Need help tuning with megasquirt

[StrongTyer]

So after about 3 years of owning my 89 conquest I decided to go a bit bigger. I bought a MPI conquest. Call me crazy but I bought the car even though it doesnt run right (yet). I am willing to learn but right now I need some help getting this car running right. Ive had a lot of members here help me out with lots of other little things in the past and I appreciate everyones help. Let me know what I should do....

 

Heres what the car has done to it as far as I understand...

 

Its an 87 conquest with a rebuilt (pretty much stock) engine.

Turbonetics T4 turbo

Greddy Type RZ BOV

Turbonetics Mark II Delta Wastegate

Big intercooler

Hurricane Intake

3 BAR Map sensor

Aeromotive Fuel Pressure Regulator

3" Greddy SP Exhaust

 

Now... the car runs and drives. Has some trouble starting up the first time then starts up and after it warms up it will idle just fine. The turbo spools up and there is a little bit of power (not what there should be) even though the it hesitates a little bit. At about 4000RPMs it starts to just revs and there is no more power. It pretty much just falls on its face.

 

I am looking to get it tuned profesionally but would like to see what I can do before I spend too much money.

 

Im still investigating but if someone could help send me in the right direction I would appreciate it a lot. Im pretty sure it doesnt have a wideband o2 sensor which as far as I understand.... I may need one before I get it tuned.

 

The previous owner lost his job shortly after installing the hurricane intake (thinking it was pretty much just plug and play). He lived far from anywhere that could tune it and just never got around to it as this car was not his daily driver. He bought a house and is getting married so he sold the car.

 

Heres where Im at. I will try and post some pics of everything up here shortly. Ive downloaded megatune and have only gotten as far as connecting my laptop to megasquirt. When I connect the usb cable it tries to install the new software but it says "Cannot install this hardware because the wizard cannot find the necessary software."

Any tips? Where do I start? How big of a mess am I really in?

Edited May 14, 2010 by StrongTyer

[psu_Crash]

First thing you need to do is get the laptop communicating with MS. You should be able to open megatune and plug in the MS. Make sure the connection settings in MS are correct. I assume you are using a RS232 to USB adapter? Some of those have issues with MS. It is probably trying to install drivers for the adapter and failing. Go to the company's website that makes the adapter and get drivers straight from there.

 

Edit: Not really that bad off at all. If it runs and drives the real frustrating part is over. Now it's just work out the bugs. Anyone who has run MS gets these kind of issues at first, and randomly there after

Edited May 14, 2010 by psu_Crash

[jahjah]

Do you know what version megasquirt you are running? what firmware?

 

oh, and whats your ignition setup? distributor?

Edited May 14, 2010 by jahjah

[scott87star]

Any tips? Where do I start? How big of a mess am I really in?

 

You're not in a mess, this is the fun part.

 

Tip #1, answer questions promptly, be prepared to post data logs and tune files.

Tip #2, tuning is so much easier with a wide band O2 analyzer.

Tip #3, tuner studio is much better than megatune and even though Phil Tobin is now charging for the full version it is money well spent.

 

Scott

Edited May 14, 2010 by scott87star

[StrongTyer]

You're not in a mess, this is the fun part.

 

Tip #1, answer questions promptly, be prepared to post data logs and tune files.

Tip #2, tuning is so much easier with a wide band O2 analyzer.

Tip #3, tuner studio is much better than megatune and even though Phil Tobin is now charging for the full version it is money well spent.

 

Scott

 

haha...I thought the fun part was going to be driving it with 300hp??? I guess we will see. It will be a good experience.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments.

 

I just took some pics and Im about to post them.

 

As far as I have been told the guy didnt do any tuning after installing megasquirt. Or maybe he did very little tuning just so it would run.

 

One quick question: Does it hurt the car at all to drive it? I mean... I can drive it and I have a few times but I dont want to damage the engine or anything else. Its a really rough tune if you can call it a tune at all.

 

When I bought it I towed it the 700 miles home just to be safe.

