Squirted FD project
 

After several hurdles and backflips I'm finally back on this project.I just received my J-Spec front clip 3 days ago and currently have the engine and transmission out of the clip. I have a few more things to do to my car before installing the j-spec engine however intstallation of the engine should atleast start tonight. I'll be getting the FD ready with the j-spec ecu before installing the MS but I'll be picking the MS up very soon and this project will be rolling.

NICE!

I'd like to see the Crank wheel in person if possible, and the sensors for the crank wheel... I want to be absolutely sure they're VR and not Hall-type sensors.

Ken

Sure, you can come check it out whenever or once I have it running I'll bring it by. I also still have all the parts from my old engine if you want to check them out off of the car.

An out of engine sensor and wheel would be good, then I could hook the sensor to my scope and see if I'm getting a square-wave (hall sensor) or an AC sine wave (VR sensor). I know I asked you already what the FD has, and you said VR, but I've heard conflicting info about it so I'd like to test it myself.

If it's a hall sensor, I can take the VR sensor conditioner out of the MS, and test with a standard tach circuit to make sure that you'll at least get a good signal (you might still have to mess with the alignment of the sensors though).

OK. I'll pull that stuff out tomorrow when I go back out to work on the car.

I accomplished everything that I wanted to get done tonight. So the dual oil coolers and fogs are removed from the front clip. The engine is set down into the car and motor mounts tightened. Tomorrow I'll install the oil coolers, remove and install the stabilizer bar and links, and then the rest of the engine and car stuff.

Car should be running tomorrow and fully reassembled by Saturday.

Well the car is not running yet. Ran into some issues with the oil coolers and head light assemblies but I was able to resolve both. I started wiring the engine up. Have some trivial grounding issues but the swap is going at a decent pace so I still think the car will be done this weekend and ready for the MS. I'll post pics probably tomorrow morning.

Having some issues with interfacing the japanese engine harness with the US wire harness. I've basically been tracing wires all day making sure its safe to splice the two harnesses together by wire color and so far so good. This is definately setting me back though. Not much info on the forum about the japanese harness or wiring diagrams either so that adds to the time. Bottom line is the car will get done when it gets done. I'm not setting anymore deadlines.

Here's some pics

http://68.48.44.104/rx7/FD/2005-09-0...20(Medium).JPG
J-Spec Donor - under hood

http://68.48.44.104/rx7/FD/2005-09-0...20(Medium).JPG
Behind the wheel (Bad shot)

http://68.48.44.104/rx7/FD/2005-09-0...20(Medium).JPG
Tryina figure out the ecu wiring (They are NOT the same. Don't believe the BS)

http://68.48.44.104/rx7/FD/2005-09-0...20(Medium).JPG
The transplant (Note: no a/c or p/s)

http://68.48.44.104/rx7/FD/2005-09-0...20(Medium).JPG
Whats left of the donor (Very little)

http://68.48.44.104/rx7/FD/2005-09-0...20(Medium).JPG
Whats left inside

Well I think I finally got the ecu wired up correctly. Should be attempting a start tomorrow. Just have the intercooler, air box, transmission, power plant frame, drive shaft, and exhaust to hook up.

I think This Project Sucks Major ASS!!! Whats the point of redoing RX7's if the damn thing is going to brake down again!


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! DON!! WHat the FU@# is Up bro!! Damn Long time no hear! How has everything been going for you? Damn hit me up on the pms and hope to hear from you! Nice Job with the Car!! I see your making a monster!! lol Take Care!

Hey ralf. long time no speak.

Update on the car: Got it running with the japanese ecu. Got a check engine light and burning oil out the exhaust and around the turbos. havent checked into the situation extensively since its dark and late and i have to work tomorrow so i'm calling it a night. Hopefully will have these issues worked out tomorrow. I'll probably run the FD on the stock J-Spec ecu for about 2 weeks to make sure there are no hidden issues then start on the MS.

The plan right now is to get the MS v1 working but honestly I'll be switching over to v3 as soon as i can get my hands on one but that will be after v1 is workin so atleast v1 instructions will be on the forum since v1 has been around so long and is so inexpensive.

if you get it running on a v2.2, there aren't really any compelling reasons to switch in my opinion. V3 has a lot of extra features of course, but if you get it running on a 2.2 board, then I'd say just leave it.

When can you get me that pulley to mess with/look at?

I thought you built a v1? Is it a v2.2?

I have the pulley/wheel set aside already but I'm not exactly mobile yet. Still haven't put the motor back in the FC yet after getting the exhaust bolt fixed and I have to reregister and retag the FD now.

OK, here's the confusing stuff...

There are 3 versions of the board, and 2 processor versions:

there's the v1 board, which I've never even seen, the 2.2 board, which is what I built for you, and the v3 board, which is the latest one that JUST came out like a month ago.

Then there are 2 processor versions, the original megasquirt 1, and then the newer megasquirt 2.

Right now the megasquirt 1 chip is the only one that'll run a rotary engine (with the msns-extra firmware). The software for the ms2 doesn't quite have the feature set of the msns-extra firmware (no wheel decoder, no rotary outputs, hell, no multiple outputs at all).

