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Sam's 3.5 Disco MEGASQUIRT START/FINISH INSTALL THREAD! :)


Mr Noisy

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y0!

Exciting day today, my full MS kit is currently on the courier's van!

Bought from Nige @ Megasquirt-V8.co.uk, I simply asked for everything I could need, every option and accessory to aid or improve fitting and use.

This was no small ££££ at the end of it but I'm hoping my extra investment now will be worth it in the long run.

The only other thing I may look at is Wideband Lambda but I am advised this really is not necessary!!

The dashboard will be coming out so I can tidy the wiring etc (including wiring that i have already fitted for lights etc) and hopefully make a really neat install.

I am a mechanic myself so know my way round the spanners and am not scared of wiring as such, but this level of work will be new to me really, however I am hoping to break it down into bitesize chunks and it shouldn't be too difficult, not until we turn the key anyway cos that's when the real fun starts!! :D

The purpose of this thread is to document the install in a pic heavy manner, discuss things and try to give an idea to the everyday "works on his own car" handyman what is involved for MS1 install when you've never done it before! Hadn't even looked at Megasquirt properly until 2 weeks ago!! :o

Next update will be a look inside the box when it arrives!!! :)

Cheers! :)

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Unless you like guesswork I would get a wideband.

I know it is not 'necessary' but I reckon there is not much in it between the cost of the extra fuel the narrowband way and the cost of the wideband and it is a very handy tool to have in your armoury

<Flame suit on> :)

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Thanks guys!

Yep, flame suit required!!!

Nige ASSURES me that the WB is not needed, and i believe him, but the point still nags that why else would people use it??

I am told that WB sensors are very fragile and have a short life, so i assume they are used for tuning only, and then replaced with NB for everyday? Or once tuned do you not use a sensor at all and run in open loop? open loop is better for performance right?? will MS1 even run in closed loop?????

I see that a very popular WB setup is the Innovate LC1. Its a bit of a dark art to me at the moment, but i guess one thing i need to know is:

DO I NEED TO MAKE ANY PREPARATION IN MY LOOM/SETUP FOR WIDEBAND? or do i simply unplug the NB sensor and plug in the WB and it is simply the voltage output that has such a wider range??

Thought would be appreciated on this please, it's the only part of the build i'm not particularly clean cut on...

Cheers! :)

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Crikey, be calm, take deep breaths...!

Nige ASSURES me that the WB is not needed, and i believe him, but the point still nags that why else would people use it??

Because it's easy and quick and covers that last ~5% you can't achieve with narrowband. More than one person has MS'd with a narrowband, then gone to a rolling road with wideband etc. to get that last bit done and discovered they were so close as made no difference. Bit like your doctor diagnosing everything by running you through an MRI scanner, sure it gives a more complete picture but most of the time it's really not necessary if you apply a bit of thinking.

Remember people tuned carbs by the seat of their pants with no feedback for quite a few years ;)

I am told that WB sensors are very fragile and have a short life, so i assume they are used for tuning only, and then replaced with NB for everyday? Or once tuned do you not use a sensor at all and run in open loop? open loop is better for performance right?? will MS1 even run in closed loop?????

If you have questions like "will MS1 even run in closed-loop" you need to have a read through the Megamanual.

WB's are not incredibly fragile, but traditionally they're shorter-lived than narrowbands, which coupled with their high(er) price means people don't tend to leave them in once they've got their fuel map dialled in.

They also work by respiration with the outside air, so dunking in water/crud is not a great idea.

In answer to the second part, once tuned it's preferable to run closed-loop as the MS will continually fine-tune as you go along (but it does NOT save the fine tuning, it's just doing it "on the fly"). The bottom line is it saves fuel, even if your fuel map is a fair way out. Neither option is inherently better for performance, that depends entirely on how good your fuel map is.

If you've got your setup right (as in not pratted about with the settings Nige put in), MS will only run closed-loop under "cruising" conditions, E.G. low to medium engine load, medium RPM. If you run closed-loop near idle it will result in "hunting" (unstable idle), and under high loads you want to be running richer than 14.7:1, so MS will ignore the sensor and run straight off the fuel map.

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A great reply, thanks Fridge :)

Regards reading and doing my homework, yes I will be doing lots!

Have already read the Megasquirt beginners thread twice, but there's a lot in there to remember!

Going to tackle it step by step, ie not going to think about running/tuning it until I've got the wiring sorted etc, don't want to get ahead of myself!

Thanks again for the help, currently eagerly awaiting the courier!!! :o

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Oh dear! Nige could have chosen a better colour for those lovely little boxes :lol:

All joking aside, good luck with your install.

My 90 is currently running MJLJ, but MS is on my agenda for the future. I have all the bits, just need to find time for the reading bit.

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Pleased to hear that it's definitely positives all round!! :D

Tonight has been a bit of a ****up :(

Managed to crack my plenum base (trumpets) whilst trying to remove it from the inlet manifold :(

Anyway, that aside, I've been opening up the inlet ports a little.

Got bank 1 done tonight, bank 2 tomorrow, then take the dash out and hopefully get the Hotwire and ignition systems removed completely.

Waiting on a new valley gasket and thermo gasket then can start building back together, then start adding MS bracketry etc.

Cheers :)

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That would be helpful indeed, thanks! Probably worth about 30 quid for a standard unit?? Plus postage etc!

Would like to upgrade to a slightly modded unit but they're a couple hundred quid, have read that the v8 really appreciates modified trumpets but just don't know if I can justify so much cash!

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Well yeah exactly, but I think I have established that a small reduction in height and a flare at the top whilst keeping the same bottom dia is great all round, in fact improving in what is there.

Anything more than 20mm shorter and serious torque loss will be noticed as far as I can see

Anyway; beggars can't be choosers at the moment!! :o

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Re loom preparation, what I did was put a 4 way ampseal connector in the lambda circuit, so I can easily swap between lambdas.

Be very careful not to mix up the heater earth with the sensor earth.

IMVHO NB lambdas are only useful for cats. WB all the way.

OTOH looks like Nige's kits just get better and better. :i-m_so_happy: for "AFM" with the air temp sensor fixing.

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Nige's kit is fabulous, very well presented, all bagged and ready to go.

Very impressive, for the record, thanks Nige :)

MickeyW that's great news, will wait to hear from Zoltan first out of courtesy! :)

Also, yeah I was wondering what the situation is for swapping between lambdas. Was going to try to work it out as I go along and make preparation for "swappage" but wasn't sure what the inputs/were from the Wideband sensor/controller?

I mean, the Wideband has a controller, which i assume has to be fitted under the car near the sensor, in between the wiring from the ECU and the sensor?

Thanks again :D

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I have a spare base if all else fails.

Installing its and getting the engine to run is the easy part, its what happens after that that gets the head scratching. Although if your more knowledgeable with engines than me then maybe you'll find this the easy bit :D

My wideband has a simulated narrow band output if you like that you can feed straight into MS in place of a narrow band. I've never used it out of lazyness and just tuned by watching the gauge as I drove and adjusted accordingly. OK not as good as logging but it seems to run pretty well. I tired auto tune with tuner studio with a narrowband and it just sent the car really rich so I went back to open loop. Never looked into why, I guess the settings are wrong for the narrowband or I've damaged it in water.

I have the SLC PP2 wideband which has the controller built into the digital display. It's OTT for what I want as you can add in lots of extra sensors and it will log onto an internal memory but it works.

Most of the faults I've had have been with external components but it's been reasonably easy to track as you can get a good idea of whats going on with the laptop plugged in.

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