I Need Your Help ASAP... [Pictures]
 

Hey guys,

I've been on here off and on looking for help on miscellaneous things, but I decided now that I have a couple more problems I’d try and compile them all in 1 thread.

Also, let it be known that for several reasons, I need to get this thing running properly before January 25th. Your prompt help would be greatly appreciated.

Background:

First of all, I want to make it clear that I take complete responsibility for making a possibly "bad choice" when diving into this. I didn't do the normal amount of research and double checking that I normally do before I bought the Megasquirt, so now that I have it I’m a newbie and really don't know a whole lot about it. I realize I probably would have been better off buying the unit from scratch and putting it together myself; but I’m stuck with what I have so I have to try and make the best of it.

Around Christmas time 2005, I was in search of a way to eliminate my mass airflow sensor (MAF) because it had become the weak point in my engine setup and I had hit a "wall" and could not go any further in HP until I removed it. So, after looking around and reading here and there, I decided Megasquirt would be a good way to go. I logged onto the forum, and sure enough forum member Slpin was trying to sell his setup. In his for sale ad, he stated that he had already wired everything and if I bought it, it would basically be "plug and play" (virtually no assembly required). That sounded like a good deal because from what I read wiring and setting up a MS from the beginning is quite the task.

So I bought it from him. He sent me basic instructions on what I needed to do: Hook up the RPM wire to the coils, send a vacuum hose from the MS unit to a pressure source, put together all the loose ECU connections, and start it up. He also emailed me the software (v2.25beta) and all of the settings he used when his car was running (his setup was similar to mine). He gave me a very brief run-through on how to get the software communicating with the MS, and sent me on my way. Today, he is impossible to get a hold of for any questions-- and even when I do get a hold of him he says he's forgotten everything so I’m on my own. Also, he failed to mention what version board it was, I believe I have the v2.2 board.

Also, it is setup so that the stock ECU controls ignition (so it is not a Megasquirt n' Spark system). To control ignition I have an Apexi S-ITC ignition controller, which I was told I would need if I wanted to raise the boost at some point in time.

The ECU setup:

Instead of trying to explain what my setup looks like, I’ve snapped some pictures to try and give you a better understanding:

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/ECU.jpg

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/ECU1.jpg

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/ECU2.jpg

Software:

To try and maintain slpin's settings, I've stuck with v2.25beta. It runs virtually flawlessly compared to newer and completed v2.25--which gives me errors galore and has huge problems reading slpin's settings (i'd have to start from scratch it seems if I was to use 2.25 instead of beta). Here's what the main menu interface looks like:


http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/scrn1.jpg

Is there anyway to get a A:F ratio gauge to show up here or is that only available in v2.25?

Wideband:

I have an Innovative LC-1. I've installed the wideband today to the best of my understanding of the instructions provided with the unit.

Here are a couple of pictures of how I wired it (excuse the bluriness):

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/LC1a.jpg


http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/LC1b.jpg

The one thing that really confused me was this (from the instruction PDF):

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/PDF.jpg

I'm totally not sure if I did it correctly for the MS to read the signal from the LC-1. The wideband itself works great plugged in directly to my laptop via the serial port connection. It reads the A:F ratio perfectly.

I'm still try to figure out how to see the A:F ratio in the Megasquirt v2.25beta interface. Here's where I think might have been reading the signal from the Wideband (this is what it read after trying to run it for a little while):

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/scrn2.jpg

Also, I was wondering if I did this correctly:

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/scrn3.jpg

I read here in this board that I need to "set 0v to 10:1 and 5v to 20:1".. Did I do it right? Is it that simple? Is there something I need to change in the settings.ini besides changing "#unset Innovate0_5" to "# set Innovate0_5" ...?

Problem(s):

1. Now that I have the Megasquirt hooked up, my stock tachometer doesn’t work anymore (but the tach on the MS software does read perfectly). Huh?? It was working fine before I hooked up the MS...

2. As I mentioned before, I still can't figure out how to read the LC-1's A:F output on the Megasquirt interface. I was told by slpin that the Megasquirt will tune more accurately or something If I have the wideband wired into it...

3. Surprisingly, the car runs when I start it. It does not idle, and I'm afraid to rev it high, but between about 1500-3000rpm, it runs pretty smooth. It does feel a little "chuga-chuga-chuga" ish, kinda choppy, if that makes sense.

