300 MegaSquirt project

Once he gets the MS hooked up he will have the advantage of being able to read all the data (like having a good scan tool) to see whats going on. He may have knocked something loose while having it apart.
 
I do have spark and a lot of fuel! At first, I thought I forgot to connect a sensor or knocked something lose. I double checked and everything seems fine.

The only reason I think my truck should be running with the bigger injectors, is from reading on this forum. Others have said to done the injector and FPR upgrade. I haven't read about any of the motors running well, they were just running. I believe most of them had low end rich spots, but they were running.

I think I have a good shot with the MS because I control everything. Who knows what the crappy stock computer is doing, or if it is even working properly (which might be the reason the truck is not starting).
 
Quick update, the MS is installed and the motor still doesn't start! I am in troubleshooting mode now because I think five injectors are stuck in the closed position, and one injector stuck open (gauge wouldn't hold pressure). I tapped on the #1 injector with a screwdriver and it closed shut (the fuel pressure gauge held pressure instead of bleeding off). I will pull all six injectors and bench test to see if they are working. The second part will be checking the injector harness, and to make sure all six injectors are receiving a signal. Nothing but problems so far. :(
 
19# injectors are going to be pretty limited on the amount of power they can produce. At 100% duty cycle, you are only going to flow enough fuel to make about 200 hp. Realistically, the injectors are going to be limited to about 90% duty cycle without possibly overheating the drivers.

To get to the 250hp level, you'll need 24# injectors. You may even want to look at 30# injectors.
 
Remember to run a datalog on your starts (and post them). If I would have remembered to log early attempts and asked for help I bet I could have saved a couple of days of screwing around on my own.
 
You have fuel and spark. Need to get them together.

Are you running direct coil control or triggering an MSD or other box? Have you checked your trigger offset? If you get spark and fuel together anywhere near TDC you should get fire.
 
With the stock computer and the new 19# injectors I "think" I was only checking the #1 spark plug for fuel/rich signs. That is why I thought I was running too rich.

Then I swapped in the MS. I was initially only checking the #1 spark plug for signs of fuel also. After being unsuccessful starting the motor with the MS, I checked all spark plugs and noticed only the #1 plug was wet. All five other plugs were dry. My fuel pressure would bleed off quickly after the fuel pump prime. Someone on another forum mentioned stuck injectors. I tried tapping the #1 injector and magically the fuel pressure held around 42 lbs. I figure the #1 injector was stuck open and always squirting fuel in. What I thought was a rich condition was just a stuck open injector.

The problem with the other five injectors has not been resolved. I added a custom made adapter to use my MS with the Ford wiring harness. Even thought it is highly unlikely the company made a wiring error, I will double check the injector harness. That is the only way I can be sure the five injectors are getting a signal. I will also bench test the injectors to see if they are stuck/working properly.

Good point on my small 19# injectors. When I bought them I thought they would be on the big side. A desktop dyno of my combo showed 206 h.p. at 3,500 rpm and 242 h.p. at 4,500 rpm. Maybe I will swap out the injectors after I get this thing running!

I did record some datalogs of my cranking over. I posted them in the MSx/Extra forum, however, no one has commented on my datalog.

Thanks for the help guys!

Hopefully I will get this thing running soon.
 
I used a fuel injector calculator and it looks like 24# injectors will be just right for my combo. I emailed my injector guy and asked about trading in my 19# injectors for a set of 24# injectors. With the manifold off and the injectors out I might as well swap in the bigger set. Once I get the injectors and noid test light kit in the mail I can start tinkering again!
 
Yes!!!

Sorry for not updating the thread. I work six days a week. Usually I spend my one day off with my wife and kid. Very little time is devoted to the truck.

