Guide: Megasquirt MS DIY Throttle bodies ITB EDIS Wasted Spark wiring calibrations

Discussion in 'Throttle bodies & non-OEM ECUs' started by Admin, Jul 29, 2010.

  1. Admin Guest

    PART 1

    For a full list of abbreviations with anything to do with this guide please click here.

    Before even thinking of fitting Megasquirt MS to your car you need to read ALL of this at some point. Sometimes it is best to read the parts 2 or 3 times to help them sink in. This is the MS manual and has everything you will need to know.

    Fitting ITB's to a KR/ABF/9A



    This is a guide covering how I converted my 16v KR and ABF engines to run on Megasquirt and individual throttle bodies (ITB).

    First things first, you need to know and understand what Megasquirt is and what it does. Megasquirt (MS) is what is known as a engine control unit (ECU) it is often referred to as a standalone engine management (SEM) system. It is a (EFI) electronic fuel injection management system that is cheap and affordable to run and it can be fully mapped/tuned by oneself with a basic laptop.

    Megasquirt runs both fuel and spark maps meaning that you can map/tune the ECU precisely to your specific engine, the ECU’s map can be re-tuned at any time, if you add a new hot cam you can tune the map to suit, it is very versatile. If it takes your fancy one day you could bolt on a turbo, alter the ECU settings, re-tune and your away. The clever thing about Megasquirt is that you can change pretty much any setting.

    Nearly all modern cars have an ECU of sorts, the 20v engines run an advanced EFI ECU, which is fully mappable. - with the right equipment. This means that the fuel and spark maps can be altered/tuned to your individual car. Mapping a 20v ECU costs a lot of money, you need specialist equipment and lots of experience with the systems.

    Other types of ECU’s running in cars allow less tunability, the MK2 Golf Digifant ECU is EFI and it controls the spark and fuel. This ECU will only allow the fuel map to be altered/tuned. This means that the spark map could be a long way from optimal resulting in detonation at worse and lose of untapped power at best. To get just the fuel map tuned to your cars engine once will cost as much if not more as buying a new infinitely tunable Megasquirt kit.

    Then there are basic ECU’s such as what your KR engine runs, the KR ECU is very basic, it controls the spark map and rev limit only, the map cannot be altered in this ECU so you are stuck with a spark map that is far from ideal, a generally tuned KR running this ECU will pink in the lower rev range because the timing has been pushed as far forward as possible to help with power delivery at the higher RPM’s.


    Megasquirt in layman’s terms is a fully tunable engine management system, it will allow you to run any type of engine from boosted to aircooled. It is a very cheap and effective way of tuning an engine to its optimum settings and squeezing out as much BHP as possible. And best of all, this can be done by yourself!




    That was a very basic intro aimed at giving newbies a better idea of what Megasquirt can do. I decided to run Megasquirt because of the above points and that it is a very hands on DIY project that really puts you to the test.


    Starting the conversion is a bit of a daunting task, you will require mechanical skills along with wiring skills and if you are like me – not an electrician or mechanic – then you will probably feel a little overwhelmed. Don’t worry tho’, the MS guide and wiring diagrams are spot on, and if you follow them 100% all will be well.

    To start the conversion you need to get the mechanical side of things right before you can start wiring it up, so to begin with strip the engine bay of all the KR injection system as you will not need this. That includes the airbox, metering head, injectors, the distributor, coil and the inlet manifold can also be taken off. As you strip the engine and remove the wiring, mark the wires up with masking tape and write on them what they are and where they go, because some of them will need to be re-used.
    IMG_2202.jpg

    We are now left with the bottom end and head. If you have been running this engine it would be a good time to check it over a make sure there are no leaks etc…

    ITB’s come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can buy many off the shelf models such as Jenvey direct to head bodies that will require little work to make fit – very nice if you are not on a budget, and one of the best designs for flow according to these figures in this thread here. Or if you are on a budget use some from a motorbike. I have gone with GSXR 750 ITB’s they are 48mm tapered to 42mm at the butterfly. Running a engine size of 1.8L to 2.0L 40mm is really the smallest you would want to go, 45mm seems to be optimum on lots of engines and 48mm have given benefits to a 250BHP valver but at the expense mid-range. Also have a look at Infinties build for an impressive 188BHP standard engine running Jenvey 48mm ITB's. His torque curve was very flat, very usable and held on at high revs.
    IMG_2336.jpg

    These ITB’s are a bit better than a lot of the motorbike bodies because these ones are individually bolted together. This means that you can make spacers up to go between the bodies and enlarge the gap to match the KR head. Most throttle bodies are cast as one or two parts, this makes mounting them tricky. I spaced my bodies out to the same spacing as the KR lower inlet manifold. Doing this allows you to just modify the KR lower inlet manifold – a lot easier than making a whole manifold up. It is also good because it allows you to keep the all four inlet tracks an equal length. – This is important and one of the biggest advantages TB have over a plenum chamber.
    IMG_2339.jpg

