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 Post subject: Megasquirt help
PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:51 pm 
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4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo
I have read many threads about MPFI and turbocharging and am trying to do a MPFI for myself. I read that Lou has ran Megasquirt 1 before, did you buy yours and assemble it or did you buy it already assembled. I am considering Megasquirt 2 assembled with HEI ignition mod. What are the pros and cons of your megasquirt experience so far. And what are some tips and tricks that you would recommend? Thanks!
-Joe :D


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 5:31 am 
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Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2002 11:08 am
Posts: 16451
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Car Model:
Hi Joe,

Welcome to the site! Good idea to do your homework before getting into this.

I have two MS1 (v2.2) ECUs that I built myself back in 2002-2003. I built a 3rd for Sam Powell's Dart. These have all worked well, but are fairly limited as far as memory, computing speed, and capabilities when compared to MSII or MSIII or MSPro. I have run only fuel control (no ign control) with these. They are only 8X8 table and so it is hard to get idle, cruise, WOT (incl boost for my 68 Dart) all tuned well simultaneously.

These days, it is not really worth assembling them yourself unless you are really strapped for every dollar. It is not much more expensive to buy the assembled unit. Back in 2002, there were no really reliable places doing assembly and it was 2X as much as the kit.

I bought a MSIIIX unit from diyautotune.com about a year ago and I plan to put that on my turbo car to get crank-triggered ignition (bought their "6pack" coil, trigger wheel and pickup, and coil drivers too) and advance control. MSII should work well, but our late great member Sam Powell did have trouble with noise spikes screwing up ign advance on MSII. I decided to skip to MSIII due to a variety of enhancements over MSII. However, it is more expensive.

I tend to build my cars in a "modular" fashion, where I get the car running with systems I know well (or better), then modify systems from there, one-by-one. This cuts down on how long the car is down when I am modifying, and it means there are fewer problems to diagnose and fix when they come up when you try to start/drive it again.

I find that many people have a grand plan and tear everything apart to do everything at once, and then the car never runs again due to the stacking up of too many unforeseen problems. There are always unforeseen problems - I don't care what kind of car builder you are...

Hopefully this is a good start. More focused questions? Is your car running now and what is the ign and fuel setup?

Happy Slanted building,

Lou

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 6:13 am 
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4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo
Thanks Lou! I agree with you on taking things one step at a time. I'm hoping to setup megasquirt ( 2 or 3 whichever I decide) and just control fuel but leave my ignition setup as is. Then later either go with the six pack like you did or update my 4 pin hei ignition setup to a 7/8 pin hei which should work with the megasquirt ecu as long as I install the hei mod kit. As far as using hei, I'm confused if I will be able to map my ignition, or if it will just cut 10° of timing under certain circumstances. From what I understand the hei module is used to change the distributors variable reluctance signal to a square wave signal so that it is useable for megasquirt. I haven't been able to find any more articles about how much you can control hei ignition using megasquirt.
-Joe


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 6:18 am 
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Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2002 11:08 am
Posts: 16451
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Car Model:
There used to be an article by Matt Cramer of diyautotune about putting HEI on the Slant/Mopar dist and doing timing control. Look in Megamanual too. IIRC, you can do an arbitrary amount of timing control with that. I looked at that, but decided to jump to coil pack and crank trigger. I think I still have a couple of 7/8 pin HEI units if you need one (Accel aftermarket).

If you can afford it (or save up), I would go for MSIII. Faster processor and more table bins make for more precise fuel tuning, even if you are not doing timing control... However, obviously MSI has worked fine for me, and MSII is considerably better/faster than MSI, so YMMV...

Lou

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 10:48 am 
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4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo
Thanks for the advice, I'll search for the write ups. I'll have many more questions to come. :mrgreen:


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 6:37 am 
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Supercharged

Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:48 pm
Posts: 3805
Location: Indianapolis
Car Model:
MS has an active and useful help forum

http://www.msextra.com/forum-info/

I have a MS3Pro system running the slant in the 68 Barracuda, currently it is fuel only, went in without a lot of problems,,
plan to get it controlling the ignition this spring.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:03 pm 
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4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo
Last night I ordered an assembled megasquirt 2 along with the hei mod, and a 10ft harness. Also I spotted some Buick grand national parts on Craigslist and bought a turbo and intercooler for $300 :D .
I'd like to keep a thread updated on what progress I make, sorry if I'm in the wrong section for that :roll:

Ill try to post pictures of the turbo and inter cooler in a few[/img]


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:17 pm 
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4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo


Last edited by Joe Freeman on Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:34 am 
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SL6 Racer & Moderator
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Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2002 12:06 pm
Posts: 8422
Location: Silver Springs, Fl.
Car Model:
Joe, you can start a thread in the Slixers Gallery, and update it as you make progress. Good luck with your build.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 12:33 pm 
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4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo
So I have ran into another unforeseen issue, I'm running megasquirt 2 with the latest firmware, and 7pin hei for ignition signal filtering. I have installed the HEI mod kit that I bought from DIYAutoTune.com when I purchased the ecu. I followed the instructional video they provide on the website to install the HEI mod.
I installed the 7 pin HEI and wired it up identically to the diagram on megamanual. I also ran the DB37 #26 wire through a 12 volt switched relay before going into the HEI module.

Here's the issue, I made sure it would run without the computer, and just on base timing and it did. But when I install the computer I get 0 spark from the plugs. The computer is online and receives tach signal from the vr sensor. But with the #26 wire connected to the HEI module it will not give the plugs any spark and will not run, when I unplug the #26 wire from the module it fires right up. I have my settings on gm hei, normal tach signal, going high, rising edge, d14 spark output etc. I'm stumped and have been double checking my wiring and everything seems kosher.

Has anyone experienced this?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:31 am 
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Joined: Fri Nov 01, 2002 8:20 pm
Posts: 1603
Location: Oxford, Georgia
Car Model:
Do you have 5 volts wired to the "B" pin on the HEI? If so, disconnect this to see if it will spark without the ECU.

_________________
"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 2:04 pm 
Offline
4 BBL ''Hyper-Pak''

Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 9:26 am
Posts: 30
Location: NC
Car Model: 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4dr SL6 Turbo
That is what I did to make it fire back up. I resolved that problem, I had the dwell setting at charge at trigger instead of standard dwell.
After I corrected the dwell setting, it ran but was was advanced pretty far.


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