Home Made Fuel Injector Cleaning Machine

[pocket-rocket]

I got my book today. So far it looks cool, although the first half seems to be explaining OEM ECUs, piggybacks, stand alones, reluctor wheels, FPRs, 850lbs/hr injectors (O.O), injector sizing, ect. This was just flipping through it though. I haven't read anything in depth yet, so I haven't gotten to the meat of it. I hope to do that this weekend.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Okay... I am fairly excited about this...but since it involves a set of eight [8] used Rochester Multec EFIS rated at 22 PPH for my 1993 LT-1 motor, I know that many will not have the same interest as I do. Just know that in the context of where and what kind of any set of injectors needing cleaning come from or happen to be..."The FrankInjector Machine" won't give two pins about that one way or another. I just wanted to convey how much trouble I had to go through in order to find these rare EFIs. It would seem that inaugural 4th Gen F-Body cars like mine that hit the scene in 1993 had non-electronic automatic transmissions and the fuel injectors were rated at only 22 PPH. In the many years that followed, the popular prejudice in them was set at 24 PPH... and so...without a tunable PCM due to it having a burned in EPROM chip running the show.. .putting in anything other than the 22 pounders was just asking for "Tooning Trouble".

So I was glad to get the full set for only $75.00 and also discover that they are in excellent cosmetic shape...and by extension... that means the innards will clean up just fine inside and out after I have replaced their 10 micron filter baskets with brand new ones after they've had a nice long and "Frank" conversation with "The FrankInjector Machine". Oh...and in case the question arises about "why not just send them off for the ASNU Cleaning?" These injectors run around $25.00 per EFI for cleaning... which comes to $200.00...without including S&H Costs. So I still say that if you own more than one vehicle in your household ...eventually using your own version of this EFI Cleaning Machine will more than pay for itself in saved repairs, delays in service, higher engine performance and lower fuel costs.

I took some good "B4" images to compare later when I've had the chance to completely clean and re-build them and I'll shoot some "in situ" videos of their cleansing progress...

http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/60dgrzbelow0/

http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/60dgrzbelow0/HOMEMADEEFICLEANER/

[60dgrzbelow0]

[B]

=robertisaar;435786 - Uber Luber, huh?

something less expensive than the barbaric yet overpriced kit that OTC sells for the DIS motors to prelube them before initial fire-up?

but to be fair, i was gone for quite some time.

Nope... The OTCs will not be involved in the design and build of "Der FrankenUberLuber" (Oober Loober) Have a look at this post about it.... You'll get the gist of the idea. I'll be mocking up and starting to build the first version this coming week and testing its performance soon.

http://www.60degreev6.com/forum/show...Oiling-Machine

[pocket-rocket]

Awesome. Thanks for the book reference, Bob. I looked around a bit on Amazon before buying a book (along with two others for my wife for her RN related classes- hers was more expensive, go figure) and settled on this because of the ratings and it talking about stock ECUs. I'll probably buy the one you have as well later, but for now I got this one seeing how I need to learn more of the basics before I dive into advanced stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Fuel-Injection-Systems-HP1557/dp/1557885575/ref=pd_sim_b_2

[robertisaar]

uber luber, huh?

something less expensive than the barbaric yet overpriced kit that OTC sells for the DIS motors to prelube them before initial fireup?

but to be fair, i was gone for quite some time.

[60dgrzbelow0]

It wasn't you that "disappeared", Robert......but Ollapa.... I feel like Augustus Caesar...Yelling at his troops for not getting back his "Eagles" when his troops were wiped out in Gaul...after the Germans butchered his legions and then stole his standards. In this case... Frank needs the thing Ollapa said he would build to "complete me"... I really want this project completed... I have so many other ideas I want to get to get work on... Like "The FrankenUberLuber Machine" which I think is the next thing really worth building...

[robertisaar]

i've actually seen a solid state relay made using a LED and phototransistor, so it's certainly workable.

and the disappearing act was unintentional Bob.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Hello Robert... Long time ... No Hear... Glad you are Okay...

