I've noticed as of late that when my MS is still sitting in the frickin' cardboard box that it shipped in, it doesn't tune worth a crap. After many hours of research, a handful of miscellaneous pills, and two nights alone in the desert, I've figured out the solution: The MegaSquirt actually needs to be installed in my car to be working...

Yeah, so, I'm finally gonna get my ass in gear and install this thing. With that said, I'm looking for some MS veterans that would be willing to offer random bits of advice via email, MSN or PMs. I know the MS messageboards. FAQs and instructions all exist, but before I dive into this thing, it would be reassuring to know that if, well, more so "when" questions do arise, that I've got backup. I need my downtime to be as minimal as possible (whatever that may be), and it would also be extra special if I was able to talk to a fellow J-body owner, or at least someone with J-body/MS experience.

So, rather than post every single little question that I may have here on the message boards, if someone's up for fielding some questions, please let me know. Just so you know what you're getting yourself into, I'm running a turbocharged-fully-built-LD9 with an MSD DIS-2, methanol injection and an Innovate WBO2 on board (which at the moment, is temperamental at best).

Thanks for any replies or offers to help.

Later.

Im not sure I can help you much with your setup but i sucessfully megasquirted A&F with my l61 ecotec. I did have some tuning issues. My first word of advice, HAVE SOME THING TO MONITOR KNOCK! Im not 100% sure it woulda save my motor but it wouldnt of hurt. Otherwise your list looks good.

My email is DICE033@aol.com or AIM DICE033



now The L61 Powered Fiero
PURE DICE, PURE Design.Innovation.Creation.Excellence.

The best thing i can offer are screenshots of stock tables from HPT to give you a base tune.

talk to RyZ96 he is pretty MS literate, he said he has helped out a few fellow j's on their MS quest. RyZ96 profile

Ryan has done a couple MS setups from what he told me...

I might be able to entertain a few questions as well, but I'm not too familiar with the MSD. I also don't know much about how the electronics work with methonal injection either... If it is non-variable rate (such as a selenoid), you can set it to one of the 5 volt lines such as the green one designated for fast idle selenoid (pin 30) and then set whatever conditions you want it to turn on at. I use pin 30 to turn on the fan.

My email is in my registry, and I haven't been on AIM for about 6 months, but if need be, I can reinstall it.


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"Youth in Asia"...I don't see anything wrong with that.

First off, thanks to everyone so far, it's truly and honestly appreciated. Now, individually:

QUOTE: PURE DICE (ecotecfiero)
HAVE SOME THING TO MONITOR KNOCK! Im not 100% sure it woulda save my motor but it wouldnt of hurt.

-I'm going to assume your motor went "boom". If so, was it your MS tune that caused this?

QUOTE: Wrench Monkey
The best thing i can offer are screenshots of stock tables from HPT to give you a base tune.

-A reference for a base tune would be helpful. Thanks.

QUOTE: Brian Whalen
I might be able to entertain a few questions as well, but I'm not too familiar with the MSD. I also don't know much about how the electronics work with methonal injection either... If it is non-variable rate (such as a selenoid), you can set it to one of the 5 volt lines such as the green one designated for fast idle selenoid (pin 30) and then set whatever conditions you want it to turn on at. I use pin 30 to turn on the fan.

-Yeah, it's a non-progressive setup (the methanol), and in fact, is an extremely simple setup. The boost switch sees boost off the vacuum line tee, the switch grounds out, this subsequently trips the relay, the pump receives power, then the intake breathes in the methanol. When the boost cuts, the relay switches off and no more methanol. The flow is constant and predetermined via nozzle size. Like I said, it's very simple, operating at 100% or 0%.

My first and foremost concern is the safety of the motor. It cost a ridiculous amount of money, money that I don't have, and money that I won't have for a long time to come should something catastrophic go wrong (yes, I realize that with "cars like this", things are going to break [Isuzu transmission: R.I.P.], but I'd like to keep the accepted-risk-possibilities to a minimum) . I was already a giant idiot with my injectors (one of those things where you think you've thought of everything and then some, when it actually turns out that your over-thinking blinded your view of the foundation's basics). Once a solid-as-all-hell base tune has been established, I'd like to slowly begin to tune every last ounce of power out of the motor. It was built to run in the 20-25 PSI range, and it's about time I get it on the path to doing so.

No but the short verison is I was getting an horrible misfire and it was collapsing spark plug gaps and i pushed it to hard and it coughed up 1/2 a piston ring which I pulled out with a magnetic. It still manages 90 psi in that cylinder but im just ending up replacing the motor, its much simpler and cheaper. But just get something to monitor knock.



now The L61 Powered Fiero
PURE DICE, PURE Design.Innovation.Creation.Excellence.

^^ you neeed atleast 120 psi, to get complete and effecient burn.. your motor is toast


to the OP, what questions do you have as of now? I don't spend alot of time on the internet anymore, so I can do what I can to help. I have succesfully used MS in 2 different set-ups on my own, a turbo 2200 and a 11.4:1 CR z24 with nitrous..

from what your saying about your meth injection, you will not need MS to control it. IT is just activated by a pressure switch and you won't have to have ms control it, unless you want to, then you can set it up on the nitrous circuit (if thats part of your MS assembly, you do need extra hardware for nitrous control)

I just finished building a MS v3 for a member on this site, so i'm sure he'll be here asking questions also

How hard is it to run a 3400 in my sunfire using megasquirt? Engine will be NA

as hard as it would be to run a 2200, 2.4tc or ecotec in a jbody with megasquirt

let me know when you get the 3400 in your car first

Out of curiosity Ryan, under "base ignition settings", what do you run for the trigger offset and number of skipped pulses? I run a 10 deg offset and skip 3 pulses.

edit: Sorry, it just occurred to me that you only deal with MS-I, which means you would be using the extra code and not Megatune to run spark. Well, regardless, what do you set your offset and skipped pulses to?


Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Saturday, October 06, 2007 9:43 PM

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"Youth in Asia"...I don't see anything wrong with that.

This is how I was told to run my megatune settings using msII extra

- Set to FIXED DWELL at 50% duty cycle (not a problem as the DIS module handles dwell current)
- Must set SPARK OUTPUT to INVERTED or would advance about 120 degrees from desired.
- Had to set trigger angle to 45 with TA addition set +45 degrees
- Noted that advanced displayed in MegaTune DID NOT include approx 10 degrees of advance
- Checked advance accuracy with my trusty "Dial-a-Tune" timing light
WORKS PERFECT!! AND ROCK SOLID!!!

Brian Whalen wrote:Out of curiosity Ryan, under "base ignition settings", what do you run for the trigger offset and number of skipped pulses? I run a 10 deg offset and skip 3 pulses.

edit: Sorry, it just occurred to me that you only deal with MS-I, which means you would be using the extra code and not Megatune to run spark. Well, regardless, what do you set your offset and skipped pulses to?

honestly its been 6+ months since i played with a megatune on a car, and honestly don't remember my settings at all