I try to do something every week to get it closer to installing the front subframe with motor and transmission.  This week I continued to edge towards the S14 engine installation by figuring out what I was missing to complete that task.  One of the hurdles would be ignition and running EDIS-4 wasted spark, what to do with the S14 Distributor.  Now had I planned better when I bought this motor, I would have purchased on of Lee's S14 Massive Distributor block-off plates, but of course I didn't, and now they are NLA.  So there's that issue. 

Progress for the Week

I needed/wanted to run a 1 BAR MAP sensor with my ITB's, so I cobbled together the correct vacuum hoses to get a 4 to 1 connection to the MAP sensor, (later I found a more elegant solution which I probably order down the road).  I mounted the MAP Sensor on the firewall and plumbed the ITB's with my temporary fix.

The S14 uses a Bosch 3 Wire PWM Idle Control Valve to regulate the amount of air entering the motor at cold and warm idle.  MicroSquirt can control the PWM ICV, but it requires a monster 50W, 40 Ohm resistor on one of the ground wires to control it properly.  I ordered a couple from Amazon and will install it when it arrives.  I also ordered the proper EV-1, 3 wire pigtail for the connector that sits between the 2nd and 3th throttle bodies.

Turns out, I'm not going to have a ton of wires to pass between the ECU and the engine compartment.  So I ordered a Duetsch HDP20, 29 pin Bulkhead connector to keep things clean and tidy.  The HDP20 comes with an assortment of 12/16/20 AWG pins to address the wire gauge differences on the ECU and the various sensors.

While I was sorting out the wiring harness on the ECU, I decided it would probably be a good idea to power it up and determine if it would talk to my ASUS laptop running TunerStudio.  So I hooked up the power and ground leads to my battery, fired up the laptop and started TunerStudio.  I created a new project and Eureka!, TunerStudio recognized my ECU and brought up the control panel.  OK, now things are getting real.  While I was counting the number of ECU wiring connections that stay inside the car, I noticed I might someday need a bootloader switch to load new software for the MicroSquirt ECU.  So I wired a 2-pole momentary button Switch and installed it inside the glove compartment, so I could ground the bootloader switch on power-up and get it in diagnostic mode.

Because EFI, I needed to run new fuel lines (feed and return)  I ordered some 5/16 Copper/Nickel Fuel Line and ran it from the trunk through the cabin and into the engine compartment.  I'll run the return line under the car when I get it back on the lift.  The Copper/Nickel Fuel line is great, super easy to bend, form or straighten without tools, just by hand.  I used my brake flaring tool to put 1/2 a bubble flare on the end to give the EFI fuel line more security.

My daughter is home from Boston College for the Summer, so I pulled her out of her room to help me install the OEM trunk gasket that I bought months earlier.  We tag teamed the installation in sections; I painted the 3M Weather Strip adhesive on the trunk and she painted it on the bottom of the gasket.  I installed it on the car and she secured it with 4" clothes pins I bought on Amazon.  I cleaned up each section with paint thinner and we moved on to the next.  Turned out nice!

Next up, I managed to assemble the short center console I purchased from @FunElan years(?) ago and test fit in the car.  Stay tuned for more progress as I fill it up with gauges and a radio as I march on to getting the drivetrain installed.

Mark92131