Final Notes:

When I get this thing running correctly, I plan on driving it around and "street tuning" the car. Once its running correctly, I'm going to take it to a local dyno and raise the boost and try and crank out some more horses. Right now the car is roughly 325whp @ 9psi-- I’m hoping to raise the boost to 15-18 so I could maybe squeeze out 400whp.

Mods are listed in the link in my signature below.

Whatever you can do to help again would be greatly appreciated. Without your help, I really am alone in the dark and will probably never get the MS running.

-Andrew

i think you probably have to change the injectors on there
i had mine on 4x 800cc injectors
i believe it was on a dual table setup, with 1 table on pri, and table 2 on sec
change the pulses to what your injectors are, and it will fire up.

is the itc wired correcetly? it has the same ign pins as the fd.

where are you tapping your vac signal from, it should be somewhere around the uim, nipple closest to turbo.

Yes, that's correct.

Here's what I just did (is it right?):

Fuel settings for VE Table 1 as they were with slpin's settings:
http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/prim.jpg

What it looks like now:
http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/primnew.jpg

Fuel settings for VE Table 2 as they were with slpin's settings:
http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/sec.jpg

What it looks like now:
http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/secnew.jpg

Yes, it is. I tested it before I installed anything and it successfully changed timing.

It is tapped into the vac line that runs between the B.O.V. and UIM. I can snap a picture if you'd like. It seems to read MAP fine, the MAP needle moves up and down with revving.

Thanks for helping slpin, I hope it came across that you were indeed helpful when I bought it and my review I wrote for you at the time of purchase still stands. As I said, I accept full responsibility for trying to figure it out more than a year after the sale.

-Andrew

are you running low-imp injectors?
you will have to adjust the PVM and the response time on it.
i think for low imp, it should be around 25-30%
the megasquirt faq should be able to explain it a little bit better, but the injectors, right now, are set for high-imp, i believe.
that could cause some problems...

Yes, they are low impedance. I'll look it up on the MS faq.

Thanks. If anyone else has input i'd appreciate if you chimed in. :)

Update:

I changed the settings to fit to my injectors (I think).

This included: Changing the PWM Time Threshold to 1.0 millisecond, and PWM Current Limit (%) to 75%. This is what the megasquirt website said to do with low impedance injectors. I did this for both primaries and secondaries, is that correct?

I got the car started with these settings, but it ran very strangely. At under 2000 rpm, It sounded like a piston engine with aggressive cams: it had a very distinct gap in the exhaust note (bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum) rather than the regular, much more constant and continous note. It actually sounded like it may have been running on 1 rotor. At about 1800rpm, it sounded like it was actually at 500rpm, and the car actually shook a little bit with the exhaust.

Unfortuneatly, my battery died from excessive cranking and accidentaly leaving my doors open for an extended period of time; so i'm recharging the battery and will resume tomorrow.

Also, slpin (or anyone else), do you have any idea why my stock tach would not be working with the MS plugged in? This is very concearning for me...

Thanks again.

-Andrew

P.S.: Also, it should be noted that when I started tonight the coolant temperature was about 37°F, so I'm not sure if that would have some kind of impact... Also, is it normal for the MAP to read between 70 and 80 kPa during cranking? I didn't look at what it read while the car was running unfortuneatly...

The stock tach runs off the trailing ignitor, so if it's not working, you're not getting trailing spark.

Also, if you're running low impedance injectors with resistor packs, you don't need to mess with the PWM settings....

I'm still battling with this as well, but you should have "# of Injectors = 2" on each of the constants pages - you only want Constants 1 and VE Table 1 to control the primary 2 injectors, and similar for Constants 2/VE Table 2 and the secondaries.

By setting Injectors = 4, it will fire all 4 injectors (primaries and secondaries) at the same time. The way you have it set in your constants pages currently is as if you had 4 primary and 4 secondary injectors (8 total).

Hmm... That might explain the feel of running on 1 rotor too... I'll check it out.

Yes, I am running low imp with the S4 resistor packs swapped in. So does that mean I should just leave the PWM settings the way they were (slpin's settings?).

thetech> I was wondering about that myself. You just confirmed what I was thinking, i'll definitely change that.

Thanks guys.

