Project Road Terror Z

[Mettler]

Hahah Nick, along with the better torque curve and more HP, you're also going to have a weight reduction over using the VG30DETT

[qsiguy]

I'm going to have to advise to hold off on the Ostrich 2. I can't get it to work yet and haven't been able to get any support via email or phone for 3 days. Read on their forums about many having he same problem including Jeff Taylor and no solutions mentioned. I'll let you know if I make any progress.

[T45]

Hahah Nick, along with the better torque curve and more HP, you're also going to have a weight reduction over using the VG30DETT

Make that a massive one too!!! The VG30DE weighed a lot compared to the VH, I could tell just pushing it around on the engine hoist. I can't imagine the VG30DETT weighing in any less than 150-200 lbs more than the VH.

[npez]

I'm going to have to advise to hold off on the Ostrich 2. I can't get it to work yet and haven't been able to get any support via email or phone for 3 days. Read on their forums about many having he same problem including Jeff Taylor and no solutions mentioned. I'll let you know if I make any progress.

Shane,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll wait to hear from you until I go ahead and purchase (assuming this isn't my father's day present). What type of problems are you seeing?

Thanks,Nick.

[qsiguy]

I can communicate with it via laptop, upload to it, etc. When it's plugged into the ECU it is not recognized at all that I can tell. The car will start but in limp mode. I haven't tried it but I would guess that's what it would do without any chip installed at all. With the Ostrich 2 plugged in to the ECU I can't even communicate using the consult to aid troubleshooting. I have tried many different settings within Tunerpro RT and nothing seems to work. Tried stacking two identical bins. Seems like it is burning the bin to the wrong area of the chip and I can't see how you would change it. The Ostrich doesn't have it's own software, it just uses Tunerpro RT or Emutil to upload to it. I have had zero luck so far with it. Worst part is the lack of timely support. I've loved the Burn1 I got from them and it's worked flawlessly but this is really making me grumpy.

[SuperHatch]

I can communicate with it via laptop, upload to it, etc. When it's plugged into the ECU it is not recognized at all that I can tell. The car will start but in limp mode. I haven't tried it but I would guess that's what it would do without any chip installed at all. With the Ostrich 2 plugged in to the ECU I can't even communicate using the consult to aid troubleshooting. I have tried many different settings within Tunerpro RT and nothing seems to work. Tried stacking two identical bins. Seems like it is burning the bin to the wrong area of the chip and I can't see how you would change it. The Ostrich doesn't have it's own software, it just uses Tunerpro RT or Emutil to upload to it. I have had zero luck so far with it. Worst part is the lack of timely support. I've loved the Burn1 I got from them and it's worked flawlessly but this is really making me grumpy.

Isn't Nistune capable of communicating with the ostrich directly as well?

[npez]

I can communicate with it via laptop, upload to it, etc. When it's plugged into the ECU it is not recognized at all that I can tell. The car will start but in limp mode. I haven't tried it but I would guess that's what it would do without any chip installed at all. With the Ostrich 2 plugged in to the ECU I can't even communicate using the consult to aid troubleshooting. I have tried many different settings within Tunerpro RT and nothing seems to work. Tried stacking two identical bins. Seems like it is burning the bin to the wrong area of the chip and I can't see how you would change it. The Ostrich doesn't have it's own software, it just uses Tunerpro RT or Emutil to upload to it. I have had zero luck so far with it. Worst part is the lack of timely support. I've loved the Burn1 I got from them and it's worked flawlessly but this is really making me grumpy.

Shane,

Happy Father's Day! My father's day brought me an Ostrich 2.0 (and you're right other than the Moates sticker and the invoice there was nothing else from an instructions perspective - I think I read some instructions online though), so if there's anything you would like for me to test on my setup (as a cross-check, etc.) please let me know. I still need to piece my car together enough to be able to get to this, but when it's done, I'll be available to lend a hand.

I'm also going to call NisTune and ask them a lot of questions about the Ostrich 2.0 integration with NisTune *before* I buy that product. My plan is to piece the car back together, start it with the factory ECM, then install the Ostrich 2.0 and run the stock maps from the Ostrich. Once everything is working I will begin to "tweak" using NisTune.

Just let me know how I can help.

Thanks,Nick.

[Carl H]

sounds silly but did you plug it in wrong?

[npez]

I can communicate with it via laptop, upload to it, etc. When it's plugged into the ECU it is not recognized at all that I can tell. The car will start but in limp mode. I haven't tried it but I would guess that's what it would do without any chip installed at all. With the Ostrich 2 plugged in to the ECU I can't even communicate using the consult to aid troubleshooting. I have tried many different settings within Tunerpro RT and nothing seems to work. Tried stacking two identical bins. Seems like it is burning the bin to the wrong area of the chip and I can't see how you would change it. The Ostrich doesn't have it's own software, it just uses Tunerpro RT or Emutil to upload to it. I have had zero luck so far with it. Worst part is the lack of timely support. I've loved the Burn1 I got from them and it's worked flawlessly but this is really making me grumpy.

