Kingpin VE pump controller
Electronic Diesel Fuelling Controller
for (Bosch) VE Injection Pumps
Functional Description
Built Solid, Tough and Reliable
Features & Functions
Development Process
What’s in the Box ?
Where do I get it ?
The Madman Kingpin is a world first for mechanical injection pump control.
The Kingpin forms part of our desire to enhance old-school diesel engines with modern technology.
With accurate control of the injection pump fuelling, you are able to extract the most power from your engine without negatively
affecting reliability or lifespan of the engine or injection pump.
The controller bolts directly to the injection pump, connects to the OEM boost pipe, draws power from the solenoid connector and provides enhanced engine performance and protection never seen before on a mechanical diesel engine.
The Kingpin will fit any Bosch or licenced copy of the Bosch VE injection pump fitted with the Boost Compensator Assembly. Some applications may have clearance issues, please contact us directly before purchasing for a solution.
Kingpin A Series Controllers have been tested on:
- Land Rover 200Tdi, 300Tdi in Defender, Discovery 1, Range Rover Classic
Kingpin A Series may directly fit:
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We are seeking fitment opportunities for all the above applications (an others) If you yould like to fit a Kingpin to your VE type injector pump, please contact us, using the email in the page title bar, to arrange a beneficial agreement.
Functional Description
The Mechanical Boost pin compared to the Kingpin
First we will explain how your original mechanincal boost compenation works and why you need it.
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When a turbo diesel engine starts receiving boost from the turbo, the inlet pressure increaces providing more air for the engine, the boost compensator adds more fuel to make more power from the available air. The image on the left shown the standard Bosch boost compensator.
Original (OEM) Bosch VE Pump functional description based on the exploded view : |
The top cover (49) has a pressure input port.
Engine boost pressure is fed to this port from the turbocharger
This pressure acts on the diaphragm (43) which is bolted to the fuelling pin (41).
Vertical movement of the diaphragm therefore pushes the fuelling pin down as a function of engine boost pressure, this action causes linear cam on the fuelling pin to act on a motion transfer pin deep within the housing to regulate the fuelling delivery mechanism of the injection pump.
SPRING ADJUSTMENT (STARWHEEL)
The spring (47) is seated in the starwheel (Hidden from view in the base of the housing (1) )
The starwheel can be screwed up or down to adjust the tension on the spring.
The static tension applied to the spring controls 2 fuelling parameters:
1: The point at which the diaphragm moves off the rest stop and starts to control fuelling dynamically based on boost pressure.
2: The relationship of boost pressure to fuelling, ie. The slope of the fuelling line.
As can be seen in the below graph, the spring tension serves to alter the rate of fuelling as well as the fuelling start pressure.
PRE-BOOST ADJUSTMENT (Known as the ‘smoke screw’)
Pre- boost fuelling (Fuelling from Idle until boost lifts the diaphragm off the stop screw) is set statically by the adjustment screw (50) and locknut (53) This screw sets the rest fuelling of the pin/diaphragm assembly. This adjustment controls the engine’s initial pickup from idle state and relates to how quickly it will gain rpm from idle.
A can be seen from the graph below, the Pre-Boost screw only changes the fuelling for values before dynamic fuelling takes over.
Smoke Screw on Bosch VE Pump
DIAPHRAGM ADJUSTMENT
The last fuelling adjustment within this assembly is the eccentricity of the fuelling pin. The linear slope of the pin is an offset cone. By rotating the diaphragm/pin assembly within the housing, the linear slope can be moved closer or further away from the transfer pin, thus changing the fuelling for all values of boost pressure equally.
As can be seen from the graph below, the whole fuel curve is moved up or down within the fuelling range.
Smoke Screw on Bosch VE Pump
The KINGPIN Advantage:
As can be seen from the explanation of the static mechanical system above, there is very limited control of the fuelling as none of the mechanisms provide:
- A method of changing the settings while the engine is in use
- A method of replacing the linear response curve with a polynomial response curve
- A method to reduce fuelling to a level lower than previously used. (Fuelling only ever increases)
- Standard OEM fueling covers only 22% of possible fueling capacity *
* When fitting a Kingpin to an injection pump with a standard fueling configuration, the Kingpin operates in the range of 38% to 60%. This means that simply fitting the Kingpin you have 30% more fueling available that stock.