You could do it that way (dual table mode), but it's much simpler to use staged injection, and do all your tuning on VE table 1. If you do proceed with dual table mode, then yes, set injector# to the actual number of injectors used on that bank (2)

Not true. Setting to four will scale the req_fuel number, but has no effect on which injectors are fired. Whichinjectors are fired is based on:
1.) Staged injection settings
2.) Alternating/Simultaneous settings in constants page
3.) Fuel table settings under Advanced tab (used to enable dual table mode)

I'd strongly suggest re-flashing to the lastest msnsextra code, setting up staged injection, and re-tuning that way. It'll be far easier to tune, and you'll be able to swap maps with others on this list with similar installs.

Update:

So I just confirmed that while the Megasquirt is plugged in, my trailing plugs are not firing. The ignitors are working fine with the factory ECU in place.

Does anyone know what might be happening? I'm going to pull up the wiring diagrams for both the megasquirt and the factory ECU and see if I can trace it to a bad connection somewhere...

I don't understand why they wouldn't be working... The only thing I thought my MS did w/ the coils was read RPM signal. Keep in mind, the tach in MegaTune works fine, but my tach in the intstrument cluster does not work...

Thanks.

After thinking about it for a little while, it seems to me that the problem would have to be somewhere AFTER the stock wiring harness, otherwise with my old setup (unaltered stock ECU) the trailings would fail to fire as well.

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/wtf.jpg

Does anyone have any sort of wiring diagram or something that I could look at that might tell me where this problem might occur? I've been looking everywhere for some kind of indication, but havn't had any luck.

I can't really proceed until I figure this out, so i'm watching this thread like a hawk. Please help!!!

Okay, snapped some pictures of the inside... maybe this will help...

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/view.jpg

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/view2.jpg


Wires coming out of it:

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/wires.jpg

Hope that helps..

Looks like you need to pull out the FSM and start tracing the wiring. Print out the wiring diagram for the MS as well, and spend the time to figure it out. Compare connections with those listed in the FAQ. There's no value in somebody doing that work for you. Put in the effort now, and it will pay dividends in the future. By the time you complete that process you'll have the understanding needed to modify your MS and run full standalone instead of fuel-only.

I just figured that out myself.

Problem is, i've spent most the day looking for both wiring diagrams, but I have not had much success.

I want to trace the wiring from the MS through the ECU to where it connects with the factory wiring harness and see if all of the connections are correct. It follows that if all the wiring is correct, then something is fried either in the MS unit or in the wired ECU slpin gave me.

So here is my question:

1. Can anyone direct me to a wiring diagram for the megasquirt unit itself? I have scowered the MS website and this forum most the day I can't seem to find it (I must be blind or something). All I need to know is what which wire that leads out of the MS unit is supposed to connect to...:

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/need.bmp

EDIT: Look what I found...!

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/this.bmp

I believe this is what I was looking for (wiring diagram for the plug into the MS). Is that correct?

If it is what i'm looking for, are these abbreviations correct? Fill in the blanks if you can, because i'm clueless:

"=" means "connects to"

MAT = __________
CLT = __________
TPS = Throttle Position Sensor
O2 = Wideband
COIL = Trailing Coil
Vref = _________
12 RAW = 12v Power Source
IDL = __________
INJ-1 = Primary Injector(s)
INJ-2 = Secondary Injector(s)
FP1 = Fuel Pump

Help is appreciated.

Good to see you are digging in. You'll be glad you did.

MAT = Manifold Air Temp
CLT = Coolant Temp
TPS = Throttle Position Sensor
O2 = Wideband
COIL = Trailing Coil
Vref = 5V reference voltage for TPS
12 RAW = 12v Power Source
IDL = Fast Idle Output
INJ-1 = Primary Injector(s)
INJ-2 = Secondary Injector(s)
FP1 = Fuel Pump

Note that Muy's posted schematic is for a modified V3.0, which isn't directly applicable to your older V2.2 box.

ahh, you're right, I missed the 2.2 thing, here's the 2.2 schematic:

http://www.megamanual.com/v22manual/extwir.gif

the problem wont be from my wiring
i have trailing spark when i used it.
the problem is probably when you installed the ITC.
the trailing uses a differnet pick up on it

the megasquirt doesnt even have anything to do with ignition. the stock ecu does the ignition in this setup.

not only that, ignition wires are untouched.

