Just wanted to post a message since others have been having so much fun with their new Holley stuff..

The 406 listed in my sig is dead and in went a milder 350 for the time being. I re-flashed my MS-II with the MS2Extra code, 2.1.0d. After generating a VE table with Megatune, it basically started right up. I got the ignition control working as well using a regular small-cap HEI. Today, I had some time to drive around recording datalogs and running them through MegaLogViewer's VE Analysis tool and got the car running pretty nice. The 22lb injectors I used are a bit too small, so I can't get much past 4500 RPM. 30lb injectors are on the way.

I still need to get the IAC hooked up, as it's idling much too high. I'll get that in the next couple days.

Sure is nice having the car run again.

-Dave

Dave, have a link to your previous MS experiences? I'm interested in that stuff.

This is very good stuff to hear... was it really just that easy though? That sounds too simple and there has to be a catch ;)

I have pretty much decided that MS will be the direction I will go when I finish my migration to EFI.

I have been watching the MS-III roll-out with interest and will have to decide between the MS-II (which is cheaper) or the new MS-III. The extra I/O on the MS-III will help significantly if I decide I just have to do sequential :beers:

My daily driver is efi non sequential and it drives perfectly fine. Btw, I have an msII harness and relay board for sale.


This is very good stuff to hear... was it really just that easy though? That sounds too simple and there has to be a catch ;)

I have pretty much decided that MS will be the direction I will go when I finish my migration to EFI.

I have been watching the MS-III roll-out with interest and will have to decide between the MS-II (which is cheaper) or the new MS-III. The extra I/O on the MS-III will help significantly if I decide I just have to do sequential :beers:

full disclosure: my car was already setup for megasquirt. I just popped a new engine under the EFI. So yes, Steve, it sorta was that easy, only because I've run into all the problems at least once already. :-) But the MS2Extra code has worked very nicely from the first start.

Here's my project thread from several years ago, http://msruns.com/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=7202

I drove the car 120 miles yesterday. Ran great.

-Dave

If I wasn't doing a high horse power boosted motor, I would jump at the megasquirt. It might take some learning, but if you are already posting on team chevelle you are halfway there to figuring it out on your own.

If you ever find the time, just post a build thread with some basic links and guidance or lessons learned for folks. I think my next project will be less bling and more grass roots DIY and save a ton of cash.

My daily driver is efi non sequential and it drives perfectly fine. Btw, I have an msII harness and relay board for sale.
I am planning on a more integrated setup than the relay board... I may question my sanity before it is done. But then I do not always do things the easy way anyways.

I was thinking of picking up the connector and wire bundle from the diy folks. That gives me suitable color coded and labeled wires that I can add to or subtract from to roll my own.

I am planning on a more integrated setup than the relay board... I may question my sanity before it is done. But then I do not always do things the easy way anyways.

I was thinking of picking up the connector and wire bundle from the diy folks. That gives me suitable color coded and labeled wires that I can add to or subtract from to roll my own.


thats what I used to make my harness. very helpful.

I didn't bother making my own relay board cable, but all of my harness from the relay board to the engine was done with color coded and labeled wiring too. Well worth the cost.

-Dave

If you ever find the time, just post a build thread with some basic links and guidance or lessons learned for folks. I think my next project will be less bling and more grass roots DIY and save a ton of cash.

I think the major hurdle for Megasquirt is for people to decide if they wanna learn how it works, or they just want to plug in an EFI system and have it "work" (like Holley HP). But if you like learning how this stuff works (and much of the knowledge would certainly carry over to other systems), go for it.

The biggest thing I can say is read all the (relevant) documentation first. Read it and understand it. Ask questions about anything you don't understand. Then start buying parts. Fortunately for us, running a Chevy V8 with a small-cap HEI ignition is very straight forward.

If anyone has any specific questions, I'll try to answer them as best I can.

-Dave

So I've had some time to dial this thing in a little bit, and it runs sweet. Granted, it's just a mild 350, but I haven't had much drive time in my car the past few years, so anything is good. It's very responsive, and a pleasure to drive. The spark map is a little conservative.

I'm loving the EFI right now.

http://photos.studly.net/d/3163-1/VE-Table.jpg
http://photos.studly.net/d/3165-1/sparkTable.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSUOdxgBZuA

-Dave

Nice. I was going to say that was a *very* conservative timing map, but then I noted the Vortec heads. So maybe it is not quite so conservative.

