Work. Kids. Divorce. All this stuff adds up and makes it hard to concentrate on stuff like toy cars. Plus, it's I got stuck fighting issues and ran out of talent. Took a long time to swallow my pride and send the car to Mark. I wanted to get it running myself.

Zach

Congrats in order for "stick to itness"! Enjoy the Hell out of it. Didn't know about the Divorce. Factor that in and you get Triple Points for successfully weaving your 914 through Divorce Court.

I am thrilled for you!
Been a long haul, I hope I make it to Hershey to see you and your car both!

Got this from Mark this morning.

Assuming 18% drive train loss, engine is making 149HP at the crank. Not bad for a 2056, and a lot more then I expected.

I don't have an RPM plot yet. Still the torque goes up FAST and then gets flat. I like it.

Still some weirdness to be sorted. It's loosing fuel pressure at WOT (probably a kink somewhere) and there is an electric issue that may be the engine relay board failing. But, man, this is progress. I'm pleased.

Zach

Glad to see you're getting it sorted!!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your numbers and graph. Something to look forward to hopefully

Quoting the Monkey that got his tail caught in the lawn mower, "It won't be long now".

I am so impressed with Megasquirt. The video of Mark driving down to the dyno was so smooth.

As for stick-toitiveness, sometimes you just have to know when to write a check. This is why I go to Mark. I've got no time and I get to enjoy it sooner!

Its going to stay with Mark a little longer to figure out what is causing the electrical issue. This was a new issue to me. But the alternator is not charging fully, and suddenly the ignition switch would not turn off the car and stuff on the dash started getting wonky.

Mark thinks its probably the relay board.

When the car comes home, I'm going to wash it and get the interior back together and just drive it for a bit.

And then I'll start hacking up the fenders for flares and 5 lug.

But it will be nice to be able to actually DRIVE the car again.

Zach

Shipper just contacted me and the car comes home Monday night!
The charging issue was the voltage regulator.
Mark had to make a slight change in wiring to fix the run on issue after the key was turned off. Maybe he will chime in on that.

Now I just need to get the interior back together, get the head temp sensors into place and the console hacked to support the 4 way gauge.

But the car will be drive able Monday!

Zach

I'm pretty sure the feedback/run-on issue is a failing alternator. But I changed the wiring to an alternate, but still correct setup.

The car also needs a warmup idle air bypass. The 1.8 style should work well. It's a little hard to start and warmup right now, but I tested it was a controlled air leak (a long hose from the intake manifold to my hand!) and was able to make it idle really nicely from cold.


Also, the fuel lines need to be more comfortably routed.

I've got one of those in my parts stash. How will it need to be wired in?

Zach

Duct tape Mark to the rear trunk, leave the engine lid off.
It will run perfect!

Switched power. That's the beauty of both styles of factory AAR, they're dumb. There's an internal opening, that simply closes more and more the longer power is applied. So you just have to have the power turn on when the car's on and it'll do the rest.

Confirm that yours is operational before installing it. Look down the port, see the hole, hook the wires to power and ground (either way, AFAIK) and wait and watch. If the hole starts closing off, it's good to go. I usually spray a bit of lubrication in both sides of the port to combat sticking.

For final installation plumb one side of the port to the plenum, and the other side to the air cleaner. Run the ground to the engine case somewhere, and run the power to the new fuse panel (piggyback on fuse #6, which is also the O2 sensor).

This is awesome news Zach!

WELL?????

Shipper delayed pickup. So it left GR on Monday instead.

Got it around 5 today. Took it for a quick spin around the block before looking at the gas gauge and seeing I was running on fumes.

There are some punch out tasks, but its really close now.

1) fab up a hold down for the battery
2) Air box, fuse panel need to be bolted down.
3) under tank fuel lines need to be shortened up to remove kinking. This will kinda suck as it will remove the service loop, but it needs to happen.
4) put the AAR back on the car and close up the air leak at Idle.
5) interior back into the car.
6) adjust the clutch cable.
7) make a new shifter knob. The mushroom cloud looks cool but I don't like how it feels.






