Tuning Talk(standalone)

[Ant]

Had lots of fun with the MS ecu since purchase, still amazing how much its capable of even with me @ the controls

Spent a few hours today getting my idle perfect, it was OK ish before but needed a damn good fettle to get her back to the smooth 6 pot thrum we all love.

2 hours later and a few datalogs I have perfecto idle @900 rpms =+/-40 rpms, the differance is staggering, all the shakes have gone and the gear chatter I had experienced is a distant memory( thank fcuk)

Idle mix is bang on 14.7:1 AFR, the lambda is 1.00 and the HC sits at 450 so all in all about as good as I can get it I think

you may think I've wasted my time here and should be out mapping WOT but its a good learning tool, and nice idle is the forst step IMHO.

Interested to see how my fellow standalone users are getting on , Lennie, you out there M8

The idea behind this thread is to share tuning tips with others and hopefully generate a nice selection of basemaps for otheres to use and tweak to suit.

Discuss as always gents

Oh, gave her a proper bootful in 1st today( 1sttime) , Sweeeeeeeeeeet !

[Dan318-is]

megasquirt is stnad alone fuel injection yes?

how the hell do u control it from a computer, do u need laptop software or sumink?

some people on ere are true hardcore nutters ur one of em!

[Ant]

In coimmon with all the standalones, buying the ECU is the tip of the iceburg, most will come with a basemap to get you started with values in the boxes but you need a laptop and some form of gas tuning bench to alter the mixture, inj pulse etc etc to get the engine to run right.

In short , yep, laptop req , I'd certainly recommend a wideband 02 sensor too, the NB just has not got the fine range required for tuning dude

[Dan318-is]

how much is a set up like this?

i no alphaN is like 500 quid but do u get the software? an is it as good as megasquirt?

[Jimbob]

The laptop connects using Serial(RS-232) the port on the back that no one ever uses (unless like my job you configure hardware with it!).

I've never seen the connection for MS myself but I imagine you would need a male>female converter for one end.

[Dan318-is]

whats a megasquirt setup guna cost then?

do you gain power?

[m-dtech]

megasquirt = own fuel mapping

so yeah you can get more power and get rid of flat spots.

[Dan318-is]

whats better magsquirt or alphaN??

both sound incredible

[Ant]

Megasquirt can do speed density and alpha N mapping dude, Alpha N uses throttle position and air temp as its only sensors

I'm using intake air temp
coolant temp
throttle position
barometric pressure correction
MAP sensor
02 sensor

there a a lot of standalones to use, I chose MS simply because its open source and a lot of people are using it, the support forums are excellent too, only real issue is the amount of versions there are now, I have stuck to one of the early 2005 firmware issues , can see no gain in updating as yet

check out the alternatives dude, the choice is yours M8

[Dan318-is]

megasquirt sounds gd lol

i think il get saving

worth doing on an m42 u rekon?

[Ant]

the unit can be configured to run anything M8

for the iS you'll need an EDIS module from a ford/vauxhall to get it running, there are a few kits on ebay.

be aware that its all very hands on , but there are 1000s of users to help you get her up and running.

2 on this very board and a few more to be added soon

[Dan318-is]

xmas list is complete

[Ant]

just checked, it is possible you can use you motronic for sparks still and use the tach output from the ECU to run the fuel via the Ms ECU.

as long as the spark trigger is there the ECU wil fuel fine, you can then add the EDIS module later on once your happy with all the software

HTH

[Dan318-is]

how much is the set up without the module?

[Andy335Touring]

I'm going to have a bit of a play with mine on Sunday now i have the serial/usb adapter i can borrow my mates lap top, i am fitting my new 30lbs injectors so i need to enter the new and old flow rates and the Emerald works it all out with out having to touch the fueling map.



On a semi-related subject i took the car for an MOT today and it failed on carbon monoxide so it's to rich at tick over i guess ? Had a word with the tester and he said " don't worry about it as i wont fail it on the retest , i had to fail it because the boss saw it today " Top bloke !

He said it was about 6% and it should be under 3 %

Whilst i've got my mates lap top is it worth me trying to lean out the tick over mixture ? I haven't got an lambda sensor so i'm a bit reluctant to mess with it as any changes will be made "blind" if you know what i mean ?

[Ant]

set the idle CO on mates gas bench if you can dude, worked for me

TBH I'd fit an 02 sensor anyways, its worth having as you'll be able to select closed loop under "cruise" conditions and save a few Ԛ£Ã”šÃ‚£ on fuel

[jonbuoy]

Whilst i've got my mates lap top is it worth me trying to lean out the tick over mixture ? I haven't got an lambda sensor so i'm a bit reluctant to mess with it as any changes will be made "blind" if you know what i mean ?

Better off leaning it on a CO metre imo, i did it at the MOT station.

[Andy335Touring]

I haven't got access to a co meter so i will leave it till i can get an o2 sensor fitted i think.

Can an o2 sensor be fitted to one down pipe so it only see the exhaust gas of three cylinders ?

Not ideal i know but bridging the two down pipes will be tricky and i haven't got a welder

[lentec]

Have been mapping loads its quite supprising how much differance a smoother map drives isnt it.
Have just upped some screen shotz on my site of latest fuel and ignition
http://lentec-e30.tripod.com/map.htm

and the latest map! alex if you cant d-load it can email it
what you think opinions?

