When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I'm getting closer to installing my Focus 9 Technologies DME and Ostrich Emulator into the car and wanted to share a pleasant surprise. The Ostrich is usually mounted outside the DME with a cutout in the case and a longish ribbon cable. With the 1 board DME, it will fit inside inside nicely.
Just another reason to make the upgrade when your DME has become iffy in the reliability department.
It's an older alternative to a stand alone system (Motec, Megasquirt, VEMS, etc) or a piggy back signal modifier (ARC-2 or SMT6). Using Tuner Pro RT, you can program your maps in real time using the stock DME. Usually you would have to remove the chip, make a change and write to it, then reinstall and see if the change worked. The Ostrich is the go between your laptop and USB port for real time programming as well as acting as the chip, or emulating. It's been around for many years but has not had the kind of adoption stand alone has. Modern hardware in the DME with the FT9 upgrade makes it stable and a good cost effective plug and play option.
MAF on my car; an old Huntley Racing ARC-2 using a Ford sensor and custom body. It worked well enough with a custom chip for 20 years.
The Ostrich runs your own tune, or with the chip burner to the left, you can copy your chip to a file and import to the Ostrich.
My new build is a bit different than the old setup, and I have aspirations of running E85. This should handle the programming needs and keep it simple and reliable.
MAF on my car; an old Huntley Racing ARC-2 using a Ford sensor and custom body. It worked well enough with a custom chip for 20 years.
The Ostrich runs your own tune, or with the chip burner to the left, you can copy your chip to a file and import to the Ostrich.
My new build is a bit different than the old setup, and I have aspirations of running E85. This should handle the programming needs and keep it simple and reliable.
I see. So I can in theory copy the tune from my current chip. Download it and upload the file too Ostrich, then alter the file to add fuel where necessary, burn file too new chip. Where does one get the reader/burner and new chips. If you don't mind me asking.
..then alter the file to add fuel where necessary, burn file too new chip.
You could do that but defeats the purpose of the Ostrich. You can just get the chip burner and modify the files as you please and burn back to the chip (that's how custom chips from any vendor are made). The issue there is you can't make changes in real time as you are physically removing the chip.
The Ostrich is a real time emulator that replaces the chip. The advantage is you can change the maps on the fly like modern stand alone systems without ditching the DME or having to come up with sensors and triggers. It works just like the factory system because it remains factory.
http://moates.net is where you want to start your research. Lots of people run the Ostrich on various platforms.
One of the reasons why I started this rebuild (20 years after my restoration) was oil leaks from the balance shafts and a degraded wire harness. Many of my connectors looked ok but had insulation that was falling apart causing intermittent signal loss, especially my knock sensor and injectors. The knock side was so bad that it would pull timing after the first hard throttle run and then default to -8 degrees for the remainder of the key cycle. It's a major loss of power.
I'm rebuilding the harness with all new connectors and replacing a few complete runs of wire that isn't salvageable. I'm also jacketing everything so it will look as good as it performs.
You could do that but defeats the purpose of the Ostrich. You can just get the chip burner and modify the files as you please and burn back to the chip (that's how custom chips from any vendor are made). The issue there is you can't make changes in real time as you are physically removing the chip.
The Ostrich is a real time emulator that replaces the chip. The advantage is you can change the maps on the fly like modern stand alone systems without ditching the DME or having to come up with sensors and triggers. It works just like the factory system because it remains factory.
http://moates.net is where you want to start your research. Lots of people run the Ostrich on various platforms.
I will look into this. Do you know if it will work with a 968? Can it obtain a proper tune if I were to use hotter cams, and can it control the cold-start idle speed (that seems to be an issue when using hot cams on a 968)? What if I were to turbo the 968?
I'm not sure if the DME architecture is the same given Variocam control. I've never had a 968 DME opened up. Does the 968 use a 28 pin chip? If so, I don't see a reason why it wouldn't. Again, all you are doing is replacing the chip with an emulator, or a device that acts just like the chip but can also be access to read and write in real time. If you are really interested, I'd spend some time on Moates.net reading about it so you can become familiar with how it works and what you'd need to make it work in your own car.
Hi there, sorry to chime in to this thread so late. I bough a 951 Focus 9 DME last week from their site and have been emailing them like crazy to get instructions on how to send mine in. I have not heard back at all from anyone. Also there is no contact phone number. I know that he is a one man shop but im starting to get worried. I dont want to cancel my purchase because I really want the DME. How long did it take you to hear back from him once you purchased the unit? thanks you
!
I'm not sure how long you're waiting but know this isn't his full time gig but I'm sure it takes up a lot of his time. You could also try to send a PM in Rennlist.
Thanks for the quick response. Do you have his user name here on Rennlist? Well its only been a week since I purchased it. I was thinking of just sending in my DME core with my purchase / invoice number on it?
07-25-2020, 07:33 PM
Another reason for an F9T DME