    To make the inlet manifold you need to cut the lower of the inlet manifold down. I had cylindrical aluminium tubing squashed at one end so that it fitted onto the KR’s manifolds oval shape. These where then welded into place and equally cut to length.
    IMG_2395.jpg

    To run EFI and MS you need to run injectors similar to the Digifant (later MK2 Golf GTi). If you can get hold of them G60 injectors work well. I bought new injectors from Bahn Brenner Motorsport in the USA. For a list of popular injectors and their flow rates check here.
    Injectors for this application can come from many different cars and manufactures, to work out what cc (the amount of fuel the injector will flow) use this calculator here.
    IMG_0743.jpg

    To fit these to the KR lower manifold you need two things.
    1. Digifant injector seats (VW part no. 037 133 555 A), you can get these new from the dealer, simple unscrew the KR brass ones and screw in the Digi ones.
    2. you need a fuel rail that has the same spacing as the KR. You can buy after market rails Ross, BBM, Euro speed etc or you can use a VAG fuel rail from a 1.8T Golf or Passat. The latter is ideal as it is cheap and comes fitted with a fuel pressure regulator. The fuel rail will fit onto the injectors perfectly but you will need to weld some blocks onto the inlet manifold to hold the rail in place. The rail is spaced at 88mm which is the same as the KR/ABF inlets.
    IMG_2405.jpg

    On the inlet manifold you will need to weld in an outlet for the brake servo. I had mine welded in on No 4 cylinder and braking is perfect, there are no side effects to be felt by running it like this.
    IMG_2388.jpg

    The ITB’s need one thing doing to them. They need the injector holes blocking off, I used bolts and some silicone sealant. I left the vacuum holes vented to the air (not like the pic shows), you could link them up but then you effectively turn the manifold into a plenum which sort of goes against the point of individual runners! And further to this with more exaggerated results would be linking the larger holes and using then as a brake take off, you only need to use one runner for this as mentioned and linking all four will result in disturbed airflow in the runners as one is drawing in air and another is pulsing back up through the manifold.
    IMG_2402.jpg

    Once you have mounted your manifold to the head you will need to mount the ITB’s. I used silicone tube held with jubilee clips. Do not use long pieces of silicon hose because the suction from the engine will crush and implode the hose. When you have them all mated up like so you need to fabricate up the brake servo hose, I used a Digifant hose to run from the servo along the back of the engine where it has a handy 90deg turn. Then I chopped up a KR hose to run the length to the ITB’s. Make sure you run it with only one none-return valve.
    IMG_2540.jpg

    The ITB’s are mounted, you need to now route the throttle cable. I used a genuine VAG KR cable and modified it to fit. First of I drilled a hole in the scuttle tray where I wanted the cable to appear from.
    IMG_2593.jpg
    IMG_2594.jpg

    Then the job of mounting it, I had part of the KR throttle cable holder welded on to the ITB’s end plate. This gave me a point to work off.
    IMG_2596.jpg

    This is the standard cable mounted, needs a bit of tweaking! I bent some aluminium fuel pipe I had kicking around to a 90deg turn to direct the cable.
    IMG_2597.jpg

    I then chopped the white plastic part of the cable down, threaded the cable through and secured it with a cable grub screw from a motorbike brake cable. Then to finish the cable end of I crushed on a mountain bike cable fray end.
    IMG_2624.jpg

    To finish the hands on side of the build a filter was added to the ITB’s to keep all the crap out of the engine. I used a ITG sausage filter, looks great and does the job very well. To mount the filter you need a backing plate, you can buy one with no holes cut but it costs 25!!! So instead I knocked up my own from a sheet of titanium I had lying around. Marked the holes and hole-sawed them out.
    IMG_2642.jpg IMG_2643.jpg
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 17, 2018
  2. Admin Guest

    Manifold Designs

    bodies006.jpg

    Have a look here for the above build thread for this manifold.

    IMG_2623-1.jpg

    For more in-depth details on the construction of this manifold see post 59.

    For more manifold inspiration and design ideas visit the ITB porn thread here.


    Cold Air Feed

    To help feed the ITB's with cold air and gain a ram air affect at speed you can lower the radiator to gain a good air gap between the radiator and the slam panel. There are a few ways in which this can be done.

    1. Genuine VAG parts.

    Just stumbled over this from Frechem's build.

    IMG_1489.jpg IMG_1492.jpg Pic195.jpg IMG_1532.jpg


    2. Modifying radiator support bracket.

    IMG_2636.jpg IMG_2637.jpg IMG_2638.jpg IMG_0166.jpg

    Pic courtsey of NigeP

    IMG_4889.jpg

    Once the radiator has been lowered it will help to acheive two things. The first is a clean cool air flow to the ITB's but it will also make plumbing in the radiator much easier. Have a look at the picture below for ideas on routing you top hose, this setup uses the standard KR ali front outlet and two standard VAG hoses cut and joined together with a copper insert.