Also got a huge bit of metal today gonna make a bigger pulley
Think 8" will do it?
only running 6.5" at 5psi dont know the maths but im thinking its gonna boost

[Ant]

Maps are quality Len, can you relabel the speed site to referance rpms ? ,interested to see if the dip in fuelling just after idle is around 2.2K rpms, I have a dip there too

[lentec]

each speed site =500rpm the dip is between 2000 and 2500 any ideas why?

think ive got the map compensation retarding the ignition too much had a look at a log from this morning
looks like at 120kpa the ignition correction was -7deg
sounds a bit of a lot for 120kpa and at the same time dumping 60% more fuel

i can hold WOT all the way tho with no knocking now tho

the map compensation is v usefull with my s/c being on a dash switch and all
so for warmup (half mile down road!) its not quite as lively as "normal" then i hit the switch and BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTSH.POP BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTSH.POP then i run out of road or hit traffic going to a nice straght long and quiet a-road tomoz will get a decent log then.

[Ant]

I presume to correction value is mapped ignition setting - correction factor,

example 30 deg - correction (7) = 23 total advance @ 120 Kpa

thats a lot of retard for 3 psi M8 , but hey it works

looking @ your fuel map again I assume the car idles around speed site 2 hence the ramping effect below for closed throttle ?

Impressive stuff Len, kudos M8

[Andy335Touring]

Well done on those maps Len, i wouldn't know where to start.

Well today i have managed to fcuk my maps some how and the car won't start

I started off retreeving the maps from the ecu, i wanted to change some thing that wouldn't make a differance if i set it wronge so i changed the switching point of the shift light but some where a long the save map/read ECU/programe ECU i cocked up some how ?

First thing i noticed was when i went back to the events screen is that the shift light switch point and hard/soft rev limiters were blank ?

Then i tried to start the car..........

Check this fuel map, it some pretty funky sh!t going off there !!!!!

No fuel for the first six load sites !!



I have just got to pray that Dave Walker has still got a copy of my set up he can mail me !

In the mean time my car is nicely imobilized

[Ant]

Andy WTF happened there !!!

may I suggest Lens maps will get her running again for you, better than those strange spikes thats for sure

obv the req fuel etc will req calc for your 203 injectors but she should run on it so @ least you'll be able to move her

Gutted dude, maybe something to do with the USB adaptor??

[Andy335Touring]

I don't know what i did, i thought i'd start on the shift light because it was an easy change but i still bodged it some how !?

First thing i should have done was to save a copy !

Len, if you could be so kind as to email me your maps with some details of your set up like fuel pressure and which injectors you use that would be most appreciated mate !

a.law47@ntlworld.com

[Dan318-is]

[Jimbob]

Note to self: Make hard copies of final map on disk, CD and multiple hard drives.

Sorry to hear what's happened Andy, hopefully Dave can pull through in the long run for ya tho!

[lentec]

Mate i went white when i see that
pm sent

hows everything else ie, ignition? did all of it go or just the fuel?
If its just fuel you might be able to copy just my fuel maps
if you save what you have got then notepad it.

[lentec]

Also just uploaded screen my log
http://lentec-e30.tripod.com/map.htm

[Dan318-is]

how do you find out what the best time to set ur ignition etc is?

does the software tell you or is it trial n error until u get rid of flatspots??

id love to see this in action

[lentec]

does the software tell you or is it trial n error until u get rid of flatspots??

thats about the size of it! for me any way!
a base map helps a lot

[Andy335Touring]

Thanks a lot for your help Len, top bloke !

I opened your map set and made a few changes like lowering the rev limiter, went to save the changes but it didn't want to save them in the Emerald soft ware so i clicked on my HD looking for the M3DK folder to save it to and i found an older version of the soft ware lurking on my HD that i didn't know about, it still had a copy of my map set in it, PHEEEEEW !!!!!!

Thank fook for that !

THIS MAP HAS BEEN BACKED UP ON A CD NOW !

This is what my fueling map actually looks like.



Len thanks again for helping a poor dumb ass like me out again and thanks to every one else for there help and concern, never mind the daft bitching thats been going off lately, this kind of thing shows the Zone off at its best, an ace place

Len, i will email you my maps so you can have a look to see if theres any thing in them that might help you ??

[lentec]

Nice one cheers!
bet your

[Andy335Touring]

Bloody over the moon mate !!!!

I've just sent you my map to look at

[Ant]

Zoners save the day again, how lucky were you Andy !!!

I have been an Uber nerd today, I altered the code on megatune and now have the AFR diplayed as a ratio, not as voltage, makes all much clearer for tuning with the wideband.

For those interested in going standalone there is a very uselful feature on megatune that actually allows the ECU to autotune the VE buckets for the target AFR you selected, now thats fckin useful; for anyone using a basemap, will certainly get you up and running faster

I cant explain the process but I do plan to build and supply Ms kits for anyone interested, I'm stoked with how much scope the software has, looks a bit basic but damn its a powerful utility !!

Is there a similar feature in Emerald peeps ?