Shane,

The CD is *packed* with stuff. From the documentation (hence no paper instructions) to TunerproRT software, USB drivers, etc. Some of this stuff you've mentioned that you already have, but if you like I can copy the CD somewhere where you can download it.

Let me know if you want to do that.

Thanks,Nick.

[npez]

Shane,

I plugged my Ostrich 2 in, laptop only, as the car isn't ready to receive it yet. Like you I can upload the bin to it, compare, etc. successfully. Out of curiosity, did you start off with the bins that mettler had posted like 2 years ago? I tracked my ECU down based on that nico thread to the 64u01 bin. I am also using the bin definition that was included in the bundle of files. Do you have an updated xdf file for Tunerpro? The one I have seems to have some items with "?" marks in them and I didn't know if there was something newer you found and are using.

On where it writes to on the chip, does the hex editor in TunerPro help any? Mine shows data from 0000-7FFF for a total of 32K. I didn't see an offset setting either. I'm still a couple of weeks before I am in a position to attempt to start the car, but I thought I'd get started with this to accelerate the learning curve.

An interesting thing is that Nistune has ECU lookup files - if one doesn't exist you can create your own - Much of the information can be gotten from the bin definition file. Some of the interesting parameters you can define are:

OFFSET=&H<address>Specifies the memory address offset that the ROM image starts at in hexadecimal. For the following ECUtypes:16KB ROM (27C128) = &H8000 (ECU mirrors this at &HC000 - ROM vector table)32KB ROM (27C256/Early 16 bit) = &H800064KB ROM (Late 16 bit) = &H0000LENGTH=&H<size>Specifies the memory address size of the ROM image in hexadecimal. For the following ECU types:16KB ROM (27C128) = &H400032KB ROM (27C256/Early 16 bit) = &H800064KB ROM (Late 16 bit) = &H10000CONSULT=&H<address>Location of the Nissan consult table for register accessetc.etc.

I think Nistune may make it easier to get Ostrich2 to work, but that's me speaking as a noob as I haven't been exposed to much of this until now.

Thanks,Nick.

[qsiguy]

I finally got a reply from Moates but the initial things to try didn't help. I emailed Jeff Taylor (a nico member) who also purchased one a while ago. He wasn't able to get his working either and ended up completely changing the ECU to one that he can do real time tuning with. Sounded like a major project. He has since returned his Ostrich 2 for a refund.

I have a bunch of stuff for the ECU an no the BIN I'm starting with was not one I found on the web. I'm using my latest tune that I've been using on my car. I have tried a few others tho to make sure I didn't just have a corrupt file. I even tried stacking two identical bins but it appears to only let you load a 32K file as the hex file wasn't the same as the stacked BIN I uploaded.

I have tried various offsets while writing to the Ostrich and it didn't help. I don't believe the problem is related to writing to the Ostrich, that part seems to work fine. I have tried Tunerpro RT as well as Emutil from the Tunerpro site. No luck with either. I can upload to the Ostrich and then pull the bin back off using the Moates Burn1 and view the hex code and it appears right except for some code from 0x200 to 0x7FFF. From 0x8000 and up it looks like it should.

Communication is fine from computer to Ostrich, the problem is the ECU speaking to the Ostrich. Hopefully I can work out a solution with Moates assistance. I will be very disappointed if I can't get this working.

I assume Moates can send the files or a new CD but if it's convenient I'd love to get a zip file of that CD.

You've got mail...

[npez]

Thanks Shane. You've got mail as well.....

Nick.

[Carl H]

im pretty well versed in the ostrich and used the older one on my rb20 car several times to tune it...if you want i dont mind trying it out on there to see if i can get it to work.

[qsiguy]

I have a feeling it's got something to do with the Q45's ECU. Let me work with Moates a little more and see how it goes. I'll shoot you an email if I want to have you try that.

[npez]

I have a feeling it's got something to do with the Q45's ECU. Let me work with Moates a little more and see how it goes. I'll shoot you an email if I want to have you try that.

Shane,

Have you come to any conclusions on the Ostrich2? Please advise.

Thanks,Nick.

[qsiguy]

Just received my socket booster today. I tried it tonight and it appears to be working, at least on the bench. I could not get it to work with my zif socket so I had to pull it and put a standard low profile socket, which should be fine as long as I don't have to keep changing EPROMS. I still need to try it in the car but so far so good!

What's not good is pulling your chip/socket more than once. The tiny traces have a tendency to pull off the PCB during desoldering. I had to repair 3 separate traces that had broken, fortunately I found all the problem traces and got it working.

