rallyRX7 Rob Garriock Godlike Moderator Location: Pitt Meadows, BC Join Date: 01/26/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 9 Rally Car: 2nd Gen N/A RX7 |
A friend showed me a management system that you build yourself ( you can also buy it built if you are not skilled with a soldering iron). He has put it on a couple rides and hasn’t had any issues I know about. And at ~$250 US it is considerably cheaper than most systems. There is a forum for sharing tuning info and such too.
http://www.megasquirt.info/ No affiliation, just passing along info |
Skye Skye Nott Elite Moderator Location: Vancouveh Join Date: 12/18/2005 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 476 Rally Car: Xratty |
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Parry Dave Maxwell Infallible Moderator Location: secoast NH Join Date: 02/17/2006 Age: Settling Down Posts: 97 |
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wildert Brian Klausen Elite Moderator Location: Denmark Join Date: 03/21/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 388 Rally Car: VW Golf GTi 16V |
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Skye Skye Nott Elite Moderator Location: Vancouveh Join Date: 12/18/2005 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 476 Rally Car: Xratty |
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wildert Brian Klausen Elite Moderator Location: Denmark Join Date: 03/21/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 388 Rally Car: VW Golf GTi 16V |
Skye Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > How did you dial it in? Innovate Motorsports LM-1 Wide Band AFR-meter on the road. Pretty straight forward actually. Had a friend of mine handling the laptop and giving me instructions on how to drive. Started out warming up the engine by driving to the highway at a moderate speed. He tweaked some of the mid range load stuff a bit. Then on the highway we did a number of "sweeps" in 3rd or 4th gear (yep, you need clear roads for this) from around 1500 rpm to redline. This allowed him to dial in the full load curves according to theoretical optimum AFR. Since it's an N/A engine, AFR is not overly important. This took us about an hour or so, and after that we spent a couple of hours tweaking acceleration enrichment, starting, etc. We used a somewhat conservative map for the ignition that I found on the MS forums - worked fine, and we tweaked on it mainly using our ears to listen for pinging. Turned out though, that optimizing ignition on a cool night was not too good when you had to race on a hot summer day a couple of days later :-). But then I just grabbed the laptop and backed off the ignition a bit, and then there was no problems. I have since tweaked cold starting a bit, and it helped, but theres still a bit of daily driveability-stuff like coldstarting to take care of, but since it's a rally car I don't really feel the urge :-). I might be able to get a few more horsies if I get it on the rollers, but so far I haven't had the time/urge. My friend has MegaSquirt on a BMW E30 325i, and has mounted a few of 'em on some other cars as well. He managed to get very good daily driveability out of his Beemer, with an amount of work that shouldn't be scary for someone who likes to flip over a complete car to weld all the seams :-). Took him some 2 weeks - and he got improved mileage over the stock Motronic. Brgrds Brian |
john vanlandingham John Vanlandingham Super Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Skye, I sorta volunteered Kevvi Hoikkansianalainenenen into building a Mega-squirt box for a MR2 4AGE t-16 hillclimb car so ask and he can bring down the CD will all the snazzy shit.
It is easy enough for even I to follow, and is the obvious thing to think about on all the Fords. Once they're up and running good. John Vanlandingham Sleezattle, WA, USA Vive le Prole-le-ralliat www.rallyrace.net/jvab CALL +1 206 431-9696 Remember! Pacific Standard Time is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time. |
Lurch Eric Burmeister Ultra Moderator Location: Michigan Join Date: 02/14/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 307 Rally Car: Mazdaspeed3 and Mazda Protege |
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Kirby Kirby Read Godlike Moderator Location: Squamish BC Join Date: 01/14/2006 Age: Settling Down Posts: 52 Rally Car: 1981 Volvo 242 |
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SgtRauksauff Jorden Junior Moderator Location: Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA, Terra, Sol, Milky Way Join Date: 01/24/2006 Posts: 372 Rally Car: whichever one i happen to be driving at the time |
I'd have got one for my escort wagon if I wasn't able to get a tested and tuned Haltech already. From the reading I've done, they MegaSquirt) are becoming more and more robust, and some folks have even taken the time to work out some VE (volumetric efficiency, I assume) table auto-correcting programs, so just drive it around, plug in the numbers it gives you, then drive it again, etc, and it pretty much tunes itself. For more info on that end, check out the Volvo forums at turbobricks.org in the performance/Aftermarket Engine Management section.