Thanks for the wiring diagrams guys, i'm working on tracing the wires as we speak.

I'm trying to eliminate all possibilities for why the trailings may not be firing one at a time. Right now I'm working on eliminating the wiring possibility, but I also want to elminate the software possibility. Is there anything in the software that could potentially cause the trailings not to fire? Someone I was talking to suggested that some EMS's have anti-theft systems or valet switches built in which will purposely kill spark. Is there anything like that in this system? Anything else which could mess with the trailings in the software?

Thanks again guys.

not if it's only wired for fuel.

Even if it's not wired for fuel only, and wired to control spark as well, the only thing that would keep trailing from firing is turning it off...

And rotaries run fine without trailing unless there is a problem with leading.

exactly.
the megasquirt that is connected to the ECU doesnt even have a single wire that goes to the ignition.
the only time the ignitions wires were ever touched was when you installed the ITC. I would definately look into that. Maybe you messed a solder joint up, or pulled out a gold finger?

software, hardware, it is neither of those.

Okay, I will rewire the ITC... But the point stands that the car has been running fine with the ITC installed for the past 3000+ miles.. why would it all the sudden start acting up now that the MS is installed? I'm thinking one of the only possibilities is something was damaged in the wiring harness while i've been switching back and forth between slpin's ECU and my old ECU; because my yellow connectors are heavily damaged and require a screwdriver and heavy pulling to get them out of the ECU once 'clicked' in.

Because of this, I've already noticed 1 wire that was pulled out of its 'pin,' it was a fuel injector wire, so we're currently working on fixing that. Hopefully its that simple.

Thanks again for the help guys.

Update
 

Update:

Well, I spent the last few hours tracing the wiring.

1. As far as I can tell, everything is wired correctly. However, I can not confirm whether the wiring WITHIN the stock ECU was done correctly, because its globbed over with water-protectant sealer. With the naked eye, it looks correct. From what I could tell when the MS is running, it seems everything works perfectly EXCEPT the trailing coils; that means the water temp, O2, TPS, etc. all are working correctly.

2. The ITC wiring is fine. Also, I re-tested the spark, and again, when the stock ECU is plugged in, the trailings fire flawlessly. Only when I plug in slpin's ECU does it lose spark.

3. Now that I have eliminated the possibility of software and wiring, it seems to me it could only be one thing. From deductive reasoning I can say my best guess of the root of the problem is at the modified stock ECU (hardware).

So, is there anyway to check the circuit board to see if there is any damage? Can anyone show me a picture or a schematic or something where I would be able to see where ignition is on the ECU's circuit board? If I did find it and it is damaged, is it repairable, or do I need a new ECU?

4. According to the wiring diagram provided earlier: On my/slpin's setup, the wires labeled "5 Vref," "Relay for FIdle Solenoid," and "FP Relay" are all wired to nothing. Do any of these wires NEED to be run?

Also, the Air Temp Sensor is not wired, but I was told that was optional.

5. All 6 of the ground wires are run into 1 single wire, which is then run through the modified stock ECU, and from there I assume it runs to the engine's ground. Is that okay?

6. Pin #28 (the red wire), on the diagram posted above; what does it do/where is it supposed to go? It looks like power supply for the injectors. Is that correct?

Thanks guys,

-Andrew

Bump. Still have unanswered questions. :)

-Andrew

vref is for the TPS, so if you're not using that on the MS, or the stock ecu still supplies this to the tps, you don't need it, If the stock ECU still controls the BAC, and the AFM still turns on the fuel pump, you don't need either of those pins wired either. The Air temp sensor should not be considered optional, as air temperature is part of the ideal gas equation that's used to calculate the amount of fuel to inject.... meaning higher temperature = less dense = less fuel. Pin 28 is +12v for the megasquirt.

I personally do not know where the ignition circuitry is on the stock ECU... but could probably figure it out given an hour or two, and a multi-tester (and a stock ECU of course).

Ken

Any suggestions then? It seems like my only real option now is to get another ECU and re-wire it like slpin's and see if that works. I don't know what else I can do.

Bleh.

-Andrew

I can take apart one of the ECUs we have that we're ripping the connector off of, and try to figure out where that circuitry is, and what could go wrong with it...

