Loren's V8 S10

[Tim_M]

Post more images!

Bummer, I'm a couple of miles too far to pursue - think itwould be an awesome project with utility.

GLWS!

[Loren]

Yeah, that's sort of why I bought it. Figured it would have the versatility of a pickup, could tow the autocross trailer, and I could autocross it. My heart's just not in it.

I'll try to get some photos soon. It's covered with pollen right now.

[Loren]

Hold on, I actually... messed with my tuning some this evening!

I've driven it enough times since the last time I did anything that I learned a few things. Namely, it still cranks too long before it starts (a problem that will be difficult to solve without having idle control or other means to let more air in while cranking), and it's got a persistent stall problem during warm-up somewhere around 120 degrees.

So, I gave it a little more cranking fuel. Maybe that will help. Unless it's already got too much... that's always a guessing game because you can't get any meaningful info from the O2 sensor at that point. Start-up and warm-up tuning is just a long and painful process. The pickier you are about it, the longer the process is.

I poked around and I think I found what was causing the stall problem.

Because I don't have an idle air control valve operating, I'm using idle timing control to kinda sorta control idle speed. It actually works pretty well... once the engine is warmed up. Sure enough, somewhere around 120 degrees, the target idle speed made a big jump of about 75 rpm. So, I smoothed out that target idle speed transition. Might have solved that problem. Too early to say.

Still idles like crap while it's warming up. It will idle okay once it's started, actually. It's the transition from idle to driving that is rough. If I had idle control, I'd step the idle speed up a little bit, and I'm sure that would help. I could also optimize timing just off-idle for better power. But, as it is... I'm using timing control to keep the idle speed where I want it. So, anywhere other than "fully warmed up", timing advance is weird in an effort to get the idle speed to the correct rpm. There's a little table in the settings that tells it to advance the timing by a certain amount if the idle speed is below the idle speed target, and retard timing if it is above the target. Pretty simple... and works pretty well when the engine is warmed up.

Aside from the actual idle speed, which I'm letting stay a little bit high until 140 degrees, because this thing takes so long to warm up and seems to otherwise run fine once it's past a certain point... I've set everything to be "warmed up" at 120 degrees. Warm-up enrichment is done by then, cold timing advance also done by then. And EGO control kicks in at that point to try to keep the AFR where it should be. This engine is such a beast... once its running, it generally wants to stay running quite happily... I could probably enable EGO a lot earlier than that.

Warm up and idle issues aside, the truck seems to run okay. It still doesn't have all the power that it should have. But, I haven't changed those spark plugs and gotten back into "serious tuning" yet, either.

There were a handful of goals that I was trying to address with the Megasquirt:
1. To be able to rev past the uneditable factory 5600 rpm (which, oddly enough... I almost never do with this thing)
2. To get rid of the weird and annoying "idle hang" that the stock ECU had (every time you clutch in and come to a stop... idle would hang at 1500+ rpm until you were almost stopped, then it would actually idle)
3. Accurate control of the electric cooling fans (stock engine had a mechanical fan, so the stock ECU didn't do that)
4. To be able to actually tune the ECU to suit the highly modified engine

While I don't have things all dialed in just yet, I've definitely met those goals.

I still don't know if I want to keep the truck or not. Wife doesn't like it because the AC doesn't work (which I could fix), but otherwise she likes the idea of having a truck around. Since I'm buying Ben's Miata, I need to get rid of a vehicle. I'd get more out of selling the Mirage than the truck... but, the Mirage would also make a great 2nd vehicle that's capable of hauling at least SOME stuff. (both of the other cars that we own will be Miatas at that point)

Maybe I'm getting past a point of being frustrated with the truck... and will play with the tuning some more. The better I get it, the happier I'm going to be with the truck... and the more likely I'll be to want to keep it. Or... the easier it will be to sell to someone else because it will be running well.

Who knows which direction I'll actually end up going?

[twistedwankel]

the AC doesn't work (which I could fix),

Since I'm buying Ben's Miata, I

Seriously, you have way too many options. Fix it and make the oil slosh go away too. Or just fail. I am more into a used Maserati/low miles than a fucked up pickup truck.

[aw614]

Can you adjust any idle air control duty cycle settings so that the idle would drop to the targeted idle?

[Loren]

Can you adjust any idle air control duty cycle settings so that the idle would drop to the targeted idle?

The MS (at least the one that I have) won't control the stock stepper motor style idle control valve. "Duty cycle" doesn't even come into the equation because it's a stepper motor.

If I were to install a PWM idle control valve, then I could control it and play with duty cycle. That's something that can be done, I just don't feel like spending the money, or putting forth the effort.