Long story short, I swapped in bigger 24 lb injectors that were not "stuck", then tested the injector harness with a noid light. Everything checked out o.k. After playing with the cranking settings for a bit the motor fired up. I have logged several hours of drive time so far. I have my wife sit in the passenger seat holding my laptop while I drive. I watch my AFR gauge and tell her what bins to adjust for the VE (fuel) and spark. So far I am very happy with the tune. Very minor tweaks still need to be done.

I am still sorting through some hard to start symptoms. I don't have the cranking fuel setting right, and the motor floods easily. My other problem is getting my IAC to work. The settings are confusing and I don't really know what the IAC wants for my truck. Today I just checked to see if the ohms were in spec for the IAC, and they were. I also verified I am receiving a signal from the computer. Now I am waiting on advise from DIYautotune (thats who I bought my MS and other components from). Hopefully I can get my IAC problems sorted out soon.


I will keep you guys updated when I can.

Brian
 
I posted the whole build up two years ago on this forum.

Specs are:

Block zero decked (.020 removed)
Federal Mogul Hypereutectic Pistons .020 over)
Federal Mogul bearings
Northern Auto parts engine kit including gaskets, oil pump etc.
Crankshaft machined .010 under
Rod journals machined .010 under
Exhaust manifolds machined flat
Performance balance job within 1 gram
ARP rod bolts
Pioneer head bolts
Manley Stainless Steel Valves with three angle valve job and backcut valves (specs listed below)
Cliffored 264 cam, performance springs, retainers, keepers, pushrods and lifters (specs listed below)
Cloyes adjustable timing gears installed 0 degrees advanced
New Speed Pro stock rockers
New harmonic damper
New Pioneer oil pan
New flexplate
24 lb. fuel injectors
Crane adjustable FPR
Napa waterpump
Four tone paint job using Cast Blast, Alumi Blast, High Temp. Silver and High Temp. Black.
New stainless steel bolts and washers on the majority of the engine.
C.R. is 9.4:1

Intake Valve Specs:
• 1.781 Head Diameter
• 4.750 Overall length
• .34195 Stem Diameter
• Manley # S2124
• Industrial Hard Chromed Stems
• Single Piece Construction
• OE Steel Material

Exhaust Valve Specs:
• 1.560 Head Diameter
• 4.750 Overall length
• .34195 Stem Diameter
• Manley # AX2247
• Stellite Hard Faced
• Industrial Hard Chromed Stems
• Stainless Steel Material
• Wafer Hard Tips
The Clifford 264 cam is 474 valve lift (.296 lobe lift) and 206 duration at .050, the intake and exhaust centerline (0 degree cam advance) is 110 (110 lobe centers).
Clifford Performance pushrods are 10.109"

3 inch single exhaust (will be changed to 2.5) with high flow cat and 40 series Flowmaster.
 
I will share I MSQ when I get some more bugs worked out.

I just connected my LC-1 to MS but I do not have common grounds. The AFR reading on my laptop with Megatune is not the same reading I get with the LC-1 AFR gauge. This is apparently due to different grounds and both systems being so sensative.

My IAC problem is still an issue. I haven't had the time to troubleshoot that problem.

I am redoing my Cranking PW's from other changes I made in Megatune. So far my 60 degree cold starts are great. My 80 degree starts are iffy. The motor might start fine at 81 degrees, but not start at 98 degrees. I need to find the magic number. A battery charger is a must!

My timing table is pretty crude also. Everyone else's is very different and usually on a modern motor. I keep reading posts about how you should be "all in" around 3,000-3,500 rpm. The most advance I have tried is 32 degrees around 3,000. The motor doesn't like that much advance around 100 kpa (of course) but if I cruise around 70-80 kpa and 75 mph and it seems to like it. I don't know if I should try more or just leave it alone. Some guys say their motors run around 50 degrees advance during light cruise conditions. It is amazing how much vehicle weight, aerodynamics, gearing and motor type can change the timing curve. My big, heavy, non-aerodynamic, three speed non-overdrive truck will never be driving under light cruise on the freeway!

