Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance Help needed to change 4 piles into 1

i see actuators on ebay all the time. i run a external wastegate. it is more compact to run the internal though. tom

I saw one there today that was adjustable from 4 psi. I'm thinking that would be a good choice. Thanks for your thoughts and time. Tom

Here is a link to some pictures of this project. It should go faster now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sixpics/InjectedTurboed292?authkey=1XxF7v37Wbw#

Looks Nice .

I finally ordered the rest of the Megasquirt stuff today. We'll see if I can follow directions. My wife has doubts base on 42 years of observation!

Belated xmas present?...

Did you order the kit or a pre-assembled board?

Yes, Santa missed me. I ordered the kit. Diy had them listed on eBay and I had a 10% off coupon so it was time. I'm looking forward to putting it together and getting that project done.

This is a cool project. Do yo have any pics of the machine work done to the intake?

Tom,

Remember to test your MS out on the '89 before trying it on something new.. it'll allow you test out your tuning skills.. dig out the detailed post/message I sent a while back on this subject.

Once you think you have your settings right for the MS controller email the file and I'll load and review it here.

Also warm up the '89 motor on the GM ecm so you don't have to mess with the choke settings on the MS for your first try.. easier.

Marc, Is that the post in the "Re: TBI on Chev 250 " thread? The link to that from this thread doesn't work from here any more. It just goes to the forum home page, but I printed it any way. I sent that thread back to the top yesterday. I'm still a long way from having a working MS. I'm still driving the '68 with the 350 in it. I want the '89 trans behind the 292 so I may have to do the initial tune for the 292 on a stand. But at any rate I will play with the '89 while it is unmolested and it is a plug and play situation. I may just take my MS and laptop to a parking lot somewhere and look for a unlocked GM! I'm slow but closer than a year ago and now I have 6 piles! Thanks, Tom

I thought you said you were going to stop counting @ 4.

No, That would be like saying I would stop whining, and you all know that is not going to happen! 7 piles!!!

Seven, okayyy, whadja get?

Wellll, There are the original 4 piles, the '90 Burb I got for parts, The pile of electronics and tools to hook it up, and the growing pile of $#!> I'm getting for having all of this in the yard!

Ah yes, the grass always grows greeener under the manure pile.

It only took two days but I finally got the harness connector off of the GM EMC. I hardly melted anything! Now I've got to clean all the little pegs.

I got the Megasquirt Stimulator together today! It took about two hours and no cuss words! My only concern is one place where 3 connections are very close. It went well I think. I'll do the GM adapter board next. I still need parts for that. Then the main board. Stim

Just noticed someone on stovebolt.com converting a 235 to EFI....

The GM adapter board is done and I bought an Inovate wide band O2 kit. Now I have to tackle the MS main board. Little grains of sand build great beaches! Sunny Beaches, I'm making progress!!!

Ahhh, sunny beaches.

That would be a nice place to be right now.

Course from the look of the weather channel I would have to go to Austrailia, or somewhere south of the equator anyway.

Glad to hear you hvae 'postive progress'.

Tom,

Watch the small transistors near the center of the board, the pads are close together - easy to bridge with solder. Come spring you'll be ready! Pix would help.

Yep, A couple of those little three pronged black thingies don't have room for extra solder.

I got the first part of the main board done today (steps 1-23) and tested it using the stim board! It worked!! Just 57 more steps to go. Part 1

Hit a snag today, My $60 laptop doesn't have the right port to connect to my satellite service. So I can't test the MS progress I made today because I need to download some files.

Dang, so you need the 'new port' (forget it's name) instead of the PCMCIA slot you probably have?

I got this Alcam Laptop Because it has the DB9 aerial port for the MS. It seems to have one of about every connection I've ever seen except an ethernet, like a phone jack. I need the ethernet to hook up to the Web. There is an adapter for the USB port to ethernet. One thing I'm working on is that although it was designed to run Windows 98 for some reason it has 95 installed. To work on my Hughsnet it has to have at least 98 SE and for my wireless 98 ME and I'm not sure it will run the ME or if that works with the Megasquirt. They were right this is a learning process!! When I started this I knew nothing about turbos, EFI. electronic circuit boards or Windows. Now I suspect they all exist and can be used together. You can teach an old dog new tricks, you just can't depend on him to perform them on command!

