I had my car on the road for only two summers until I wanted to get a more reliable engine. I was not too familiar with the microsquirt, or megasquirt system, but when Mark started to offer a kit I knew that it would be a great starting point. I also had followed the progress of McMarks, rwilner and Zachs conversions and figured they had done enough trail blazing that it would be a piece of cake.

I started to piece together my own little manuel of pictures and notes from other threads and came up with my own little DIY powerpoint. So hopefully this thread can benefit others and hopefully these guys dont mind that I am reposting some of their photos.

I didnt just decide to buy the system on a whim though. It all started one night when I was driving home on the highway and I heard a pretty large bang. I had just replaced my oil pressure relief valve with the new tangerine product and thought my engine had just exploded! I pulled over and realized after digging around that my #3 spark plug blew out of the threads. I have a head temp sensor under the plug, so Im thinking that it wasnt turned in all the way and the pressure was too great for the threads to hold the plug.

BTW the pressure relief valve is a great product
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That winter I pulled the engine and then the head and put a time-sert in #3

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After bolting the heads back up, I noticed that my valve train geometry was off. So at that point I decided to measure and cut custom pushrods for the proper geometry.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE-TJxlE7Ck


And since I had the engine out, and Chris had just come out with another great engine product, I figured what the Hell, and bought his SS pushrod tubes and installed them.

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At this point I had been thinking about McMarks EFI kit seriously, and decided to pull the trigger.

I ordered the kit from Mark @ Original Customs.

I patiently waited and my kit finally came!

Im using the stock 2L plenums and throttle body.

Here is what came in the kit. (photos from Zach) I got the same stuff.

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I started off by putting on the 36-1 trigger wheel


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According to Marks notes:

The trigger wheel should be installed with the dish/relief towards the engine case.  It can be installed either way, but the Offset Angle setting in TunerStudio will be different.

The crank position sensor should be installed as close as possible to the trigger wheel, while still maintaining a safe, non-contact distance.  It will read up to a 1/4" away, so make an effort to make it close, but don't risk damage to the sensor just to eliminate an extra 0.5mm.

Under Base Ignition Settings, the offset angle should be set to 295 to start.  Then use a wasted spark compatible timing light to confirm what you read on the engine, matches what the computer says the timing should be.  It’s helpful to set the entire ignition map to the idle timing (12 degrees usually), otherwise the timing will jump around.  By setting the entire timing map to 12 you ensure the MicroSquirt sticks to 12 degrees and you can fiddle with the offset angle setting to make sync the FI and real readings.

The next thing was pretty simple and cleaned up the area very nicely!

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The next step was to put the fan shroud back on, but be sure to run the wiring for the VR sensor first.

And before you start putting all the engine tin back on, don't forget about the NTC thermistor

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After that is done, put all the engine tin back on.

Ever thought of a /6 kit Mark

My next step was to start putting the plenums and the throttle body back on.

Naturally, I had to make them look pretty.

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After that I started to lay out the wiring on the top of the engine. It was fairly simple to determine the way it went on there because there was only one wire where the NTC thermister could plug into.

More notes from Mark:

Blue band connectors are for odd numbered cylinders (1 & 3).The thicker fuel harness is meant to run along the back of the engine (flywheel side) just like the stock harness. 
The thinner spark harness (ignition) is meant to run along the front of the motor by the oil filler.  This will keep the spark wires away from the fuel wires.The WBO2 connector is meant to exit the engine bay on the pass. side.Fuses should all be 5A. Coil connectors have a ground wire which should connect to one of the coil mounting bolts.  Ensure a good ground using an ohmmeter.Fuel pump wiring is meant to use the stock wiring.  MS will control the fuel pump relay on the relay board.

I then bolted on the coils by replacing the intake runner nuts with the large coupling nuts provided. Mark conveniently labeled the odd coils (1 & 3) with blue collars.

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Photo courtesy of rwilner

He did also mention that if the coils fail to spark, I should try swapping Ignition Input Capture from Rising Edge to Falling Edge (or the reverse) in the ignition setup menu, under Base Ignition Settings. (I have yet to cross this bridge though)

Nice log, cant wait to see more, subscribed to your thread

Mark sent a brand new TPS sensor that needed to be modified.

There were two options, either trim the D-shaft shorter, or carefully drill a hole in the top of the TPS case.

I opted to drilled the TPS

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I started by drilling a small hole then working my way up till the D-shaft fit perfect

Notes from Mark...
Once the system is working and hooked up to TunerStudio, calibrate the sensor via the Tools menu.  The TPS can sometimes end up wired ‘backwards’, but MicroSquirt can deal with that.  Just do the calibration as normal and everything will work.