I like how you show that you can lock in advanced timing for idle and then back it off when the cam comes online more. Can't do that without a mapped ignition timing :thumbsup:

Also very cool how you can specify the axis values with MS setup so they are not all evenly spaced.

I gotta give credit on the spark map to DannyCabral over on ChevyTalk's EFI forum. He provided the spark map, saying it would be a good starting point for any modern combustion chamber. I posted it in case anyone else is looking for a starting point in the future.

As for the non-even spacing, others can do this. Danny's table, (link) (http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/1674557/) was actually from a Holley C950 16x16 table that wasn't evenly space on RPM or MAP axis. I manually reduced it to 12x12 for Megasquirt.

-Dave

I figured I would start by basically reproducing the mechanical/vacuum advance map. Add some tweaks around idle to take advantage of EFI capabilities. And then drive it from there. I may decide to try some dyno time for ignition tuning... may play with it bit driving and see how it responds. See if I can "feel" the curve or not.

I feel so outdated now. I'm running Megasquirt I and using a normal distributor. It was cheaper and easier, but I miss out things like timing control, IAC, etc. Runs way better than my edelbrock carb did but sometimes I get a little bog at low rpm & heavy throttle. Probably just my accel enrichment setting or my horrible ignition curve.

It's funny seeing that many squares on the fuel map. Mine is only 8X8 and 3 of the 8 kpa ones are for boost. I find 8X8 enough of a pain to tune, I can't imagine trying to go through a 12X12 or 16X16 fuel map getting it perfect. I tuned my car entirely on the street with a wideband just using datalogs, adjusting then going for another drive.


http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3820/mapvk.jpg

what's your initial timing and curve like?

what's your initial timing and curve like?

Assuming you're refering to me since I'm the last post...

I've got 12 initial going to 27 total by 2500rpm. + 20 vac advance.

I can't change it much either since one of the dials on my MSD digital e-curve distributor broke. I'm gonna get the digital mallory distributor for the spring so I can change things with my laptop instead of fragile dials and it also has boost reference.

For the last month or so left of driveable weather I will just have to deal with the literally 'retarded' timing.

I feel so outdated now. I'm running Megasquirt I and using a normal distributor. It was cheaper and easier, but I miss out things like timing control, IAC, etc. Runs way better than my edelbrock carb did but sometimes I get a little bog at low rpm & heavy throttle. Probably just my accel enrichment setting or my horrible ignition curve.

It's funny seeing that many squares on the fuel map. Mine is only 8X8 and 3 of the 8 kpa ones are for boost. I find 8X8 enough of a pain to tune, I can't imagine trying to go through a 12X12 or 16X16 fuel map getting it perfect. I tuned my car entirely on the street with a wideband just using datalogs, adjusting then going for another drive.


bzack,

The tuning tools are sooo much better now than they were before. MSTweak3000 was the first one I ever used.

Record a datalog of a 10 minute drive, hitting as many of your table cells as possible, run it through the VE Analyzer in MegaLogViewer. Export and burn the new table. After 2-3 runs, you'll probably be running pretty well. If you pony up $40 for the full TunerStudio, it'll self-tune in real-time as you're driving.

I used to run a normal distributor with my MS too. Keeps the learning curve simpler. But ignition control is nice and worth the effort, since 8-pin HEI is relatively simple to do.

-Dave

bzack,

The tuning tools are sooo much better now than they were before. MSTweak3000 was the first one I ever used.

Record a datalog of a 10 minute drive, hitting as many of your table cells as possible, run it through the VE Analyzer in MegaLogViewer. Export and burn the new table. After 2-3 runs, you'll probably be running pretty well. If you pony up $40 for the full TunerStudio, it'll self-tune in real-time as you're driving.

I used to run a normal distributor with my MS too. Keeps the learning curve simpler. But ignition control is nice and worth the effort, since 8-pin HEI is relatively simple to do.

-Dave

Thanks, I'll look into those tools.

As for ignition I have to decide over the winter to either get the Mallory or go the HEI with MS2. Either would make a world of difference over running retarded timing with the MSD.

yeah, you're 10° short. killing your performance and gas mileage. better off with an HEI if you're putting any miles on it.