I am still running 93 octane during tuning as a safety precaution. The motor did run on 89 octane with the factory computer and a crappy tune. I plan on running 89 octane when I get everything super fine tuned.

Another project I have in the works is installing Cyberdyne blue gauges on my A piller. I currently have a two pod unit with a normal tach and oil pressure gauge. Now I will have a three unit pod with Cyberdyne blue digital tach with memory, a Cyberdyne blue digital oil pressure gauge and the blue digital LC-1 AFR gauge. Both Cyberdyne units are on back order for about a month and I have already been waiting for a month and a half.

Fun, fun! :D
 
Both settings on Megatune and MS have been done correctly. They werent' at first and the readings were really off. Now they are close, about .5-1.0 off. Others agree my grounds must be common between the two systems. Until they are I don't trust MS to make any corrections to my VE table.

Right now it is raining so I can't play outside with my truck. :cry: I need to find where the factory ground is for the ECU. If anyone knows where it is please let me know!
 
I fixed my ground problem! Now both AFR gauges read the same.

My new problem is getting Autotune to work. The first time I tried using it the truck ran horrible. The motor was surging and bucking and coughing and I could barely drive 10 mph. I was only ten houses away and I didn't think I would make it to my driveway.

I haven't figured out what all the settings mean. Plus I can't figure out how to modify the code in the Configurator. It is a Read Only type of format. I want/need to change the x,y and z fields for Autotune.

Can any of you MS guys help explain how to modify the code? I know it is basic stuff, but I can't figure it out. This sucks.
 
I could not get that config thing to work so I ended up just using notepad to edit the autotune numbers. For autotune to work you have to have your AFR target map dialed in which is a manual thing. Like you said your setup is different than everyone else that has the little high revving multispeed transmissions.

If you cant even drive the thing autotune is not going to work. Best thing is to get a co pilot and manually adjust things on the VE table screen under the tuning window. It shows that 3d map with the red X which is the cursor and then a green one where it is running. You use the arrow keys to move the cursor and hold shift and use the arrows to change the numbers. Get the thing to idle and rev good in the driveway, dont worry too much about the AFR just make it sound good, same with when you start to drive it, make it perform alright and you will be close.

Here is the 'help screen' from that window

Tuning Point
The "tuning point" is the red cross on the graph on the right half of the screen. The three coordinate values corresponding to the current tuning point position are displayed in the status window in the same color as the cursor.

Spot
The “spotâ€￾ is the green dot specifying current engine operating position in the graph. The numeric values corresponding to the spot are displayed in green in the status window.

Keystrokes
Arrows move the tuning point to a different vertex on the graph.

Shift-Up = increase the value at the tuning point on the graph.
Shift-Down = decrease the value at the tuning point.
Ctrl-Shift-Up = increase the value by a “lotâ€￾ (5 internal units).
Ctrl-Shift-Down = reduce the value by a lot.
F = find and place the tuning point on the graph vertex nearest the spot.
G = Goto spot; behaves as a continuous “Fâ€￾ mode.
Z = zoom between a 2D and 3D display of the VE graph. 2D mode makes it much easier to see where the spot is with respect to the tuning point, but 3D mode allows you to easily see when you have vertices that are out of agreement with the rest of the table.

M and N = rotate the 3D view, display new “gridOrientâ€￾ so you can past the values into your custom.ini file.
S = save current state (i.e., burn flash on the MS).
X = eXit from the tuning dialog.

To navigate the graph on the right of the Tuning screen, use the arrow keys to move the tuning point, up moves up on the Y axis of the grid and down moves to a lower Y bin. If you know VI, then you can alternatively use the standard motion keys from that editor; use "k" to go up, "j" to go down, "h" to go left and "l" to go right. Left and right arrow keys move to the higher and lower X-axis bins, respectively.