Excited!
Zach

Congrats!

I've used these once, and have been meaning to try them again:


https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jif-21505j


https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jif-22505

Those are for AN-5 (5/16") barbs. I'm not 100% confident that's the one you need, but the technology is nice. Reach up in the hole, pop the quick disconnect and you're done.

There's also caps, because IIRC it's not 100% leak proof, just a occasional drip.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jif-ms2000p
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jif-ms2000c

Mark (or anyone) do you think its worth putting in a dual port pump instead of the 3 port I have in there now?

Zach

I would for plumbing simplicity. It's less components to fail, and less to deal with when servicing or accessing.

But functionally, no there's no benefit. A pump is a pump.

Glad to hear you are rolling again, Zach. You deserve it.

not in that order!

Definitely if you have an older 3 port. They have a tendency to start bypassing at the worst times.

Great to see you have your car back and running!

I can't believe Mark ever figured out the voodoo starter issue.

I would have replaced the whole motor before ever thinking of the starter.

Get out and drive it now.

John

Small update.
Mark and I still have our heads together to get the cold start right.
I adjusted the idle when warm that the engine would idle fine without the air leak.
Mark is going to make a small harness to wire the AAR into the Microsquirt.

I energized the AAR and timed its function and it was closed up within 40 seconds. Thats just not enough time. So what we are going to do is have the AAR energize when the engine warm up is complete.

I've been having connection issues getting my laptop to talk to the ECU, and have traced it down to a continuity issue in the coms cable that goes into the ECU. I'm guessing there is some oil/dirt/crap in the 3.5mm minijack which I consider to be a weak point. tonight I'm going to unscrew the housing from the minijack and start probing to see if the jack is the issue or the wires. Its possible that something vibrated loose either in the Ampseal connector or at the jack or somewhere in between.

I've driven the car a few times. No long drives yet. Buts its more punchy then I remember, and it sounds TOTALLY different then it did with carbs.

Zach

You should be able to slow the AAR down a bit by adding a series resistor. Although if the resistor is too large, the AAR won't open completely. It might be possible for the AAR to completely open with a series resistor and slow down the opening timing.

Is there a reason why you are not using a PWM idle valve that would be directly controlled by the Microsquirt ECU? They are relatively inexpensive and very easy to setup.

For me it's one of the things I plan to look into for the next two MicroSquirt setups I'm building right now. I'd like to control a PWM idle valve, but for me it's a matter of finding the right valve that fits the space and looks closer to original. There's a lot of valve out there that work for people who are just looking for the function. But I like to make things hard on myself.

I'd like to know more about the PWM valves.

My biggest issue right now, and I'm pulling my hair out over it, is that I can't get the ECU to talk to my laptop.

Mark and the tuner were both able to connect. My laptop had connected in the past. I've gone through all the trouble shooting guides. Loopback tests work for the cable and serial to USB adapter. All the wires have continuity to the right places. All my drivers are updated. It just wont connect and I'm going nuts trying to figure out why.

Mark, could I get screen shots of your port settings? This is where I am sitting.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

If anything here looks weird please let me know.
Zach

The other option I have is to try a Serial to bluetooth adapter instead of the serial to USB. Which I have been meaning to set up anyway so I can use my iPhone as a data logger.

Zach

Those match my settings.

I know Zach's tired of me saying it, but I'm gonna post it here for everyone else to see...

When I started working with MicroSquirt I tried three or four different USB serial converters and never had any luck with them. In fact, one time one of those units glitched somehow and erased the MicroSquirt while driving with the laptop connected.

After wasting tons and tons of time, I just went on Amazon and bought a Dell Latitude D630 with a built in COM port for a little over $100.

And I've never looked back. It's the right tool for the job.

That being said, the bluetooth setup shows promise, and may be a better solution than a dedicated laptop.