[Jamie]

I still don't know if I want to keep the truck or not. Wife doesn't like it because the AC doesn't work (which I could fix), but otherwise she likes the idea of having a truck around. Since I'm buying Ben's Miata, I need to get rid of a vehicle. I'd get more out of selling the Mirage than the truck... but, the Mirage would also make a great 2nd vehicle that's capable of hauling at least SOME stuff.

Capable of hauling four grocery bags, instead of three, and can't tow anything serious (which, IIRC, was part of the reason for the truck). Seriously, the only real advantage to the Mirage as a third car is it has a back seat -- two Miatas and a pickup are three two-seat vehicles. But if you're not worried about hauling people, you're better off with the truck.

[Loren]

For what I tend to "haul", the Mirage would be adequate. I don't haul people (I've got the back seat out of the Mirage, anyway). Just small loads from Lowe's or Wal-Mart. Very occasional 8' lumber runs. Could always rent a $20/hour truck if I needed to.

I did buy the truck with the intent of hauling the FAST trailer around. But, the reality is that I've only done so 2 or 3 times over the past 2.5 years or so that I've owned it. Partly because it sometimes wasn't up to the task. But, mostly just because Steve has been doing it. It's a nice-to-have capability, but not one that I desperately need. There are always other options.

I really could go either way with it. The Mirage is reliable, economical, and adequate as a "third vehicle" that has a little more capacity to move things than a Miata does. But, it's also an easier sell. I could put it back close to stock and get $5-6k for it easily.

The truck is possibly less reliable (though an S10 is a pretty solid platform, and the "bugs" of my engine swap are generally worked out, at least from a street driving perspective), definitely less economical, but good for hauling stuff... including trailers. It would probably be harder to sell for anywhere near what it's "worth".

Cathy asked me yesterday if I'd listed the truck on Craigslist yet. She doesn't want yet another vehicle in the driveway. (presently, there are two cars in the garage and two in the driveway)

Of course, there's also the fact that the Mirage has one of those modern wiring harnesses that the squirrels might decide to start eating when it gets parked outside regularly.

Given that I'm buying a "non-project" Miata that I intend to leave stock for the foreseeable future... I guess the truck could take prominence as the "project vehicle" and start getting the love that it needs. First priority might be to get the AC fixed so that Cathy hates it less.

[Loren]

I guess Mike Dassatti needed to get in a little bit of wrenching before his big Euro trip. So, we had lunch and then got the plugs changed in the truck. As expected, it was a little bit of a hassle. But, in the end it only took three different kinds of 5/8" tools to get the plugs out. The standard spark plug socket worked on 6 of them. #7 the socket worked, but there was no clearance to put a ratchet or extension on it, so we had to use a wrench on the socket. (always wondered why spark plug sockets had those 3/4" flats on the back side) #8 was just a pain. No way to get a socket on it. Couldn't fit a regular wrench on it. Fortunately, I found a 5/8" offset wrench in my box of forgotten tools... and that BARELY got the job done!

I'll get some photos and analysis of the old plugs later. Only one of them was really bad. Some were pretty normal. Some were a little sooty. Some were a little oily. One was very wet with fuel. (but, I'd just done a cold start to move it into the garage, and it runs pig rich when cold, so no surprise) One looked oily and like it wasn't firing. Old plugs were iridium and seemed to have .055 gap. Factory plug gap is .060, so that's what I set the new ones to. I'm running a stock ignition system, so I assume that should be correct.

New plugs definitely made it idle better. I made some tweaks to the start-up and warm-up settings, and we did a quick auto-tuning run focusing on lower RPM. It pulled a LOT of fuel pretty much everywhere.

I've said this before... but, this truck has SO much potential! I just have no desire to work on it or put money into it. If I did... it could be flat out amazing! It already handles quite nicely, in spite of its cheap shocks and cheap tires. And even though it's not tuned to make all of the power that it should, it DRIVES very nicely. It just needs more love than I have to give.

[cdmiller]

Scrolling back......you bought those plugs in January. [emoji849]

After all these tunes you've put thru it, I'm going to go ahead and say it's not the tune.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Loren]

Pffffth. You're assuming that I've ever tuned it correctly. It takes a lot of time to do that, and I've never put more than a couple hours at a time into playing with it.

I'm getting closer to figuring out the tune. It took me the longest time to figure out what ignition timing the stupid thing wanted. It was a LOT less than what I had initially thought, and it ran horribly until I got that sorted. Now that I've got the timing at least in an acceptable range (no more backfires and weird shit), and fresh plugs, I can do some more fine-tuning on the fuel and get it closer. THEN I can start working more seriously on things like acceleration enrichments.