I know this doesn't make sense...But... instead of using sound... (and since Ollopa has disappeared from "site" (LOL) with his "Gizmo-in-Tow" ) What if I continue to work on "Frank" by using a child's pinwheel inside of a shoebox and after hooking up a photoelectric relay on one end... put a flashlightat the other end and turn a small fan on the pinwheel...and watch "Frank" Rock n' Roll while spritzing the hell out of a set of EFIs..."

Pocket... See the attached image of the thing Max mentioned to you....

[pocket-rocket]

plus, i'd kinda like to know what the super mario brother's theme sounds like with injectors.

That would be epic, lol.

[robertisaar]

i'm still very serious about using audio files to control the injectors...

just have to figure out what combinations of components will allow me to combine a standard 1/8" stereo(or mono) cable from a laptop(or boombox, walkman, MP3 player, what have you, anything that can play CDs or just audio files) and using something like Audacity to create files with different lengths of silence/noise so that the injectors only fire when there is "sound" happening... unfortunately, i'm not that savvy with building my circuits around this stuff yet, though i imagine it requiring a solid-state relay(home-made if necessary) and a transistor or two... some pretty low-buck stuff IMO.

and being able to go beyond Bob's stated 50/100/1000mS on cycles will actually allow you to determine/adjust appropriate values in tunes to compensate for injector opening times based on supply voltage and minimum pulsewidths required to get consistent action.

plus, i'd kinda like to know what the super mario brother's theme sounds like with injectors.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Welcome back, Brother... I have been in the same boat as far as other projects and demands... Life somehow refuses to remain linear and thus... we all have to bounce around from one project to another. The short answer about whether the emulation of all the features of control exhibited by the PCM is necessary is ... No. Since it is not critical to have the injectors alternate their firing order in a normal ignition timing pattern and approaching a level of stoichiometric perfection is unnecessary, There really are only three things that need to be done on "Frank" to provide the means necessary in controlling how it works and achieve the completion of a proper cleaning and a set of performance tests to proof out sets of any EFIs to sanitary and fully functioning conditions:

1. The EFIs must be cycled at rates of 50 ms. 100ms and 1 second intervals to ensure that the internal metering valve and spring are up to snuff...and perform at rates for each speed/duration evenly, one with each other. If cycled like this again and again (at the moment, the only reasonably priced actuators are those from OTC), you will be able to determine if any injectors indicate problems electromagnetically... If they are sluggish and non-responsive after having their filter basket(s) replaced and after a thorough cleaning in an ultra-sonic hot tank and a through fluid pressure cleaning via "The FrankInjector machine"... then check them with a multi-meter for defective innards

2. The EFIs must be able to fire all at once in order to visualize the 50mL cylinders and observe the rise of the EFI cleaning fluid levels for comparison against each other as a set. The GM factory recommendation for the Rochester Multec lines of EFIs indicates they should all be within 5% of each other to prevent imbalances between cylinders through a wide range of metering needs...say from a 600 RPM idle all the way up through the entire operational range of the engine(s) performance.

3. The "ECM_Lite" version of the electronic controller must be straightforward and robust enough to function via leads from a 12 VDC Car Battery.

Here is a short but informative EFI sales video that prompts the end consumer to avoid cleaning their EFIs and suggests they clean and/or buy all new ones at 15,000 mile intervals. But the information in this video provides a lot of important factual data worth looking at whether the viewer is an old hand at this project...or a newcomer curious to know why this post has been "hit" almost 15,000 times since we started this unusual, but wholly successful repair project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueJkjLgVJVk

[Tbay99Venture]

The Frankinjector thread lives! I wondered why there wasn't an update in a while, but then I have been 60*V6 deprived for a while since I have been swamped with work, kids & honey-do things.

Still, I'm wondering what bits and pieces on the electrical end are left hanging. It looked like a pretty straightforward circuit posted a while back. Since it appears the low-impedance injectors aren't used a specialty controller chip isn't required. (That's what tripped me up when I first started looking around, but it's been old news to me since May.) Is this snag now just the wish to duplicate exactly what the PCM is doing, rather than some grouping of them in banks that the power supply could tolerate?