Supplied also is a cold start block off.

I installed this piece, but not before I made my own gasket to replace the old brittle one. I used some metal hole punches and an exacto knife. Pretty simple.

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Plugging in some of the remaining wires was pretty simple.

Marks system repurposes the Intake air temp sensor (IAT)

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There was another wire in the bundle with the TPS and the IAT connectors and it connects to the Black/purple wire in the harness which goes to the tach.

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There is also a bundle of 3 wires near the WB02 connector that end up near the rear of the engine. These are connected to the ground tabs on the block under the plenum.

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finally there is a bundle of 4 wires, a white connector and a bundle of 2 wires that end up near the relay board. The white connector goes onto the relay board and everything else in the branch of wiring goes to +12v switched power on my new fuse panel.

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I have the option of getting the power from the white relay board connector or I can access the coil power wire in the 12 pin connector

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Thats all for tonight, and pretty much brings you up to the point that Im at.

I still need to run some fuel lines in the engine bay, and then I can put the engine and tranny back in! I wont be able to work on it till next week though, Im headed to the cottage for the weekend!

Fantastic write-up Pete. Very clean & nice work. I hope you achieve all expectations.

Glad to see you're getting started Pete.


The biggest issue is that the six doesn't have as much efi components. Everything up to 3.2 would need a whole intake track , throttle body, etc. and if you have a 3.2, you're better off using the stock DMe.

I haven't written it off, and am working on something, but nothing in the near future.

Mark,

I looked on your website for this kit but didn't see it. Would you please provide a link? I'm beginning the process of tearing down a 2L to build to 2056 and would like to use Microsquirt.

I understand Mark...3.2 intakes are CRAZY money these days, I should have picked one up with a DME when they were cheaper.

I see them on pelican for around $500. Doesn't seem too steep.

I got back to work on my car and was able to get quite a bit accomplished.
I installed a high pressure fuel pump under the fuel tank. I attached it to the steering rack.

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I also drilled and re tapped the holes for the oil temp sender cover as mine were stripped.

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After getting all the wiring and fuel lines hooked up, I added fuel to make sure there were no leaks. When that checked out I set out to get all my sensors calibrated.

I hooked up my laptop and detected the MS

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This is what my gauge cluster looked like before I started getting things calibrated.

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I then calibrated my TPS

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After this, things went wrong! I attempted to calibrate the CHT sensor. I put in the correct numbers given to me by Mark, and then clicked "write to controller" I dont know if this was the correct step, but somehow the firmware disappeared from the MS unit. I attempted to reload the firmware but it hung up every time. I tried a dozen times but nothing worked.

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I moved on to other things and I think I was able to get the MAP sensor calibrated.

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After the firmware was lost it wouldnt connect to the MS unit anymore, so my night was kinda pooched. I am going to have to reload that firmware before anything else happens.

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Just heard my old 2432 Raby Kit motor that Mark and I built running on MegaSquirt this evening. It is so much better than SDS! I couldn't believe how smooth and powerful!

This should be a fun driver when you're done Pete!

Just a thought, whats the pressure rating on that plastic fuel filter?
(or is it on the suction side of the pump)

Rob,

thats encouraging! Im sure it will be a huge difference from my last setup, 36 dells.



Mats,

That is something I should probably look into. It was the same one that I used for my carb setup. I should change it just to be safe.

thanks

Ahhh, you are about where I was last month now.

For the connection, make sure that the ECU is getting good voltage. You may need to put a charge on your battery.

On your laptop get the port check utility and run it. It should detect the ECU and ping back which firmware its running.

MAKE SURE THE BOOTLOADER WIRE IS NOT GROUNDING SOMEWHERE! If its grounding somehow the ECU will act as if it has no firmware.

Wish you were closer - we could support each other. lol!

Zach

Good write-up!! It's cool to watch you get it together.

It appears that your MAP is calibrated to "0" with the engine off. . . It should be calibrated to read "100 kpa" with the engine off. 100kpa is atmospheric @ sea level. Your engine vacuum idling will pull you down to around 40-50kpa depending on the cam and overlap you're running. Re-check that or you will not get it started later.

Zach,

thanks for the tips. I think I might be able to work on it tonight. (my car is at my parents place and I live 1 hour away!)

Hows your car coming along?

Glad to see the progress Pete!

This sort of thing is exactly what defines the 'learning curve' of MS. It's a pain in the ass and it can feel like you can never get through it, but Once you come out the other side, you'll know much more about how all this works. I just realized how perpetually true this is - I just finished beating my head against the wall for three days straight on weird MS problem. When I finally found the solution and everything went back to normal, it was a major celebration. These problems can feel like you have no idea what to try next. But it's all worth it in th end.