    IMG_0153.jpg

    Other people have used the plastic ABF water outlet that kicks the other way, but often they run into problems and have been known to shave the maiting surface so that it points further down. Another way to get the desired angle is to cut and weld the KR ali outlet or buy one, there are a few places that sell them one I can remember is TWM. But they are not cheap.
     
  3. Admin Guest

    PART 2.1

    How to run Megasquirt and it's Inputs and Outputs.

    For Megasquirt to function correctly various sensors need to be placed in and around the engine. These sensors feed the ECU with info, and the ECU acts accordingly making changes to fuel delivery or the amount of spark advance. So here is a list of what sensors I used and where I put them.

    All the below sensors are what is required to run MS with EDIS, this setup will work with ITB's and a more standard setup (ie a KR inlet manifold). These sensors are also the basic things required to run a turbo setup, but you will really need to run boost controllers etc.

    You do not need to run an O2 sensor with MS, but it is great if you want to run in closed loop (ie the MS reads the air fuel ratio and adjusts the fuelling to run better efficiency) or if you want to do any kind of tuning it is vital that you use a wideband controller and lambda sensor. Wide band sensors measure the AFR - Air Fuel Ratio - accurately giving you a precise reading. You can buy narrow band sensors that will only read above or below lambda, these are useless for tuning as they only indicate what the AFR is - no good for tuning.



    IAT

    Inlet Air Temperature sensor, this is used to measure the temperature of the air being sucked into the engine, colder days make the air denser so more fuel is required and the ECU will allow for this. I used an open air element sensor (Taken from a Golf 1.8T engine) because it is more precise than the coolant sensor a lot of people use. It rapidly measures sudden changes in temp giving the ECU the most up to date info. Mount this sensor as close to the air inlet track as you can. You can mount it into the back of the air filter back plate or in one of the inlet tracks or as I have just in front of the air filter.
    inlettempsensor.jpg

    Another choice for a IAT sensor is one from the mk3 16v. It can easily be calibrated in easytherm.

    Thanks to Steve R for the extra IAT info
    DSC01158.jpg


    TPS

    Throttle Position Sensors are used to measure how much throttle is being applied, this then tells the ECU how much air is being drawn in, so it can match the fuel ratio and spark advance. This sensor is placed on the side of the throttle bodies and is turned as the throttle pedal is applied. It is important to make sure this sensor rotates all the way from idle to full throttle. You don't want it to restrict the amount the throttle bodies open.
    tps.jpg

    If you are keeping the engine running with the original KR inlet set up then you still need a TPS and will have to either mod the throttle body or find a Automatic throttle body with a built in TPS. I modded the KR throttle body like this...
    TBTPSbracket.jpg TBTPS.jpg

    CTS

    Coolant Temp Sensor, this is used to let the ECU know how warm the engine is, as the engine warms up the less fuel is needed to keep it running so when it reaches operating temp the ECU stops adding extra fuel for those cold starts. I used a genuine VAG Digifant blue coolant temp sensor. I mounted it on the side of the head using a genuine housing that fits perfectly without any mods needed, very cheap from the dealers too.

    steve r
    DSC01156.jpg


    IGNITION SETUPS.

    1.1 Wasted Spark.
    1.2 EDIS.
    1.3 VW OEM dizi and coil.


    1.1
    WASTED SPARK - Coilpack


    This is a great setup that does away with the distributor (which leaks and can be a pain in the a$se), it is cheap to install and works very well, it also can give you a cleaner and more modern looking engine bay - if that is your thing.

    Wasted spark requires a minimum signal missing tooth crank wheel, so this can be a 36-1 trigger wheel added to the crank pulley by yourself (for the early engines KR, 6A etc see below in EDIS for how to do this) or you can use the standard VAG 60-2 wheel that is fitted to the later engines codes ABF.

    You will need to fit a VR (variable reluctant) sensor which I believe can be take from a VR6? but i have no experience of this myself so further research will need to be taken.

    Wasted spark is as the name suggest, the ECU uses two outputs to send a signal to the coil pack to fire, the coilpack has 2 banks for a 4 cylinder engine, when the ECU sends this signal bank 1 or bank two will fire respectively.

    Bank1 - Cylinders 1 and 4
    Bank2 - Cylinders 2 and 3

    When fired cylinder one will be on the compression stroke and cylinder 4 will be on the exhaust stroke. The wasted spark comes from the spark that effectively is wasted as it is fired on the exhaust stroke, when cylinder 4 is on the compression stroke cylinder 1 will be on the exhaust stroke and will be the wasted spark and so one.

