Designing and Tuning High-Performance Fuel Injection Systems

A standalone controller has the ability to perform all of its own engine monitoring and control functions from a single box. It does not require any outside assistance from body or chassis modules. As such, they are particularly well suited to race cars, hot rods, and classics where these outside modules seldom exist. Each standalone controller is designed to work with its own wiring harness with connections to the necessary sensors and outputs. Very little outside engineering is required to get most systems up and running on just about any engine. The same standalone controller can often be used on a wide variety of engines from inline fours to V-8s or even rotary Wankels. This common architecture keeps production costs reasonable and allows the user to remove the hardware from one vehicle and install it in another by simply changing the programmable configuration and a few sensors in most cases. The general control logic remains the same. Lessons learned tuning a standalone controller on one application can often be applied toward another in the future. If the vehicle was originally equipped with a carburetor, there is often no option for a replacement factory controller. A standalone controller allows the user to add the flexibility of electronic controls by using the system's own sensors and harness. The only wiring connections necessary to the rest of the vehicle are a 12-volt supply and ground. This makes installation as simple as following the instructions included with most controllers and adding the proper high-pressure fuel-supply system. Similarly, racecars that have a few extra pounds of unnecessary equipment are easily equipped with standalone controllers.