Diesel Power

Diesel Performance Smartbox

The combination of a turbocharger and a Diesel engine gives an ideal combination of power produced at low engine revs, a tremendous amount of torque produced over a wide rev range, world renowned reliability and economy which cannot be beaten. But mass production forces compromises. This often drastically reduces performance.

Because of this, a technique was developed which radically improves the performance of all makes and models.

This technique will give you:

• More Power throughout the rev-range – up to 35%
• More Torque throughout the rev-range up to 40%
• Better Throttle Response and Acceleration

Your vehicle is emission tested before and after and fuel economy is often better

Why do manufactures make compromises?

In order to achieve consistent performance and good fuel economy all mass-produced Turbo Diesel engines are de-tuned.

What affect does this have?

Many people have told us that they feel they have or drive their vehicle with the accelerator pedal pressed firmly to the floor to achieve satisfactory performance. Comments such as ‘the engine has no response below 2500 rpm’ and ‘the performance tails off too early in the rev range’ are not uncommon.

To understand how we get this, you need to know how a Turbo Diesel works.

How do Turbo Diesels work?

A Turbo Diesel has two main components, the Diesel fuel pump and the Turbocharger.

The Diesel pump has two objectives to achieve:

First to supply fuel to the engine when no boost is being produced and, secondly, to give additional fuel when boost is being produced. The pump has two separate systems to do this. When no boost is being produced, the Main Fuel facility supplies fuel in response to accelerator position. The On-boost Fuel facility adds to the main fuel as boost pressure increases.

A diesel engine has no butterfly and therefore there is no inlet restriction to air and it operates with excess of air almost all the time. Hence, any boost pressure produced, even at a small setting – giving a small input of fuel – is transmitted to the engine. As the accelerator setting is increased, the increase in fuel will cause the boost to increase to a level, which is only limited by the wastegate actuator setting. Many standard vehicles will never reach the maximum actuator setting even on full throttle they are not set up to supply enough fuel.

What’s wrong with the standard set-up?

The main problem with most standard Turbo Diesel engines as supplied from the factory is that the On-boost additional fuel is not added progressively in relation to the boost pressure increasing. Initially, as the boost comes in, the On-boost fuel reaches its maximum level too soon, the air/fuel ratio is often richer then Stochiometric and black smoke is produced.

Later, as boost increases with the On-boost fuel at its highest level, there is insufficient fuel to match the amount of air entering the engine – a lean condition- and the power potentially available is not obtained.

Even on a static M.O.T. emissions test, enough boost is produced to bring in the On-boost fuel, which in many engines produce excessively high emissions even when new. And excessive emissions of smoke are often produced when taking up power, accelerating hard and changing gear.

How do we overcome the problems?

After making benchmark tests of emissions, boost pressure and performance for your vehicle, we start making adjustments to your Diesel fuel pump. The on-boost fuel is completely re-calibrated to match additional fuel against additional boost. This is achieving this using a sophisticated technique- involving both science and creative know-how. In this way, the emissions test is not affected by undue amounts of on-boost fuel, allowing an increase to the main fuel and keeping the emissions compliant.

What do you gain?

The Performance modification gives you the best possible power, response and flexibility from your engine – in some cases up to 35% more power and 40% more torque.

You will feel the Performance gains from the Optimisation technique as soon as you drive your vehicle away. The torque is increased from idle upwards, even before nay boost is produced. This expands the useable rev-range of your engine and brings boost pressure in faster and earlier. Mid-range power and torque increases provide most of what you feel whilst driving. By correctly matching air/fuel ratios throughout the rev-range, top end power is increased.

In short, Power and Torque will now be maintained at their optimum levels throughout the whole rev-range reducing the drama involved with overtaking, Less gear changes will be required because of the wider power band making for a more relaxed drive.

The optimisation also improves fuel atomisation, hence combustion, and thus can also improve fuel economy.

Electronic Turbo Diesels with CAN-bus Technology

Modern electronically controlled Turbo Diesel’s use and Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to control the Diesel injection pump. Older and less sophisticated turbo Diesels use completely mechanical pumps.

Precise electronic control allows for greater engine efficiency, reduced emissions and improved driveability. When tuned correctly, electronic control allows for improved power and response over a conventional mechanical set-up. Electronic control can improve a Turbo Diesel immeasurably in comparison with a conventional mechanical set-up and is the main reason for Turbo Diesels making such strides against their petrol engines.

The ECU uses various sensors to collect data about the engines operating conditions, such as engine speed, throttle pedal position and boost pressure. The ECU uses this data to determine two values for fuel delivery – fuel injection quality (how much) and injection timing (when). These values are then transmitted onto a CAN-bus data kink that is connected between the ECU and the Diesel injection pump. The CAN-bus is an electronic bi-directional link that allows the ECU to send commands to the pump and the pump to send data back to the ECU. The physical part of the link consists of two wires. The ECU and pump transmit and receive electrical messages onto/from the CAN-link using special set of rules or protocol for CAN-bus communications. Amongst other things, this protocol prevents messages been overwritten by each other and ensures error free data transfer.

The Diesel injection pump pressurises the Diesel fuel and distributes it to each cylinder. The fuel must reach extremely high pressure in order to break the opening of the injector and also to force it’s way into the cylinder on the compression stroke. Electronic control is used to regulate precisely how much fuel is delivered and at what point during the engine cycle.