This is a start of a thread to take the 'heat' off of: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/071216.html

My MS-II with V3.01 board currently running 2.36 firmware is all built.
It's been tested on the bench, and short of a few minor things I still have yet to add to the harness, it's done.

With luck, all I need to do now is run a vacuum line into the cab (the MAP sensors are internal to the CPU on these).
Plug it in, and it should fire right up! Well, I can hope right?!

I'll add pictures later - I'm off to see Xmen-3 at the moment! It was the first movie I ever had a (minor) part in, so I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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87/88 V6 5spd "FormulaGT" Turbo, 88 Formula
My page:
http://www.fierohut.com

Ok, here's some pics (since we all know what most threads are worth without them! )

My cable assy from RS-Autosports:

http://www.rs-autosport.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=229

A detail shot, showing how I "sacrificed" an ECM (it was dead anyhow) for it's connector. This, with a simple wire swap (from the Zietronix wideband analog output), and a vacuum hose SHOULD make this a plug and play swap with my stock ECM. No other changes have been made to the stock harness (so far anyhow, and I want to keep it that way!)....


Here's the "stimulator" used for doing bench testing:


And the MegaSquirt itself (yes, I dropped the extra big $5 and got the black case! )

Well, it "lit up" for the first time tonight.

I'll post another thread about this, but... there's a big fat ERROR in the factory manual! It shows the ground line for the coolant temp sensor, and the throttle position sensor as being on pin C12. Wrong-O! It's on D12!

Moved the ground wire down a row, and both those sensors came to life.

Anyhow, I should have gone to bed an hour ago - but while trying to set up some things on MS, I blew a hose! In the driveway! Timing I guess.... glad it didn't happen tomorrow morning in rush hour traffic!

Hey watts, that cable assembly is plug in play with the stock ecm? Cool, how much did that run you, and do you have the contact info for getting another one?

Thanks

Dan

quote Originally posted by kingconnections: Hey watts, that cable assembly is plug in play with the stock ecm? Cool, how much did that run you, and do you have the contact info for getting another one?

There is a link directly to the cable underneath the picture of it.

The cable you buy is just a DB37 with marked wires - I made it plug and play! It's a universal cable, so it can be used on any car/bike/whatever.

By adding relays for example, I inverted the fuel pump output (the fiero ECM sends out +12 to turn on the stock FP relay, MS sends out a ground). This keeps the factory harness untouched. All the changes are made on the ECM side this way.

Oh cool, looks like we're at the same stage in progress. I really should get back on it though. My project was halted when I put my Fiero in winter storage. I'm glad you're doing this, I'll need your help later on for programming if your so willing

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000001/HTML/20060206-2-067295.html

Great info! sorry didn't see that link. Keep the updates coming!

bump, watts how is this going?

Oops! Uh, yeah!....

Well, I've had it in/out about 30 times now (damn glad I opted for the easy plug & play route since this is my daily driver!).
I can do the swap/conversion in about 2-3 minutes now.

Mostly I've had it just idling in the driveway, fidling with things. But I have actually driven around the block with it as well!

I re-read the section on ignition timing, and setting up the tables for that from scratch - think I'll wipe mine out and start over!
If anyone wants the 'vanilla' set after I'm done, let me know. It'll obviously be for a boosted engine.

The Autotune feature is way cool.
Sitting there with my foot lighlty on the gas - the Zeitronix display is showing like 12:1 AFR (gag!).
Then after a second or two, autotune starts 'magically' dropping points on the table, leaning it out to match my target table!
Step on it a bit more to move the revs up, bags out rich.... then it starts leaning out that part of the table!

This goes on for a bit. I take it for a drive, and autotune starts going at the whole table as I pass over the points. A set of load rollers would come in REALLY handy right about now! Would be easier than finding a hill to drive up, etc etc.

I still have to spend a whole day on it to tweak it in (I've only had about 2hrs solid at any point to play with it now).

I've been reading the mega-manual more. Think I'm going to print the whole thing, mark up corrections and mail it in to them though.
Nothing serious, but it could be made more readable. Oh well, it was largely written by the people, for the people....


New release of the code should be out this week. Not sure of all the changes made yet.
Hoping they've improved the idle section - if not, I'm going to write something and see if they can incorporate it!

any new updates?????

quote Originally posted by kingconnections: any new updates?????

Sorry - nothing to add at this point.

Got issues with my house to deal with (deck, railings, etc) before I can spend more time on this.

