Megasquirt/EDIS Project

I'm not completely happy with the EDIS harness and I may redo it this winter and combine it with the MS harness with the EDIS module mounted inside.

The no start issue hasn't been resolved and the ignition is also occasionally cutting out on rough roads. It very rarely happens and only for a split second. So far I haven't found a way to reproduce it and it can go several hundred miles between occurrances. I had this happen occasionally with the stock ignition so I'm thinking there may be a problem with the power supply. The no start has only happened once in the last month or so.

I plan to head back to the dyno in mid August. The tuning is fine and the car runs great but I know I can get a little more power and fuel economy out of it on the dyno. Also I've done nothing with the spark table. I just made one up when I started and haven't touched it since. Trying to tune spark table on the street seems like an excersize in futility so I'm not going to mess with it until I'm on the dyno.
 
2 years ago when I was unable to locate a base spark map for my 1.8 twin cam turbo motor I made up this spreadsheet.. It will use the info from your manual regarding base timing, mechanical curve, vacume curve. some basic rules like how much timing to pull per psi of boost ant how much timming to add per psi of vac.. and plots you a safe curve.. its going to be at the low end of performance but will be shaped for your engine.. Dyno tweaking cn get you to the max per bin for your engine.. But this will create a close to stock timing situation. with acommodations for boost..


find it here,,
http://www.turbo124.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5591&hilit=ignition+map+generator
ive been running a map generated with this for 3 years of hard driving,, no issues.
 
Update on the EDIS problem and Dyno

Forth of July weekend the ignition problems got so bad I thought the car was going to leave me stranded a few times. Of course when I got the car to the shop it started working fine. I went ahead and threw a new crankshaft sensor at it. Over 600 miles later everything has been perfect so i'm going to call it a fix.

I'm hoping to get on the dyno sometime in the next two weeks:dance2:
 
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Thanks for the update. I was on vacation during the last updates and missed some of your recent information.

We really appreciate seeing this project, thank you so much for spending the time to post it all for us.
 
Injector Characteristics

Today I was going over my tune to get ready for the dyno. I wanted to make sure that my injector open time was as close to accurate as possible. While I was doing that I noticed that my PWM Time Threshold was set way too high causing the injectors to draw too much current. I fixed it which meant I had to retune the VE table a bit. Also, I found that .6ms opening time is pretty close to accurate. I had it set at 1.0ms and changing it really messed up my A/F ratios in the low pulse width areas of the table. Now that the open time is set right the idle is a lot more consistent. Open time is important in the low power areas of the table because it is such a high percentage of the overall pulse width. For example, at idle the pulse width is 2.0ms so opening eats in to more than a 1/4 of it. Since I had it set at 1.0 the actual fuel volume was probably 20% more than the controller expected. This makes tuning kinda inconsistent at low loads. I updated the previous post with the correct screen shot also. These may not be my final settings but I will update this thread if I change them.

New Settings:
Injector_characteristics.jpg


Old incorrect settings:
Injector%252520Characteristics.jpg
 
Just found this thread

I really enjoyed the tale so far as this is a project that I may tackle in the future. I have been trying to finish up a FI conversion on my '79 that I started about three years ago. This is my one and only X that I bought new from the dealer in Boston many, many years ago. The conversion turned into a total engine rebuild/engine restoration but it is all back together. Now I just started on the transmission rebuild as it was crunching on the 2-3 upshift. I am really motivated to get it all back together as I miss driving it. I elected to stay with the stock FI system for now as I just want to make sure it will run, but did go with a 37/73 cam and shaved cambox from Mad Matt. When I first started on this project, I had the Megasquirt in mind so I have already acquired the Ford EDIS parts. It was nice to see your toothed wheel and sensor install as I was going to put those on since I had the engine out just in case I ever get to the MS phase. All of your info is invaluable and I know everyone really appreciates the time you have taken to provide it.

Somewhere you mentioned that you had a Strada final drive in yours at one time. I have one that I bought on eBay a few years ago and was debating putting it in since I've got the transmission all apart. What are your thoughts on that? Thanks again.
 
To make a short story long...