    VW 4 cylinder firing order = 1, 3, 4, 2 This would be 2 rotations of the crank, so 720 degs. To fire this engine in wasted spark we would fire 1+4 together (as these are opposite in the firing order), then 180deg later we would fire 3+2 (again these are opposite in the firing order), this repeats every crank revolution.

    To setup the wasted spark you need to wire the MS up so that PIN 36 goes to bank 1 of the coil (Pin 1) and MS PIN 4 goes to bank 2 of the coil (pin 3).

    The coil pack wiring is pretty straight forward, you will now need to decide on a coil pack. There are many choices available here, I personally use a Ford coil pack as it uses the same plug as my old wiring, it cost 25 of Ebay and works very well, looks good, is easily mounted and best of all - IT will work with your stock 16v LEADS FTW. (Edit leads may require some material removing from the end to ensure a tight fit).

    This is the coil pack i now run with wasted spark.
    BbEUQvwBGkKGrHqQH-CwEqueGMf24BKuQ2slHw_12.jpg

    This one will also work, coil packs can be obtained from many cars such as the newer Fords, Pugs etc.
    BvlFCGkKGrHqVi0Ev10F0GUBMFOtuKdWQ_12.jpg

    This one is from an older Ford using EDIS, it will work but will require custom leads.
    By6YoOQEWkKGrHqUOKjEEwKsUqBMTvQLpI_12.jpg

    This is a Pug one, NOTE it has a 4 pin plug, the extra pin is for a built in capacitor that reduces noise, Gurd's runs one of these with success.
    3333.jpg

    When using a coil pack with wasted spark you will need to set the dwell up as below.
    5555.jpg

    Also and this is very important you will need to fit a capacitor if your coil pack does not have one in built, failure to do this will result in 'noise' that will effect the readings of sensors that the MS reads from and potently result in poor running and 'spikes' in coolant readings, revs etc on the MS screen or in data logs.

    When fitting a capacitor keep it as close to the coil as possible and run a wire from the 12v ignition power supply to pin 2 of the coil to the pin shown on the capacitor, the capacitor will then need to be grounded, best to ground to the head with a strap lead.

    This is a Ford Capacitor that is 20uf you can pick them up from the scrap yard of all EDIS equipped cars.
    6666.jpg

    The diagram below shows EDIS setup but also includes the wring diagram for a capacitor, see the bottom left hand of picture for clarification of how to wire your capacitor.
    3333333.gif

    To integrate the coilpack with your MK2/MK1 rev counter you will need to bridge the two trigger wires (coil pack pins 1 and 3) but will need to install diodes and a zenner diode so that the signal will only go to the clocks and not back to the wrong bank of the coil. See the EDIS setup for more detail below with circuit diagram.
     
  4. Admin Guest

    PART 2.2

    1.1
    EDIS


    NOTE: EDIS is an old system that was one of the first coil pack systems to run easily on MS, the system is still fine to use and fairly straight forward to install, it requires the EDIS module to be bought and wired in and will only work from a 36-1 trigger wheel, fine for me as I was using a KR block and had to install a trigger wheel myself (Read takes lots of time, effort and money). EDIS has no real advantage over wasted spark (see above), except that it has a built in limp home mode. It does cost more as you will need the trigger wheel 36-1 and EDIS unit, also it has the potential to produce more 'noise'.

    I decided to run my project on EDIS (Electronic Distributor-less Ignition System) from a Ford, this is a cheap way to have a distributor-less ignition system. EDIS is a neat, reliable and accurate. Megasquirt reads the PIP signal sent from EDIS controller module and sends back a SAW telling the EDIS when to fire the spark bank.

    EDIS is a clever bit of kit and it uses its own little control box. It also uses an ignition coil which needs to be mounted close to the head. I mounted the ignition coil onto the original coil mounting points on the scuttle tray; a simple bracket was knocked up out of aluminium to hold it securely in place. The EDIS control unit mounted nicely on the back of the head. Two brackets have been knocked up, one to hold it and the other to shield it from exhaust heat.

    The EDIS unit replaces the need for a distributor, so you can save some weight and get rid of a potential oil leak by replacing it with a cover. BBM make a lovely billet one with rubber o-ring, i purchased it from g-werks for about 25.00.
    dizzi.jpg

    When it comes to buying a 36-1 trigger wheel i highly recommend trigger wheels, they make the 36-1 wheels from 5mm steel and are laser cut to precision in various sizes, click here for their site.

