.
  • Setup a reasonable pattern from switching from closed loop to open loop.
  • Enable or disable hardware such as O2 sensors, EGR, Purge/Evap, automatic trans
  • If you take your time to create a sane starting point before you turn the key on you will save yourself countless hours of time!
• Finally: Start your engines (and your datalogger) and make final adjustments
  • Are air fuels not matching what you command in open loop?
    • Three pieces of the fueling puzzle:  MAF transfer, Injector slopes(size), Injector offset (battery compensation – latency)
    • How do you tell what is going on?  STFTs, LTFTs (if O2s are enabled) combined with a wideband.  STFTs/LTFTs are great while O2s are active – i.e. part throttle
    • Leanest at idle, small pulsewidths but perfect at WOT/higher throttle -> increase battery offset
    • Lean – rich – lean patches as you gradually increase throttle -> wrong shape of MAF curve.  systematically tune it
    • Entire range of engine operation uniformly off from commanded values -> either injector slopes (size) or entire MAF transfer function is off.  Let load determine which one to multiply/divide in order to fix things
  • Idle issues?
    • Make sure your MAF transfer table, injector slopes and injector offset are sane before trying to fine tune idle!
    • Follow the integrator – a good place to start is to add the integrator (or subtract if it is negative) from the Neutral Idle Air table (in neutral) or Drive Idle Air table (if in Drive for automatic cars)
  • Performance
    • ALWAYS TUNE FUELING FIRST BEFORE TACKLING TIMING!  You are *much* more likely to break your engine if your mixture is wrong.  As long as your timing is good enough to light the mix, you can tune fueling adequately.
    • Tuning timing without a dyno is hard.  Accelerometers and a dragstrip can provide crude but repeatable feedback.

Data Analysis and Evaluation

• Once captured, the operational data can be analyzed and used to guide calibration effort.

(More to come!)

(below this line is draft / coming soon as of 2010-11-30)

Chapter 4:  Software/Hardware Initial Configuration with Tuning Session Start-Up Examples

• Physical installation of hardware is shown in more detail from Chapter 1 overview.
  • F3
  • Jaybird
  • Quarterhorse
  • F8/destiny and switch
  • Wideband

• Installation, licensing, initial configuration, and detailed hardware synchronization procedures for each software are explained and examples detailed. Initial basic calibration load-up for different hardware, as well as basic payload creation for datalogging, are explained and illustrated for each.
  • USB Driver
  • BE/EA
  • EEC Editor
  • TunerPro RTv5
  • Flash & Burn
  • F8/Destiny Utility

1. Data Analysis and Evaluation
   1. Once captured, the operational data can be analyzed and used to guide calibration effort.
   2. Several examples of logged data values and how they relate to calibration parameters are provided.

Chapter 6:

Case Studies: Example Modifications, Vehicle Combinations, and Rules of Thumb

1. Key Issues and Vehicle-Specific Examples
   1. How do many of the popular modifications on these vehicles affect the tuning approach?

i.      Bigger MAF

ii.      Bigger injectors

iii.      Cold plugs

iv.      Nitrous

v.      Gears and converter

vi.      Auto vs Manual

vii.      Emissions delete / racing modifications

viii.      Cam, heads

ix.      Headers/exhaust

x.      Cold air intake

1. 1. We look at a walk-through of important considerations and the thought process of tuning several different example combinations, with real-world dyno results.

i.      A9L/GUFB Fox Body, 1993 N/A 331 stroker, 24# injectors, cam, headers, 5spd.

ii.      CBAZA, same as above.

iii.      03/04 Mustang

iv.      SC A9L

v.      SC 03/04 Cobra

vi.      F150 Truck

1. 1. Achieving an Optimized Result: When is it good enough?

i.      What are your goals?

ii.      Do you plan for future modifications?

iii.      Rules of thumb for AFR and timing, NA vs boost.

iv.      What is safe vs aggressive?

>

>

>

> Vehicle Compatibility

>

> All year/model Ford 2004 and earlier with J3 port are compatible

***with our hardware*** but there may not be software support for particular models.

> Some vehicle year/model applications are simply not supported in the

> software because of lack of definition information. It’s important to

> evaluate the availability of your desired application as ir relates to

> the software selection process. You may be out of luck (for example,

> 1995 Festiva or such uncommon target).

http://support.moates.net/ford-strategies-supported/

http://support.moates.net/ford-box-code-strategy-cross-reference/

>

>

>

> Overview of Tuning Process

>

> Determine your target vehicle boxcode and strategy

>

>                                                                i.

> Boxcode is typically a 4-digit letter/number code on the EEC computer.