That's a rather simplistic description of it, but I'm really looking forward to it, probably next winter on one of my collection. '85 Corolla GTS with a 4AGE built up from bottom to top very nicely, with a nice and shiny new-looking Volvo turbo (I don't know right now if it's a T3 or a mitsu unit) ready to go on, and two harnesses and a prebuilt and preprogrammed msefi unit. I've got the car, just not the built engine, in my posession right now, but it makes me grin just thinking about driving it. I need to go and find some Miatas to compare with this summer, using the stock engine, just to get used to how the car handles, and prepare me for how it's going to handle with the extra oomph that the snail gives me. --sarge ---** To be in compliance with the Anarchy **--- Jorden R. Kleier Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA 1990 Mazdog Protege 4WD 1973 |
Scott Manley Scott Manley Ultra Moderator Location: Spokompton, WA Join Date: 01/03/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 226 Rally Car: XR4Ti |
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Turbopit Mike Hymbaugh Junior Moderator Location: Castle Rock Join Date: 03/27/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 21 |
I built the harness for one and help install tune an MS in a 2.3L Turbo Ford powered RX-7. It's descent for the money, not my favorite set up. Hard to beat for the money especially if you build it yourself. Even buying a pre-built isn't a bad deal.
Mike Hymbaugh "Converted" drag racer Castle Rock, CO http://www.four-banger.net/first.html |
wildert Brian Klausen Elite Moderator Location: Denmark Join Date: 03/21/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 388 Rally Car: VW Golf GTi 16V |
Turbopit Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > I built the harness for one and help install tune > an MS in a 2.3L Turbo Ford powered RX-7. It's > descent for the money, not my favorite set up. > Hard to beat for the money especially if you build > it yourself. Even buying a pre-built isn't a bad > deal. What is it that you do not like about the set up? I've only messed with MS ECU's, but most I've heard of that has tried other aftermarket ECU really like the simplicity of MS. Brgrds Brian |
Turbopit Mike Hymbaugh Junior Moderator Location: Castle Rock Join Date: 03/27/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 21 |
I just don't get into the absolute cheapest parts I can find nor the simplest. It's getting better, but I'd prefer more built in features, but it does do the basics and then some. Don't get me wrong, more features doesn't always mean better. I like the software for other systems I have used better, but on the other hand there are plenty of software that actaully does suck. If the software makes sense to you and you find it "easy" to use, then you should use it. At the end of the day what really matters is that you were able to tune it or have it tuned. Though I find tuning to be faster on some other systems. Time is money... Then there are always deals to be had on other systems, if they come at the right time. I was able to score a Pectel T6 for a LOT less than most systems. A friend does sone work for/through Pectel and runs a T6 in an 8 sec 1/4 mile Ford 4 cylinder based drag car.
It is definately the best one I have used for under $1000. I didn't really mean "descent" for the money, for the money it flat out kicks ass. There was a bit of a scare last year when it filled the cylinders with fuel, which then filled the engine compartment with fumes, which then ignited. Not sure what that day was like, I was out of town. Grant was probably around. I'm hoping the MS will be gone from this car soon, but mainly because of some added features and some excellent tuning help available for the system I am hoping for. Mike Hymbaugh "Converted" drag racer Castle Rock, CO http://www.four-banger.net/first.html |
NoCoast Grant Hughes Infallible Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
Yeah, I was around. He was parked behind us and we saw and felt the fireball. Luckily we have our fire system AND an extinguisher at the driver's feet and Brian was out and spraying within seconds. I ran forward and grabbed the car in front of us' extinguisher, but they had it out by the time I got back. I hadn't realized that Ryan was running MS on the RX7. Did he use a Merkur or Mustang harness?
I've only worked with Haltech and I quite like their stuff. May try MS on my car though. For the cost, carrying a spare onboard ECU at a rally could be feasible with MS. Though Haltech I get discounted and we have experience with. And have a big picture of us from PPIHC on their 2006 Calendar. Grant Hughes |