 

As far as tuning software is concerned I downloaded about everything I could find that I had heard of in a short amount of time.

I downloaded some software from www.diyautotune.com.

I am running megatune version 2.23 p3

I also downloaded megalog viewer version 2.958

And I got a beta version of tunerstudio which is apearantly expired. Looks like I cant use it.

It sent me to http://www.efianalytics.com/TunerStudio/ to get the updated version or buy it (I dont know which) but the site is either down or not working for my computer.

[scott87star]

Megatune is free, as long as you can communicate with your controller you are good. Megalogviewer makes life easy, same guy wrote that as tuner studio and he built the analysis part of megalogviewer into tuner studio in real time which is why its superior to megatune.

 

Hurt is a relative word. Its likely your tune is rich in some areas and lean in others but then carbs still are and people run them. Just don't operate in positive pressure until you get a handle on AFR.

 

Scott

[psu_Crash]

Get a wideband ASAP or you are tuning blind. Then we are here to help

[jahjah]

Get a wideband ASAP or you are tuning blind. Then we are here to help

Agreed. I think the general consensus is that the AEM UEGO is the most reliable/affordable wideband.

[StrongTyer]

Agreed. I think the general consensus is that the AEM UEGO is the most reliable/affordable wideband.

 

Hmmm.... thats what I figured.

 

Whats wrong with getting a gauge like this bosch one without a gauge?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bosch-17014-Oxygen-Sensor-O2-Wideband-Air-Fuel-Turbo-57-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem27b1322bddQQitemZ170476579805QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

Will this hook up to the ecu at least? or does it just tell me if im rich or lean?

 

I could go with this gauge... used

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AEM-UEGO-6-1-GAUGE-WIDEBAND-30-4100-/290433921478?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item439f35f1c6

 

Are they all the same size or will there be mounting problems?

[StrongTyer]

My megasquirt (I think... it doesnt say anything on it.

http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/strongtyer/?action=view&current=IMG_2544.jpg

 

Hurricane Intake

http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/strongtyer/?action=view&current=IMG_2536.jpg

http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/strongtyer/?action=view&current=IMG_2539.jpg

 

Sorry... its been a while. I forgot how to post the pictures in a way so that they show up on here.

Edited May 15, 2010 by StrongTyer

[jahjah]

thats no MS case i've ever seen...

[jahjah]

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/strongtyer/IMG_2544.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/strongtyer/IMG_2536.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m48/strongtyer/IMG_2539.jpg

 

here ya go

[StrongTyer]

 

 

here ya go

 

I was wondering about that. Ive never seen really seen much of anything about megasquirt really. The ecu has no labels at all on it.

 

Maybe that would explain it running and starting O K?

 

Can anyone recognize this ecu?

Edited May 16, 2010 by StrongTyer

[StrongTyer]

Greddy e manage? Without the sticker??? Its greddy blue but I cant find a greddy ecu that looks like this one. Heck...I dont know where to look. I can hardly find any ecus.

[StrongTyer]

I opened it up today but there is NOTHING distinguishing it as a megasquirt. Could it be megasquirt internals fitted in a different casing?

[psu_Crash]

I opened it up today but there is NOTHING distinguishing it as a megasquirt. Could it be megasquirt internals fitted in a different casing?

 

Yes but it would say megasquirt on the board. Open it up and take a picture. Dude if you can't figure out how to post pictures then you are in deep s*** with Megasquirt, or whatever ECU that proves to be.

[StrongTyer]

Yes but it would say megasquirt on the board. Open it up and take a picture. Dude if you can't figure out how to post pictures then you are in deep s*** with Megasquirt, or whatever ECU that proves to be.

 

Fair enough. Sorry... its been forever since Ive been on a forum. Ive been out of the SQ world for a few years now and it was way late at night when I was trying to post.

 

Took apart the ECU and took some pics. No megasquirt labels. Im trying to get a hold of the guy who sold the car to me.