    And again I am going to recommend trigger wheels for buying a EDIS kit, it cost around 35 for a second hand tested working unit, or if you know exactly what you want then get down to the scrap yard and bag yourself the kit. The EDIS-4 module is used on the following vehicles equipped with the Ford HCS engine, and the 1.9 litre straight-4 Ford CVH engine, between 1990 and 1993:
    Ford Escort / Mercury Tracer
    Ford Fiesta (Europe)
    Ford Escort (Europe)
    Ford Sierra (Europe)
    Ford Mondeo (Europe)


    EDIS Coil Pack

    Mounted in the same position as the original coil
    IMG_2380.jpg

    or you could mount on the side of the head and block off the KR dizzi hole.
    EDISplate.jpg


    EDIS Control Module
    IMG_2377.jpg IMG_2378.jpg


    As stated earlier EDIS replaces the Dizzi with a coil pack, this coil pack has a different kind of attachment end for the spark plug leads. I had a custom set of leads made to my specific length, connections and colour etc. It cost around 80.00 for the 4 leads delivered and came from performance leads, their web-site is here.


    This shows the custom ended leads.
    IMG_2540.jpg

    EDIS Setup
    Near the crank wheel is a Variable-Reluctance (VR) sensor - this sensor produces a bipolar signal. The VR sensor is pointed at the centre of the crank wheel, with a 0.030 to 0.060 inch gap (0.75 mm to 1.5 mm) to the crank wheel teeth.

    The VR sensor and 36-1 crank trigger wheel must be set in the correct relationship to each other. With the engine at TDC for cylinder #1, this relationship is:


    EDIS-4: missing tooth is exactly nine teeth (90) ahead of the VR sensor,
    EDIS-6: missing tooth is exactly six teeth (60) ahead of the VR sensor,
    EDIS-8: missing tooth is exactly five teeth (50) ahead of the VR sensor.


    Wide Band Lambda Sensor Control Unit

    If you are going to tune the car yourself, or are interested in what AFR you are running then it is essential that you run a wide-band O2 sensor. I used a LC1 wideband kit - very good - it came with the lambda probe, a bung to weld into the exhaust, the control unit that can be connected up to MS to run closed loop control and to a AFR gauge.
    lmc1.jpg

    Mounting 02 control unit
    IMG_2544.jpg

    Mounting the O2 sensor

    It is important that the sensor is mounted correctly so that it stops condensation gathering and also takes an average reading for all cylinders.

    The sensor needs top be mounted preferably at the 12 o'clock position to stop condensation forming. Between 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock is optimum. Do not mount it lower, this would course condensation to gather and damage the sensor or give inaccurate readings.

    Originally Posted by Toyotec

    NOTE; this image below shows the difficulties with mounting a o2 bung to a 4 branch, but try and mount it after the collector.

    Originally Posted by Trev16v
    If you are running a 02A box and cable mech that is internally mounted above the tunnel, this would allow a perfect place to mount the O2 sensor and a short distance for the cabling to run inside the car.
    lambdabung.jpg IMG_2552.jpg

    Mounting a Trigger/Crank wheel

    EDIS uses a 36-1 trigger wheel and VR (variable reluctant) sensor which tales a reading from the crank to work out what position/stage of rotation of the engine is in. A good place to mount both the 36-1 trigger wheel and sensor on and around the crank pulley the Trigger wheel needs to be mounted in some way to the crank and I have seem sensors and trigger wheels mount to flywheels and the gearbox end of the engine. In fact there is a OEM gearbox crank seal that mounts a VR sensor and trigger wheel to the crank, this can be bought from VW and will be very neat install that will protect components from any damage - maybe a choice for the Rally drivers!

    I mounted the trigger wheel to the water pump pulley and the sensor I mounted into the holes on the block used for part of the power steering pump bracketry. The sensor needs to be mounted within 0.75mm and 1.5mm of the trigger wheel and it needs to be mounted on a very sturdy bracket, one that would feel that safe for you to pick up the engines weight with!

    It is also good to make this bracket adjustable, so that you can set the optimal base timing to 10 deg BTC. This is good because if MS does fail to send a signal to fire (damaged wire for example) then the EDIS module will revert to the limp home mode 10 deg BTC which will save your engine and get you home.

    NOTE: VW engines rotate in a clockwise motion, the below pic shows the sensor mounted 90 deg before TDC on a KR engine.
    IMG_1187.jpg IMG_1195.jpg

    There are many other ways to mount the VR sensor and trigger wheel, the pics below might give you some ideas.
    Trigger_wheel_face_pattern_drill.jpg Berg_pulley_107.jpg 320px-Timing_wheel_face.jpg
     
  5. Admin Guest

    PART 2.3



    1.3
    VAG OEM Dizi and Coil.



    Space reserved.

    This space needs filling, any Megasquirters with the knowledge and the experiance who would like to write this part of the guide please do so.

    Try to include the orignal wire colours and pins for the TCIH unit etc...
     
  6. Admin Guest

    PART 3

    Wiring and setup.


    Wiring the MS in is one of the biggest parts of the MS install, always disconnect the battery when doing anything to the wiring as you do not want to end up frying your MS or yourself.