But I probably won't have time until sometime next week.

Ken

That would be awesome.

Also, I just noticed something. I don't know how significant it is... My ECU is an N370, but the ECU slpin gave me is an N374. Is that okay?

***EDIT*** I just did some searching about the N370vs.N374 swap. It seems that everyone says it should "swap without any problem" but there are numerous threads where people report problems with the swap. Here's what a couple people have said after doing the swap:

"ran great when I bought it, 2 weeks later I drop it in my car and it acts like its running on one rotor"

"everything plugs right in but i'm not sure why exactly that the Jspec ECU was making my engine run like crap."

"I swapped in a Jspec motor in my 90 FC and I got 3 N374 ECU that are in great shape and tested good, but when all 3 ecu's are plugged in, motor does not fire."

Sounds familiar...

Apparently, buying this:

http://www.mts.net/~chipsale/chipsforsale88-91rx-7.htm

...fixes the problem.

Any thoughts?

-Andrew

Also, does anyone know how much an N370 ECU usually goes for? Trying to see if I can afford it...

Bump, for last 2 posts. This is urgent...

I don't know the answers to the last 2 posts...

Okay.

I talked to a buddy of mine about all this for a couple hours. He came up with a good solution, which we're going to try tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks again for all the help!

you are looking in the wrong areas
why are you doubting my wiring when it was running properly when it was in mine.
the problem is in your harness - or maybe a bad pin connector?

the megasquirt only have direct control over 4 injectors - everything else, it reads and shares with stock ecu. thats why the emop would work properly too.

Slpin, it was running properly when you had it, it IS NOT running properly now. It's my job to eliminate all possible causes. Everything has been checked. I can say with 95% confidence that the problem is that the N374 ECU (which is used only to control ignition) is fried. I am doing a test today and tomorrow which will make me 100% certain.

I'm not saying its your fault. I just want to fix it.

-Andrew

Okay, did the check, and now I have the Megasquirt running and fully operational (with spark). Now I can finally start tuning the damned thing! Turns out slpin's modified stock ECU (the N374) was in fact fried (yes, i'm positive).

The setup I have now is a little simpler. I cut the wires that ran into the N374 ECU and tapped them into my factory wiring harness (before my stock N370 ECU). I also put a switch in the power source that runs to the Megasquirt unit so I can turn it on and off at my command (if I want to run on the factory ECU between tuning sessions).

Thanks again for everyone's help; this has been a great learning experience.

-Andrew

Good to hear it's worked out finally.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help myself, I've never run in that piggyback configuration.

Ken

The car is running very crappy. I'm sure its just because its not tuned correctly.

1. I was wondering if I did this correctly:

http://www.tritonmotorwear.com/images/MS/scrn3.jpg

I read here in this board that I need to "set 0v to 10:1 and 5v to 20:1".. Did I do it right? Is it that simple? Is there something I need to change in the settings.ini besides changing:

#unset Innovate0_5"
to
# set Innovate0_5"

2. When I hold the pedal to the floor (to clear flooding) I believe it is still firing my injectors. The green LED (marked 'INJ') on the MS unit continues to blink. The indicator on the main screen does say 'FLOOD CLEAR' when the pedal is to the floor... Its having trouble starting now after a few starts (smells flooded). Do you think it is actually working correctly (not firing injectors at WOT cranking like stock) or its just adding MORE fuel when I do WOT?

3. What should the MAP signal typically read between 1000-2000rpm? I'm trying to make sure the sensor is working correctly.

4. This should all work and run fine without the stock AFM right? Right now all I have is a cone filter on the intake inlet for my turbo...

Thanks... hope that made sense.

5. Is there an easier or more efficient way to tune the car? All i'm doing right now is changing the values in the VE tables until it 'feels better' then checking the A:F ratio. I've read in some other threads people mentioning things about 'Autotuning' and 'A:F Target Tables' - what's that all about?

6. How exactly does the barometric correction work? I live in Denver (5280ft. altitude) in the summer and winter, but go to school down in Los Angeles (sea level) during the spring and fall... I would love it if I wouldn't have to re-tune the car for either altitude.

Thanks guys.

1.) Looks OK. Be sure to 'unset' the narrow band O2. Also, be sure to change to sensor type to 'Wide Band' in the EGO Control page.

