95 F150 Turbo 300

Hey everyone, this will be my intro to the forum and build thread for the truck kinda wrapped together. Lets get to the details of the truck first.

1995 F150 XLT 300 Inline 6 with the M5OD 5 speed manual transmission, 172K miles. 2X4 with the 8ft bed.
I have read through JonL and TurboB's build extensively and will be copying much of it. I've already bought nearly everything needed. Here's the list thus far.

Turbo:
HX35 off a cummins 6BT, rebuild kit with fresh bearings, washers, etc. put together by myself

ECU:
Megasquirt II with the ECCV Adapter Board. Havn't gotten this fully working yet, more on that later

Fuel:
82lb/hr injectors, Walbro 255

Guages:
Glowshift Fuel Pressure, Oil Pressure, and Boost Guage
Innovate LC1 Wideband

The rest is mostly Ebay junk just cause it was cheap.
Ebay 3" Piping kit
Ebay 31" x 12" X 3.25" Intercooler
Ebay Ball Spring Boost Controller
Ebay BOV


That wraps up the items necessary to turbo the truck. As for the engine I will be leaving it stock for now until something breaks (cause it likely will). I do however have ARP Head studs and the Felpro 1024 on the way. That will be the extent of engine work for now


Now for a little blerb on myself. I'm a mechanical engineer with a passion for cars. I own a 86 Toyota MR2 with a 20v silvertop swap that I've been working on for years and sadly, it still gives me trouble. I have several engine swaps under my belt but this is my first turbo build. My buddy is driving all the way from Salisbury MD to Greenville SC to help me build it and it should be done within the week. You heard me, ONE WEEK!!!!
Stay tuned for the plethora of pics I'll be posting cause I know thats what people like. Thanks!

I'm watching.

as a word of advice, get the MS working FIRST before you turbo it, gives you a chance to work out all the bugs before your engine becomes a ticking time bomb.

i've worked on a couple MS turbo projects and it is a lot harder starting with engine already turbo'd. a stock engine will run pretty decent with just about any map for something that is close to the same displacement per cylinder, and similar VE, but once you start running turbo everything goes bonkers.

emerald 4x4 is a user that has shared his map with others, might want to contact him and get a baseline tune, especially if you are jumping in both feet first to the turbo thing

I will be getting the truck running on MS in stock form first, very much a wiser route.

I do have a question about the idle setup. I thought the truck used a stepper IAC valve but it appears the adapter board is setup to use a PWM idle setup. Anyone one know which way I should go?

The other question I have is in regards to the TFI ignition module. My distributor does not appear to have one bolted to the side of the distributor like I thought it should. However, there is a 6 wire harness coming out of the dirstributor. Is is possible to have an internal TFI setup?

Thats all for now, will upload pics tonight. Thanks!

I'm not sure how hard it is to make the PWM valve work with the ford mechanicals, but if i'm remembering correctly we used most of the sensors and doo-dads off of mid 90's 3800 chevy motors, the IAC was a simple hose-barbed hook up. The 3800 was plentiful in the junkyard and used the sensors that MS recommended.

Generally I've found it much easier to just use whatever sensor is built into the basic code, rather than calibrate and re-program for different sensors. The pwm-to-stepper thing would be an actual hardware change on the board, so that might be real tricky.


The EFI engines don't have TFI, they have a computer-controlled igniton, i don't know anything about it, sorry. They have a small ignition controller module mounted on the firewall that is in a cast-aluminum finned box thingy. Takes an advance/retard signal from the computer.

Alright, I think I found the ignition control module. Its mounted over between the master cylinder and the driver front fender.



Hopefully that doesnt change anything about the megasquirt wiring, I dont think it will. We did some disassembly yesterday and know our biggest obstacles thus far. I'm thinking about pulling the manifold of a carbd 300 since its basically a log that comes to one outlet. Would then build a U pipe the comes back up above the intake manifold placing the turbo basically where Turbo_B and JonL's are. Figure itd be easier than trying to make the EFI manifolds come together and still support a 40lb turbo. I'll also grab a GM IAC stepper motor while Im at the junkyard.

Well, heres some pics like I promised.









Burned the solder of with a map torch...much faster than solder sucking each pin

YUP! thats yer guy.

i have no idea how it works/pinout, but my guess would be that it is either getting a signal from the distributor and a +/-5v from the computer to do a proportional delay, and going 50 (crank) deg after each pulse for TDC

or the computer is getting the pulse direct and modifying it for delay going into the box.

I don't know much about the EFI 6's but pre-OBD2 and on some of the electromagic carbureators, the first mode of operation was common, most stuff after 93 went to the second mode or was EDIS by then.

There might be some kind of trigger wheel for the EFI built into the distributor, i don't recall seeing an external trigger anywhere on that engine.

Having trouble getting spark out of megasquirt. I'm getting fuel but no spark at all. I'm seeing rpm so i know the TFI is talking to megasquirt but Im not sure its talking back. The adapter board documentation isnt very good and I dont know if I need a jumper to send the signal back to the coil.

Any ideas appreaciated.

Sorry- I don't know anything to help you- just wanted to follow your post...

hmm, you've lost me now.

are you getting a spark signal on the output pin, read from a DMM?

by 'TFI' do you mean distributor?

is the ignition portion of the code enabled? I think it is commented out by default.