    Ensure that all cable joints and terminals are correctly soldered/crimped and that they are insulated and waterproofed very well. You can check a joint or terminal for it's quality by using a voltmeter and checking for the resistance over the join - a good join will have none.
    415dpg3LzpL__SS500_.jpg

    Wiring Loom

    The wiring for the MS was my biggest mountain to climb for the whole project. What I recommend is that you buy a decent set of wire crimpers, a good soldering iron and heat shrink. Also I highly recommend if you can afford it to buy new plug terminals, plugs and decent water and fuel tight joiners. It makes the project so much quicker, easier, neater and by far better joins than you could ever get with old wire/terminals. This is the master wiring diagram for MS that I used and referred to at all times.

    The wiring loom is at first a complicated and confusing challenge. But it really is very simple, all you need to be able to do is follow the instructions correctly, be able to solder well, use the appropriate equipment correctly and use new terminals, wires, plugs etc to make your life as easy and simple as possible. I re-used some of the old connectors and just soldered into the old wiring loom, but i found this method to be very slow, it was also not very neat compared to buying new bits. I ended up re-doing the wiring with new terminals in the end anyway.

    I recommend buying new terminals and crimping them.
    VWP is a fantastic website with lots of very useful terminals and plugs. You can buy terminals for the injector plugs, the housings and terminals for the fusebox. They also sell good cable sleeving. Click here for their website.

    I recommend buying a decent set of crimping tools like the one below, they only cost around 25 but they are priceless in their application.
    pr4.jpg


    Early on you need to decide where you are going to mount the MS ECU, whilst you are tuning and creating the loom it is best to have very easy access to MS so that you can connect up your laptop and play with the settings. Therefore it is not advisable to mount the MS ECU in a hard to reach place like the scuttle tray! I built the loom with the MS ECU on the passenger side floor, this gave me lots of easy access to the ECU and a seat to sit in when tuning/setting it up. It is also advisable to not wrap the loom until you have finished and tested it fully - there is nothing worse than unwrapping a loom to find the dodgy soldering etc.
    I mounted my MS ECU in the glove box where it is stuck down and kept dry.


    Methods of Making the Looms


    Before you start making your wiring loom it is advisable to make a list of the different wires required and then to decided on what colours you are going to use for each wire. I either tried to stick to the VW wiring colours or to the MS wiring diagrams. For +12v I used Red for permanent, Red black for +12v cranking and Brown for earths then followed the MS diagrams for the sensors etc.

    It is not advisable to use any/lots of the same colours because it gets very confusing when making and very very confusion when you re-visit the wiring a month, or a year later. Keep to a simple and consistent method.

    As you make the looms, record each wire that you add, I have made a very simple excel table with the wires colour, it’s job and which no on the plug it goes to. Similar to the electrical FAQ that Rubjonny has made in the electrical section. I also have made a diagram of each plug and what colour wire goes to which number on the plug and then where each wire goes to.

    Injector wiring loom

    Below shows my final loom using all new connectors, wiring and sleeving. The loom was easily assembled. The injector wiring loom is important to get right, you need to wire up the firing bank's correctly to get the engine running smooth and efficiently. MS fires two injectors at a time - this is either bank1 or bank 2. When connecting bank 1 up you really need to wire it into the injectors on cylinder 1 and 4, bank 2 is wired into injectors on cylinders 2 and 3.

    I will now use the injector wiring as a method of how to build your wring looms neat and strong. It is best to work methodically and in the order laid out below.

    Step 1

    Select the correct wire gauge and colour for your wiring looms, ensure that the wire length is longer than required – over build your looms.

    I have used three colours for the eight wires, Red/Black for the four +12v injector power, Green/Black for the two injector bank 2 wires and Green/white for injector bank 1 wires.

    Work from the connector block end, crimp the terminals into place and fit the wires into the correct locations of the connector block housing. Tape the wires together, remember that some wires will need to branch so tape them up as one.

    By over building I mean make the wiring longer than is required, I built my looms using 5m or more of wire, so I would coil the majority of the wire up foe ease.

    Step 2

    Take the loom out to the car and run/lay the wires in the correct places. Once you are happy with the way the wiring will fit cut the wires to the correct length. Tape the loom up so that it holds it shape, where there is a branch tape up and mark.

    IMG_2429.jpg

    IMG_2430.jpg

    Step 3

    Bring the wiring back inside, your wiring should now be cut to the right length and neatly taped up with the branches marked, like so…
    IMG_2431.jpg

    Now it is ready to wrap. I decided to use a braided wrap over PVC, spiral wrap etc. the braided wrap is neater and has better abrasion resistance than all the above.
    To cover the ends of the braiding I use a adhesive heat shrink, this forms a very neat and secure ending to the braided wrap.