It's also my daily driver at this time - so I can't do anything to it that would disable it for any length of time!

If anything "good" happens I'll be sure to post though.

any updates watts?

Regretably not....

I've just had it sitting in a box on the shelf since the last post.

Priorities n' stuff ya know? Trying to get all the little projects around/on the house done before the crap weather rolls back in (roof, deck etc). Clean out the shop (it's like 1000sq ft and it's cramped!). I'm totally re-doing the layout of my turbo and intercooler anyhow, so there's not much point in tuning further until that's all done anyhow.

The turbo engine is actually residing in my '88 Formula right now anyhow! It's just a "loaner" to myself while I redo the stock engine and stick it back in (oh yeah - there's ANOTHER project!). Might sell the 88 after it's all done. Undecided.

Hey Watts!

Good deal you have there. I'm using MS as well (MS I on a 2.2 board actually). Just curious, why didn't you use the relay board for MS? It's a great setup, it keeps everything neater, and it helps prevent damage to your motherboard and processor incase anything electrical goes wrong.

It's worth the investment.

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Petty Officer Michael C Casaceli
Aircraft Electronics Technician Second Class
Patrol Squadron Ten
United States Navy

quote Originally posted by fieroturbo: Just curious, why didn't you use the relay board for MS?

I thought about it - but the way I've done it I can revert back/forth from one to the other in about 2 min's. Using the relay board I couldn't.
And since GM uses relays for the fuel pump etc already, I didn't feel it was needed.

I'm pretty confident in my wiring and fabrication. I haven't had any issues at all in the time I've run it.

quote Originally posted by watts: the way I've done it I can revert back/forth from one to the other in about 2 min's.

I saw that. Very clever thinking. I took a complete firewall harness off a wrecked donor for mine. If you need another ECM connector for some reason, let me know. I'm swapping in an Ecotec, and my stock Fiero ECM is junk (overheats alot).

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Petty Officer Michael C Casaceli
Aircraft Electronics Technician Second Class
Patrol Squadron Ten
United States Navy

Thanks for starting this thread, I have been thinking about the mega squirt for a winter project. it would be very helpful if you priced out how much it was for you to do this set up. Great thread i'm very interested!

GOOD LUCK!

http://www.megasquirt.info/

i think i laid out $250 for my kit

How hard was it to put together your megasquirt? I'm very mechanical, but don't have very much electronicke skill. Is it doable for me or should I just go for a prebuilt set up?

Sorry to steal the thread, but I'm super interested.

"How hard" is kinda subjective ya know?

Personally? I didn't find it hard at all. Few things to debug along the way (like getting a dud CPU!) - but that's what I do all day. Debug crap then fix it!

If you've never put a simple DIY electronic kit together, and/or swung a soldering iron at SMALL parts before - this is NOT the project to start on! A simple little screw up here and/or there and you've far and away spent more $'s than just getting a pre-built one.

I belive a bump is in order here!
I'm about to swap to a 3800SC, and i am planing on using the MS. So i'we just been waiting for more info.

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My cars @ gatbilar.se
My car @ Garaget.org

Sorry - nothing to add!

It's been sitting in a box since the summer. The engine that the car is in won't be staying there, and is un-intercooled, so it was pointless to do any further tuning. The actual device (MS) works - since I've driven the car! That was enough for me.

When I put the engine back in it's proper home (my '87) I'll MS it right off the bat and tune from there.

Do you have to deal with emissions inspection? If I read correctly on megasquirt's site, there's no provision for egr control? They give suggestions for how to pass emissions without it, just wondering if you've been able to pass since using the megasquirt system. I'd like to use a megasquirt on my car, but am concerned about not passing inspection.

For the moment, yes we have to deal with emissions inspections (it's being phased out, and will be gone by 2010 or 11).

But - if it's ONLY an EGR thing you're worried about, don't be. I've passed probably 99% of all the cars I've removed the whole EGR system from (yes, prom's were modified/reprogrammed to compensate).

The nice thing about MS as well, is that if it doesn't do what you want today - wait a bit! Put out the word, and if there's enough noise about it from other people as well, someone will no doubt design a chunk of hardware, and then write some code for it.

It's the Linux of ECM's!

quote Originally posted by LordBoOsT: http://www.megasquirt.info/ i think i laid out $250 for my kit

Whatever you do don't type in megasquirt-dot-com by accident.

Well - been quite some time since I posted to this thread....

Hadn't touched my car for oh.... 8 months! Yeah, it was looking pretty nasty...