I have not touched it since Herb came over. I let temptation in the door and started shooting and kayaking. :-)

Summer needs summer hobbies too. Besides, its been too stinking hot and humid to futz with my car lately. When I get back from New York next weekend, I'll start working on it again.

Literally every time I work on it now I think its going to start running. So far I've been wrong every time, but it does get closer each session.
Zach

Oh how well I know that feeling.

I got a little further along last night too. It turns out my Dell computer has been known to have a finicky serial port. I had bought a usb to serial port and it arrived yesterday by chance so I attempted to upload the firmware to the ECU. Success! it loaded perfectly. But after I connected with tunerstudio it wouldnt let me burn settings to the ECU again. it gave me the error "Burn page failed CRC Check" I have a feeling that it is still the firmware. I need to get a copy of the firmware that is known to work.

HInt Hint, Mark. You got a copy for me?

If you suspect firmware, follow the links in my thread to the BG 3.83a code and the firmware loader. But if you can connect to the unit, I don't think it's firmware. I think you just have a bad setting, that may drive you nuts.

Even better. Teach a man to fish:
http://www.useasydocs.com/details/usv3code.htm

One thing that I have found that will cause nothing but problems (and many intermittent problems), is GROUNDS.

Many folks make harnesses that have individual sensors grounded locally at, or near, the sensor. This is convenient, but it often promotes intermittent grounding issues that cause you to chase your tail and bang your head in frustration. Been there; done that and didn't like it!!

For this reason, I add a simple terminal block and have ALL grounds go to a single point. Then I use primary wire and tie it directly to the battery's negative post. This eliminates poor grounding issues permanently.

I also do the same for all power connections for the EFI system whether it be "12V+" or "switched 12V+". This absolutely simplifies things.

Just something I've been doing and have had great success with, FWIW. . .

This approach works really well! It's especially helpful on the ground side as it essentially eliminates the possibility of ground loops.

All sensor grounds go to the ECU. All non-sensor grounds, including ECU, go to a single ground point.

Confirm this setting.

I have done this step several times also. I specify the ECU type and then try to burn it to the ECU but nothing happens next.

Microsquirt.com

With the help of two buddies, I was able to put in a couple hours of work into the microsquirt EFI today. We were having difficulties with figuring out the actual problem, and found someone else on the forum having the same issue. Phil Tobin suggested just to load the MS2 Extra 3.3.3 firmware and it should solve the problem. So we loaded this onto the ECU and we were back to business. We were able to connect to the ECU and we even calibrated a few sensors and burned info to the ECU. Until we lost the connection with the ECU again. I suspect that it is the computer that is causing a lot of these connection problems.

I will be loading Tuner Studio onto my MAC and getting the driver for the usb to serial port. Hopefully I will be able to resume where we left off.

Been trying to avoid posting here as it is fun to watch everyone else help out. Seems the community has finally turned a corner with Megasquirt and people are finally getting on board.

2 quick points.
1. The Extra firmware is better in so many regards, I always just start there.
2. Are you using a USB->serial converter?? Most are finicky as hell and all in different ways. The only one I have had any luck getting long term reliable connections with is the one DIYautotune sells. One little connection hiccup in the middle of a memory write will really ruin your day so best to do whatever you can to avoid them.

I am using a USB-> serial port, and it is the one from DIYautotune.

I will try with the MAC to see if I have any other results, and if I still get connection problems I will have to find another computer. I thing I have one more computer at work with a serial port connection.

Following this one Pete.. Can't wait to hear it fire up.. Those intakes look a heck of a lot cleaner than I remember them !

I have resorted to connecting with a desktop computer. Its the most reliable connection I seem to be able to get. As far as other progress, not too much.

I am still having trouble with testing the coils and the injectors. I have been trying to tap into the wealth of knowledge on the megasquirt forums, and some seem to think that I am getting some sort of high voltage from the coil thats getting back into the Microsquirt.

I double and triple checked and all four coils are grounded properly. All my settings in tunerstudio are consistent with what is required.

Im out of ideas.

A few more months, and I'll just take a nice drive out your way to lend a hand.

I feel like it could become a winter project.

I just bought a house and my wife is expecting in January. I dont think I will have much free time pretty soon.

When are you going to be settled Mark?

Probably late Sept. I have a friend looking at some shop space tomorrow, so I may have a lease signed by the end of the week. Then we can officially start moving the stuff that we know we won't need anymore out here.

The project will be waiting for you when you are ready. I was in the same situation a couple of years ago. I needed to move, and had too much to do for about a 18 months. During this time, I tough a lot about my MS project and changes that I wanted to make.