 

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4868/img2556y.jpg

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/112/img2559gb.jpg

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/5724/img2558b.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5158/img2555a.jpg

 

Will post smaller pix in the future....

Edited May 18, 2010 by StrongTyer

[BOHO]

wow...i have no clue what that is..

[BOHO]

Ah...Its an FIP board.....don't know how i didn't see that...Basically a MS 1 rip off...

 

EDIT AGAIN: You need to show this to 83techmaster on the boards here...he is one of the only ones who is in contact with Ed and Scott with FIP...this is one the "new" boards they were supposedly working on but no one ever saw.....He should be able to give some info on it.

Edited May 18, 2010 by BOHO

[substock]

you beat me to it BOHO,

you can see the fuel injection pro fc2 along with ecc and smk in the middle of the board

 

i remember hearing they were going to make a new board, but didn't think anything panned out

[StrongTyer]

Ah...Its an FIP board.....don't know how i didn't see that...Basically a MS 1 rip off...

 

EDIT AGAIN: You need to show this to 83techmaster on the boards here...he is one of the only ones who is in contact with Ed and Scott with FIP...this is one the "new" boards they were supposedly working on but no one ever saw.....He should be able to give some info on it.

 

ok...great... thanks

 

I was searching google with the part numbers off the chips I could see and was going to make some phone calls tomorrow to try and figure it out. I think that makes it easier though. But I dont know what to think. "New" and "rip off MS1" both scare me.

 

Do I have a crappy knock off ecu thats going to give me problems or more like a hybrid?

Neither?

Would this explain my laptop connection problems/firmware problems?

 

Im about to shoot 83techmaster a message.

 

 

Thanks again!

[BOHO]

You probably don't know what version of firmware you have....Have you dl'ed tunerstudio yet? It has an autodetect that could help...I'm not sure what version would be on it.

[StrongTyer]

You probably don't know what version of firmware you have....Have you dl'ed tunerstudio yet? It has an autodetect that could help...I'm not sure what version would be on it.

 

I have tunerstudioMS. It came with the megatune package I downloaded.... but when I start it it says the beta version is expired. Then it says an update is available (v.999.2). Then I get redirected to their website: http://www.efianalytics.com/TunerStudio/

 

I guess I have to pay the $40 and buy it?

[psu_Crash]

ok...great... thanks

 

I was searching google with the part numbers off the chips I could see and was going to make some phone calls tomorrow to try and figure it out. I think that makes it easier though. But I dont know what to think. "New" and "rip off MS1" both scare me.

 

Do I have a crappy knock off ecu thats going to give me problems or more like a hybrid?

Neither?

Would this explain my laptop connection problems/firmware problems?

 

Im about to shoot 83techmaster a message.

 

 

Thanks again!

 

 

I have never dealt with an FIP unit myself but it really IS megasquirt. So that wouldn't explain your connection problems. The problem is that FIP is now defunct and any support for it is going to come from other users. No it's not a crappy knock off. A lot of members have had great results with the FIP stuff.

Need to get that talking to the laptop.

[StrongTyer]

I have never dealt with an FIP unit myself but it really IS megasquirt. So that wouldn't explain your connection problems. The problem is that FIP is now defunct and any support for it is going to come from other users. No it's not a crappy knock off. A lot of members have had great results with the FIP stuff.

Need to get that talking to the laptop.

 

Ok cool... so this comes back to firmware again/tunerstudio MS/firmware for my gigaware serial to usb adapter.

 

Right?

 

EDIT: Just downloaded Tunerstudio MS Lite (Whats lite mean?)

 

Errrrr....its late...gonna check it out tomorrow and see if we can get it communicating with the ECU

 

Now all I need is to find a good deal on a wideband o2 sensor. Im really leaning toward the AEM/Bosch sensor with the cool gauge. I really cant find anything better for the money.

 

Unless I can just run a bosch wideband w/out the gauge to the ECU....

 

Is that possible? or to the laptop?

Edited May 18, 2010 by StrongTyer