Cascade Crew

[Alphius]

I already tossed a couple of these pictures in Aaron's build thread, since this MS is going on his yellow car. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to log my progress on this thing in my own thread. If anyone has any questions about the build process or about MegaSquirt itself, I'd be happy to answer them. I am running a MegaSquirt on my 355 in the '84 and have been for a couple years now.

A couple months ago I started building the MegaSquirt PCB V3 with MSII processor. At the time, Aaron was going really slow on his project, so I kind of slacked off for a couple months and did my own thing.

The MS kit comes as a big assortment of electronic components. As seen here:


So, I worked on it for an hour or so and built most of the power distribution circuit and attached the DB9 and DB37 connectors.


This was a couple months ago. At this point, I said to myself: "Well shoot, Aaron is dragging his ass on building the rest of the car, why the heck should I bust my ass building him a MegaSquirt? ".
Fast forward to current time; Aaron is getting things together so I figured I might as well get rolling myself. I spent almost two hours today getting things set up and building circuits on the MegaSquirt.

Here is my workspace. It's a little cramped, but it gets the job done.


So, today I did several things:
1. Finished power circuit and voltage regulator install
2. Installed jumper wires on the back for connecting the IAC controller to the DB37 outputs
3. Built and loopback tested the MAXRS232 serial circuit
4. Built the clock gen circuit and processor power filter circuit
5. Installed the processor and flashed the newest MS2/Extra code on it
6. Connected TunerStudioMS tuning software to the ECU and tested communications

Here's how the board is looking now:


Next steps are to build all the sensor input circuitry, but that's gonna have to wait for another day.

[RSFreak]

Nice! I've always been curious about the Megasquirt. I'll be interested to follow this build.

[Twilightoptics]

Schweet.

[Leejo2005]

That's pretty awesome.

[aaron_sK]

[Leejo2005]

Will this work on a MAF motor or would it be easier to run SD?

[Alphius]

[Leejo2005]

I saw the MapDaddy map sensor unit for MS-2. With that could I just run the sensor off manifold vacuum, say, from the plenum and just delete the maf sensor?

[Alphius]

[Alphius]

Alright, big changes in the works tonight. I stayed up far too late and worked far too fast for my own good.

The short story is that I have all the input and output circuits completely done and built to order. That means the MegaSquirt is finished, right? Well, not yet. I still have to build and add a couple little circuits for a few things:
1. Boost Control Solenoid Driver
2. Knock Sensor Input
3. Launch Control/Flat-Foot Shift Input

After I get these three knocked out of the park, I will be home free and Aaron can start wiring it all in!

So, Here's the pictures.

Board placed in the case, DB9 connector for the tuning cable.


Other side, DB37 for engine control and the hole hides a little MAP sensor behind it for Speed Density.


So here's the board. Pretty cool, eh?


Here's the bottom of the board, with some miscellaneous ignition jumpers and IAC jumpers. The black thing in the foreground attached to the bottom of the board is the MAP sensor.


So to test this thing without the car, I have what's called a "Stimulator" or MegaStim. It simulates several engine sensors and has LEDs for several of the output functions of the MegaSquirt. I have it plugged in and running in this picture. You can see the LEDs are lit. The LEDs show, in order:
(Spark Events)(Injector Bank 2)(Injector Bank 1)(Fuel Pump Relay)(Fan Relay)


Here's a better picture of the MegaStim. I built this board when I first MegaSquirted my Z28 a couple years ago.


So, on my PC I am running TunerStudio MS, which is MegaSquirt's preferred tuning software. I have a couple screenshots of it working and connected to the MegaStim for inputs and outputs. This is the dashboard view, and the squares across the bottom are indicators that can light red or green depending on state of the associated function. The gauges are pretty much self explanatory.


This shot shows the three main tables you are worried about. The Spark Advance Table, VE Table, and AFR Target Table. Default values in these, which might be good enough to fire Aaron's motor up and idle. Not well, though.


And here is the actual tuning view of the VE table. You can change values in the previous table as well, but it's nice to see the smoothness and the curve of the table in this view.


That's all for tonight, folks! I welcome any questions or if someone wants to know more about the software or hardware I am more than willing to explain things to the best of my knowledge.

[Twilightoptics]

I thought megatune was the software?

[Alphius]

[Schultzy89GTA]

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing Gabe.

-Schultzy

[83Z28BlackBetty]

that is awesome. Does megasquirt support obd2 lt1? Also is it batch fire or is it sfi?

~JAKE

[Alphius]

[Leejo2005]

Does the megasquirt run everything like the factory ecm does? Like fans, fuel pump, TCC? Will it accept A/C on input to add a lil power when the A/C compressor kicks on? Seems pretty awesome. Once I start getting paid from work I think I'll order a kit and stim to learn with. Shoot if I like it enough I might ditch the edelbrock on the 460 and make a megasquirt TBI for it.

[iansane]

Super cool. My roommate wants to use ms3 to control his miata when he does the 1.8/supercharger install. The LS/corrolla might put that a bit farther back on the burner though.

[Twilightoptics]

MS can run your fans and I believe you can set it up for a/c signal but not like a PCM controlled a/c system.

I do not believe there is support for TCC lockup, but you might be able to utilize and rpm output and link it to speed somehow?



MS is Fuel Air Spark really just like any other stand alone, with some added features.



Awesome gabe, I hated Megatune it was ugly and not user friendly.

[Alphius]

MS can run the fans, fuel pump relay and TCC lock no problem, but it doesn't have a dedicated A/C throttle kicker; however, it can target a specific idle speed so if load increases at idle it will respond and bump the idle up. I'm looking forward to flashing the new version on my '84 for this exact reason, since when I turn my front wheels at idle the PS pump kills the engine. The version of code I'm running does not adjust idle based on load.

MegaTune was a pile of crap, I agree with you there Paul. I went to TunerStudio while it was still in beta test stage.

The MegaSquirt has been sitting here burning in and running constantly for almost 12 hours now, I'd say it's stable. I have some maintenance to do on my Subaru today, but either tonight or tomorrow I'm gonna build the Knock circuit, boost control circuit and launch control circuit. Then I think I'll be done.

Ian, I am not lying when I say I'd MegaSquirt any modded vehicle in an instant. It's totally worth it. It's so much more flexible and full featured than any other standalone or factory ECU setup I've seen, and it costs a fraction of some of the big name ones. Heck, it's even cheaper than an EFILive license.

[Twilightoptics]

I don't need MS anymore because I ended up with a stock TII Rotary ecu/wiring that's upgraded.... but I still kinda want to!

Looks like there is the good info on setting it up for a rotary and it might make my wiring easier than hacking into this gnarly harness.



Hmm...... Oh well, gotta get a turbo and the motor prep finished... just as soon as I move!


Good Work Gabe!