engine and drivetrain Megasquirters: Check This Out...

[JohnC]

Tom from 02Again (http://www.02again.com/) is developing a very cool new product. It's a valve body for a stepper motor to control your fast idle/warmup. It mounts right on the 318i (or 325i for you M20 guys) manifold. Check out the pics below. Tom did a really nice job on this. It's really professional looking (like all his products) Mine's a prototype, but it works perfectly. I've had the pleasure of testing it for him.

He's also making an adapter plate so that the air inlet connects cleanly to the 325i throttle body. I've connected mine to the boot, but Tom's solution is really clean.

Megasquirt easily control the stepper motor which controls the amount of extra air into the manifold during cranking and warm up. It's really cool, because you can easily configure it so that it's optimized for your engine and preferences. Tom's valve body uses the standard motor out of a Jeep 4.0 engine. They're very common, you can buy one at most parts stores such as Autozone, or pick one from your local pick'n'pull.

This solution is far superior to a solenoid valve (which can be controlled from megasquirt). I don't have to tickle the throttle to keep an idle when cold. It makes your 02 start and warm up like a modern car. On a cold start, you don't have to touch the gas pedal. I've got mine configured to let a little extra air in during cranking, so when the engine fires, it immediately jumps to about 1800 RPM then tapers down to about 1300/1200 within five seconds. It then slowly tapers down to 1100/1000 when fully warmed up (I have a 292 cam, so I keep the idle kind of high).

For details on how the megasquirt controls the motor:

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

I'll be glad to help anyone configure theirs if you want to go this route, just email me.

[Grover]

Very cool!!! As the weather has started to cool off, my car has been a little more finicky to start in the morning (I have no idle control valve at all.) Perhaps this development by 02again will encourage me to look into it. I've been extremely impressed by all of Tom's bits thus far and I'd imagine this will be of equally good quality. His service is second to none also.

[TobyB]

heh.

Let me tell you about all the hassle the tow rig's stepper idle motor is...

No, seriously, as long as you don't have to use Mitsubishi parts, I'm sure

it'll be fine.

t

[JohnN]

(nt)

[Pinepig]

That looks like it would bolt to the 320 manifold also, nice looking part.

I still don't have any idle control on mine, never seemed to bother me that much that I have to wait a whole 3 blocks before it will idle on it's own.

[JohnC]

(nt)

I don't know if he's finalized a price yet. Shoot him an email.

[JohnC]

I still don't have any idle control on mine, never seemed to bother me that much that I have to wait a whole 3 blocks before it will idle on it's own.

I know what you mean Charlie. For me, it's really important, just "because". When I started the megasquirt project, I read about the IAC capability and it was just a "must have". I just think it's really cool to have the system control the warm up idle.

[Tommy]

Can you quickly answer if it is possible to use stepper motor control with old megasquirt in Squirt&spark configuration? I think there is not any output left but is there possibility add an output stage? I have version 2.2 board if I remember correctly (may be 3.0).

I'm just throwing questions as I don't have time to really look into it right now. It would be a nice addition.

Tommy

[Pinepig]

I was way more interested in the electronic boost control. :-)

[PatAllen]

Why dont you guys just use the plain ole bosh hot wire idle valve ?

no electronic to involve, just power it up and you are done. No issue once adjusted properly.

seems to me that you complicate your life a lot for no reason...

older BMW, VW has this kind of valve, and even older toyota has the same kind of valve, altough not bosch...

and for the ones who will say that "hey, its cool i can adjust it with the laptop"...do you realy mess up with your idle all the time ? if yes then there is a problem...

???

[jimk]

Glad to see others admit an IAC is a very usable feature and makes you super duper EFI modern instead of clunky. But why not just scrap the additional expense and use a Jeep 4.0 TB with it's built in IAC and throttle cable?

[PatAllen]

are you suggesting that i am clunky ?

and what is that so modern by using IAC with 80's technology ?

[Pinepig]

It's OK Pat, they are just sad that they don't have a snail on their deuce. :-)

[PatAllen]

It's OK Pat, they are just sad that they don't have a snail on their deuce. :-)

well, i dont mind, its just....

well, by the time they try to figure out which throtle they will fit or assuming a electronic idle valve is more cool, i am doing reverse engineering on motorized throtle for cruise control duty...

-no idle valve needed

-no cables or braket to figure

the day someone will install this technology on a 2002 then this gona be super duper technology well used.

maybe i am biased, i have very bad experiences trouble shooting modern cars with their IAC.

did anyone ever messed up with a e30 idle problem ??

to each their concerns and opinions !!

[Pinepig]

I agree the ISV on VW products has caused many a headache.

You want to try a TB with no cable, my wife's Jetta has the DBW thing, I hate it, but then I am stuck in the wayback machine when it comes to what I like about cars.