I installed back the stock air box yesterday morning when I snaked the USB cable into the cabin. Yeah, I do like the whistle noise from the short ram intake. The SRI harmonic is different between the cone filter bolted down with a bracket and hanging lose from the silicone coupler. There is more wheezing from the lose cone filter.

 

Steven, Did you get CELs with your custom intake?

 

I only test drove the car around the gated community, a couple of miles at best probably not enough seat time. Vacation time was running out and I need my beater/commuter car to be reliable. The priority was to get the USB cable, the laptop and the SMT8L setup for logging. I also had to finish the bi-xenon mini stage H1 retrofit.

 

Sounds like most of the CELs were with custom intakes on the top end. Lean conditions and misfires lend further to that diagnosis. You need fuel up there!

One thing at a time, though.

Part of the difficultly with piggybacks is interlacing their mapping and signals with the stock ECU. The SMT8L is only adding fuel under boost through the 5th injector. The factory computer is still controlling the factory injectors.

When you add an intake, it is very possible to mess with the intake sensors themselves. Changing the diameter of the intake tube can have a disastrous effect on the way the engine reads.

If your engine is receiving messed up data, the piggyback also receives messed up data. Part of the intricacies of diagnosis is figuring out which computer is seeing what. I'll detail more of that in the SMT FAQ.

 

Introducing resonance (other than what was tuned for by the OE), changing the pipe diameter and/or route of the air flow's path of travel shortly ahead of/after a MAF is going to wreak havoc.

Add to that a change in the VE curve from what the ECU/Piggyback is looking for and you're bound to see some CELs and drivability issues.

Unless you have a way to tune, you should really be installing this identically to the way Sprintex designed. Exhaust or Intake modifications WILL affect VE.

 

I've got the beginnings of the SMT FAQ unit going: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ml#post1217216

Try the downloads and let me know if they work for you, please. We use a public folder in Dropbox for file hosting.

This is for the open SMT8-L boxes, only.

There is a newer version of the LetRipp software, v2.1533. We use this when loading the SMT8-L boxes.

This also has some updated USB drivers for 64bit computers. They make the uploading and downloading more consistent.

No support is offered for MAC machines. Sorry.

I'll get a sample log, some screenshots, and other helpful stuff up there.

 

Gary, the link for the letripp software is bad... or to be more precise, you need more files zipped together. that setup.exe file is just one part of it.

 

When you right click, save as, and run it, what does it do?

 

i downloaded the file fine (only 362KB)... its just when you run it, it looks for other files.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...loy_Public.msi

Try that one!

 

that one works.... now i just need to uninstall the old one, since it won't continue with older version installed.

edit:

Hum... now the program crashes when I try to load offline or play the log file. don't know how to open the ldc file yet (not showing up in file > open). gonna check to see if a reboot helps, if not, i'm gonna go back to the previous version for the meantime.

no dice. still crashed. up in the corner, where the previous version said "No USB Comm's", the new version says "Not Authorised!" So, I'm wondering if there's a licensing issue. went back to the old one and was able to load and play the log file.

just need to figure out how to manage the various displays (maybe conflict with window's theme). yup, it was a conflict with the way i had windows display text (medium)... it wants it small.

also found out, the app doesn't want ANY extension on the map file you want to load from the PC. I had to delete the ".ldc" part for it to pick up. and of course, without the piggyback plugged in, you have to "load offline smt8 lite-piggyback" to actually load the file (otherwise it won't do anything when you click load for the map file).

 

Ok. You're making great progress. This is where some of the settings and bugs come into play.

Sometimes, connecting to the unit is only good for one operating cycle of the OS. You need to reboot and connect it again. The driver files I posted help with this behavior, but you sometimes still need to reboot. Try that first.

Under the "tools" menu, select "communications setup". You want "USB Fast 1.25".

When you connect the box, let it finish connecting. Plug into the unit with the software off. Let windows find it and install the drivers. Windows should ding when you plug it in. When done, it should tell you that the "device is ready to use".

Some of these little issues are why we were hesitant to release it with an open box. If you can handle the little connection issues, then you can handle the rest of the unit. Consider it the "secret handshake" instead of an I.Q. test .

 

before i installed the kit, i was able to connect to the piggyback a few days ago (actually with some effort getting the USB to work). I wanted to copy the map from the piggyback so I could get a feel for it later, but I couldn't figure out what the upload and download meant in the menu (upload TO or FROM?)... and I didn't want to risk "uploading" a blank map onto the piggyback! Only manage to figure it out today when I click on the "help" button for function keys. of course, now the piggyback is install and my car is under about 5 inches of snow.

 

I updated over there. That table is not used. AFR modification is used. I'm anal about these things and zero it out anyway.

You upload FROM the unit and download TO the unit. Translation issues are our number one problem being an international company. Even though we both speak English between here and Oz, there's still translation issues. The software is from South Africa, to boot.

I posted a copy of the map AND Steven's log as a sample. You need to be connected to the unit to change the mapping, but not to view a log file.

Jay has used these for over a decade and is used to the connectivity issues. Once you get past those, it's not a bad unit.

 

Actually, you can load the map without plugging in, if you do the "load offline smt8 lite piggyback" option from the menu.

In any case... I tripped limp mode on my way to work... But it probably didn't help that i was furiously spinning my wheels a moment earlier trying to just make a simple right turn (with a huge bank of slush along my right side). I only realized when i was trying to accelerate down the ramp onto the highway. Put my Fit in neutral, flipped the key to off then back on and crank.... And kept on going, this time at faster acceleration.

Checked the codes later.... While there was a CEL flickering during the limp, it stayed off after the impromptu restart and no actual codes were thrown. However, the same five misfire codes are there in pending. Lets see what happenes later.

 

Gotcha. Please send a log file when you can. The more logs we can get, the merrier.

If a specific action triggers a code or limp mode, you can catch it on a log and trace it pretty quickly. That indicates a systemic flaw because it is exactly repeatable in that specific way. When errors occur at random then that usually indicates an electrical flaw like bad wiring. With those you usually need the car in front of you.

 

Sorry, i didn't log it. I guess i should dig out one of my many usb cables and see if i have a long enough one and my power inverter for my huge laptop. Too bad we couldn't just plug this into an iPad or droid.

I might need to invest in a much smaller laptop.

 

I must say I have not been this excited in some time. I have been in contact with Jon at RPM Extreme and Gary at Spirntex, and both have been extremely helpful. I plan on ponying up the cash and ordering in the morning. Looking forward to joining the supercharged ge8 club. Great info in this thread guys! I think I have read through the 10 pages 3 times today.

 

Are you planning on doing the install yourself? It ain't for the faint of heart, but doable.

 

I HAD planned on doing it myself, but after reading through this thread I have this horrible feeling I would end up butchering the wiring. I have all the confidence in being able to get the kit on my car, but on there and running correctly is a different story haha.

I have spoken with Jon at RPM and he has quoted me a fair price for install and since he is only about 2.5 hours away from me I will probably drop it off one weekend and retrieve it the next. I want to have that piece of mind knowing it is done correctly the first time.

I'm just incredibly excited because I honestly never thought there would be any options to add power to our GE's.