2.) Not sure what code in your box, but if the flood clear light is on, I would expect both injectors to cease firing.

3.) In the garage, while modulating throttle from 1k to 2k and back, 30-50 kPa or so would be typical.

4.) How are you running your fuel pump without the stock AFM? Don't leave it wired to run when the key is on, or you run the risk of pumping fuel into the fire in the event of an accident. I ran with the stock AFM in place, but did remove for some brief testing. Others stated that ignition timing was directly affected by AFM signal, but I couldn't verify that, although my testing was limited.

5.) Read the tuning documentation first, then tune via the tuning screen while watching the AFR. Try to hold steady load/rpm combinations. Once you've done a few points, you can rough in the neighbouring points by reference pretty easily. It's all documented well in the manual. If you are sticking with dual table, it'll be more complicated up at the top end where the secondaries come on line. You'll be surprised how much of your driving can be done on primaries only when you run then up to 80% or so duty cycle. Again, I'd strongly suggest switching to a more recent code version that has staged injection, and tune with one VE table, but that's for you to decide.

6.) MS takes a baro reading on startup. You should be OK so long as you aren't driving from sea level to 5k in one go. Some have reported minor tuning changes required, but it shouldn't be anything drastic over that altitude range. If you do plan to do some drives over wide altitude ranges, then you may want to look at adding a second map sensor and enabling the continuous baro correction option.

I was just outside (in the garage, outside air temp is about 32°F) cranking on it (couldn't get it to start.. think plugs might be fouled). At WOT, it was reading 80 kPa. At 0% throttle, it was reading about 72 kPa. Does that sound right?

The fuel pump seems to work exactly as it did when I had the AFM plugged in (bone stock setup)... It only turns on when cranking/running.

Okay, I will read the documentation. Is it a big ordeal/time consuming to switch it from my current setup to staged injection?

Well, the only transition between LA and Denver will be a 1 day road trip. Its about a 15 hour drive, with several stops for gas. Is that ok? If not, is it difficult to do the dual MAP sensor setup?

Thanks for the input.

Seems reasonable, but I've never paid much attention to cranking map values. What does the map sensor read prior to cranking? If it's near 100 kPa and you're near sea level it's likely working fine.

Do the air and coolant temps match with the engine cold? Are they consistent with outside air temp?

Maybe that's been hacked in the harness/adapter already.

For someone familiar with the process it takes a few minutes to re-flash the code and set up MegaTune to match. There will undoubtedly be some re-tuning neede, but it sounds like you're at that point already. If you have a running setup, you may want to just drive it around a bit to ensure everything else is working, and then look at code upgrades.

Don't both with the continuous baro correction for now. Bring a laptop along when you do the first trip, and you can tweak if needed.

It's at about 80 kPa when the car is off. According to MS's website, thats about right (it's accurate within 4 to 5 kPa). The barometric pressure here at Denver is about 81-84 kPa.

I do not have the air temp sensor hooked up currently. Is that a big problem?

The coolant temp is consistant with outside air temp.

That's all for now. I'm sure i'll have more questions tomorrow. I'm a good way through reading the "Tuning Your MegaSquirt" page on the website.

In my opinion, it would be better to hook up the air temp sensor, as that provides a significant portion of the Ideal Gas equation's input for calculating the amount of fuel to go into your engine.

If you just left it unhooked, and didn't ground it, or put a resistor in its place, it'll fluctuate wildly, causing some weird problems.

Ken

I see... right now its not wired at all (just a wire that runs out of the MS and ends--connected to nothing). I do think Slpin had it hooked up when he was running it in his car.... That may explain the roughness.

Where do you guys recommend I install it on the FC? I was planning on tapping it into my throttle body, where the 2nd set of throttle plates used to be.

You need to find out if the MS board has been modified to use the stock Mazda air temp sensor. If so, just use the stock unit in the stock location to start. I found better hot-starts by moving it from the dynamic chamber to the plastic throttle body elbow, so you may want to consider that as an alternative. You definitely need that sensor wired up to operate MS properly.

dont mean to jack your thread but ive been following this and talk about some awsome response time and support.

It hasn't been modified to use the stock sensor. As I mentioned before, slpin was using the GM air temp sensor on his setup, and he gave it to me to install on mine. Thanks for the help.

Hell yeah, that's why I love this forum.