> This is the calibration code.

http://support.moates.net/ford-information-we-need-to-help-you/

>

>                                                               ii.

> Strategy is the ‘parent’ definition structure to which a boxcode belongs.

Each strategy is the set of procedures that are executed on your ECM to run an engine.  Sometimes more than one strategy can successfully run on a given ECM.  Normally we do not make many changes to the procedure part of strategies while tuning vehicles.  Instead, we change tables, functions and constants so that the engine receives what it needs to run well.  Each “box code” represents a configuration of a particular strategy for a particular engine.

>

>                                                             iii.

> For

instance, the A9L boxcode  belongs to the GUFB strategy.  The A3M boxcode also belongs to the GUFB strategy.  If you compare A9L.bin and A3M.bin the files will be almost identical because they use the same strategy but are configured for different vehicles by Ford.  If you get a definition (also called def) for the GUFB strategy, you will be able to edit both A9L and A3M binaries because they use the same strategy.

……….

>                                                             iii.

> J3 port MUST be thoroughly cleaned, both sides, before installation!

***IMPORTANT***

……………….

> Chapter 5:

>

> Suggested Techniques for Effective Calibration of EEC Systems

>

>

>

>

>

> Vehicle Inspection and Preparation

>

> CRITICAL part of the tuning process. Start here, really.

> Several areas of the vehicle should always be analyzed before you

> begin the effort.

>

>                                                                i.

> Check base timing, adjust as needed.  On older Fords, pull “spout” timing connector either by distributor (86-93) or on passenger fender side (94-95).  Adjust distributor to achieve 10 degrees base timing with spout removed.  Reinstall spout before tuning.

>

>                                                               ii.

> Evaluate TPS voltage, make sure it is in range through motion.

Vehicles are very sensitive to improper TPS voltage.  TPS being too low or too high can cause the ECM to not enter the correct idle mode.

TPS should be between 0.95 and 1volt with throttle plate closed.  This can be checked using QH quite nicely.

>

>                                                             iii.

> Look at MAF intake routing, make sure there are no gross vacuum / intake leaks.

http://support.moates.net/tuning-maf-systems-and-air-leaks/

See how much or little of that you want to put here.

>

>                                                             iv.

> O2 sensors should be operational, exhaust should be leak-tight at

> least that far back.

OEM Ford O2 sensors work a million times better than cheap aftermarket ones.

Ideally, a wideband sensor is to be installed in addition to the factory O2s rather than instead of one.

If this is not possible, it is greatly preferable to remove a secondary (Post-catalytic converter) O2 sensor.

If a primary O2 sensor has the be removed in order to install a wideband, make sure closed loop operation is disabled.

>

>                                                              v.

> Basic maintenance should not be overlooked.

>

> 1.       Plugs and wires

1a. PLUG GAP IS REALLY IMPORTANT

1b. Appropriate plug type is really important (Copper, Silver (Brisk for 3v)).  Iridium plugs are ok for applications with extremely strong spark boxes or CDI systems.  Avoid platinum plugs like the plague.

>

> 2.       Oil and coolant

>

> 3.       Fuel filter and fuel age/quality/octane

>

> 4.       Clean air filter and MAF

>

>                                                             vi.

> Ensure that fuel pressure is as expected through operating range.

>

> Remember, you can’t fix mechanical or electrical issues with reprogramming.

> Tuning is about more than just flipping chips, so make sure your

> vehicle is in good shape!

This really can’t be stressed enough.  Tuning a car that isn’t running right is like putting a bandaid over a gangrenous wound!  The first step to tuning a car properly is to make sure it is mechanically sound!

>

>

>

************I’m not sure I would get into datalogging just yet because we haven’t talked about recalibration yet.****************

> Datalogging: What’s important and what does it mean? What should we be

> interested in? What to select?

>

> RPM

> MAFV

> Kg/Hr

> Spark

> HEGO1/2

> TPS

> ECT,IAT

> Load

> WBO2

>

***********************************Snip*********************************************************************************************************

>

>

> Recalibration: Modifying Parameters and Values

>

The purpose of recalibrating an ECM is to produce the behavior you desire, and by doing so hopefully improve performance, emissions or other operating characteristics.  Normally, there are two stages to this process.

First, parameters within the strategy are altered to match physical parameters of the engine.  Engine displacement, injector size are the primary values here.  Also, the MAF transfer function should be altered to match the MAF that is installed on the vehicle.  You can often “rob” a MAF transfer function from another vehicle’s strategy when using the MAF from another vehicle.