This leads to inefficient fuelling, under and/or over fuelling as well as danger of engine damage.
The Kingpin gives the ability to plot the fuel response curve anywhere within the fuelling range of 0-100% and for any boost pressure from 0 to 2 bar. The 3 adjustment mechanisms provided by the OEM system are fully absorbed by the Kingpin controller.
As can be seen by the hypothetical fuelling graph below, the Blue line is the fuelling curve set using the Kingpin for perfect fuelling in a given application. The orange line (OEM system) would be the best fuelling possible for the same application.
It can be seen, on the orange line, that the engine is under-fuelling at 0.2 bar and hopelessly over-fuelling between 0.3 and 1.2 bar, then under-fuelling again at 1.4 – 1.6 bar.
The over-fuelling condition over 1.6 bar will lead to high exhaust gas temperatures and engine failure if not monitored and controlled manually by the driver via the accelerator pedal and EGT gauge.
Built Solid, Tough & Reliable
Robust Housing
Machined from one solid piece of aluminium, anodised against corrosion, fitted with Stainless Steel fittings – Made tough with IP64 Protection (With EGT probe fitted)
Long-Life Pin
4140 polished and hardened boost pin giving a smooth and optimised profile to achieve the broadest fuelling range possible without the need to adjust the max fuel screw.
Self-Protection
The system electronics have internal Temperature, Voltage and Current feedback to ensure continued automomous functionality and self-preservation functions.
High Strength Actuator
High strength, fast actuator to give positive, accurate control when you need it, with built-in sensing for mechanical failures.
Self-Calibration Function
Self Calibration ensures your setpoints are always where you left them.
Easy Software Interface
All settings and calibration done by mobile phone via web browser.
Features & Functions
Modern Features, Old-School Reliability
Modern vehicles make more power, use less fuel, have better emisions and are therefore nicer to drive, but they lack one critical feature – Simplicity and ease of repair, both in complexity and cost.
The Kingpin brings the mechnically injected diesel a little closer to the modern world, with some features that even modern engines don’t offer.
You may argue that fitting an electronic device to a mechanical diesel defeates the purpose, but the simple over-looked fact is that while that electronic unit functions, you have huge benefits over the mechanical alternative, however, should the electronics fail (as could happen with a modern engine) you can simply refit the original mechanical parts, in a few minutes, and continue driving like nothing happened wheras the modern engine has no ‘backup option’ and you would be stranded.
The Kingpin is an add-on improvement and can be installed or un-installed in a matter of minutes, provides great benefits, no drawbacks.
Performance Improvements
The Kingpin provides functions most electronic engines don’t.
It provides the ability to set up the fueling of the engine to completely suit your personal requirements. If You want the best performance but zero tail pipe smoke, you can personally set your fueling to achieve this goal.
This means you have total control of power, fuel consumption and emissions.
You can set one map to be super light on fuel, reduced power and easy going, the 2nd map could be for towing and the 3rd map could be for max power when off-roading – all at the tap of a button.
If you regularly drive from sea level high into the mountains, you can have a sea level map and a high-altitude map.
No matter what you did with your map settings, the Kingping EGT Pull-Back feature will prevent you from exceeding your preset EGT Limit for any period of time, automatically, without you even having a guage to watch, absolute engine protection, always, automatically.
The Kingpin also unlocks more fueling from the injector pump as the standard boost pin assembly provides only 30% of the available range of fueling. With a Kingpin fitted to a stock injector pump, you immediately get access to 40% more fueling without adjusting the main fueling screw.
Overview Screen
After logging into the webserver on the Kingpin Controller, you are presented with the Overview Screen where you can see the position of the fuelling pin, Boost and EGT in real time. You can also change fuelling maps on-the-fly by tapping on the required map.
EZ-Fueling Function
It couldn’t be easier to tune your mechanical diesel engine !
