I am going to be installing an 87 TII engine in my 85 GSL. I need to figure out how I'm going to run the engine as I have no ECU with it. I will definately run Megasquirt to control the fuel. For ignition I would really like to have full timing control but I am afraid of getting to involved because the car is a daily driver and I am already suffering without a car. My other thought was to run a distributor with 2GCDFIS with the Transistor trick so I would have stock FC ignition except for the timing part. I'm only going to run 4-6 psi to begin with. Do you think it is straightforward enough to tackle ignition control off the bat? Even if I did the mod to run leading only that would be alright until spring.

 

Getting ignition to work with the megasquirt isn't that complicated assuming everything is working right (I've had problems occasionally, but they seem to be related to bad hardware in the MS... specifically I've had problems with voltage regulators that don't quite make it to 5 volts)...

Basically you need just the three pullup resistors, and the vr sensor conditioning circuit.

See the FAQ for how to do it.... the 2GCDFIS with the transistor trick sounds just as complicated to me, if not more complicated than a stock 2nd gen ignition setup.

Ken

 

It comes down to your knowledge and experience. Have you installed and tuned other ecu's before? If this is your first, the KISS rule applies. Run a dizzy to start, with whatever coil/trigger acronym you like. Get the fuel side sorted out, learn about efi, tuning, MS tuning software, etc, and then add the ignition control. Your chances of success, and a reliable daily driver are much higher going that route. On the other hand, if you've already installed and tuned other standalones, then you could just jump in the deep end, and start swimming.

 

Thanks to both of you. I think I am going to start with a dizzy.

 

if you do the 'trick' be careful you won't have the ability to retard the timing with boost. for a realy simple solution to this. MSD sells cheap boxes that allow you to retard the timming 1-3degrees per 1psi. you'd need2 of these. one for leading and one for trailing. if you don't go that route and just do the trick make sure to lock the dizzy and se the timming retarded otherwise your motor will go boom.