[npez]

Just received my socket booster today. I tried it tonight and it appears to be working, at least on the bench. I could not get it to work with my zif socket so I had to pull it and put a standard low profile socket, which should be fine as long as I don't have to keep changing EPROMS. I still need to try it in the car but so far so good!

What's not good is pulling your chip/socket more than once. The tiny traces have a tendency to pull off the PCB during desoldering. I had to repair 3 separate traces that had broken, fortunately I found all the problem traces and got it working.

Shane,

That is fantastic news (other than the traces breaking)! Let me know what you find out once in the car!

Thanks again for all your hard work with this....

Nick.

[qsiguy]

Plugged it into the car tonight and it started up fine with no signs of any problems. I'll drive it tomorrow and should know for sure if all is well.

[qsiguy]

Drove into the office today, 37 miles, and all is well. Everything seems to be working as it should. I haven't tried any real time tuning but there is no reason that wouldn't work.

Awesome!

[npez]

Drove into the office today, 37 miles, and all is well. Everything seems to be working as it should. I haven't tried any real time tuning but there is no reason that wouldn't work.

Awesome!

That's Fantastic!

[T45]

I almost forgot, by doing the cruise mod that I did the cruise works! All that you have to do is make the cable fit the VH bracket and you're golden!!! Awesome!

[npez]

I almost forgot, by doing the cruise mod that I did the cruise works! All that you have to do is make the cable fit the VH bracket and you're golden!!! Awesome!

Thanks Ben. I've got it all situated now. I'm at a dead stop right now as I still haven't received my oilpan from craigztoyz and am trying to figure out what is going on. As soon as I get it I can then take it for the manifolds, etc. and get this process moving again.

Nick.

[SuperHatch]

I was wondering why you and Craig had both been very quiet lately...

[npez]

I was wondering why you and Craig had both been very quiet lately...

Steve,

Yeah I've been trying to get a hold of him for the past 3 weeks - not answering his phone, no answer to e-mail, nothing. I hope firstly that he's ok, but if he is I hope he didn't screw me out of a modded oil pan. I paid for his mazworx adapter in return for the fabrication work. I've gotten everything but my modded oil pan back. However, without it I'm completely stuck. A new one is $455 + cost to mod it which I supposedly already paid for. I suppose I can track down a used one, but that still leaves me with the modification work that needs to be done.

I'm so pissed I can't see straight. Last person that screwed me like this ended up fleeing to mexico (and jump his bail and bench warrant) as I used some channels to get him criminally prosecuted for theft. I hope it doesn't get to that because Craig seemed like a nice, trustworthy guy.

We'll have to see and I hope I'm completely wrong on all of this.

Nick.

[SuperHatch]

Wow, sorry to hear that... Let me know if there's anything I can do. I have a spare pan and I won't charge you anywhere near $455 for it if you need it...

[npez]

Wow, sorry to hear that... Let me know if there's anything I can do. I have a spare pan and I won't charge you anywhere near $455 for it if you need it...

Steve,

Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on that. I'm going to give Craig until Friday to make things right, but after that I have to go into contingency mode. If you are in the mood for some fabrication work maybe we can work something out where you re-mod the pan - it's a front sump arrangement so it should be less work than doing a rear sump. Let me know if you're interested.

Thanks,Nick.

[tmorgan4]

I'm very surprised to hear that as well!

What kind of modifications were you having him do to the pan? I may be able to help out as well. I've got a new TIG that I'm trying to get some practice with.

[npez]

I'm very surprised to hear that as well! What kind of modifications were you having him do to the pan? I may be able to help out as well. I've got a new TIG that I'm trying to get some practice with.

Tyler,

Thanks for the offer to help. What I'm trying to do is basically change the bottom of the pan as it goes to the sump from back to front so it clears the cross-member/steering rack. This allows the engine to be sat lower versus a rear sump as you don't have to worry about the pickup tube going from front to back. Craig posted a thread regarding what he was doing here: zerothread/330109. Enlarging the kickouts on the pan for additional capacity would be great as well though. Now he did bring me the moded pickup tube when he came down to Houston so I'm in good shape there.

I am open to a rear sump setup if that'll be less work because it's been done before but I really think the front sump will be significantly less work. Dunno.

I hope the description I gave makes sense along with the pictures.

Thanks,Nick.

[T45]

I almost forgot to add that clearance needs to be made along the hood/throttle area. When under power my engine moved, the throttle arm went up into the hood and when I let off the throttle...it didn't let off. lol I had to do an emergency clearance with a pair of side cut pliers. Something to keep in mind when you get to that point.

[npez]

I almost forgot to add that clearance needs to be made along the hood/throttle area. When under power my engine moved, the throttle arm went up into the hood and when I let off the throttle...it didn't let off. lol I had to do an emergency clearance with a pair of side cut pliers. Something to keep in mind when you get to that point.

Excellent point. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Thanks,Nick.