While driving, Each time you tap the + or – button, the Kingpin will add or subtract fuel to or from that specific boost point. You can do this while watching the smoke, EGT or AFR values…It’s like doing a Dyno Tune, yourself, whenever you like.
Fueling Setup
You can set a unique boost pin position for each boost pressure, individually from 0 to 2 Bar in 0.1 Bar increments. (0-30 Psi in 1.47 Psi increments)
The settings are updated live while drving, adn the graph at the bottom of the screen is also updated live to give you a graphical representation of what the fueling response currently is – Effectively a view of the effective boost pin slope.
EGT Pull-Back
With an EGT Probe fitted, You can make use of some cool features.
EGT Pull-Back Is a feature that uses a PID response loop to automatically reduce the fueling as the EGT Limit is approached.
Hard acceleration will cause a harsher pull back but for gentle acceleration, the Pull-Back will be seamless. The nett effect is that no matter how the fueling is set up, the controller will always limit fueling to under the EGT Limit.
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune will adjust the fueling map down by a set amount, each time the EGT limit is reached (If the Pull-Back is unable to cope with excessive fueling causing repeated EGT hits)
Development Process – in early 2023
Since I started thinking of what is required to modernise the fully mechanical Land Rover 300Tdi engine, I knew the recipe would be to improve efficiency of the main systems. The trick is to improve, automate and possibly electrify systems in such a way that they are easily installed and removed, thus returning the vehicle to its former mechanical state without damage or alteration to the original parts.
The Gen2 VNT kit was well underway so the next step was to find a way to improve fueling that was reliable and easy for the user to use. I spent alot of time messing with boost pins and springs and found their fixed nature was their downfall – not enough control. It became clear that an electronic solution was the answer.
Online searching showed up no attempts at boost pin control so design started on the ‘Electronic Fueling Controller’, the EFC.
A few months later a 3D printed version was on the table, yes, everything but the electronics was 3D printed, including the boost pin !
The assembly was fitted to my Defender 130 (With Gen1 VNT Turbo kit) and driven around a bit to get a proof of concept confirmation.
We then had the boost pin and link made from stainless steel, keeping the base plate, structural supports inside and the cover as 3D printed parts. That whole assembly, was re-installed on the 130 and went from Johannesburg to Inhanbane and back on it’s first real-world test (2000 km)
We joked about the ‘3D Printed Performance Accessories’
The rest of the time to Early 2026 was spent refining the software, sorting out design issues, working out how to build it into the reliable, robust we product we have today, the last step was to register the design at the Patent Office.
What’s in the Box ? – Kit Contents
Complete Kit Contents
- Kingpin Controller, fully assembled, ready to fit*
- 4 Stainless Steel Cap screws
- Fused power supply lead + Piggy-Back Connenctor
- O-Ring – To seal on the Injector Pump
- EGT Plug and 0.5m EGT Wire (If you have an existing EGT probe)
- Quick Start Guide
* The Kingpin kit is sold WITHOUT an EGT probe, purchase a TP100 probe separately if required – (You can use an existing K-Type probe if already fitted)
What’s NOT in the Box ?
Optional Accessories
Depending on the specific vehicle and engine configuration, you may need brackets or adapters when ordering the Kingpin Controller
- Defender 300Tdi coolant bottle support bar (The support on some bottles on RHD models contacts the Kingpin Controller)
- Mini filter for the boost line – Reduce pneumatic pulsing when measuring boost directly on inlet manifolds.
Resources
RESOURCES
Kingpin firmware will be updated from time to time with new features and occasional tweaks. It is always advisable to have the latest firmware version on your device. Updating is easy, details are in the manual. You only need a mobile phone.
To perform an update, go to SETTINGS, FIRMWARE UPDATE and select OTA Mode = Firmware,
Select the firmware file (.ino file) for the firmware – The File will be named Kingpin Vxxx.ino and it will start uploading showing a progress bar.
A green tick will show indicating the update is completed.
Power- cycle the device (turn off/turn on) and you’re good to go.
Latest Version
Kingpin V1.0.0A
– First Commercial Release June 2026