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Microsquirt 16v+t

Meh. Its alright. Pretty sure it makes more than that when the map sensor is good. But when my lady buys me 3 runs, I do it, even when i know my car just started acting sketch again. It was 91 degrees out with 56 percent humidity. It was a hot day!
Hows yours coming along Kenny? Yours made what 456 at around same boost ? (23)With better tuning, better cams and a little bit more displacement? Pretty dam awesome.
 
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I'd have to go back and look. the t67 with stock cams made somewhere around 430 at probably 20psi, and then 500 with the spray. that would've been a 2.3 with just hbeams. The stroker made at or just a bit over 500 off the spray at probably 23-24psi with the holset, and did 488 off the spray with the t67. Not sure on the boost for that, would have to dig around in history lol. Haven't touched mine lately, been too busy.
 
All of that writing, totally skipped out on gratitude. Thanks for your help Linuxman51. You helped me a great deal on im and over the phone with my setup and timing maps. I greatly appreciate the help. Had i not had your expertise, i would still be beating my head with the setup. So, thanks to you and a big handful of others here who i have bought parts from , and got expertise from , and those who have corrected me when I was wrong. Much thanks guys!
Linuxman52 , you da man, you made some power for sure. I still have stock cams, stock valves, stock springs, stock buckets, no head porting. If memory serves me correct you did cams upgrade , solid lifters and sprangs , am i right? Those little things add up to big things for sure. Really wanted to see what it made running good at 26 psi.. But she wasnt ready that day... More to come..
 
I said when I first wired up the Microsquirt , that I would clean up it later. Not only because the wiring looked terrible, but because I was having a sparatic tps issue and a sparatic map sensor issue. With key off or on , both would wander in live data or datalog, as well as running. Remember when I dynoed I was having map sensor issues? Well that was self inflicted. I added a new 5 bar Holley map sensor. Still would run at idle at 14.7. Turn key off , restart, 10.0 idle, and barely idling. Under load it would lean out sparatically . Off and on. So I turned the barometer setting to off, because I saw in the logs that the readings were changing at keycycles, one after another, and Microsquirt was compensating for supposed change. I could not even make a full pull at 23 psi on the dyno(same boost for all three pulls-ecu kept pulling fuel) , after we gave it more fuel, at my low boost setting, , a shame -that was my highest power one! You can look at the graph and tell its running like ****. Torque is all jagged and curvy because we had to keep adding fuel under load , for way lean condition.

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So I reviewed the last two years of datalogs and saw changes that kept getting worse. Ok so its time to go back to the drawing board. It appears something electrical is phucky. I pulled back all of the electrical tape (which I vowed never to use again ) , yanked all the loom off and then came up with a strategy. I would cut out a big square plate of sheet metal to lay where battery tray belonged, and mount relays, fuse block and power junctions on it all . MY young lady was sick at the hospital really bad for a week , so I had to make do, transfering my electrical station to the kitchen as my two and half year old daughter requires a bit of supervision. So I drilled and cut, and made fire, and made noises of satifaction, and many noises of confusion. In between all of this I managed to 1/2 dad, Because Puppy dog pals, or Paw patrol was running a marathon.

Here's the results of putting used relays and pigtails in some sort of arrangement. I can replace the relays and pigtails later and make it a bit more tidy. But for now..


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Fancy fuse cover.

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I ran out of loom so i ended up just zip tieing all the wires in a bundle on the fender. I will clean that up with loom later on. But for now it is much better than it was. I was worried about moisture and things like tools landing on terminals.. But thats is where the battery and stock ignitor live, as well as cooling fan relay. As far as tools dropping on it, nothing can happen if key is off. But if key is on and a tool drops on the screws on the power blocks, its gonna pop a fuse. So I think I will make a clear plastic cover , as suggested by Kyle Christianson. I checked my datalogs, map sensor still bounces around about 2 tenths to 1 tenth kpa. Everything else is dead on flat, and steady.