Tom,

Got a buddy with a PC? Download the files and burn them to a CD then load them on your laptop.

Good idea! I'll get my son to do it. Thanks!

I just bought a Windows 98 SE upgrade kit. That should fix a lot of the problem.

Ahh yes, planned obsolescence at it's finest.

Yeah, I didn't even think of the Cat 5 socket, not too many users had access to ethernet till a few years ago. Now that's even going the way of the dodo.

Woah, I had to get my glasses I thought you wrote dildo! Do you know how long flat screen TV technology was setting there while they milked the last $$ from the projection and big screen junk? It's obsolete before we ever see it! But look at the engines we love.

Err, no, I thought this was more of a 'family oriented' site and from what I hear they are still manufacturing / selling those (therefore not obsolete or gone, like certain specie of bird ).


Yeah, we like 'obsolete' tech, but at least some of us do because of that very detail.

Others, just to be different.

Tom,

... update...???

I'm doing battle with the eBay laptop. I took it to Southern CA this weekend where my son and I cussed it in two part harmony. I think I've got a plan that will work, I'll know later today. Then I can get on with the MS!

At least I'm not the only one (with laptop troubles).

This is proving to be the biggest problem. The laptop will be fine for the MS work but getting the MS files to it is something else. It is hard to imagine that there could be a more complete collection of incompatible computer crap than what I have assembled! I do this on a Mac and it can't run the Ms files. The PC laptop is a little too slow to work on my Hughes Net internet connection and for some reason we could not install the files we downloaded and copied to a disc on my son's PC. I'm going to haul it to a friend's house and see if it will connect with his service. I did get it on line at my son's house but the wine was in control by then! The actual MS stuff is so well documented and supported that it is fun to do! When I get this figured out I'll get my cards printed. HAVE MEGASQUIRT, WILL TRAVEL!

Tom,


Long post but this is the what really makes tuning MS so much easier than a lot of the other systems out there. Once you go through it once you'll permanently toss your jet kit.

I've seen MAC wizards run windows programs on a MAC so there is a way to do it I just don't know how (not a MAC person).

Maybe time to find a slightly better laptop. Say something with Windows 2000 or Windows XP and a Pentium II processor. Locally a used laptop like this is about $120 to 150 depending how beat up it is.

Something a bit faster will allow you to run the fuel optimization programs.

This is a really cool feature of MS. Once you have the truck running and idling, you save your VE table using the save as feature. Also set the target AFR table to what you think the engine wants ( say cruise 15.0:1, idle 14.0:1, power 12.8:1) and open a datalog in megatune (this is the tuning s/w that runs on the laptop and allow you to alter the fuel mixture, AFR and spark advance tables) and drive the truck. Run the engine though as many points on the fuel table as you can - its better to have a buddy either drive or hold the laptop. You can watch where in the fuel table the engine is operating in real time

After 10 miles or so stop the datalog.

Then open the megalogviewer optimization program. In this program you open your existing VE(fuel) table, your target AFR table and your datalog that you just recorded.

Once these 3 inputs are loaded you hit the optimization button and the program goes through and automatically adjusts the VE table based on the difference in AFR target table and your data log that has real time A/F mixture feedback from your wideband O2 sensor for each point in the fuel table that you operated the engine in during the datalogging drive. Once its done - save the optimized VE (fuel)table to the laptop hard drive and then in megatune send the new VE(fuel) table into the MS.

After 3-4 repeats of the above you'll have a pretty good fuel set up for all the VE entries except full power WOT which is better to fine tune (and safer) on a chassis dyno.

This will give you something to look forward to..

I have a "Virtual Windows" program coming so I can use the Mac to load the MS files on the PC. I'd like to use the beater PC if I can. I'll know soon. If it's not up to the task I'll find one that is. At any rate I'm actually beginning to understand some of this. A year ago your post would have made no sense at all. Now I sorta know what you are telling me. Thanks for your your help. We'll get this done! Tom

Tom,

By May if you keep at it the knowledge bulb will be on full bright - keep up the good work.

My knowledge bulb has never been too bright but I've blown the tenacity fuse a couple of times. I broke down and bid on another laptop. The one I have would be fine but it won't work with my satellite internet service.