I like the kit you got from Mark. It really simplifies things and makes it much easier with ready made harness and really cool coil bracket. I really struggled with mounting mine. I Installed the 36-1 wheel the other way than you did, hence my zero timing is at 61 degrees. I think isn't it that way because it was more centered over the sensor. It works fine either way though.

The microsquirt is a good choice too. Small size, nice connector, nice logic level outputs for the ls coils. In my case, going the LS2 coil route was the best decisions. My USB communication has been SOLID ever since.

Knowing what I know now, I would not use the MS relay board and would wire as much as i could directly and use the car's OE relays for fuel pump, ECU power, etc.

It's really amazing how well the Megasquirt system works!

I'm already thinking about my next MS project ( a 924 with 1.8t engine swap running MS 3)

Good luck with house and baby!

yipee! Im pumped now!

Last night my buddy Brian and I started to trouble shoot my connection issue. We decided it was easiest to remove the harness from the engine and disconnect all the connectors. We then hooked up power to the ECU and grounded it properly and connected to tuner studio. This worked fine, eliminating the possibility that something had gone wrong with the ECU. Next we put it back on the engine and powered it and grounded it. Still worked. We then started to hook up various connections until we lost a connection. We lost the connection when we hooked up the o2 sensor. So we thought that this was the problem. We then hooked up the remaining connectors, but then we started loosing the connection again! Keep in mind Im not the most electrically incline. As we were connecting and disconnection power to the ECU, Brian noticed that the fuel pump was turning on and off in conjunction. He figured out that I was powering the ECU through the fuel pump and this is where my problems were coming from. As we were connecting more sensors it was putting more of a drain on the power source and it wasn't holding a connection because the power wasn't consistent. We fixed that problem and gave the ECU a direct power source, then connected all the sensors again. Problem fixed!

We were then able to check all the coils and injectors which were now working properly. We checked the trigger wheel which worked properly after changing from rising edge to falling edge(or vis/versa I can't recall now). It was then time to try and fire the engine. It was only puffing and coughing, so we figured the timing was off. We had a starting point of 295 degrees, but that obviously wasnt working out. That is where I am at right now.

I now see that Michelj13 is stating that his zero timing is at 61 degrees, so that is what I will try today and see if she fires!

Wish me luck

Awesome!!!

Luck!

Hey Peter! Have been following this with great interest, I have a 2056 as well, LN Engineering heads, Raby Cam Kit, etc. presently just over 4000, miles on new engine and unfortunately does not run very well. i think the big question for me is; once you have this set up and working properly is it pretty maintenance free? Would love to take the teener on a cross country trip but need to feel good about reliability. I'm parked right now which is a real bummer as the weather is finally nice!

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Ian,

This setup, once I get it running and fine tuned, should never have to be touched again. I am doing this setup because I was never happy with my carb setup either(or are you running your original efi still?) I will be able to have different tunes for different levels of octane as well. You should seriously consider one of these setups. Although Mark will be in a transition phase very shortly, so it might be a little while before he gets back to normal business in Michigan.

Pete

I have finally got my car running and driving!

It all started last summer. I dropped my car off at McMarks shop (Original Customs) so he could work out the problems I was having. Long story short, is that his supplier sent him the incorrect injectors. So after that was figured out, the car was running in no time. While it was there, Mark tidied up some loose ends that were bothering me.

Once I got it home in the fall, I was able to take it out a few times and continue to tune it. But, the last time I was out I blew the alt belt and had to get a tow home from my wife. The car sat in my garage most of the winter untouched until I started tinkering again this spring.

At that point I had an aftermarket alt on the engine because I was having trouble getting my original alt to excite and charge. I bought about 6 belts trying to get one to fit perfect but I just didn't have enough adjustment to get the belt tight. I burnt through another belt, and at that point I decided to put back my original alt. At this point I had learned that my wiring harness was missing a diode behind the fuel gauge which was causing my original alt not to excite in the first place. So back with the original, and now that problem is sorted the belt is good, and alt is charging.

I have since installed an idle control valve as well.

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I wired the ICV as per the microsquirt wiring diagram(pin #7). Also take note, that this is a 3 wire valve and therefore I needed a 50 watt, 40ohm resistor.

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I then machined an aluminum block, countersunk the bolt holes, recessed a rubber oring, tapped 3/8 NPT and added a barbed hose fitting.

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Here is my resistor mounted on a brass plate.

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I then mounted my ICV to a bracket I fabbed up. Tapped some holes into my fan shroud and mounted it.

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Pete, Any further updates? Would love to hear its working well and and force me to do the same.