The three major problems I found.. . All my fault. I wired the Microsquirt main power to the fuel pump relay out, on the microsquirt as well, Not sure what the hell happened there! Clearly the relay is an output, not an input . Uggh. The battery ground... After I moved battery to back, I grounded it to the back . BIG NO NO. I ran a ground wire all the way back up to the block and grounded it there. Then I moved all my other grounds to the ground on the block. The third thing I did wrong. I ran the microsquirt sensor ground to the innovate wideband ground. The instructions say to do this, but I didnt have good results with it. I also ran the microsquirt ground back to chassis instead of grounding at engine block. The only reason for me to share this is for others to learn my lesson. I also had a voltage amp issue right at wideband gauge, as the circuit was underpowered, causing wideband to go dead often, then pop back on . This caused car to run a bit rough until it came back on.

I put it all back together replaced fuses with higher amperage, and started it. It started so quick it made me jump. Never started so fast before , but really hasnt had trouble starting either. It was like it knew to fire up before i hit the key. Amazingly smooth idle. Sensors are soo smooth now on datalog. Yay me. I fixed a thing I managed to break. I cant believe, A. it ran so well for two years, B. It ran at all, wired like that. Kick self in ass.

This is my best most dependable Volvo to date. . . Never refuses to be pushed.


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Thanks brother! It was difficult to commit to, but once I committed to doing it , the follow through was easy. As it turned out , it was very therapeutic , and much needed for the craziness going on in my life at the moment!
 
Well , have been busy and forgot to update this . I upgraded my coil packs to Ls coil packs, Holy cow what a difference! They are as advertised, bad ass! Got shocked by one, moaned about it for a few minutes, that was the highlight of that labor. Re wireing from the dsm coil pack and igniter was pretty straight forward.http://www.retrorat.com/2012/01/megasquirt-3-wiring-help-lm7-ls1-ls.html

Great Video I used for research. https://youtu.be/7B7i-gQMGnU


I also remade my fancy wires from summit.


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Best quality picture ever...

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Results. Amazing. Seriously! Just check out some datalogs.

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So a few things to notice from above. Still need to rewire or replace coolant sensor and map sensor, signal is very unstable. Same with the crank sensor. It actually lost sync in the middle of third. Fueling is way off, 120% duty cycle, its way over the limit. So still a few more things to iron out. However, back to the topic. The Ls coils light up the motor so much that it over revs, here it banged off rev limiter three times , maxing at 7564 rpm, with rev limit set at 7400, which its never done, and went from 25psi to 27 spike going into third.The jagged parts of rpm are either too rich or lean. It was a wild ride, but with synch drop it was bitter sweet, as it popped then jumped back up. More to work on, but making progress..

Video of idle and my own crap welding evidence.

https://youtu.be/0100A7eYWwk

Pretty smooth and non dramatic idle. But I can change it dramitically with additional fuel. While it may sound awesome, running it super rich isn't really good for anything but your ears and nose. And even that's , debateable.
 
Now, onto more problems that the Ls coil pack addition created... Since I had the dsm coil pack and ignitor, I also had a tach adapter to go to my pro comp tach and shift light (which is very important , the shifts come up too quick to watch a needle, so I rely on sound and shift light to shift, practicing consistancy ). So, after hooking the tach adapter up several different ways with no success , I went back to microsquirt manuals and files. I used the tach output wire from Microsquirt to the tach light, checked all comp tach manuals, made sure proper wires were cut on tach for my settings. Everything checked out but at idle it appeared I only got half signal. WTH? I finally found the damn tach setting in microsquirt, tunerstudio software, and turned the stupid thing on, from off, and everything works great without a tach adapter of any sort. This also means factory tach will work the same. Same signal can power both of my tachs. Pretty simple ignition setup as well. Stock flywheel sensor, two resistors on sensor going into microsquirt, back out directly to Ls coil packs, then tachometer wire out signal on microsquirt to tach of choice. Way easier ignition woring setup, eliminating longer plug wires, and ignitor! Should have set it up like this the first time... I have more to show on proof of gains, but will be in next post. As I said, I have been busy!

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I rerouted the belts. My green lawnmower belt started showing its age, so out with it . My goal was to reduce rotating mass as much as possible, and simplify belt routing. Here is what I came up with. No squeal or slip yet, after a few days of driving with ac on.

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Trick to get belts on and off, works with a 1/4 10mm socket too.

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And done. Two belts! 7508 and 7385 from oriellys. Gates belts. Difficult to put on, worth the effort.