Next, operating parameters are changed in order to achieve the actual running conditions desired for the particular engine.  In many cases, simply adjusting the “configuration” items for the strategy in the first step will make then engine run great but there are almost always small changes that can be made to optimize performance.

>

> What are the most common values we will need to modify?

>

i.     Displacement – how large the engine is

ii.      Injector slopes – define how much fuel flows through

injectors, aka injector size

iii.      MAF calibration – defines how much air enters the engine as

a function of MAF voltage.  aka MAF transfer function iv.      Rev limiters – protect the engine from being damaged by over-revving

v.      Speed limiters – protect the driver from his/her own stupidity

vi.      EGR delete, PATS delete, secondary O2 delete – turn off items that are not present or not desired.

>

> How do we know which values to change, and by how much?

>

(repeat / correlate with above)

First step: calibration data should match actual equipment specification

example: If you have a 347 stroker with 30# injectors your strategy should be configured to match these physical parameters

Next step: start your engines, identify problems and goals.  There are hundreds (if not thousands in some cases) of parameters you can change.  Before starting on tuning, it’s good to have an idea of what’s not right, what you’d like to improve and what you can leave alone.  This may sound basic, but maintaining some kind of focus is really important to working effectively.  Examples of things you might want to work on are improving idle, improving wide open throttle performance, decreasing fuel consumption.

After figuring out what aspects of running the engine you want to work on, it is time to get the data you need to achieve your goals.  By selecting appropriate items for datalogging, the QuarterHorse allows you to view, log and replay the same data that your ECM uses to run your engine.  Instead of blindly guessing which values you need to change in order to get the engine behavior you seek, you can use this process of logging, analyzing logged data and a little math to make appropriate changes.

Now specific tasks in the tuning process will be examined in detail.

This will be presented as a mixture of theory and practice.  The next chapter will serve as a guide for how to adapt the programming of your ECM to suit specific modifications (cold air kits, injectors, motor transplants, etc) and will be attempt to be primarily hands-on.

Routine tuning processes: (these are going to need more explanation, I’m just running out of steam tonight)

Basic setup – Slopes, injectors, MAFs, sane spark tables

WOT / Open loop fueling – MAF transfer, inj slopes, stabilized fuel table

Closed loop fueling – O2 trims, MAF transfer

Power tuning – Dyno, spark tables

Idle tuning – idle RPM drive, neutral, Drive idle air, neutral idle air, integrator, gains, etc

Dashpot – role, tuning, scalars, preposition

>

>

>

> Chapter 6:

>

CASE STUDIES AND HANDS ON PRIMARILY.  Theory / processes in previous chapter

>

>

>

>

>

> Key Issues and Vehicle-Specific Examples

*MAKE MORE SPECIFIC*  General procedures covered above

>

> How do many of the popular modifications on these vehicles affect the

> tuning approach?

>

>                                                                i.

> Bigger MAF

>

>                                                               ii.

> Bigger injectors

>

>                                                             iii.

> Cold plugs

>

>                                                             iv.

> Nitrous

>

>                                                              v.

> Gears and converter

>

>                                                             vi.

> Auto vs Manual

>

>                                                           vii.

> Emissions delete / racing modifications

>

>                                                          viii.

> Cam, heads

>

>                                                             ix.

> Headers/exhaust

>

>                                                              x.

> Cold air intake

>

> We look at a walk-through of important considerations and the thought

> process of tuning several different example combinations, with

> real-world dyno results.

>

>                                                                i.

> A9L/GUFB Fox Body, 1993 N/A 331 stroker, 24# injectors, cam, headers, 5spd.

>

>                                                               ii.

> CBAZA, same as above.

>

>                                                             iii.

> 03/04 Mustang

>

>                                                             iv.

> SC A9L

>

>                                                              v.

> SC

> 03/04 Cobra

>

>                                                             vi.

> F150 Truck

>

> Achieving an Optimized Result: When is it good enough?

>

>                                                                i.

> What are your goals?

>

>                                                               ii.

> Do you plan for future modifications?

>

>                                                             iii.

> Rules of thumb for AFR and timing, NA vs boost.

>

>                                                             iv.

> What is safe vs aggressive?

>

>

If you are interested in purchasing Moates.Net products in bulk, or would like to be a reseller of our products, the following discount structure is available to you:

10% off for 10 – 19 pieces more of a given item
15% off for 20 – 49
20% off for 50 – 99 and
25% off for 100+ units

NOTE!
This discount can be applied retroactively as well for a 12 month rolling total. For instance, if you buy 5 units at regular price of $20 each and then later on purchase 6 more units in a 12 month period at $20 each, then a discount will be applied to the total so you’ll get a partial refund of 10% on all 11 units, or $22.