For example, when the tuning dialog is being used to edit a VE table, the shifted up and down arrow keys enrich or lean the VE table value at the tuning point. Alternatively, the "q" key richens the currently selected bin and "w" leans it. Whenever you change a value in MegaTune, it is immediately changed in the MegaSquirt controller's RAM. These changes will go away when you turn off the engine if you do not save them into flash memory by typing "b" for “burn to flash.â€￾

Gauges
If the Engine MAP gauge appears to be reading at about half of what you expect and you are running an MPX4250 sensor, then MS is using the wrong transfer function table for your sensor. This could be because you either told MS you have the other sensor, or because MegaTune read the wrong kpafactor.inc file. Run the MegaTune Configurator and see what configuration is selected.

The operation of the gauges should be self evident, with the exception of the VE gauge.

VE Gauge
The VE gauge on the tuning screen represents the VE table value corresponding to the cursor placement on the right-hand side, not the runtime VE value. The tuning screen allows one to access a particular VE table entry easily, by moving the cursor to one of 64 positions (up/down by 8 and left/right by 8), and the VE gauge represents the VE table entry. If you hit the richen VE key, the gauge will go up by 1% for each hit, down for 1% lower - this is also transmitted to the ECU and it responds immediately.

So, lets say you want to set your VE value at idle. Get the engine running, and bring the RPMs down to idle. The "dot" on the screen follows the MAP and RPM, just like the ECU does internally to determine VE. Move the cursor to a VE table point close to where the "dot" is, and then hit the richen (q) or lean (w) keys - the engine will react. It takes only a few minutes to get used to the setup, and it takes a few seconds to dial in a VE table entry.

One thing to remember - if you like what you have adjusted, then you must hit the save (s) key in order for the setting to be stored in flash, otherwise the values will be erased when you shut off the key. This allows you to play around with VE table values any time you like, and if you like what you did with the VE values then you can save them, otherwise go back to the old settings the next time you start the car.

The 15 Minute Tune
Rough tuning your engine is pretty straight forward if you have a narrow-band oxygen sensor wired into your MegaSquirt. If you plan on tuning on the road (as opposed to on a dyno), then you will need an assistant.

The first step is setting the ReqFuel constant to an appropriate value. If you know your injector flow rate, then use the calculator on the constants screen. If you don’t know the flow rate, make a rough guess, then set all the values in the VE table around the expected idle MAP and RPM to 15-20%. Start your engine and let it warm up, then tweak the ReqFuel value on the Tuning dialog while the engine idles. Make the idle as smooth and strong as you can, it will probably be rich when idling, but this is ok.

Go to the Enrichments dialog and turn off acceleration enrichment by setting the TPSdot Threshold to some large value like 50 and turn off the EGO closed-loop mode by setting the EGO Step value to 0.

Now you are ready to rough tune the rest of the table. While one of your team drives the vehicle, the other member will tune specific points in the table. If you are the driver, you will need to hold a steady vacuum and RPM at each of the vertices on the tuning screen; the green dot will reside at the intersection of two lines.

If you are the tuner, you will be watching the Exhaust Gas Oxygen gauge and trying to get it to hover around its mid-point (0.5 volts). Do this by moving the cursor to the vertex of interest (typeâ€￾Fâ€￾) and then use shift-up and shift-down arrows to raise or lower the VE at that point (all of VE, fuel delivered and narrow band Exhaust Gas Oxygen move in the same direction, so if the EGO is below center, use shift-up to raise it).

Once you have the engine running reasonably well, start using datalogs and MSTweak3000 to do the rest of the table.
 
I just figured out how to edit the code for Megatune with Notepad. I can't get the info to save in the right area. I still have to figure that out.

The motor runs great with my VE map. I just wanted to fine tune everything with Autotune. The settings were not right and I gave the Autotune too much authority! That is why the truck was barely driveable. Now the Autotune works, but I need to change the x,y and z fields to stay inside the "window". That is the code that I changed with Notepad. I don't know if I am changing the correct file.

Thanks for the help.
 
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