When I first bought the car it had been sitting in a field for 5 years and all the gears in the transmission above the oil line where horribly rusted. I've never seen anything like that before or since. Anyway, I needed a new transmission. At the time the only thing I could find (the internet sucked then and my 2400 bps connection wasn't helping) was a Strada transmission. I ended up using the Strada gears and case with my bell housing. The first 3 years I after I fixed all the mechanical issues I put 30K miles on the car. I drove the car to Calgary, Tucson and commuted in the Summer 60 miles a day. The Strada gears were great for that. I got 35+ MPG but it lacked off the line performance that I wished it had even with the performance mods. Last year I got a hold of an X1/9 transmission and installed it. I very much prefer it to the Strada gears. Performance is much better and I'm not driving long distances on the freeway much anymore so the I don't need the taller gears. Fuel economy was down to 27 average (now 30 with MS) but I'm only putting 3-4 thousand a year on the car at most so it's not a big issue. If I were to turbo the car and get 130+ HP out of it I'd probably go back but where it's at now I wouldn't consider it at all.
 
if your opening time is incorrect your car will run rich when reved cold and lean out to normal when it warms up.. idle is not as effected by this. but before getting mine right starting it up cold and reving it would yield 10.5 afr and a huge cloud of smoke.. this makes tuning difficult as well.. Important to get idle parameters perfect before trying to tune..
Another issue i encountered is ground level differences in the reference of the sensors.. Wire all sensors back to the same screw that ms is grounded to.. so they all reference the same ground level..

If you notice that for example temp goes up with tps movement.. or anything like that you have this issue..

Just a couple things that could foul up your tuning session..
when i did my x i had allready struggled with all this on my spider.. the x was fully tuned in less than an hour.
 
My wiring is really solid. All the sensors, including the WB controller, ground on the same ground return wire to the MS controller. All the MS ground wires are crimped and soldered to a single lug at the valve cover.

Tuning was no problem with opening time set at 1.0 or .7ms. When I changed it to .7ms it messed up the low PW areas of the fuel table pretty bad. Low PW areas seem a bit easier to tune a .7 but I haven't seen a big difference. My warm up enrichment has been a bit off but I haven't spent much time on it. I'll go through and recheck everything one more time before the dyno session.

I really don't even need to go to the dyno. I already have put over 2000 miles on the system and it runs great with very little tuning. Mainly what I want to do is tune the fuel and ignition table for absolute best power and figure out how lean I can run in the cruising area for best fuel economy. Also, I want numbers and graphs for future reference.
 
I havent done ignition on mine, so I would be interested in seeing your tuned advance table. I may eventually do it its only a matter of the crank wheel and sensor..
 
Last minute reschedule

The dyno shop was unexpectedly busy so to help them out I rescheduled for tomorrow.
 
Dyno Day

Finally got the the dyno today. I picked up 5% HP over last time which is about what I expected. What I didn't expect is a 10% loss of torque. The car in no way feels like it lost anything and one thing the dyno graphs don't show is the vast improvement in the drivability of the car and the much improved idle. I was also able to dial a bunch more timing at cruise for better fuel economy. Peak HP was 95 up from 90 and peak torque was 85 down from 95. I didn't make any changes other the then the MS/EDIS so I'm not sure what happened to the torque. I wonder if the cam timing changed for some reason. Anyway, the car runs great and seems faster than ever so it doesn't matter all that much.

Dyno_MS2.jpg
 
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Say what you like

Looking at the graph the torque is pretty flat and that makes a driveable car. I like what I see with the HP numbers as well.

What compression and camshaft are you running?

My idle is very good compared to before with the 40-80 camshaft.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
The bottom end is stock and the head is shaved .060". So whatever compression that makes. One thing for sure is that it's not nearly enough. The cam is a Delta A16 (40-80) timed 4 degrees advanced.
 
Running about the same set up.

The engine still could use another 50 HP. What I find is that 1st and 2nd gear when the engine gets to about 5000 rpm it really comes alive and moves quickly to 8000 RPM. ( this could be everything coming together, Intake manifold and headers both custom) Third gear is a lovely match for the engine and the whole car feels very sprited as it moves to 60 MPH.

Thanks for the write up and numbers.


TonyK.
Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
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