So what I built for you was a megasquirt 1 chip with the msns-extra firmware on a v2.2 board, with mods for a dual vr sensor setup.

oh ok. i didnt pay attention to the new chip. at any rate, I'm still going to be getting the one you built for me running and even if I have to write the code myself, I'll be switching over to V3. I've read up on some of the changes and happen to like them alot.

I'm still not sure you understand. No code changes are required to use the v3 board. You still use the ms1 chip on the v3 board so software wise it'll work fine. The MS2 will need code written to work on the rotary, and I'll be writing that code over the next several weeks as I get time.

I know you said you're still going to take the one I built for you, I'm not worried about that. I was just saying that it isn't necessary to spend the extra money on the new board because functionally, unless you're going to be running low-impedance injectors, the two boards will work the same. The only thing you're really getting from the v3 board is the perry MOV and the poly-fuses (surge protection really). If you're going to be running low-impedance injectors, the v3 board basically has the flyback built-in, and then it's worth buying.

The v3 board also has the proto area and the built-in vr sensor conditioner, which are both useful as well, but possibly not necessary on your install.

Just trying to help you save some cash that's all.

Ken

Gotcha. I was aware of the V3's poly fuses and yes I will be changing the injectors soon. I've been looking into the new FD LIM which allows the ability of 2 additional injectors as well. To be honest, I don't see this motor being in the car for much longer than a year anyway if even that long. I'll be starting to build my ported motor after getting the MS up. Even before that motor, my entire fuel and inition system will be overhauled with aftermarket parts. 2 walbros and an MSD are already in the works. With the motor I'm building (just need some housings and I'll be starting) I'll be converting to single turbo. Hopefully down the line a 20B will be in my future, I know where to get a 3 rotor e-shaft so if I cant get the cosmo I can atleast build a custom one. So you see, I'll be needing a rather upgradable MS that can grow with my car. I can always save more money so I'm not worried about that so much.

The FD is running well. No more oil smoke, no check engine light. Only remaining major issues are the cooling fans not operating, the brake lights dont work, and the car is showing some symtoms of bad grounding. Everything else on the car is operating properly. Running and pulling strong.

Quick update. Have had alot of distractions recently since Saturday is my birthday. Haven't had a chance to fix the cooling fans yet, this will be done today. Brake lights are fine now. And I'm no longer having grounding issues and haven't hit fuel cut since the 7th. So the 2 week run for the FD to make sure that there are no issues that i'm missing starts today, then work on the MS will begin.

So how's everything going? I'm thinking about trying this someday...

-s-

Well... so far so good. My time schedule is off but should be on track really soon. Trying to get prepared for winter, gotta finish the little stuff I have to do on FC and sell it then get me an FF or AWD to get me through winter.

Ken... quick question I just remembered that there's no electronic OMP control yet so I need to be setting my car up for premixing or do you think we can start workin on an OMP controller? I may end up taking this on myself. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

The megasquirt doesn't control the electronic OMP. Premixing is probably the best way to go for now... at least temporarily. Tofuball (Jason) has modified his electronic OMP to stay just a little bit open and he premixes. The idea is that he can enable fuel cut on decel and still get a little bit of oil from the OMP.

For electronic control, I need to get my hands on an unmodified OMP. As I understand, it's a stepper motor. There's not really any way to get the MS1 chip to control this easily, but the ms2 has a built-in stepper motor controller so when I get to porting all the msns-extra (ms1) features over to the ms2, that might be something I look at adding.

In the meantime, I'd just premix if I were you.

Yea I know the MS doesn't have the means to control the OMP at this time, I was basically just askin if you were already workin on something or if I should start doing my own work if I really wanted to keep the OMP. In the case you were working on something already, I'd just premix until you finished otherwise I may just do the SIFI mod or start working on the code to get it running on ms2.

I'm not doing anything YET... but in order to get the ms2 working, you'll have to do a lot more than just add OMP support.

There is no wheel decoder, no support for the leading/trailing ignition scheme, etc. on the MS2.

I'll be starting to add all these features after I test my rx8 wheel decoder in msns-extra on the ms1 chip. One of the things I'll look into at that point is getting a stock OMP from someone and figuring out how it works, what kind of stepper motor it is... etc... at which point I'll write code for it if the hardware will work with that motor.

I don't think it'll take me longer than a month to get the rx8 wheel tested, and get something usable for a wheel decoder and multiple spark outputs on the ms2... and possibly rotary trailing as well, mainly because I plan on using the MS2 on one of the project cars (the ae86 with a silver-top 20v 4age) that requires the wheel decoder and wasted-spark outputs for a 4 cylinder.

Picking up the MS between tomorrow and Friday. Friday is the absolute latest. The MS will be installed on Friday.

I am also not sure what type of pickup the FD uses. I am helping a friend swap a 93 FD engine into his GSL-SE. The FD has two magnetic pickups that are bolted to the front of the front cover. We are using the front cover from the GSL-SE so we will not have to fabricate new mounts but need to know how and what to use for ignition (2ng Gen CAS or should we use the dizzy and use one of the transitor tricks for dfis?).