Tune 'n' 'charge 'n' tune

[Native]

And, I've got to check the motor mounts like Chris told me to.

So I pulled both motor mounts, and they are fine. While I was under there, I loosened and retorqued the PPF. It might just be me, but maybe my on-power 2-3 shifts might have cleaned up a bit...

I've been fine-tuning the new tune from 4/17. It's the best it's been yet (better than when all y'all drove it several months ago), but I still don't have the acceleration enrichments quite right. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

And, both boots on the steering rack are torn. Guess I gotta look into what the fix is for that.

[cdmiller]

Usually I know if Im wrong right away, but now I've had to wait months! Takes all the fun out of being wrong. But at least now you know!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Native]

Haha, we both thought it was a possibility...heck, I never would've gotten under the car and looked if it wasn't worth it (even if it took me forever...that's how I roll with some things). Thanks again for the input, though!

[Native]

Tap tap...is this thing on?

Since April, I've gotten my head around the %TPSwot thing, and I actually understand how it works. I was close to getting it before, like, say, two years ago, but now I really do understand how it works. No, really. really. C'mon, stop laughing.

I'll spare you the gory details, but at this point, I've got the throttle input thing on the run. I'll get it just about right, and, being a bit obsessive-compulsive, I'll want it exactly right. And I make an acceleration enrichment change (and/or a %TPSwot change) that makes it worse, or maybe a bit better, and then I just cant' say "good enough", and I keep messing with it. Through all this I"ve been gradually refining my fueling map, and, I must say, Autotune is only "so good." I've created and reviewed, unfortunately (or not), hundreds of data logs, but in so doing, I'm hitting my AFR targets across the rev and load range quite well.

Those of you who drove it almost a year ago at FAST Monday - trust me when I say it's even better now. Just...not...quite...good...enough...

Oh, and a while back, I mentioned that I retorqued the power plant frame and it seemed to help my 2-3 shifts...well, it most definitely did. I guess having that aligned right is important...

In other news, I have a Racing Beat header on the car. In my poking around on the interwebz, I came across some info that says the header and the supercharger I plan to install are incompatible - the header tubes are in the way of how the 'charger fits when mounted. Hmm.

[Loren]

Is supercharger whine finally getting close in Steve's future?

Do you still have your stock header? Or are you going to find an aftermarket piece that's "compatible"?

Man, being a perfectionist with a MS will make you crazy. I definitely remember that. Idle control with a MS capable of getting SO much better than stock that you just want to keep trying to make it perfect. Be glad you don't have AC in that car.

[Native]

Yes I do have the stock header, which, when the time comes, if in fact what I've read is true, I'll use. Or maybe I'll get something else... I dunno. If it does have to go, it'll be interesting to see how it reacts to the tune.

I'm betting I have to remove the brake bias adjuster I have, too...

Yeah, there's all sorts of ways to just get hung up in tiny details - and it's stuff only the tuner would ever notice.

[Native]

A bit more reading and I find for sure the sc won't fit on the RB header. Evidently the curve of the last tube is such that it blocks proper mounting.
I have the stock piece... or a nice, crappy Raceland will fit...under $200. Or, almost any other header - go figure. Sure wish TampaBayMiatas was still around - anybody got a used 1.8 header laying around?

Also, found that, at least one guy says, you don't have to mount the throttle body on the SC. You can leave it on the intake manifold. It just makes the SC louder, but much more driveable. And much easier install. Things that make you go hmm...

[Loren]

From what I've read, putting the TB before the SC makes idle control a lot better. You could try it "the easy way" and see if you like it.

[Native]

Meanwhile, over two years later, the tune is good. Car runs really nicely. I've actually stopped messing with the fueling, and have been fiddling with cold start. And I do mean true cold start - like, once-a-day-stone-cold. It cranks right up, revs to where it's supposed to, but then revs drop a few hundred, then come back up. It does not do that on warm starts. Just fiddling with that. And I want to get the idle better.

Rear main seal leak. Frozen parking brake (open) on the right. Torn steering joint boots. The above-mentioned header swap and possible removal of the brake bias adjuster. Radiator swap (got a bigger one to throw in for better cooling for the anticipated heat) and maybe coolant re-route. And, just this past Sunday, a coolant leak from one of the small hoses on the front of the engine. Haven't looked to closely yet, but I hope it's the hose and not the pipe it attaches to. Last time it was the pipe on the inner thermostat housing...that was a job. Fingers crossed. I'm hoping to get to that before the year is out so I can get the car driveable again. And I'll probably do the radiator too, since I'll be messing with cooling.

