pascal

That's the key to our problems it seems...

siggyfreud

I read this awhile ago and just now stopped slapping my knee Pascal

VRFlip

Sounds like a great N/A / Spray solution.

JIM5.0

I just thought of something: Just what kind of processing power do our 'Stang ECU's posses?

If the '12 Boss uses an ECU that can store a second tune and switch between the stock tune and the second tune at whim, why not flash in two non-stock tunes? One for ***** to the wall performance (given your mods) and the other for daily driving (again based on daily driving).

And if our ECUs are so sophisticated because they are able to to execute all of these tables of tuning code to run our cars, why cannot our non-Boss current ECUs also store more than one tune and switch between them at the whim of the driver? Are our ECUs purposefully made to be that weanie?

Home computers have 32 bit internal buses and the more current ones have no less than 64 bit internal buses, and something called "hyper-threading." They are multi-core, most being 2 actual CPUs on one silicone cut die, where more current ones have 4 cores, and there are some that now have as many as 8 cores on one die (these are industrial CPUs, not yet available for public sale).

Moreover, home CPUs, even the 4 core ones, are very capable of multi-tasking. Why cannot car ECUs be put to the same paces? And desktop CPUs are not that expensive, about $320 for an Intel Core2 quad-core (cheaper in many cases).

Why are car ECUs so damn overpriced and yet they are incapable of handling not even a 10% of the processing load a home CPU can?

I am not a computer engineer or anything like that. Anyone who knows, please do reply.

JDWalton

I'm inclined to think its going to be a FRPP product you need to purchase like any other. Mostly cause I finished the article:

"TracKey powertrain software installation and key programming will be available to 2012 Mustang Boss 302 owners through Ford Racing authorized dealers. Pricing will be announced at a later date."

hyper-threading is a Intel solution where its handling 2 threads on one chip, so the operating system sees each core as 2. So the quad core I7s show as 8 processors inside the OS.

As for the question about why they don't do more. You have to weight the need, cost, reliability, and size. Imagine if the computer under your hood had to have venting and active cooling for example (to house a high power consumption fast multi-core processor.) The first time your car got wet you would be hosed (pun intended.) There is a bunch of other reasons, but the main thing is there has never been a need. IF theres no need, there not going to make more money by investing in developing a un-needed item.

157dB

Old news. They have been around for quite a while now.
Ford is just now using the system, thats all....
A wedge under the gas pedal does the same thing...

The TracKey PCM software, installed by an authorized
Ford dealer after a customer takes delivery of the car,
adjusts variable cam timing, spark maps, engine braking,
fuel control and other engine parameters – more than 200 in total –
to provide a complete race car calibration.
The result is an aggressive, race-bred driving experience all the way
down to the lopey idle rumbling through the Boss quad exhaust.

You couldnt have made that standard for the price of the BOSS302??? WTF???
Its just a software thing, not an additional hardware requirement...

Dealer installed option. YUCK la on them...

siggyfreud

Yes, it's not new technology, but by no means has it been implemented widespread.

MELLOWYELLOW06

Here is a shot of the motor I took at SEMA. Either way, old or new, its just a little extra tech you would be getting.

GT Premi

Sort of like the "M" button in BMW M// cars; except, the driver has no ability to program TracKey.

JIM5.0

The only reason why I bring up desktop CPUs and comparing them to car ECUs is the tremendous price difference between the two. An ECU cost as much as a home CPU, probably even more, yet the ECU is an absolute wimp. As I said, an ECU probably has maybe one tenth the processing power as a desktop CPU, yet the makers of ECUS gouge the car companies by inflating the prices beyond belief.

Well, a 4.6L ECU can be had on the net for one red crumby cent under $100, but the Coyote ECU is sure to cost at least $500 if that blows up and you have to pay the dealer to replace it (not counting labor).

For more flash memory, you can then have multiple tunes stored in the car, and with the push of a button, you can go from DD tune (an all-out maximized fuel economy given the mods on the car), a spirited street driving tune (street performance, of course at the sacrifice of fuel economy), a tune for off road (totally dedicated track tune), and the all-coveted emissions legal tune to keep your car legal for when you have to go do a sniff test when your car is inspected (Cali for example).

And with more processing power, even one quarter the power of a non-hyperthreaded quad-core CPU, you can thrown even more tune algorithm tables, possible a thousand or so tables at the ECU and it will crunch them to give you a much more infinitely continuous parameter curves of all sorts. The aftermarket tuners will at first hate this because you will have to now write new tuning software that not just mods and adjust dozens of tables, but simultaneously possible a hundred or so simultaneously so all the parameters are performing in unison and harmoniously for an actual performance increase.

As for cooling a high-heat generating processor, you don't have to expose the processor to air at all. There are actually water cooled processors today. The only thing exposed to the air is the radiating heat-sink, which is as much as over 1 foot away from the chip itself. And if you get that heat sink wet, all that does is help cool the CPU even faster because the evaporating water on the radiator fins will draw away heat.

I am pretty much just rambling on here as I type out my thoughts, but my thought is car ECUs should be dirt cheap because they are so damn one-track-minded. They cannot switch between multiple tunes; you have to flash in a new tune over the existing one each time.
They are not near as sophisticated and powerful as a desktop CPU and as such, they should never cost as much or more than a modern desktop CPU.