2 of the grounds are just normal grounds... (They say to wire them to the engine block and the battery), the 3rd is technically a signal ground, which is used to get a delta from the 5V signal going into the coil to trigger it. This ideally would be wired into the megasquirts signal ground, but the stock coils don't have a signal ground at all, so I don't think it should be an issue, but it should be easy enough to fix if it is.

to my knowledge all the IGN-1A "plug and play" kits are wired the same way I have it wired with just a single ground.

 

I found the link to the thread. David Hayes used AEM coils.

https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread.../#post12135885

The stock coils are not inductive, so they do operate a little differently on the inside.

 

The AEM instructions are way better than the haltech ones I had .... *sigh* I might have to go back and fix that.

 

I even found this on DIYAutoTune's site. I just want to see your build succeed. I am living vicariously through others at this point since my car and its progress is moving at a glacial pace.

https://www.diyautotune.com/product/ign-1a-race-coil/

 

tonight I made an extension hose for the turbo coolant drain:



and buttoned up the EWP setup w/ the hose in place:

 

So, last night I redid the subharness connector for the coils and made it a 6 pin and ran a sensor ground (so I don't have to tear the harness apart to add it later). I'm going to use the sensor ground for the v2 harness that I'll make later (when I get more pins for the IGN-1A coils).

for now I'm just going to wire it up how I was going to to get the car working.

also important note: the megasquirt's coil on plug outputs are a bit weird FYI: EDIT: this appears to be only for the gold box. Follow the manual
Spark A - rotor 1 leading
Spark B - rotor 1 trailing
Spark C - rotor 2 trailing
Spark D - rotor 2 leading

 

Is that right?

I had:

Spark A - rotor 1 leading
Spark B - rotor 1 trailing
Spark C - rotor 2 leading
Spark D - rotor 2 trailing

That would mean I was firing the rear rotor with -15* split under boost
Both EGT sensors failed on the dyno, but they were pretty close when they worked on the street.
I also ran both coil grounds to the common ground for the ECU. I had no problems with spark and ran it as high as 30psi and 1000cc of water. On GM truck coils and $3 NGK BR10EGs.

 

If you're running COP RX8 mode, it looks like it's supposed to be how I had it wired.

 

it looks like the gold box is different from a normal MS3X for some reason:

MS3XV357_Hardware-1.4 page 111
MS3_Gold_Hardware-1.4 page 90

I'll have to validate I'm actually firing the right coils...

 

The diagrams certainly look different, so the gold box must be different. I suppose disconnecting the coils and plugging them in one at a time?

 

I thought the firmware dictates the firing order?
The goldbox and MS3X use the same firmware, so as long as it knows which coil drivers are A,B,C,D,ect, they should be the same. I know the MS3X, Goldbox and MS3Pro all use the same coil drivers for the same cylinders on an LS engine anyway.

My work's internet blocked MSextra.com, but I'll take a look later today.

 

It could simply be the pin assignments are different, but you are right. The firmware "should" dictate which driver fires.

It's easy enough to figure out on the car once to that point, but it is curious.

 

My point is that if Pins A,B,C,D must correlate to Spark A, B, C, D for ANY engine configuration to work. And I've ran the same firmware on MS3X, Goldbox, MS3Pro, and MS3Pro Ultimate and all have ran LS engines just fine.

 

I see your point. I still think it's bizarre the differences.

 

I talked to Muythaibxr about the spark outputs... and he wasn't sure about the difference so he pinged James (the other msextra programmer), and he thinks it's probably doc error... I'll set it up like the MS3X docs say and test it with the timing light when it's running just to be sure.

 

Just curious...how did you set your FFE trigger wheel to TDC? I have a racing beat pulley so my TDC is correct but I have no marking on my wheel as to what TDC is. So where is your "empty tooth" space when the engine is at TDC?

 

I think the FFE setup doc has some good info in it, but it wasn't exactly right for me. since the racing beat wheel has a second set of holes in it that aren't offset I think you can put the wheel in in several different positions... the easy way is to look at where the sensor is at TDC and where the gap is and estimate how offset the gap is in degrees. start the car and run a timing light and correct your estimate until it's exactly in time.

 

Getting close...

the EWP controller is in the glovebox:



I wired up 2 relays for the fans triggered by the EWP controller:



the ECU plate is in place, just a few more wires and it'll be ready to start. then I need to start wrapping the harness:




Last weekend I autocrossed my friend's C6 Z06 again. Still getting use to throttle by wire... but I'm getting better at it. The plan for this weekend is to race the C6 Z06 up in Pittsburgh for an autocross national match tour on Saturday and then come home and race the FC at a local even on Sunday if it's ready...

 

You can do it! Plus we all need to hear this beast at full tilt again

 

LOVING the progress!!!

Could you share the brand of those relay/harness?

 

They're Hella relays and plugs. if you search of "weatherproof relay" on amazon a bunch of options come up.

I've also been using these for all my crimps and they're really nice, heat shrink and adhesive lined:

 

I ran out of butt connectors so last night I just tied up lose ends...

I also started putting the harness in a loom. I'll probably only half finish this before the race this weekend and then come back to it. but it's looking pretty good so far:

 

I finished wiring everything last night... turned everything on, bled the cooling system (really easy with an EWP )

updated the firmware on the gold box and imported my tune... everything went fine.

but when I checked all the sensors, my MAP is reading completely wrong. after checking things, the voltage coming out of my new 3 bar GM MAP sensor (goldbox uses an external sensor) is ~4.4V at 100 kpa (normal pressure).... which is very wrong. (should be ~1.6V)

I plugged in my spare (that I got from the same place), also the same 4.4V.

checked my baro correction 1 bar sensor... 0.6V. also wrong (it should be ~4.7V lol)

so apparently all my MAP sensors are wrong... which is odd. I verified their getting 5V, so I'm not sure what else could be wrong with the wiring.

 

Your power and ground wires might be swapped to the sensors, or the pinout was somehow incorrect. GM sensors should be A- Ground B- Sensor output C-5V ref

 

yeah... that's totally what it is. You can see it's wrong in the the wiring a few posts up. (yellow is 5V).

Which is annoying because I definitely checked that last night and thought I confirmed it was correct (somehow)