[60dgrzbelow0]

I have not heard a word from "ollopa" since last September, but since I received an odd question via my email project address of "at60dgrzbelow0@yahoo.com" concerning something I failed to adequately explain, I'll mention it now. When I was designing the clear Acrylic piping for the first version of "Frank", I had to be concerned with the possibility of the hose kinking and complete collapse whenever any acute angles or bends happened along the length of the Acrylic tubing. This might seem like a trivial problem, but keeping that tubing perpetually open is a critical problem with the machine and its solution came to me from an unusual set of experiences.

I remembered seeing something during many homicide autopsies I had to witness involving deaths by manual strangulation. It was common for the Forensic Pathologist to entirely remove the larynx and upper bronchial airway of the victim in order to dissect and get better view whether or not the victim's Hyoid Bone was crushed... a sure sign of non-accidental death from suffocation. When viewing these body parts up close, you can see the intimate details of that area, noting now that in our own anatomy, there are cartilaginous rings externally surrounding the windpipe at precise flexing intervals in the neck and upper body to prevent the collapse of the airway, should the windpipe be compromised by any external pressure or atmospheric changes while inhaling or exhaling.

Unlike the design of a vacuum hose, with ribs and indentations along the inside of the tube way, having something there to brace the spherical airway leaving the tubular interior surfaces glistening and glass smooth, thus NOT inducing any convolutions or places for junk and liquids to collect and obstruct breathing is important to long term health. It follows that I had to do something similar with the Acrylic tubing in order to ensure that all of the EFI Cleaning Solution would make its way down inside the clear plastic gallon jug acting as the collection container. It occurred to me to use thin, strong plastic nylon straps/ties that when cinched up tightly at critical points along the outside of the tubing, the presence of those ties would force the tubing to remain open, even at points of greatest curvature or bending. And so to answer the person's question at last... The reason for the black nylon ties...is quite simply to allow "Frank"...to breathe... under the worst of circumstances...

[ollopa]

Well I think it's about time to check in with a status report. My wife had a vacation last month so we went out of town for a while and had a really great time. The electrolytic rust removal and VHT paint on the headers came out great and has been holding up beautifully.

I wanted to take this opportunity to try out some different CAD tools and technologies, so I've been a little bit distracted from the injector driver board layout. I've been messing around with toner transfer PCB creation using a modified laminator and CuCl etchant. I got really good results down to 5mils! That's just amazing for at-home PCB fabrication. I've also started working on a tabletop CNC mill/drill.

Getting back to this project, I started doing the board layout in KiCAD. It's probably the best there is that's open-source and free, but it's more cumbersome to use than commercial CAD software. I don't know how many revisions of the board I'll go through before I'm satisfied with the layout, but I'm planning to make my first board in the next few days.

I ran into a problem with my injector cleaner design. I bought glass cylinders instead of plastic for some reason and the glass bases are just a little bit too big to allow me to line the cylinders up beneath the injectors. I need to trim a little material off the sides of each glass base and I'm not sure what the best method is. Right now I'm thinking about using a soldering gun to make a hot wire and pressing the wire against the glass, then submerging the glass in some cold water. From what I've read, the glass should break along the line where I applied heat. I guess if that actually works, I'll try to make a video and share.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Well... I guess we'll all be "Standing By to Stand-By" until you fabricate your first "Magic Box" and finish your own version of "Frank" to test the thing out.

FWIW... I have an album on my photobucket site that shows my use of FiberGlas Header Wrap and also some White VHT Paint for reconditioning serviceable headers. The only problem with removing the rust and scale electrolytically is that sometimes... so much metal has rusted and flaked away that the remaining down tubes metal can wind up just about paper thin and burn through. Here is the link to the subject matter with special attention of the VHT Paint being on Page 2:

http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/60dgrzbelow0/HEADERS/?start=0