Did some more wiring work and got my IAC working (yay!) - bit more fiddling around and got it drivable.
So, jot it down on your calenders... Saturday was the first time I drove the car under MS on a public road!

Felt confident enough to take it to our club meeting that night, and the g/f (with some hesitation!) came with me. I reminded her that I had the stock ECM with me, and since I'd made it all Plug N' Play I can swap it to stock in about 2 min's - that was good enough for her and she came along.

Still much table tuning to do, but even without it still ran great.

Need to implement my knock sensor setup into MS (had it hooked up with my '85 ECM), then I can let Autotune do it's magic on the timing tables as I'm getting TONS of knock under boost now (so the right foot is being used gently at this time!!!).

Good to hear. I wish you the best as I would like to follow your lead with one twist, add a wideband and E85.

Im working on my megasquirt setup for my ecotec. Im still working on my drivetrain stuff right now but Ive wired my MS into the car already. Really its not bad wiring it all, I had the motor out which made it alot easier. I hooked the megasquirt up and tested the coolant sensor temp and the IAT to just make sure it was getting a good signal and stuff. Alot of the software is quiet overwhelming but the more time I spend in the car checking it out the better it looks

One question, should the fuel pump come on when I give power to the ecm? I have the ecm power controlled by a switch and the fuel pump wire goes to a relay that gives the fuel pump power. Any idea cause it doesnt turn on when I hit the switch

To answer both of the above...

I already have a Zeitronix wideband setup (IMHO your MS setup is useless without one!). E85 has no real infrastructure up here, so that would do me no good.

As for your fuel pump issue - check your wiring. I bet you'll see that you got your power and ground logic backwards. GM ECM's and MS do it backwards of each other. One grounds the relay to send power to the pump, the other one powers the relay to send power to the pump.

So basically i need 12v to the relay and then have that ground to the fuel pump wire for MS? I think i know what your saying

MS sends out a ground to the coil of the relay, the other side of the coil having switched power applied to it.

If you're "reusing" the GM harness you'll get messed up since the GM ECM sends out power to that coil - the other side being grounded.

I added a relay to invert the fuel pump signal (didn't want to change the stock harness, otherwise my plug n' play setup wouldn't work!).

Woohoo, I got the pump coming on! Glad i read this thread otherwise i woulda got it all put back together and had to tear it apart all over

Hey All,

Is anyone going to make a PNP version of Megasquirt for the more popular swaps (LT1, 3800, 3800sc, ecotec, etc)? Second, does anyone know the status of the Ultramegasquirt system?

Thanks,
Paul

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1988 Fiero
3800SC Series 1 w/5spd
Coilovers
18's w/Pirellis
Corvette Dash Mod

1985 GT
1986 Notchie
1987 Notchie

Is this thread dead?

quote watts:...Saturday was the first time I drove the car under MS on a public road!...Need to implement my knock sensor setup into MS (had it hooked up with my '85 ECM), then I can let Autotune do it's magic on the timing tables as I'm getting TONS of knock under boost now (so the right foot is being used gently at this time!!!).

Soooo..., is that also the last time it was driven?

quote Originally posted by War Hammer: Is this thread dead?

<best Monty Python voice>

It's not dead... it's just sleeping!

</Monty Python voice>

Anyhow... I haven't driven the car since last summer to be honest. The weather around here turns to crap about September, and doesn't let up until about April!

I had NO intention of that engine being in that car for that long - it was supposed to be a 'couple months' loaner thing until I redid the stock one and put it back. Ummmm... well, that was.... I don't even remember now it was so long? And things around here have changed a lot for me, and thus my priorities have changed, so all my 'toys' got back burnered.

So.... with luck... I'll get the turbo engine back into the platform where it belongs, MS will go onto it full time (since it won't be my daily driver I can afford to risk a failure!) and I can hack at it more. Hopefully by then I can have MS do my boost control as well - something it REALLY lacked and needed when I first did it. When exactly will all this happen? Ummmm... a couple months! Yeah, that's it!

[This message has been edited by watts (edited 02-15-2008).]

Thanks for the update!

I got mine working just fine and dandy for my ecotec swap. Till I pushed it to far, the fiero fuel pump (haha my last posts were on it) wasnt putting out enuff psi for the ecotec, kept going lean above 6k and eventually broke 3 ringlands, one ringland twice and the second time it started doing strange things and i pulled it out. Waiting on warm weather to do it all over again