Klaus the (soon to be megasquirted) 1976 2002

[jmp88]

I've been a member of this forum for a long time but I've never paid much attention to it and I've rarely posted anything but I think now's a good time.

I've had this car for like a year and a half now and I've done a few things to it already (cheap things, and not always done quite right unfortunately) but being a student and having access to loans that I don't have to pay off for a while (I can figure that part out when I really have to) I'm trying to do this project right.

Less than a year ago I changed the oil on my own for the first time ever. So clearly the next step is to convert the car to a megasquirt fuel injection... Well, maybe it's a little ambitious but we'll see. I think I've got this down.

I started buying the parts on loaned money from my folks (no interest!) just over a month ago. Now I've got a whole bunch of stuff sitting around just waiting to be installed.

The megasquirt ECU is all soldered up and tested, as is the relay board. All that's left to do is get out the wrenches and see what happens.

This last weekend I stripped everything I could out from under the hood and pulled the head. I brought it in to the machine shop on Tuesday (and hopefully they haven't touched it yet cause i forgot to give them the timing chain cover as well! I'm gonna call them first thing in the morning.)

I've got some pictures. Most of them are from earlier projects so I'm gonna start with only 2011 pictures (ones related to this project).

The unassembled megasquirt board:

Assembled ECU:

Testing the ECU:

I was fixing an odometer problem and I decided to add a low fuel light while I was at it. The new fuel pump has a wire for one, so why not.

I've never had garage space before but the place I'm living this semester has a garage. I probably couldn't do this project at all without that. Here's my new workspace. I removed the hood since I know I won't need it for a while and this is all gonna be easier without it.

Goodbye weber. I'll miss you. Kind of.

(Note the relay board bolted in over where the smog stuff used to be.)

After much hassle, I got the radiator out. That was probably the hardest part of pulling the head. Am I missing something or is it impossible to drain that thing without a huge coolant mess on the floor?

I took some really blurry pictures of the block with the head removed but they're not even worth posting. I'll get some better ones soon.

So that's where I'm at. Sorry about the long post, from here on out I won't have that many things to write about in one post.

[Colin]

I like your low fuel light. What did you use for that? It looks really clean.

[jmp88]

The LED is digikey part number 67-1067-ND and the little black circle around it is number 67-1330-ND.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Cat=524729&k=67-1067-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?lang=en&site=US&WT.z_homepage_link=hp_go_button&KeyWords=67-1330-ND&x=0&y=0[/url]

[Colin]

The LED is digikey part number 67-1067-ND and the little black circle around it is number 67-1330-ND.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Cat=524729&k=67-1067-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?lang=en&site=US&WT.z_homepage_link=hp_go_button&KeyWords=67-1330-ND&x=0&y=0[/url]

Nice! Thanks. I will give this a try.

[tinkwithanr]

Sweet. How hard was it to solder up the megasquirt board. I'm about to dive into a similar project and am debating between saving the ~$200 to do it myself or just buy the pre-assembled one. How long did it take you put it together? Was it hard to test out?

Looking forward to more updates!

[Colin]

Sweet. How hard was it to solder up the megasquirt board. I'm about to dive into a similar project and am debating between saving the ~$200 to do it myself or just buy the pre-assembled one. How long did it take you put it together? Was it hard to test out?

Looking forward to more updates!

Assembling it is not hard at all.

Following the instructions, which aren't always very clear, is hard. There are a plethora of options and you need to know EXACTLY what you are planning to do with your car if you are to get it right the first time.

I was lucky enough to do it all correctly on the first go. The only problem I ran into was that I had a bad resistor that took me a few weeks to find.

[jmp88]

Sweet. How hard was it to solder up the megasquirt board. I'm about to dive into a similar project and am debating between saving the ~$200 to do it myself or just buy the pre-assembled one. How long did it take you put it together? Was it hard to test out?

Assembling it is not hard at all.

Following the instructions, which aren't always very clear, is hard. There are a plethora of options and you need to know EXACTLY what you are planning to do with your car if you are to get it right the first time.

I was lucky enough to do it all correctly on the first go. The only problem I ran into was that I had a bad resistor that took me a few weeks to find.

Yeah, it's not too hard if you're really careful. It took me a lot of time just making sure I was following the directions every step of the way but they're very thorough instructions so you don't have to think too much while you do it. It's divided in to 5 sections and at the end of each one it gives you instructions on testing to make sure you haven't messed anything up yet. I bought the kit with all the components included which I highly recommend. They come in labeled bags which correspond to their labels on the circuit board.

http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/V3assemble.htm

[tinkwithanr]

That's to bad the instructions aren't very good. I've been trying to read up on the megasquirt website on all the different ways to go about running the injectors and coils. Did you end up building with the 'tester' module to make sure everything was working right?

[jmp88]

Yeah, actually the instructions assume you have one so the testing steps involve plugging the MS in to the 'stimulator' circuit.

you know, now that I think about it, 'megasquirt' and 'stimulator' are pretty unappealing names for car parts.

[tinkwithanr]

Funny, that never occurred to me, but now it's all I can think of.

What version of megasquirt did you get? Any chance you would be willing to 'rent' out the simulator since it seems to be a one-time-use thing.

[jmp88]

What version of megasquirt did you get? Any chance you would be willing to 'rent' out the simulator since it seems to be a one-time-use thing.

I've got the MS-II and the JimStim stimulator:

http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/jimstim-v15-megasquirt-stimulator-wheel-simulator-unassembl-p-174.html

I think it works with all of the megasquirt boards, not just the MS-II.

If you want to pay like $5 for shipping you can have it. I think now that the assembly is done I don't need it anymore.

[Colin]

IMO you don't really need the stimulator.

[tinkwithanr]

If you want to pay like $5 for shipping you can have it. I think now that the assembly is done I don't need it anymore.

Sure, email me through the board.

Thanks!

[jmp88]

Engine bay is mostly cleared out now.

I gotta figure out the easiest way to get that battery tray out. I don't know if it's supposed to be welded in there - but it is. I guess a cutoff wheel would work best but I don't have one. I might have to borrow one cause the hack saw method wasn't working.

Does anyone know what size socket I need to take the crank pulley off?

Also, does anyone have suggestions on where is best to mount the EDIS controller? Originally I was thinking the bracket mount for the old coil would be perfect but I'm kind of worried about induction from the spark plug wires interfering with the signal wire between the EDIS and the MS board. I have shielded wire but that seems like a particularly dangerous place for noise sensitive wires to be hanging out.

[thaddeussmith]

Engine bay is mostly cleared out now.

I gotta figure out the easiest way to get that battery tray out. I don't know if it's supposed to be welded in there - but it is. I guess a cutoff wheel would work best but I don't have one. I might have to borrow one cause the hack saw method wasn't working.

Does anyone know what size socket I need to take the crank pulley off?

Also, does anyone have suggestions on where is best to mount the EDIS controller? Originally I was thinking the bracket mount for the old coil would be perfect but I'm kind of worried about induction from the spark plug wires interfering with the signal wire between the EDIS and the MS board. I have shielded wire but that seems like a particularly dangerous place for noise sensitive wires to be hanging out.

early models (pre-73?) had the battery tray bolted in, while later models were welded. cutoff wheel, indeed..