    Before you start fitting the braided wrap from the connector end you must first wrap the branches on the loom, this ensures that when the main/larger sections or wire are wrapped it will over lap the branches making them neater and stronger.

    Wrap the branches in either braiding for 3 or more wires, or just heat shrink for 2 or less. Leave around a min 10mm of wire so that you can fit it into the connector housing and identify the colour in the future.
    IMG_2432.jpg

    Step 4

    Once all the branches on the wring have been wrapped can you start to wrap the main looms braiding, start on this from the connector end, when heat shrinking the braid ends and branches ensure that there is some overlap for neatness and strength.

    Once the loom has been wrapped it is time to crimp on the connectors. Before you strip the wires ends or fir the terminals it is advisable to fit the silicone waterproof plugs and covers first, on my wiring I used both plugs in the terminal blocks and covers to make it 100% water tight and look nice and neat.

    Now strip the ends of the wires, fit the terminals. Push the terminals into the connector blocks ensuring the silicone plugs are pushed firmly in. And now you should have a lovely neat and strong waterproof injector wiring loom.
    IMG_2434.jpg


    For the rest of the wiring looms follow the same methods of instruction and steps.

    I decided that on my main MS loom I would put in a block connector to the engine. This block connector housed ever wire that needs to go to the engine or gearbox, so it has a lot of MS wires and a lot of VW wires for the dash etc. The block is a good idea as it tidies up all my engine bay wiring into one loom and makes for engine removal and refitting very quick and easy.

    Note, on the plug I have added a couple of extra wires in case I add any extras at a latter date.

    Plug to engine bay wiring being over built.
    IMG_2425.jpg

    The shielded cable for the SAW needed to carry on through the plug so I had to solder a wire to the shield braid and then through the plug and back to the braid on the other side.
    IMG_2419.jpg
    IMG_2422.jpg

    I bought this shielded wire from Maplin, it is good quality microphone wire. The shielding stops any electrical noise disturbing the critical SAW signals.

    This is the overbuilt main MS and VW mix loom, going from the DB9 connection to the battery, plug on the engine and earthing point on the block.
    IMG_2427.jpg

    EDIS Wiring

    The EDIS pip signal wiring from the pick sensor and from the module to the ECU require a shielded cable, you can make your own by wrapping a bare wire around the two signal wires and then earthing one end against the block. or you can buy shielded wire here at trigger wheels.

    The EDIS wiring is quite straight forward. Once you have your EDIS kit, i recommend stripping out all the original wires and replacing them with new wires following the diagram below. I would also try to keep the wiring the same colour as the diagram for you benefit.

    For the 20uF Capacitor i used the genuine Ford item that i got from a srap yard. NOTE the wire running to the 25uF Capacitor stops at the capacitor, it does NOT then get earthed!!! (The capacitor earths itself hence why the earth wire is black in the diagram) If you do not have a 25uF capacitor the wiring will still work but be prepared for possible spikes in the ignition timing. If you do not run the capacitor then do not run the ignition coil to ground!!!
    Edis_Wiring.jpg

    Running EDIS removes the original coil and therefore you will loose the rev connection. To wire in the rev counter on a MK1 MK2Golf you will need to add a small wiring loom consisting of 2 diodes and a zenner diode. The MK2 Rev counter works by being driven from a single coil, EDIS/wasted spark systems use effectively two coils in one. The trick is that you need to tie all the coils together, without allowing them to ground each other. Below is a simple circuit (with Digi-Key part numbers) showing how to interface the EDIS system with your tach:
    EDIS_tach.gif

    For 90spec CE2 fusebox the pin you want is G1/12, and for Pre 90 spec CE1 fusebox i.e. before 1990 MK2 Golf's and later MK1 Golf you need D/26 - wire is red/black - originally to the ignition coil negative terminal:


    If you have any MS experience and would like to add to or amend any parts of the thread then please post below and i'll edit the original posts.
     
  7. Admin Guest

    EDIT 2010 July.

    My experiences with ITB's and inlet track lengths, builds and clearance in brief.


    OK, write it has been nearly 3 years since i first built this setup and lots of changes have taken place between now and then. First and foremost to get as much out of your ITB setup as possible you will need to pay particular attention to the runners length and the overall inlet track from the back of the valve to the edge of the trumpet/ram horn.

    For optimal torque for a 4 cylinder running to 7500rpm a rough distance of 360+mm is required from the back of the valve to the edge of the trumpet/ram horn. This is a calculated figure based on engine rpm, butterfly size (42mm) – which will limit max bhp or air flow per cylinder and other things such as pulses in the inlet track. I'm not getting to the math as I did it a long time ago (might not be 100% mind) but the figure was around 360+mm.

    Speaking to others and researching this further the figure fits there about so I set about rebuilding my inlet to match. NOTE that others have found increases in torque by extending the inlet track as far as possible, read cutting into the slam panel! Food for thought but it would be interesting to get some figures for this and prove it either way.