Furthermore, if you subsequently purchase 12 more units, you will be eligible for the 15% price break on all 23 units, giving you an additional $47 off. The total net discount on ALL same items purchased in a 12 month rolling period would effectively be 15%. We chose a 12 month rolling time period instead of a calendar year so you won’t lose your discount if you buy in December and then more in January.

This may seem confusing, and it does add to order processing complexity on our side. However, it is designed to lower the risk level for entry-level shops and resellers. You don’t need a big buy-in, since the retroactive discount structure takes care of you!

This discount structure is not valid for small incremental orders (one part here, one part there), and does not apply to individual drop shipments. Instead, it is limited to quantity orders of 3 or more pieces at a time going to the same destination. So if you buy 3 units and 8 units, then you get the 10% discount on all 11. If you then buy 1 separate unit separately, the 1 separate unit doesn’t get the discount and doesn’t count toward the total accumulation for bulk retroactive discount.The reason for this is that the 1 piece at a time approach still requires all of the administrative order processing burden on our side, and part of the reason for bulk discounts is that it is easier for us to ship quantities of units than shipping them individually.

Group buys:

Pre-arranged group buys are available. The same normal discount structure as described for bulk discounts applies based on the number of participants, but the minimum individual order quantity of 3 isn’t required.

Any purchase made on the website or over the phone under a group buy situation should be CLEARY INDICATED, preferably in the comments section of the order. That way we know what to do with it.

For example, one group buy coordinator will contact us ahead of time and initiate the group buy period (up to two weeks in duration). We will agree on the close-out date for the group purchase.

If the coordinator wants to have all of the units shipped to them and then distribute them to the individual purchasers, then it will be handled no differently than a standard bulk discount situation.

If the buyers decide to pay for the units individually at our webstore and have them shipped separately to each buyer, then that is also fine. In this case, full price will be charged initially. At the close of the group buy, a discount will be applied as a partial refund to each participant separately.

The total discount will depend on the total number of participants. So for 10-19 it’d be 10% and for 20-49 it’ll be 15%. We usually don’t know how many participants are involved until the close of the group buy period, so that’s why the partial refund / discount is delayed until that time.

Hope this helps!

Old Bad news: As of this time (2-25-10) there are NO PUBLIC DEFINITION FILES for software that supports our hardware. (TunerPro RT, EEC Editor, Binary Editor)

New Better news: (2-13-13)  The Minotaur software available from Power Hungry Performance will spit out bin files you can program to our chips.  Supposedly, there will be QuarterHorse support soon.  Note: we are not affiliated with PHP in any way and you will have to contact them for any and all specific information regarding their products.

We are a small technically-oriented outfit that focuses on product development not fancy packaging, phone support, and marketing.  We bring you high-quality, value-priced products aimed at self-starters willing to read documentation, learn independently and most importantly try things on their own without someone providing guidance every step of the way.

About Moates.Net and our products:

It is important for you, our users, to understand what we expect of you and what we aim for in our products.  Our philosophy at Moates.Net is simple: we want to bring enthusiasts the highest quality products for tuning their cars at a reasonable price.  What we mean by “enthusiasts” is simple: people who are motivated to learn about tuning their car.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re working on your own car or work for a shop – if you’re willing to learn about tuning a car, you are part of our target audience.

Our objective isn’t to make a fortune – there are plenty of companies out there that sell comparable products for a whole lot more.  With that said, there are trade offs in our approach.  Our products frequently do not even have boxes, let alone fancy packaging like other vendors.  Our products do not ship with much printed instructions – instead our documentation can be found online.  (Like this support site!)  We devote most of our resources to product development, leaving limited resources for intensive support.  We have chosen instead to provide inexpensive products with fewer frills aimed at a more educated user.

What We Expect of You

Here at Moates.Net, education and teaching are things we value highly.   We don’t expect everyone to be born knowing how to tune a car or use our products.  We expect anyone who purchases our products to be willing to READ and learn independently. We will help you if you run into trouble, but we expect you to READ documentation and try to do it on your own first.  We base a lot of the technical documentation and guides we develop on the questions that you ask.  (If you have any suggestions for additional guide topics, we are always willing to listen.)  Many of our activities, such as this support site and our YouTube channel with its video tutorials, are aimed at providing resources to further educate our users.

If it doesn’t work out…

Worst case, we have a no questions asked money back guarantee for any parts returned in the condition they were received.  (We can’t issue a full refund for items damaged through neglect, negligence or abuse.)  We hope this isn’t how things end, but you’re only out the cost of shipping and the time you spent trying to figure it out.