Any idea what the carbed version power numbers were? Wondering how much of a gain the MS gives you (if any).

MS, carbs, stock FI, etc ALL have only one purpose in life -- to accurately dispense the proper amount of fuel for the quantity of air entering the engine. Measuring the correct fuel amount for varying conditions is the challenge and some setups are better than others. But a CORRECTLY tuned induction system will not 'make more power' over another. Power is more accurately attributed to air flow. Increasing the airflow through your engine (by reducing restriction in the intake or exhaust, or by increasing the size of the air pump AKA displacement) makes more power.

Think of is this way, you can't take a stock 1.7 and just add more fuel until it makes 125hp.
BUT you can increase the airflow to where it makes 125hp. This is EXACTLY what a turbo does.

Thanks for the info, Mark. How about fuel efficiency, then?

That has tons of potential to improve. Carbs only have <10 places where you can make adjustments. Fuel injection has multitudes more (depending on the system).

See this image, where light blue is the correct mixture, and the darker the blue the more wrong it is. As you travel along the red circle/line on the carb side you go through a range of blue and black. This is how carb work -- they're pretty right most of the time, but also there are places where it's quite wrong.

As you travel the same circle/line on the fuel injection side you can see there is less black because there are more squares. So the mixture is 'righter' more of the time.

Correct mixture is necessary for optimizing power and fuel economy, as well as proper cooling of the engine.

And this same idea applies to ignition timing.

I've had consistent connectivity success with the serial to usb adapter listed on diyautotune.com's website for my Megasquirted scirocco and TunerStudio. You may want to try that one.

Built and configured the Serial to Bluetooth adapter last night, but was too zapped to want to go out in the driving rain to get into my garage and try it out.

hopefully removing the USB adapter will allow me to connect.
Zach

With my Megasquirted 2056 I have seen mileage in the high 30s on the highway at 70 - 75 mph.

Thanks for that bit of info. Currently with my dual 44s I get mid to upper teens. Looks like it would be worth the expense to go with a MS setup.

Did you install the correct driver? I had isssues until installed the drive from DIY AutoTune.

Are you running PortCheck at the same time as trying to connect to uS ECU?

The PortCheck will open and hold the connection and prevent the ECU from connecting.

I suggest to close the port check program, reset the COM port (USB adapter) and then run the ECU search function under "connection" tab in Tuner Studio.

If you can see the port, the ECU should connect, assuming that you have the physical connection in place. I had issues with the phono jack not seating properly at first.

I am a fan of hardwire connections not wireless comms.

I used to get mid 20's with Weber 40's. 44 is a lot of carb if you have a 2.0.

It's a Raby-built 2056. I have a set of 40s I may try at some point. I used them on a euro spec 2.0 many years ago and got mid 20s.

I'll try it. Have not touched it in a few days. I needed to step away from it.
Its frustrating as Mark and the dyno tune shop were able to connect. I'm not. So I know it will connect, if I can get the magic right.

The other issue is not being able to work on it until late at night after the kids are in bed and I'm already tired and prone to make mistakes. Maybe some day in June I'll have a weekend day free where I can be alert and methodical and figure out the issue.

Zach

Bit the bullet and bought one of the refurbished Dell 630 laptops with the serial connections.

Man I hope it works. I'm tired of fighting with my Acer and trying to get it to connect with the RS232-USB adapter.

Zach

Putting this here for reference later.

The Dell laptop with the native serial port came in. Still not connecting but getting a different failure mode
In the Tunerstudio's Mini terminal, with the ignition on and the Microsquirt powered up, it is acting like its doing a successful loopback test. IE, anything I type into the upper window is looped back to the lower window, just like I had jumped the pins for a loopback test.

The cable does not do this on its own - it has to be plugged into the Microsquirt ECU.
I loaded up the newest versions of tuner studio and made sure my port settings were correct.

Hopefully this gets me closer to being able to connect. Thoughts?

Zach