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On to more fun things. I Unhooked the alcohol after having multiple syphoning problems at idle , when I hade the two jets installed in the intake manifold. There were one way valves in both, but it still pulls almost 20 full inches of vacuum, and pulled alcohol past them, causeing air fuel to dip in the 10's. Car starts camming and chugging, whiff of sweet, in the air and the, intake starts building ice on the outside, no matter how hot it is out! Amazing stuff, alcohol is. Makes me want to hook up third jet on intake on a switch so I can show people, or so I can have an extra quick cool down... So when I dynoed my car, the alcohol was not on! So I wired it back up to battery and added a extra jet, because it needs fuel! Anyway heres my install of two jets right before the butterfly on the infinity q45 throttle body. Don't fret, I will clean up wiring on tps soon, work in progress.

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Now the fun part, comparison run without alcohol , way before Microsquirt rewire..Remember that thread I did on how to combat detonation and someone locked it down? Yeah that was dumb.

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After alcohol on. Devils own kit with built in map, comes on at 7psi, maxes at 30, i can adjust for different purposes..


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Ok so the pics are crappy and I have really good eyes, so in case you don't... Here's the deal. The first datalog shows me at the top of first gear in full boost, 7214 rpm , about to bounce off rev limit,really quick bit of boost and shift. 23.1 psi, 138 degrees in the intake manifold! Remember thats a quick burst.
The second datalog shows the alcohol on, mid way through second gear after full boost in first, 6592 rpm, 23.2 psi, and 94 degrees in the intake manifold. Thats 44 degrees difference , and two degrees colder than it was outside that day. Add ice or freeze alcohol for even better results!

Not only does this increase reliability of the engine, it makes up to 20% more power. Added benefit. Steam cleaned valves, combustion chamber, top of pistons, exhaust.
 
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Point is , if you have turbo. You need alcohol. Im gonna let yall (Texas talk) in on a huge secret here, that I realized, and its amazing. Because we are all Volvo people, I offer this tip. Alcohol DOES NOT FREEZE. So, if i need an extra edge for any reason, i have alcohol in the freezer waiting to add. And, if you want you can mix with ice instead of water.. Peak your interest? You have no idea the difference it makes. Why put ice in your intercooler when you can put it right in your engine!!!!! Next time i dyno, not only will the alcohol be on, but best believe it will be very cold with ice in it too! I did not even think about it before dynoing . I also assumed it was on and working, and it was not. Before and after will be fun.
 
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Now I am going to share with yall , this bit of tuning info that My Buddy Rick Gentry Clued me in on. Most of you may know it already, but thanks for reading this-so here.. When I first setup up my microsquirt, I thought auto tune was the pooh, except this one spot right at idle. Auto tune would always mess it up , and correct over the right settings until it would stall. Then I would have to correct. I showed Rick , and he's all like "ah, no worries , do this.." Select the fuel cells that the computer keeps changing on you ( if it does) like this.

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Select -lock selected cells, this means the computer will not mess with these highighted cells at all in autotune, which will help you pinpoint and fine tune exact areas of problem.

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Now these cells are locked until you unlock them.

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Simply unlock.

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More fun. A little tune I did, to bring up boost to rocket off the line. I have some great footage of running two hemis chargers from a stop using this. One had terrible reaction, he slept. He gave up instantly.The other started a car in front of me because he couldnt control his burnout before we even started, so he gave himself a car length. Fine! We both left at same time, he didnt gain a inch. Niether did i. Then i hit second gear and it looked like he hit reverse.lol.Towards the end of video , you cant even see either of them. But its too incriminating... Anyway, heres a video of me bouncing off rev limit to create boost off idle. Lag is not a problem. 9 psi lights up the tires, so I usually launch with a little less, then slowly release the clutch, which creates a bullet out of the barrell type feel as the tires are barely crying for grip as clutch slips, tires grip, then at full release of clutch it feels like the front could lift. But i need a few more moose power to do that. https://youtu.be/TF6HIrQubcg
 
Jason , the dyno tuner said something about that. I wasnt clear on what he meant either. I have no idea.

I think your req_fuel is too low, so you have high VE values to compensate. Also, the fuel load kpa scales all the way to 500 kpa which is ~58 psi worth of boost on top of the 100 kpa atmospheric presure. My turbo miata running on a ms2 has idle VE numbers are around 50-60. The scaling isn't a big deal, as long as the car has good AFRs, unless you want more boost and need more fuel in part of the map (I think 255 is the largest VE value possible).
 
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