Oh, and a few months ago I rebuilt the shifter - the plastic bushing disintegrated, and of course the inner boot was torn. I "upgraded" to the brass bushing from 5X Racing. I like it. Feels a bit more "connected" than with the plastic bushing. And no trouble getting into reverse at all.

[Loren]

This car is gonna rip with the supercharger on it!

[Native]

...a coolant leak from one of the small hoses on the front of the engine. Haven't looked to closely yet, but I hope it's the hose and not the pipe it attaches to. I'm hoping to get to that before the year is out so I can get the car driveable again.

Nah. It's the pipe. Right at the 90* elbow. Hose is fine. And I missed my end of year deadline, not that anyone would be surprised.
Parts have been ordered, including the gasket to attach it to the water pump, and the o-ring to attach the pipe that goes back to the heater hose.

I need to replace this:
.

a_20160922_1156248979.jpg (72.87 KiB) Viewed 3977 times

[Loren]

Been there, done that.

I opted to repair rather than replace:
viewtopic.php?p=66955

That part was either not available or just stupidly expensive when I needed it.

[Native]

Yeah, it's about the same price you found in your old thread. You had mentioned the repair idea to me recently, but I took what I saw as the lazy but expensive way out. And once I have it apart I'll inspect the pipe to the heater.

[Native]

So the latest is I replaced the boots on the steering rack. Cleaned and greased the tie rod joints. So that's done.

I also figured out that the Megasquirt does not control the solenoid that opens to allow fuel vapor from the charcoal cannister to be sucked into the intake. The raw gas smell that got worse and worse in my garage after a drive finally had gotten bad enough that I had to look into it. I won't go through all my sleuthing, but that valve is closed when unpowered. So I wired constant (key on) power to the solenoid, and now no more gas smell - the fumes are being evacuated and burned as they should.

But. That valve is supposed to be closed on startup, warmup, and some top-secret parameters at idle and low rpm. So guess which areas of my Megasquirt fuel map need to be redone? Those fumes count as added fuel, ya know? Oh, and all my startup parameters have to be tweaked, too. I did some of the reprogramming, and it's "good enough." Gonna wait til it's cooler to do all the datalogging and tuning to get it back right.

And yeah, I could probably figure out (or get help) how to add a pin to the Megasquirt and have it control the valve proper, but that itself would take me months to figure out, and for now, I've decided to just tune around it.

[Loren]

Connecting up the valve to the MS would be easier than all that retuning. A lot easier.

You already know which wire to use. Just find a MS output to control it.

Look in your MS settings. Should be a menu item for outputs or something like that. Figure out which one is not being used.

If'n this is over your head... get with me one day, we'll figure it out. You're half-way there.

You could at least just set the valve to open over a certain RPM, that would be easier than you think. Would work just like the fan control parameters, but using RPM rather than ECT.

[Native]

...

If'n this is over your head... get with me one day, we'll figure it out.

^^^ This.

[Native]

So the ECU wire/pin for the purge solenoid is 2X (yellow/red, and not the 1T yellow/red, that's for the EGR valve. The red stripes are a little different).
The MS port the stock harness plugs into is pinned (for all of them), and there's a trace on the circuit board for that pin that goes...somewhere...
From what Loren said, and I've read, it's connected, but not assigned. I have to configure an open port, which, for my MS2, allows control per 2 parameters (I'd use rpm and load, based on stock programming).

That's as far as I've gotten. More reading to do.

[Loren]

Sounds like you're making progress.

I must say... you're making progress not just immediately with this particular issue, but... geez, you wouldn't have even known where to start 5 years ago!

Rock on, Steve!

(And, yeah, I bet all those colored wires are a hassle for you. Good thing DIY stamps them with numbers, too!)

Of course, one of the things you can do to play with this and figure out if it's working like you want it to -- and that you do, indeed, have the correct wire being switched, would be to attach a simple light to that output. Then you can see if it switches correctly and can be a little more sure that it will switch the purge solenoid when you hook it up.

[Native]

Thanks! Yes, definitely learning a lot. Don't know where I'd be without the internet and a bunch of cool car guys to hang out with and learn from.

And also yes, electrical work is a trick what with my shitty color vision. Is it red, pink, or brown? Damn tiny stripes. A really bright flashlight helps, some.

Triple yes on the light/trigger. In fact, that's how I first figured out the solenoid was doing nothing: hooked a light up to the connector. No light. Then tested the solenoid - it works. Ah-hah!

[Loren]

Genius! Did you order a new header yet?