We also often get asked, “Can I use your product to let me put _______ on my engine?” The answer to this is very simple: our products let you tune factory Ford computers.  If the factory Ford computer can do it, our products can help you tune it.  If there is another factory Ford computer that you can swap to run your engine that does what you want, great.  Some examples of what I’m talking about here include putting a MAF sensor on a car, running a car without a MAF speed-density, switching to coilpacks, etc.  If you can’t do it with a factory Ford ECM, our products aren’t going to help you achieve your goals.

We offer products that work with almost all ~1986-2004 Ford ECUs that have a J3 port (i.e. EECIV and EECV).  International users report success using our products with non-US computers that have a J3 port.  A J3 port looks like an edge of a circuit board that kind of sticks out.  J3 ports must be cleaned with a wire brush and solvents in order to remove the protective coating on the circuit board before they can be used.  They are almost always behind a rubber protective panel.  We do not offer any products for Ford computers that lack a J3 port, such as pre-1986 and 2005+ computers.  Also, cars branded by Ford but manufactured by others (i.e. Ford Probe, made by Mazda) often use computers that lack J3 ports.

It is critical that the vehicle is fully off before installing or removing anything on the J3 port.  Failure to power-off the ECM correctly can result in frying our hardware, your ECM or both!!!  If you have any doubts at all, remove the keys from the ignition 100% or disconnect the battery.  WARNING WARNING WARNING!

On this page “application” simply means the car/ECU/engine you are working with.

“ECU” means ECM, PCM – the computer running your car’s engine.

“Strategy” is Ford lingo for a set of procedures (i.e. code) that an ECU runs.  (Closest GM term: Operating system)  Most of the time, a strategy is particular to an ECU, i.e. the GUFB strategy runs onA9L ECUs.  Sometimes more than one strategy can run on the same ECU (i.e. GUFB/A9L + GUFC/A9P) .  Most of the time the “tuner” cars (i.e. Roush, Saleen) use unusual strategies that are often simply renamed factory strategies.

“Definition” means a file that describes the location of parameters that can be changed in a strategy.  All of the Ford tuning software uses definition files to process raw files.

“Patch code” refers to special routines that change the way a strategy operates in order to allow Quarterhorse to log all vehicle parameters.

Hardware used with Ford:

F3 Chip adapter – This stores a new program for a Ford ECU and clips on the J3 port.  This is a simple Ford “chip” that can optionally store two programs.  It works with both EECIV and EECV.

Jaybird – This is a Ford-specific device that writes F3 chip adapters ONLY.  It uses the same Flash n Burn software as a BURN1/BURN2

F2A – The F2A is a Ford interface for the BURN1/BURN2 programmers.  It lets you write a F3 chip adapter using a BURN1/2 programmer and the Flash n Burn software.

F2E – the F2E is used with a F2A and a BURN1/2 to read the stock program from a ECU.

BURN1/BURN2 – These general purpose ROM burners can be used with a F2A to program F3 chips

FORDEMU – This adapter allows the use of a Ostrich emulator to make real-time changes with a Ford ECU.  This product has been replaced with the Quarterhorse.  It does not work very well with EECV ECUs.

Quarterhorse – The Quarterhorse (or “QH” for short) is our flagship Ford tuning product.  It allows changes to be made while the vehicle is running.  It also allows datalogging by spying directly on RAM locations.  In order to log all vehicle parameters, patch code that is specific to each strategy is required.  Many of the features of QH require special definition files and/or software support that may not be available for all applications.

Software for Tuning Fords:

You can read the binary from any J3 Ford computer with our gear (BURN2+F2A+F2E), but that does NOT mean that any J3 ford computer is fair game.  In order to be able to display a raw binary from a Ford ECM in a real-world units that might make sense to you, a definition is required.  The def is kind of like a roadmap that allows software (Binary Editor or EEC Editor) to translate what runs the car’s computer into something meaningful to you.  Defs have to be developed by a human being for each application.  PLEASE ASK US FOR HELP IF YOU ARE NOT SURE YOUR APPLICATION IS SUPPORTED!!!

TunerPro / TunerPro RT (www.tunerpro.net) : Great for basic editing.  Free.  Somewhat limited definitions compared with other software.  At time of writing (11/28/09) lacks full support for QH, but beta versions have support.

EEC Editor http://www.moates.net/eec-editor-software-from-paul-booth.html : Cheap ( <$50 ) software with fairly extensive editing support for editing Ford tunes.  EEC Editor requires you to purchase definitions on a per-strategy basis.  One strategy will cover more than one box code.  Definitions for datalogging can be purchased separately.  As of time of writing (11/28/09) has QH support for MANY applications including Fox body mustang (GUFB/GUFC/etc. A9L/A9P/C3W/etc.) 94-95 Mustang (T4M0, CBAZA) along with many 96-03 applications.  Custom definitions available for a fee.

Binary Editor (http://www.eecanalyzer.net) : Relatively cheap ( $80 BE / $130 BE + EEC Analyzer) software with comprehensive editing support and comprehensive support for QH.  See here for a list of strategies supported.  Binary Editor comes with a bunch of definitions that are free and there are others you need to pay for.  You can see most of them at http://www.eecanalyzer.net in the downloads section.

With that out of the way, you’re looking at this page because your USB drivers are very broken.  You have devices in Device Manager with yellow exclamation marks that cannot load, cannot start or just plain don’t work.  This procedure will forcibly remove everything FTDI related and allow you to start over with a clean slate.

1. Step one: download FTCLEAN from FTDI’s website – link
2. Step two: unzip the file into a directory on your computer.
3. Step three: run FTCLEAN.EXE
4. Step four: click “Clean system” then click Yes to confirm
5. Step five: REINSTALL FTDI DRIVERS!!!  You should be starting from scratch.

Almost all Moates.net products have a USB interface to connect to a computer. (ALDU1, HULOG, Hondalog, BURN1/2, Ostrich 1/2, Roadrunner, Quarterhorse, Jaybird) Fortunately, all Moates.net products with a USB interface use the same USB support chip so they can all use the same drivers. This makes it easy for you – one driver install will take care of ALL Moates products! Check out USB Driver Installation for more on how to reinstall drivers.

The chip in our devices is made by a company called FTDI. This chip is VERY common and is used in everything from USB-serial and USB-parallel adapters sold in computer stores to other automotive electronics products. This is important because of the possibility of a driver conflict between drivers for your Moates.net devices and other devices that also use the FTDI chips. AEM FIC, Hondata S300 and K-Pro and the USB Instruments Stingray and Swordfish (among others) have a tendency to obliterate our drivers and cause driver conflicts. Be warned: the troubleshooting instructions later on this page may cause other devices that use the FTDI chips to stop working. Tip: If you start having driver conflicts, installing the latest drivers from FTDI will often be enough to resolve conflicts and make everything work again.

Making Sure Everything is Working and Configured

First step to making sure you don’t have a connection issue is to unplug all USB devices that are not absolutely necessary from your computer.

First, Right click on My Computer. (You might find this on the desktop, you might find this in your start menu. Desktop pictured)

Next, go to the Hardware tab and select “Device Manager.” (note: Windows XP is pictured, but the exact placement of device manager may vary slightly in Win98 and Vista)

Next, go to the “Ports” section of device manager and click the + sign next to it to open it, if it is not already open. You should see something like this:

Now plug in ONE of your Moates.net devices. We are going to plug them in one at a time to figure out which ports Windows is assigning to them. Assuming everything is working, you should see something like this in device manager:

The “USB Serial Port” device pictured is using COM10. Some software has issues with COM ports greater than 8, so the first thing we are going to do is change the port it uses to a port less than 8. Looking at device manager, you can see that Bluetooth Communications Port has used COM5 and a Communications Port has used COM1. We should not use either of these ports. We are going to change to COM3, which is unused. First step: right click on the “USB Serial Port” device and click “Properties.”

Next, click on the “Port Settings” tab at the top of the Window.

Next click the “Advanced” button.

On this screen, there are several things to change. First change the COM Port Number to COM3, the port we decided was open. If all of your ports say “in use” you can still select them, but it is recommended you find an unused port under 8. Second, set the Latency Timer to 1 msec. When you are done, click OK on this screen and the driver screen that follows until you are back at Device Manager.

These are the optimal settings for our devices (COM1 – COM8 and Latency = 1ms). If you had trouble, try again with these settings. Remember which port your device was using in device manager when it comes time to configure your tuning software.

Common Issues with USB Drivers and Connections

It is possible to disable devices in Windows. Sometimes this can happen accidentally. If a device is disabled, it has a red X across its icon, like the Bluetooth Communications Port in this picture.

To enable it, right click on the device and select “Enable.” Afterwards, the device should not have a red X across its icon.

Devices can also have issues loading or have device driver problems. When this happens, a yellow exclamation mark appears. Almost 100% of the time, this is a sign that you need to reinstall device drivers. If a simple reinstall does not fix the issue, there is a more heavyhanded method to reinstall drivers using FTCLEAN.

As a rule of thumb, the WHQL drivers which will be downloaded automatically will work fine.  However, it is recommended that you use the drivers from our site with Win98, WinXP and Vista.  Automatic drivers will generally work fine for Win7 but there are certain known good drivers.  We specifically recommend the latest drivers available from FTDI for machines running Windows 8, 8.1, Win10 or newer.

Specifically recommended driver versions:

• Windows 98/ME drivers can be downloaded by clicking here.
• Windows 2000/XP/Vista drivers can be downloaded by clicking here.
• There is a Vista Specific Guide that may be helpful to those running Vista.  Vista is also known to work well with the 2.08.x.x series of drivers in addition to the drivers listed above.
• Windows 7 is known to be stable with the 2.08.24 driver (available under “no longer supported drivers”) as well as the 2.12.x.x series (latest at time of writing) which are both available here.  In some cases, the 2.08 series works better than 2.12 series, your mileage may vary.  Use of drivers older than the 2.08 series is not recommended!
• 8 and 8.1 are known to be stable with the 2.08.24 driver (available under “no longer supported drivers”) as well as the 2.12.x.x series (latest at time of writing) which are both available here.  In some cases, the 2.08 series works better than 2.12 series, your mileage may vary.  Use of drivers older than the 2.08 series is not recommended!
• Windows 10 and newer machines are highly recommended to use the latest and greatest VCP drivers available directly from the USB chip’s manufacturer here. (at time of writing: 2.12.28.0)  In rare cases, the 2.08.24 driver (available under “no longer supported drivers”) can work better but this is NOT recommended.  Use of drivers older than the 2.08 series is known to cause issues!

If you have trouble, start with this troubleshooting guide.

If you have trouble, you may also want to look at FTDI’s Installation Guides for your OS.

Periodically we release new firmware for our products. We generally recommend AGAINST updating firmware unless you have a very specific reason for doing so, as there is always the chance something will go wrong during an update leaving the device bricked in a state where it has to be sent in for repair.

If you are attempting to update your firmware because you think your current firmware is corrupt, be advised that you will not be able to update your firmware unless the old firmware actually works (a little) and is able to accept new firmware. You will have to return your device to us in these cases.  Some newer r

Again, most of the time problems can be resolved without a firmware upgrade. Consult this site and/or contact us at [email protected] if you think you need a firmware update.

Firmware Update Procedure

The information on this page pertains to the following devices:

• APU1 AutoProm
• Ostrich 1.0
• Ostrich 2.0
• Flash & Burn (BURN1 / BURN2 / Jaybird)
• Roadrunner LS1 16-Bit Emulator
• QuarterHorse J3 Ford Emulator
• Demon integrated tuning device
• NEMU integrated tuning device

Directions for updating firmware:

1. Download the following utility (new version as of 2017):
   Firmware Update Utility
   and unzip it to the location of your choice.
2. Download the appropriate firmware package for your hardware from the table below and unzip it to the location of your choice (preferably to the same location as the update utility).
3. Connect your hardware to your PC and close all software applications.
4. Start the firmware update utility. Your hardware should be automatically detected. If it isn’t, click the “Detect” button
5. Click the “Browse” button in the update utility and browse to the firmware package you downloaded and unzipped in step 2 above.
6. If the package and hardware match, the “Update” button should be available. Press it now.
7. Once complete, the updater should notify you of success and display the new version information.

Firmware downloads for individual units:

Although our hardware uses USB connectivity, you don’t have to be a kernel level device driver programmer or any sort of expert in the USB framework to interface our devices.Our devices simply create a virtual COM port that can be written to via all sorts of methods.

Old-school Windows programmers may be familiar with using the Windows API to play with serial ports. While this is fun, the new school .NET programmers can throw together applications in literally minutes using serialPort objects. We would love to see a C# Moates Hardware Class with all of our hardware features implemented. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten around to doing it.

One of the downfalls of using a virtual serial port is that customers seem to have problems remembering baud rate settings. Luckily there is a (not so simple) solution. FTDI devices can be interfaced through what is known as the D2XX API. Basically, you import functions from their unmanaged DLL and you can connect to their devices without the user ever having to select a COM port. We have begun developing a C# Class based on an example from the FTDI website, but it is far from completion.

The following guide (MS Excel format) details the commands and expected responses for all of our devices.  If you don’t see something you need or have questions, email us.

Download the Moates Hardware Interfacing Guide here (v19 2/11/10)

In terms of understanding what commands are used when and how they fit together – looking at an ADX for TunerPro RT that makes use of the device is a great way to put things together.  The ADX has sections for connect, initialization, packets, etc.

Devices with Onboard Logging

Although the command structure is outlined in the above document, the procedure for using the onboard logging facilities of newer integrated devices is complex and the order of operations maters.  The example that will be illustrated here will be for the Demon / Demon2 but it should be more or less the same for the NEMU and have much in common with the SuperLogger.

1. Pause for data rate (otherwise TunerPro could potentially hammer the Demon faster than it could retrieve new packets from the ECU) and limit to 10Hz (or whatever you want)
2. DR command: setup packet = “0x44 0x52 0x0F 0x17 0x00 0x05 0x04 0x05 0x05 0x1D 0x1B 0x14 0x1E 0x15 0x05 0x05 0x20 0x10 0x11 0x12 0x13 0x05 0x05 0x16 0x22 0x1C 0x17 0x18 0x05 0x05 0x19 0x1A 0x21 0x22 0x1F” =
   1. 0x44(‘D’) 0x52(‘R’)
   2. 0x0F(ADC fetch mask = all channels)
   3. 0x17(baud rate divisor 17hex=23decimal for 38400 baud)
   4. 0x00(c=reserved)
   5. 0x05(d=reserved)
   6. 0x04(4 elements in structure, can use ‘0’ for ADC only)
   7. 0x05(5 bytes to send for first element)
   8. 0x05(five response bytes expected)
   9. 0x1D 0x1B 0x14 0x1E 0x15 (req1)
   10. 0x05 0x05 0x20 0x10 0x11 (req2)
   11. 0x12 0x13 0x05 0x05 0x16 (req3)
   12. 0x22 0x1C 0x17 0x18 0x05 (req4)
   13. 0x05 0x19 0x1A 0x21 0x22 (req5)
   14. 0x1F (checksum)
   15. expect “Okay” repsonse: 0x4f (‘O’)
3. Send retrieve packet: 0x64 (‘d)
4. Wait for packet of configured length (in this case: 30 bytes)

(above section is work in progress)

Firmware Updates

• The new version of Binary Editor 2010 requires QH firmware 1.6 or higher.Most firmware upgrades are bugfixes of one variety or another.  If you aren’t having trouble, chances are the bugs do not affect you.
• Most bugs affected the QH when operating in modes 3 and 4 (EECV)
• The latest firmware revision as of 2/11/10 (version 1.6) allows you to read the stock program from an ECM using the QuarterHorse.

Program Switching with QuarterHorse

Here are pictures which detail how the rotary switch is installed on the QuarterHorse. The kit comes with a length of no-clean solder, and it is very easy. Follow the pictures for guidance, and remember, this is ONLY for EEC-IV and not post-1995 EEC-V.

First, look at the connector part you received. It may or may not have had one of the 4 pins removed. If not, pull it out so that it is as shown.

Go ahead and use the no-clean solder that was supplied. Get one spot on the QH connector tinned up like it shows in the picture.
Now, hold the modified 4 (now 3) pin connector in place as shown, re-heating the solder so that the two pieces can be bonded together in the correct position.

Now, come in with the solder on the other 2 joints. Use a little extra for strength, but don’t go overboard. Re-heat and add solder to the first joint you started with here to ensure good connection.

Soldering work is now complete, so check fitment of the cable and look for straightness and orientation. Use the photo below for reference.

Here’s another angle showing solder joint details.

These are most of the parts (pin header shown unmodified) that come with the switch kit. Knob is also included (shown in 2nd picture below).

Here is what the completed switch / QH / knob assembly should look like:

This is a pretty simple installation. It basically overrides the BS0/BS3 lines (if you’re familiar with this terminology) at the EEC connector. Therefore, to repeat, this is NOT to be used on EEC-V applications.

NOTE: The QuarterHorse must be configured to use MODE 1 or the switch will NOT WORK.  As of the time of writing (Apr 2011) Binary Editor is the only software that supports Mode switching which means it is also the ONLY software that will currently work with the switcher module.

Switching Low Level Details

While in Mode1, there are 4 tunes available.  The following table explains the state of each pin while each tune in BE is active.  It matches the pin orientation of the header that is pictured above.

 

If you don’t want to use our switching kit but you do want to do switching, you need to understand how this state table works. The first thing to keep in mind is that all pins default to “1” or 5V unless you intervene – this is called “pulled up.” When you are figuring out what state the QH is going to be in, you must always assume any pins you haven’t specifically changed the state of will be “1.” A simple way of doing switching without our kit would be to solder a wire to the GND pin (by itself, above) and to the one next to it (BS0). If you were to put a toggle switch on this, you would be changing between Tune 0 (switch open) and Tune 3 (BS0 = GND)