I've just never taken the time to get serious about tuning the thing. It mostly sits in the driveway. Thus the plugs that I bought in January sat on the kitchen table until April.

The problem with a Megasquirt is precisely what makes is awesome. You have complete control over everything! When you're starting a tune from scratch on a highly modified engine... you don't know where to begin. Getting a Miata up and running on a MS was easy in comparison because you can readily find a "base tune" for a variety of Miata configurations on the internet that will get the car up and running and "mostly almost correct". Never could find that for the Vortec 5.7... and my 5.7 has been punched out to 6.2 and has bigger valves and cam lift... so, a standard 5.7 tune might not be correct, anyway.

Running the 383 on the stock ECU, it ran like CRAP when you started it up after disconnecting the battery. You had to limp it around for a while and let the ECU learn. Eventually, it would end up with 12-20% added fuel in the fuel trims, and run "okay" within all of the limitations of the stock ECU. Then, if you disconnected the battery, or let it run down... that would get erased, and you're back to running like shit again.

[Loren]

Spent just a little time earlier this week messing with the start-up and warm-up fuel settings. It's a bit better than it was. Still finicky when cold, but at least not pig rich while doing it. Runs pretty well once it's warmed up. Good enough... to... sell.

I transferred the tag from the truck onto the Miata, and the truck is now on a temp tag. The clock is ticking!

I just took it out for a quick drive. It'll get you there.

The no-questions-asked, no-haggle, friend price is $5k. Come get it.

I'm going to do a minor clean-up on it, take some photos, and list it for sale somewhere very soon. I don't think I'm going to bother with Craigslist, though.

[twistedwankel]

I transferred the tag from the truck onto the Miata, and the truck is now on a temp tag.

How can you do that? That's odd.

[Jamie]

I transferred the tag from the truck onto the Miata, and the truck is now on a temp tag.

How can you do that? That's odd.

In Florida, the tag belongs to the driver, not the car.

[Loren]

To be clear, I didn't "just do it". I went to the DMV and had the tag from the truck transferred to the car. And because I'm selling the truck, they were able to give me a temp tag for 30 days. They'll renew that temp tag once for another 30 days if needed.

If I had not transferred the tag from the truck... I have two car tags "on my account" as it is, and both are in use. The Truck and the Mirage. To get a third plate, I'd have had to pay the "new wheels" fee of whatever it is these days (I think it's around $300). It's a one-time fee that you pay every time you add an additional vehicle to your personal fleet. I didn't want to pay that fee... especially since I don't intend to keep an additional vehicle long-term. That's the primary reason why I transferred the tag.

Silly Florida rules.

[twistedwankel]

Cool to know. I have an extra plate in my tool box which I assume is still good? Cool to know about the temp tag tho' to avoid the big $ hit. Another + for the professor.

[aw614]

I'm going to do a minor clean-up on it, take some photos, and list it for sale somewhere very soon. I don't think I'm going to bother with Craigslist, though.

Really sucks that craigslist decided to start charging to sell cars, fb marketplace and offerup seem to be eating away its market share

[Loren]

I didn't even hear about that! Makes sense, though. They've got to meet their expenses somehow.

[Loren]

Finally got this thing listed! No clean-up, and just one photo.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/deta ... /overview/

[Loren]

Welll... not enough interest in the truck, even priced at $4500. I really don't want to sell it for less than $4000, so I guess I'll keep it for a while longer.

I put a new tag on it today. The Miata is the current priority... but, once it's all ready for S4 action... maybe I'll spend some more time (and money) on the truck?

If I pull the engine out to do a proper oil pan... then I'll probably put new headers on it and redo the exhaust. If not, I'll probably do an oil accumulator setup as previously discussed. I need to rework the cooling fan setup. It needs dual fans and proper shrouding to maintain temperature idling on hot days. I need to replace the front shocks (again), it's not sitting level, and I think that's why. Other than that... just odds and ends and tuning.

Oh, and I might do something about wheel offset or wheel spacers to get the "stance" right. I like the idea of the Corvette wheels that I put on it, but I think I'd like it better with a square setup rather than 17" front and 18" rear. And the offset of those wheels is all wrong.

On the dream list is to somehow sharpen the steering. It's got old school recirculating ball power steering with the pitman arm and all that jazz. It's ALL been replaced, and the rubber steering coupler has been replaced with a steel U-joint. Steering feel is still complete shit. Better shocks might help. But, what it really needs is some rack & pinion. I'm sure that would be a major project. Probably worth it, though. The truck handles quite nicely, just has NO feel at all.

Geez, this thing is starting to sound like a money pit already! But, I guess that's what cars are. And the only car I have that's not paid for is the Mirage at $150/mo. It's only money, right?