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I suddenly remembered a program demo I got long ago, where the game port, or the printer port, on an ordinary PC was used for measuring purposes. It was a nice Win95 program written in C++. With that program, up to 8 temp sensors could be driven and read directly from the printer port (as long as the load was within a few mA), and the results were displayed graphically on the screen. Way cool! There is also a lot of (fairly cheap) Analog/Digital converter PC cards aviable on the computer market, which can be used for more advanced measurement and control tasks. Data sampling and such. Now, I'm not much good at electronical stuff or low-level programming, but I wonder if anyone out there are able, or already have attempted to hack something together that would give a simple PC the functions of a engine analyzer (at a low cost). (After all, the PC was initially born from stuff in the mad IBM scientists laboratories, just meant to be a data analyze device...not a office inventory!) Maybe there already is some cool software aviable? I think it sure would be possible to measure system voltage, temp sensors, timing and dwell etc that way. AND you could probably use it as a oscilloscope to display characteristics of the manifold pressure sensor, timing retard curves etc. AND why not as a CO tester? A ordinary lambda sond should work fine... The big computerized engine analyzer in my buddies auto shop doesn't seem too high-tech to me, computerwise. Probably a common 386 inside... Of course a lot of cables and pickups has to be fabricated... With the right sensors even fuel pressure could be measured. The famous VW FI tester can't be that complicated to reverse engineer, either. Or? Come on, all ye mad engineers/scientists out there! Just think of it - a engine/FI analyze tool, cheap and aviable for every T3 enthusiast with a computer (which most do). Wouldnt that be cool!! A simple software, an A/D card and some cables and connectors... A package like this could really be something extra... Late T3s even have that test socket in the rear engine compartment. Who's gonna be first? /Karl-Olov Sandin -73 Squareback FI, Sumatra green …rnskšldsvik, Sweden > Yes but 'scopes and signal generators are massivly expensive. I could > buy dozens of rebuild pressure sensors from Bosch for the price. > Maybe it's time to speak nicely to your old school (or kid's school, or local school?), and for a donation to funds, I'd have thought they might lend a sig gen and oscilloscope! > This gives me another idea. How about ajusting the idle with the > virgin MPS in and then puting in the monkeyed one and ajusting it > until the idle matches. It seems logical. Oppinions? > Depends on what change happens - if there's only one position where the idle is the same, and it changes significantly for a small adjustment, you've probably got the answer. Isn't there a garage with gas-testing equipment who might offer a more comprehensive comparison? The answer to correct adjustment is in the correct balance of exhaust gases. > Anyway I put the virgin on in and now it dies when I let my foot off > the gas. I assume I can fix this just by tweaking on the idle > ajustment screw. > Or it might need a timing adjustment. Dave. UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/ ------ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Search old messages on the Web! Visit http://www.vwtype3.org/list/