I tested spark output by putting a spark plug on the head and turning it out several times...no spark at all. So I can see the rpm's jump to about 300 rpm in Tuner Studio so I know the TFI is sending the PIP signal to megasquirt but the SPOUT isn't getting to the TFI, or at least not at the right time or in the right manner.

I have the remote mount black TFI used on later model EFI's. It's a bit different than the older distributor mount TFI's. I think this is part of the problem. I've seen some others reference this as an issue and some have clipped the SPOUT wire, effectively cutting all spark control from megasquirt and setting the timing to base 10 BTDC.

I'm think I'm just gonna reconfigure megasquirt to read rpm from the coil and not control timing. I'll be running E85 anyway so base timing should be fine.

Still cant get spark out of megasquirt even with it wired directly to the coil, so somethings wrong in my megasquirt. Obviously this build didnt finish in a week like I'd hoped but I will be working on it throughout the week, have a few ideas at least.

BTW, I went to the junkyard and found a couple goodies that should come in handy.
A exhaust manifold and head from a 82 300. This exhaust manifold should simplify the turbo manifold setup and the head will be used when I fully upgrade the valvetrain, whenever I get around to it.

I doubt you have a MS problem. TFI will fire the coil at +10 degrees if it doesn't see an ECU signal. The factory TFI system actually has a plug that you remove to cut the ECU to TFI signal so that you can set your base timing.

TFI are finicky things. Take yours to the autoparts store - Advance auto will test ignition modules for free.

I seem to remember something about the TFI changing in the later years, but I can't remember what it was. There should be info in the MS Extra manual. I think I would try to ditch that thing and either direct drive the stock coil or go distributor-less.

or get a chev HEI module and drive the spark event right from MS rather than using the advance/retard signal

if that makes any sense.

Well I got it to start, but the idle is very choppy. I pulled the spout connector and just ran base timing, started up first try but the idle jumps up to 800 rpm then drops to 200 rpm and nearly cuts out but then jumps back up again, over and over. I currently dont have a idle control, am working on setting up the stock PWM valve now.

If anyone would like to share a .msq base map I would greatly appreciate it, I know not everything will match up but getting into the right ballpark would be nice.

Thanks for all the advice and spectating everyone, once this huge obstacle is conquered, its on to the fun stuff.

Watch your WBO2 when it is surging. I suspect you have either a lean spot in the map or your warmup enrich or idle settings are too lean.

Engine goes lean, rpms fall, hits rich spot in map, rpm picks up until it hits lean spot, repeat.

The engine is all stock still, none of the new stuff added yet, except the megasquirt. Also, I was currently using no Idle control and no EGO correction as I didnt even have the stock O2 jumpered in the adapter board.

I now have connected the stock O2 and knock circuits on the adapter board. Still trying to figure out exactly what is needed to run the PWM idle valve. The adapter board has the PWM idle circuit built in so I'm trying to use that instead of modifying the main board but not 100% sure on how that will work just yet.

The engine didn't respond well to throttle either. It would raise rpms if throttle was applied slowly but still very choppy and seemed to run the smoothest as the rpms fell back down.

Will try to get the PWM working and go from there, a base map would still be a huge help.

Still having trouble getting it to run for more than a few minutes. I got an excel file with some parameter data for the VE, etc. but I could still really use a full msq file to test as well.

Currently it starts very easily from a true cold start. It even idles fairly well around 11-12 AFR and then as soon as the coolant gets around 140F it almost immediately dies, AFR goes straight to 22. So I know its pulling a lot of fuel somewhere around there but I've messed with the Warmup Wizard quite a bit and cant get it to keep running.

A few questions I have that if cleared up would rule out a few things:
I'm using the stock injectors and to my knowledge they are 17lb/hr. The injector open time is set at 1 msec. If either of these two are wrong by a large amount that may have something to do with the lean condition.

Again, anyone with a msq file willing to share please do so.

Thanks

Ok, some good news. I was able to get the truck to idle for about 10 minutes tonight before I cut her off. She even started up pretty easily again on a hot start. Turns out I had a issue with me fuel pump relay.

In the process of trying to get spark to the engine, I tried powering the coil off the fuel pump relay and grounding through megasquirt. I did so by jamming a wire into the power tab of the relay, effectively widening the gap for the plug. Now that I dont have that dumb idea around anymore, the power tab on the relay was connecting at start but as it got hot I think it found a way to ever so slightly move and the fuel pump was cutting off. That explains the immediate lean condition I was running into. Megasquirt was still firing the injectors but there wasnt any fuel pressure to support them.

So I pryed the plug and the terminal a bit and tried it all over again and I was able to idle for a good while at around 16 AFR. Its a bit lean but I think I hear a vacuum leak somewhere and that may be why. The crap-shoot of a tune I'm running may also be why haha.



Well its a little dark to go on my first tune run but I'm finally getting close to a reliable standalone. I've got to move here in the next month so the turbo may be put on hold since I'll need to truck to move but soon afterwards the turbo will go on. Plus it will give me plenty of time to get the tune looking good.

Went on my first tuning run the other day, I broke down and bought the registered version of Tuner Studio so I could use the VE Analyze Live feature. I think its pretty lame that Megatune used to be able to do that for free and now they want to charge $60 for it. Oh well.

She's getting pretty close to stock now, I need to adjust the AFR tables a bit but it starts easy both cold and hot and only runs lean at a few cruise situations. Again, I probably wont be adding on the turbo for at least a month until I'm done moving but I promise not to keep you all waiting too long.