megasquirt

[Davis]

well i finally passed emissions. it was a bit of a pain though. i had to make an adjustable fuel pressure regulator out of one of those CFI units, which wasnt too bad, but it took a while to get everything dialed in so that it would pass the high and low speed tests.
but my question is about megasquirt. i am seriously thinking about going that route. i want a MSII unit so that i can also run the distributor. i also would love to have a wideband O2 sensor. what would i need to buy for that setup?
thanks, jesse

 

[D94R]

What year truck do you have now? Why distributor? with MS you have a full field of options as far as ignition control goes. Like Ford EDIS.

Why do you wan't the wideband? Just so you can use the MS and tune it?


Your goal is very vaque, please fill in details on your truck and what you plan to do with it.

 

[Davis]

my truck is an 88, with a stock block rebuilt (forged pistons), big valves, P&P head, higher lift cam, IHI turbo, 3" exhaust, rotated upper manifold & volvo 740 fmic. i want better fuel economy, driveability, tuneablity and power. and i want it to run clean. i am pretty sure i can do all these things with a MSII unit. i want to run the TFI dist because it is already there, doesnt cause problems and i dont wan to have to add a crank sensor and all that junk, at least not right now. i want the wideband so that i can datalog the AFR and then tune the curve accordingly. otherwise i would be just shooting in the dark, something that i am sick of.

 

[anupaum]

my truck is an 88, with a stock block rebuilt (forged pistons), big valves, P&P head, higher lift cam, IHI turbo, 3" exhaust, rotated upper manifold & volvo 740 fmic. i want better fuel economy, driveability, tuneablity and power. and i want it to run clean. i am pretty sure i can do all these things with a MSII unit. i want to run the TFI dist because it is already there, doesnt cause problems and i dont wan to have to add a crank sensor and all that junk, at least not right now. i want the wideband so that i can datalog the AFR and then tune the curve accordingly. otherwise i would be just shooting in the dark, something that i am sick of.

You missed the saga of my Megasquirt installation while you were on your missions trip, and sadly the whole story got lost in the ridiculous dispute that split the forums. We've lost a tremendous resource in all of that accumulated knowledge!

Running "fuel only" is pretty simple. My system is a V3 MSI unit running the TFI mods on MegaSquirt'N Spark Extra code. I've installed a wideband sensor and there is NO WAY I'm going back to a stock computer now!

It's astonishingly simple to do, you'll be pleased with the results, and you'll probably learn more about fuel injection than you ever CARED to know!

Once the 'Extra code for MSII gets up to snuff I plan on doing the upgrade. A 12 X 12 table will give me more precise control of my tuning, but in all honesty I don't use very much of the table I've got right now.

When you get into this I'll have to introduce you to Scott Hall. The Megasquirt forums are USELESS for help!

 

[Davis]

did you need anything to hook the WB02 up to the megasquirt or was it pretty plug and play? (i dont mean the pigtails or wiring, i mean a WB02 controller)
did you switch to a distributor system?
here is my list of what i think i need/want, tell me if you think something is missing.
-MSII kit or assembled unit
-tuning cable
-software (FREE!)
-wiring harness
-stimulator?

 

[anupaum]

did you need anything to hook the WB02 up to the megasquirt or was it pretty plug and play? (i dont mean the pigtails or wiring, i mean a WB02 controller)

I had to get help with wiring. In essence, I picked up a junkyard pigtail and wired that into the wideband controller, then plugged the sensor in. Once I figured out what I was doing it was pretty easy.

did you switch to a distributor system?

No. I used my factory DIS module with TFI mods on the Megasquirt. I'm running both coils and it works perfectly.

here is my list of what i think i need/want, tell me if you think something is missing.
-MSII kit or assembled unit
-tuning cable
-software (FREE!)
-wiring harness
-stimulator

You need Scott Hall's adaptor. It makes Megasquirt wiring a plug and play installation. Get a decent laptop, too!

 

[Davis]

what exactly is a WBo2 controller and why do i need one? is there a reason it cant just plug into the ECU?

 

[anupaum]

what exactly is a WBo2 controller and why do i need one? is there a reason it cant just plug into the ECU?

I asked the same question and I'm still not quite certain of the answer, but I can tell you that it's necessary to have a wideband controller with a wideband sensor. The sensor is wired directly into the controller, and from the controller you wire into the truck's harness. Megasquirt can't drive a wideband sensor on its own.

I bought an LC-1 at Lordco for something like $150 last spring. It's a good investment because the tuning is more precise. However, you need to understand that with a turbo application, you'll be pulling that sensor out every three months to re-calibrate it. (The Innovate people recommend every six months on a normally aspirated installation.)

I've noticed a SLIGHT improvement in fuel economy over the months using the wideband sensor. But my initial tune was actually pretty good and I doubt I've saved enough fuel to justify the expense of the sensor.

 

[squealingtires]

what exactly is a WBo2 controller and why do i need one? is there a reason it cant just plug into the ECU?

The wideband controller in a stand-alone wideband setup functions in at least two basic ways. a. feeds the wideband current from the battery to run the heater (the heater always runs so there really isn't any control taking place here). b. takes the out-put voltage, which is non-linear, and converts it into a linear 0-5 Volt scale. You don't want anything but a linear scale for tuning purposes. it also take care of calibration issues. There are fancy wideband options out there that will even perform data logging if you want and have programmable outputs.

 

[anupaum]

The wideband controller in a stand-alone wideband setup functions in at least two basic ways. a. feeds the wideband current from the battery to run the heater (the heater always runs so there really isn't any control taking place here). b. takes the out-put voltage, which is non-linear, and converts it into a linear 0-5 Volt scale. You don't want anything but a linear scale for tuning purposes. it also take care of calibration issues. There are fancy wideband options out there that will even perform data logging if you want and have programmable outputs.

Great explanation! Thank you!