    Anyway, the first problem you will encounter with extra inlet track will be bonnet clearance issues, this is even more problematic on the ‘ABF tall block’. Even the Jenvey DTH of the shelf bodies have this problem and their solution is to curve the inlet tract but at a cost of .

    The second problem you will encounter will be keeping the butterflies as close to the inlet valve as possible. The reason you would want to do this is to keep the throttle response as sharp as possible, moving the ITB’s away will dull this down, the optimum distance for 42mm bodies was around 150mm – gives time//distance for air fuel to mix correctly etc etc amongst other things.

    I managed to solve the bonnet clearance issues but at the expense of moving the ITB’s further out, so my setup is not running the most optimum of setups – something you could try to improve upon maybe and post your results/solutions.

    I took the route of curving the inlet manifold, this sounds easy but sourcing mandrel bent ali tubing in 42mm is near on impossible, the radius you are after is around 22.5 deg. I used the upper part of a cast KR inlet it is 42mm and has a radius close to what I was after.

    Old short runner inlet manifold.
    IMG_2397.jpg

    And KR upper curved manifold being tested and fitted onto the short runner manifold.
    IMG_2406.jpg

    Test fitting.
    IMG_2571.jpg IMG_2576.jpg

    Once happy with the position I had the manifold tig welded, the heat generated resulted in the gasket face becoming warped so I had to have it skimmed – if you are doing something similar just check yours after welding as the warped face could leak or crack when tightened.

    The inside of the manifold was now stepped, this needed porting I used a dermal and many attachments.
    IMG_2469.jpg IMG_2626-1.jpg

    The finished Inlet manifold ready to go.
    IMG_2624-1.jpg IMG_2623-1.jpg


    To hold the ITB’s the manifold in the past I used silicone and jubilee clips, these work well but are not ideal and could potentially work loose. To overcome this I created these clips that attach around the ITB’s and then bolt to the manifold and hold the ITB’s firmly in place – you can now rock the whole engine from the ITB’s. The silicone is now only used to seal the joint and make it air tight.
    IMG_2632-1.jpg IMG_2636-1.jpg

    I like to run a domed filter from ITG or Pipercross, these require fixing to the ITB’s. I made a bracket that bolts to the ITB’s and the backing plate then bolts to the bracket, the filter slides on to and then secures to the backing plate.
    IMG_2612.jpg IMG_2618-1.jpg IMG_2619.jpg

    I also made my own trumpets see here for a guide on how too. The manifold now built up with ITB’s backing plate and trumpets.
    IMG_2659.jpg IMG_2656.jpg

    Fitted in the car with just enough clearance, to push the track any further out will require a stepped back plate and trimming of the slam panel.
    IMG_2890.jpg CIMG1638.jpg CIMG1631.jpg

    After fitting all of this it was time to validate the work, the increase in inlet track length has been a factor that I am sure has had a positive effect at increasing the overall engine torque, the old engine was 149lbft and the new engine is at 163lbft. This latest Dyno result has now set the base line for all future developments.

    NOTE the bottom end capacity has increased from 1.9L to 2.0L but compression has been reduced and another dyno is being used. Therefore it is inappropriate to make to many assumptions at this point. The increase in litrerage will have an effect on the torque. The latest dyno runs are being performed on the ‘Tough love Dyno’.

    More work is going ahead and I will be now increasing the inlet track with different length trumpets, this will be tested and recorded on the same dyno at some point in the future and the results will be put up here for all to benefit from.
     
  8. Admin Guest

    PART 4 TUNING


    TUNING MS 1 SETUPS.

    Here are a few pictures of my fuel tables etc to help you guys who are starting out, these are to used as a reference only!!! DO NOT COPY AND USE THEM but use MS to generate you a fuel map and then see if it looks something like these! REMEMBER THIS CAR IS RUNNING IN ALPHA-N that means it does not use the MAP sensor it uses the TPS as as reference for the load. I or the club will not be held responsible for any damaged or costs that result from them being copied and or used in anyway shape or form.

    The spec of the engine that this was mapped to is as follows...

    KR bored to 1.9L compression unknown.
    Ported and polished head.
    4 branch exhaust manifold
    Piper 264 cams + vernier.
    GSXR-750 ITB's 48mm inlet 42mm engine.

    MS1 V3 Running on Alpha-N and using Ford EDIS for ignition.

    It was not running any trumpets and this may have brought the power down at the top end also the timing chain was loose.

    180BHP and 150LBFT.
    crankingsettings.jpg afterstartenrichment.jpg

    Hope they help.

    Please add your setups here, they do not have to be ITB specific, when screen dumping calibrations remember to include the engine spec, the MS unit and board version and any other info that is essential/useful.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 17, 2018

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice