AUM Electric Book

Ministry of Higher Education
Alexandria Higher Institute of Engineering & Technology (AIET)
Design and Fabrication of A Formula Student Race Car
A graduation project report submitted to Alexandria Higher Institute of Engineering &

Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Science
in
Mechatronics Engineering
By
1.
Amr Mohamed Nazih.
Supervised by
PROF.DR. Mohsen Othman.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Team's History and Mission
1.3 Problem Statement
1.4 Team Managements
1.5 Project Goals and objectives
1.6 Aimed Specifications
1.7 Project Resources
1.8 Project Sponsors
1.9 Team's progress
1.10
Summary
Chapter Two: ECU Management
Page 1
1
1
2
3
4
5
5
7
9
18
Page 19
2.1 Wiring
2.2 Sensors
2.3 Troubleshooting of Electrical System Components
2.3.1 Sensors
2.3.2 Fuel System
2.3.3 Charging System
2.3.4 Starting System
2.3.5 Ignition System
2.3.6 Cooling System
19
20
22
22
35
38
40
44
46
2.4 Complaints and Possible Causes
47
Chapter Three: MegaSquirt EFI Controller
Page 49
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Principle of Tuning
3.3 Tuning Process
3.4 Configuring MegaSquirt II
3.5 Tuning MegaSquirt II
3.6 Wiring and sensors
3.7 Safety Precautions
Chapter Four: Shifting Mechanism
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Types
4.3 Electric Shifter
4.4 Air Shifter
4.5 Quick Shifter
Chapter Five: Conclusion
49
50
59
62
77
100
117
Page 122
122
122
123
125
128
Page 130
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1-Introduction
Formula SAE (FSAE) is an intercollegiate engineering design
competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE), where student teams design, build, and race single seat
formula-style open-wheel racing cars. The FSAE
internationally regarded as one of the most rigorous collegiate
design competitions. FSAE converts classroom knowledge to
real world experience. Involvement in the complete design
process is a unique educational opportunity.
The Formula SAE competition is organized by the Society of

Automotive Engineers. SAE is an international engineering
society with over 60 000 members worldwide, dedicated to
the advancement of land, sea, air, and space vehicles.
Formula SAE is the largest of the SAE-organized student
design competitions of the collegiate design series.
To challenge the students' knowledge, creativity, and imagination, there are some restrictions
on the overall vehicle design. Each year a new chassis must be fabricated in accordance with
specific guidelines set forth by a board of SAE officials and representatives from the big auto
manufacturers.
1.2-Teams History and Mission
Motivated by genuine passion for automotive engineering and racing we aim to enhance
automotive engineering and affordable motorsports in Egypt.
That was how AUMotorsports started. A group of 16 senior mechanical engineering students
planned to design and fabricate a Formula Student race car as their graduation project and
compete globally in Formula Student competitions. They started on January 2009. The main
focus was producing a car having balanced capabilities and reliability which may appeal to
the Egyptian market.
As the first experience, the 2010 team faced many challenges and passed successfully through
the majority. Lack of experience was a main one but overcame with acquiring knowledge
from books for a long time the team gathering till the end of the summer holiday. The team
proved their skills by time till the end of the project.
The team decided to apply for Formula Student Germany and successfully was accepted. The
result wasnt remarkable due to a lack of funding and outsourcing in Egypt which caused
some technical issues werent solved till the team travelled. However, the competition judges
were pleased to see an Egyptian team for the first time in the competition. The team received
also a very positive feedback and was granted a sportsmanship award from the competitions
administration appreciating their efforts. The team called for two younger volunteers in order
to ensure the sustainability for the team and build an accurate vision for the next teams based
on a good experience.
AUMotorsports 2012 team was formed in March 2011. The old teams journey was
researched heavily with the help of the former team members. All mistakes has been
identified clearly and documented as a first step towards success. Making use of our long time
available and the previous experience of the first team, the team is willing to participate in
Formula Student Germany 2012. Our focus will be passing all the competition events
successfully with a reasonable performance i.e. taking large step forward.
The new team consists of 20 members. 16members for the core team (technical) and 5 for the
business planning and media & marketing management, 7 seniors and 9 juniors. The senior
team members are willing to use the project also as their graduation project.
1.3-Problem Statement
The idea behind the project is that the team was contracted by a company to develop a
Formula car that is to be sold to a non-professional week-end racer. With this in mind the
student design team must make a cost effective and robust design. The car will be evaluated
through the following series of events:
1.4-Team Management
Due to the high number of team members involved, effective project management is required
to facilitate the work.
Project Phases and Timeframe
The project is divided our project into 4 main phases:
1- Educational phase: Since the college courses doesnt provide the students with
enough information, a large number of books was brought to read and learn how to
design a race car with all its components. Its planned to be from April to the end of
July.
2- Design phase: Team members will be prepared to engage into the real design of the
car. Also, parts to be purchased will be determined as well as manufacturing
processes. Its planned to be from August till January.
3- Fabrication phase: The conversion of the solid models and equations into reality. It
will also contain minor testing for individual car systems. Its planned to be from
February till April.
4- Testing phase: Will be the last phase prior to the competition. The team will test the
whole car running on the track and tune it so it gives the maximum possible
performance for each event in the competition. It will also include the drivers
training. Its planned to be from April till July.
Team Structure
One of the mistakes of the 2009 2010 team was the lack of technical revision of every
aspect of the car. We solved it by utilizing a team structure which enables double revision on
all technical issues plus establishing a board for the general management of the team. The.
Team Leader and

Chief Engineer
Project
Management
Design Team
Power Team
Electrical Team
Media/Publicity
Frame
Powertrain
Data Aquisition
Sponsorship
Suspension
Engine Intake
and Exhaust
Engine Control
Financial
Management
and BP
Braking
Engine Fluids
Ergonomics
Communication Management
In order to boost the communication speed, we use 4 types of communication:
1- Google Group: Used for important announcements, like meeting reminders and
publishing meeting minutes.
2- Sugar Sync: An online storage website used to share our books library as our work
files like 3D models and design sheets. Were utilizing 3.5 GB of storage now!
3- Face book Group: The great social network enabled us to share interesting articles,
photos and links. Also its used for discussions.
4- General Meetings: There is nothing easier than to meet and talk together. Each week
the team gathers and all the progress is reviewed. The important decisions are taken
inside the meeting after listening to all opinions.
Risk Management
A full risk management report was prepared describing all the expected risks and how we
would deal with it according to project management styles and methods, which is covered
most of the problems we face in our way. Each problem is addressed clearly and a control
method is determined to overcome it. Examples are what to do in case of funding shortage or
college red-tape.
1.5-Project Goals and Objectives

General Goals
1-Functionality
This means a lot to a R&D team. The former team didnt achieve this! It will be achieved
through focusing on machine integration and enhanced communication between team
members.
2- Packaging Quality
Packaging quality refers to the appearance of the vehicle and its components. Packaging,
styling, paint quality, cleanliness, etc are all key characteristics. We ensure you that
packaging this year will witness excellent progress. This will be achieved through focusing on
assembly management.
3- Reasonable cost
This is achieved through a priority of scrutning leading industrial firms within Egypt and
seeking the different high quality parts locally first.
4- Passing all the technical inspection tests: Scruitneering, safety, tilt, noise and braking tests.
This is considered the gate of dynamic events. This will be achieved through heavy
concentration over rules compliance, as well as quality assurance program on the entire
vehicle.
5- Passing all test events in the competition with impressive results including the Endurance
Event
Specific Design Goals
-Chassis overall weight: 27 kg.
-Data acquisition system for both driver training and fine-tuning vehicle configuration.
-Fully tuned intake and exhaust for maximum horsepower.
-Electro-pneumatic paddle shifters to decrease shifting times.
-Minimum drag, ground effect utilization.
-Optimum handling, cornering, and maneuverability in all driving conditions.
-A wheel package of 10 kg for a 13 inch rim.
-2 kg differential, maximum torque and speed combination.
-Using a dry sump oiling system.
-Engine tuning to get high horsepower with best fuel consumption.
-Design the optimum drive train to deliver highest power and reduce friction losses.
1.6-Aimed Specifications
Chassis
Suspension
Wheels and Tires

Steering
Brakes
Engine
Differential
Electronics
Spaceframe, Heat treated AISI 4130 tubes,

TIG welded.
Double unequal wishbone, Pushrod
actuated, Custom spring, ElkaSuspension
dampers.
13 Braid Formance rim, AVON A45 Tires.
Custom rack and pinion, Custom steering
wheel.
Student designed rotor, Wilwood PS1
Calipers.
Suzuki GSX-R 600, Dry sump, student
modified.
Drexler 2011 FSAE.
Pneumatic shifting, Tuned ECU, Power
Commander fuel mapping, Real-time data
using wireless connection, Electronic firefighting system.
1.7-Project Resources
Human Resources
As pointed before, the team structure is shown at Figure 1.
Within the team there will be two distinct entities. One group comprised of mechanical
engineers handling the mechanical side of the vehicle and a group comprised of electrical and
electromechanical engineers working on the electronics of the vehicle. While these two
groups will operate autonomously, they will also collaborate on necessary tasks, in order to
ensure that the design of the car comes to fruition.
The team consists of 20members: 7 in the design team, 5 in the power team, 3 in the electrical
team and 5 in management and sponsorship team.
Budget Required
To quantify the volume of the project, a cost estimation sheet was made. Parts and materials
are taken to average prices. All expenses are viewed briefly in the following tables.
Table 1: Vehicle Costs
Vehicle System
Brake System
Engine & Drivetrain
Frame & Body
Instruments & Wiring
Miscellaneous, Fit & Finish
Steering System
Suspension & Shocks
Wheels & Tires
Total Vehicle
Total
$ 1,800
$ 6,700
$ 3,700
$ 2,000
$ 1,000
$ 700
$ 4,700
$ 2,600
$ 23,200
Table 2: Project Budget Breakdown

Budget
Total Vehicle
Tyre Data
Traveling
Spare parts
Tools
Machining and Welding
Shipping
Customs
Composition for total
vehicle:
Total
$ 23,000
$ 500
$12,000
$ 3,000
$ 5,000
$ 4,000
$ 3000
$ 1500
$ 52,000
1.8-Current Sponsors
DassaultSystmes SolidWorks Corp.
A 3D modeling computer software company used to design and simulate the car. The
company provided each student with a free license of SolidWorks.
NACITA, Advanti Racing and AVON Racing

A local authorized distributor of Advanti Racing Wheels and AVON Racing Tires which
offered to donate the tires and wheels of the new car.
Techno-ServeFor Trading and Industrial Services

A local SKF Authorized Distributor which offered free products in addition to technical
assistance on bearings installation, lubrication and sealing.
Alexandria Fertilizers Company

A leading fertilizers company in the MENA area which donated a sum of
25,000 LE to the project.
Talaat Mostafa Group

A well known construction company which donated 10,000 LE for the
project.
Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company (SUMED)

Donated the project a sum of 52,650 LE.
Honeywell
Donated a state-of-the-art piece of engineering,
which is a turbocharger.
Spirula Systems
Donated a web hosting space for our website:
www.aumotorsports.com
Arabeety Magazine
Donated us an article every 2 months in the magazine.
1.9- Teams progress
Chassis Design:
The chassis is simply the framework that connects all the vehicle parts and systems
together rigidly. The choosen type of chassis is spaceframe chassis. The reasons
behind the choice are that a spaceframe chassis effectively distributes loads and its
considered a real challenge to manage load paths. The torsional rigidity of the chassis
is 1400 N.m/deg which is considered stiff enough for our vehicle requirements. The
main goal was achieving a 27 kg chassis. 28 kg chassis has been achieved.
The chassis has been manufactured of AISI 4130 steel tubes, commercially known as
ChroMoly tubes. It has the following mechanical and chemical properties:
Properties
Density (1000 kg/m3)
Poisson's Ratio
Elastic Modulus (GPa)
Tensile Strength (Mpa)
Yield Strength (Mpa)
Elongation (%)
Reduction in Area (%)
Hardness (HB)
-8.037.7
0.27-0.30
-210190
560.5
360.6
28.2
55.6
156
Element Weight %
C
0.28-0.33
Mn
0.40-0.60
P
0.035 (max)
S
0.04 (max)
Si
0.15-0.30
Cr
0.80-1.10
Mo
0.15-0.25
Tubes OD is the same for the whole chassis, 25.4 mm. Tube thicknesses varies
between 2.4, 1.65, 1.47, 1.25 mm. Tubes are welded using TIG welding with ER70S2 weld filler. This is the finished chassis:
Suspension and Steering:
The suspension systems main purpose is keeping all the four wheels on the ground at
all conditions, and managing the forces generated at the contact patch between the tire
and the ground. The best suspension type that suits our car is Short Long Arm (SLA)
Suspension or Double Wishbone. It enables us to modify the car kinematics easily.
Weve used Lotus Suspension software to aid us while designing the suspension.
The main suspension parameters are:

-
Wheelbase 1575 mm chosen to meet desired space for ease of packaging and
to provide maneuverability
Front track 1300 mm
Rear track 1200 mm
- Front
Camber Angle (deg): -3.50
Toe Angle {Plane} (deg): 1.50
Toe Angle {SAE} (deg): 1.50
Castor Angle (deg): 5.48
Castor Trail (hub) (mm): 0.55
Castor Offset (grnd) (mm): 24.36
Kingpin Angle (deg): 7.03
Kingpin Offset (w/c) (mm): 39.56
Kingpin Offset (grnd) (mm): 23.68
Mechanical Trail (grnd) (mm): 24.25
ROLL CENTRE HEIGHT (mm): 36.33
- Rear
Camber Angle (deg): -2.00
Toe Angle {Plane} (deg): -0.50
Toe Angle {SAE} (deg): -0.50
Castor Angle (deg): 0.00
Castor Trail (hub) (mm): 0.00
Castor Offset (grnd) (mm): -0.08
Kingpin Angle (deg): 0.00
Kingpin Offset (w/c) (mm): 42.00
Kingpin Offset (grnd) (mm): 50.93
Mechanical Trail (grnd) (mm): -0.08
ROLL CENTRE HEIGHT (mm): 40.42
-
Anti dive 37% as there is no much weight transfer so used didnt target high
value so as not to increase force on a-arms.
Anti squat 15% to increase weigh transfer on rear wheels to increase traction
Roll centers kept as low as possible to avoid high jacking forces and poor
camber curves.
Weve chosen working with a 13 wheel as its more available and we can
increase the kingpin length inside it.
These parameters has changed many times as a compromise between performance,

components design and the resulted stresses and packaging.
Spring and Damper:
We choose to use push rod mechanism for both front and rear so as to reduce
unsprung weight, drag and to easily adjust ride height.
We choose to use our 2010 teams stiff springs 300 lb/in for both front and rear to
overcome resulted high roll moment from low roll center and restrict chassis roll. This
resulted in a motion ratio of 1.5 in front and 1.3 in rear.
We choose to work on higher natural frequency, 3 Hz on front so as to allow faster
transient response at corner entry and better wheel traction at corner exit also as
expected road is not going to be bumpy so no need to reduce pitching.
Steering System:
The steering system has been designed featuring high simplicity and adjustable
parameters in order to increase the teams experience with vehicle dynamics. The
Ackermann percentage was calculated to be 30% based on the corner loads. Two
extra brackets of 100% and -50% Ackermann are going to be manufactured and
tested. The steering effort was targeted to be 6.5 N.m, and it was achieved through 5
degrees of castor and 85 mm pivot offset.
Weve opted to invest in our 2010 teams steering rack. It has a spur gear profile.
Another steering rack with helicoid gear profile is going to be manufactured, if time
allowed us, to check
Its effects on the feedback. Tie rods are semi horizontal in order to decrease the
bending loads on the rods and steering rack mounts.
A simple sheet metal steering wheel has been manufactured and covered by foam.
The FEA proved its breaking torque to be 140 N.m and its going to be tested. The
total system weight is 4,600 grams.
Hubs and Uprights:
Hubs are made of Aluminum 2024 T-4. A dead spindle setup is used for the front
wheels. Two deep groove ball bearings has been used per hub.
Front Hub
Rear Hub
Upright are made of steel sheet metals, due to a shortage in resources and availability
of laser cutting machine. The welding has been inspected using dye penetrant
inspection. The bearing housings are manufactured by a
conventional lathe. The ball joint and steering pivot are mounted
using brackets to enable suspension parameters adjustment.
Braking System:
We use Wilwoods PS-1caliper due to its light weight and

compact size. Flexible lines are going to be used all around as
our 2010 team had many problems with the rigid ones. The
brake pedal ratio is 4:1. To meet 2000 N loading condition, we
decided to use a pressure relief valve to keep pressure below
caliper pressure limit.
Due to thedifficulty of getting suitable material for the rotors and constraints from
caliper we couldnt manufacture them so we decided to use stock Honda CBR 100
rear rotors.
required for a
km/h braking is
The total time

100 km/h to 0
2.7 seconds.
Bodywork:
We choose to manufacture the body of carbon fiber to increase the teams experience
with it so it can be used in the upcoming years in suspension A-arms, steering links,
or monocouque chassis.
Engine:
We run a turbocharged Suzuki GSXR600 2007, with a MGT1238Z Garrett Turbo.

Using a customized intake and exhaust systems, we raised the engines performance
from 50 N.m of torque at7000 RPM to 65 N.m at8000, and from 61 HP at 10500
RPM to 77 HP at 8500 RPM.
Oiling:
Weve designed a dry sump system, but the lack of time and testing facilities forced
us to modify the wet sump to reduce the engines total height. Oil adaptor and lines
are attached to an Accusump Kit and turbo oiling lines.
Drive train:
We had a differential from the old team which weve decided to use. Its a
Quaifehelical gear limited slip differential. Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential for
Chain-drive is a sealed unit suitable for motorbike engined vehicles.
Unlike a conventional plate-style limited slip differential, the Chain-drive sealed
Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential relies on gears rather than clutch plates for its
operation. That means it is much smoother in operation.
The Chain-drive sealed Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential never locks harshly with
a set pre-load of wheel slip across the driven axle, like a conventional LSD. Rather,
the Chain-drive sealed Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential automatically biases the
torque away from the spinning wheel across the axle, to a constantly varying degree,
and never locks.
The Chain-drive sealed Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential has many benefits over
a standard open differential, including maximising traction and minimizing
wheelspin, eliminating torque steer and snatching in front wheel drive cars compared
to conventional LSD units, and a maintenance-free design which retains the standard
oil lubrication.
The Chain-drive sealed Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential is proven in circuit and
drag racing, rallying and road use, and is produced from Corus steel billets, and is
CAD designed and CNC machined, then inspected to ISO 9001 standards.
To get an acceleration of around 3.6 seconds (ignoring the drivers reaction speed),
weve used a 56 tooth Aluminum (7075) sprocket with Final reduction ratio 3.67.
A heavy duty chain has been selected for the car which is 520 ZVM2 chain.
Car Assembly:
1.9-Summary
The purpose of the project is to design and fabricate a Formula Student race-car for
use in a competition held by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Through the use of
results from the last year team, analyzing it scientifically were going to design the
new car.
Hard work has been done for almost 14 months. We believe that a bright future is
waiting for the team and we can prove that were competitive with students around
the world
Chapter Two
ECUManagement
Chapter Two: ECU Management.

1.1-Wiring Diagram:
1.2-Sensors:
1. Intake Air Temperature Sensor (IAT).

Its resistance changes in response to the intake
air temperature. The sensor resistance decreases
as the air temperature increases.
This provides a signal to the ECM indicating the
temperature of the incoming air charge.
2. Intake Air Pressure Sensor (IAP).

It provides a signal which is proportional to the
average value of the intake manifold pressure.
3. Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECT).

Its resistance changes in response to the
engine coolant temperature. The sensor
resistance decreases as the coolant
temperature increases.
This provides a signal to the ECM which
indicates the engine coolant temperature.
4. Throttle position sensor (TP).
It is a potentiometer which provides a signal to

the ECM that is directly proportional to the
throttle plate position.
5. Crankshaft Position Sensor (CKP).

It provides a signal to the ECM that is
proportional to the crank shaft position.
This signal is used to control the ignition system
timing.
6. Cam shaft Position Sensor (CMP).

It provides the cam shaft position information
which is used by the ECM for fuel
synchronization.
It is a variable reluctance sensor which is
triggered by the high point mark on one of the
cam shaft sprockets.
7. Tip Over Sensor (TO).
When the engine tilts more than specified angle, the switch operates killing the
ignition.
1.3-Troubleshooting of Electrical System Components

1.3.1-Sensors:
1. Intake Air Temperature Sensor (IAT).

Step 1
1) Turn the ignition switch OFF.

2) Check the IAT sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the IAT sensor voltage at the wire side coupler.
3) Disconnect the coupler and turn the ignition switch ON.
4) Measure the voltage between Dg wire terminal A and ground.
5) If OK, then measure the voltage between Dg wire terminal A
and B/Br wire terminal B.
IAT sensor input voltage: 4.5 5.5 V
(+ Dg - Ground)
(+ Dg - B/Br)
If the Sensor voltage is higher than specified value.

If OK, then check the IAT sensor lead wire continuity.
4) Disconnect the IAT sensor coupler and ECM coupler.
5) Check the continuity between Dg and terminal 27.
6) Also, check the continuity between B/Br and terminal 29.
If the Sensor voltage is lower than specified value

If OK, then check the IAT sensor lead wire continuity.
3) Disconnect the IAT sensor coupler.
4) Check the continuity between Dg and ground. If the sound is not heard from the
tester, the circuit condition is OK.
5) Connect the IAT sensor coupler and turn the ignition switch ON.
6) Measure the voltage between Dg and ground.
IAT sensor output voltage: 0.15 4.85 V
(+ Dg - Ground)
Step 2
2) Measure the IAT sensor resistance.
IAT sensor resistance: Approx. 2.45 K Ohm at 20 C (68 F) Terminal Terminal
If the resistance out the range, replace the IAT sensor with a new one.
2. Intake Air Pressure Sensor (IAP).
Step 1
2) Check the IAP sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the IAP sensor input voltage.
3) Disconnect the IAP sensor coupler.
4) Turn the ignition switch ON.
5) Measure the voltage at the R wire and ground.
6) If OK, then measure the voltage at the R wire and B/B wire.
IAP sensor input voltage: 4.5 5.5 V
(+ R - Ground)
(+ R - B/Br)
If the Sensor voltage is higher than specified value

If OK, then check the IAP sensor lead wire continuity.
5) Check the continuity between R wire and G/B wire.

If the sound is not heard from the tester, the circuit condition
is OK.
6) Disconnect the ECM coupler.
7) Check the continuity between G/B wire and terminal 9.
8) If OK, then check the continuity between B/Br wire and terminal 29.

If OK, then check the IAP sensor lead wire continuity.
4) Check the continuity between G/B wire and ground.
5) Also, check the continuity between G/B wire and B/Br wire
If the sound is not heard from the tester, the circuit condition is OK.
7) Check the continuity between R wire and terminal 11.
8) Also, check the continuity between G/B wire and terminal 9.
Step 2
1) Connect the IAP sensor coupler and ECM coupler.
2) Insert the needle pointed probes to the lead wire coupler.
3) Start the engine at idle speed and measure the IAP sensor
output voltage at the wire side coupler (between G/B and
B/Br wires).
IAP sensor output voltage: Approx. 2.7 V at idle speed
(+ G/B - B/Br)
If the voltage out this range,

Check the vacuum hose for crack or damage.
Open or short circuit in the G/B wire
If vacuum hose and wire are OK, replace the IAP sensor with a new one.
Step 3
2) Remove the IAP sensor.
3) Connect the vacuum pump gauge to the vacuum port of the
IAP sensor.
Arrange 3 new 1.5 V batteries in series 1 (check that total
voltage is 4.5 5.0 V) and connect - terminal to the ground
terminal 2 and + terminal to the VCC terminal 3.
4) Check the voltage between V-out 4 and ground. Also, check if voltage reduces
when vacuum is applied up to 53 kPa (400 mmHg) by using vacuum pump gauge.
If the voltage out this range, replace the IAP sensor with a new one.
3. Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECT).
Step 1
2) Check the ECT sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the ECT sensor voltage at the wire side coupler.
3) Disconnect the coupler and turn the ignition switch ON.
4) Measure the voltage between B/Bl wire and ground.
5) If OK, then measure the voltage between B/Bl wire
and B/Br wire terminal B.
ECT sensor voltage: 4.5 5.5 V
(+ B/Bl - Ground)
(+ B/Bl - B/Br)

If OK, then check the ECT sensor lead wire continuity.
3) Disconnect the ECT sensor coupler and ECM coupler.
4) Check the continuity between B/Bl and terminal 10.
5) Also, check the continuity between B/Br wire B and terminal 29.

If OK, then measure the output voltage.
3) Disconnect the ECT sensor coupler.
4) Check the continuity between B/Bl and ground.
5) Connect the ECT sensor coupler and turn the ignition switch ON.
6) Measure the voltage between B/Bl and ground.
ECT sensor output voltage: 0.15 4.85 V
(+ B/BI - Ground)
Step 2
2) Disconnect the ECT sensor coupler.
3) Measure the ECT sensor resistance.
ECT sensor resistance: Approx. 2.45 K Ohm at 20 C (68 F) Terminal Terminal
If the resistance out of this range, replace the ECT sensor with a new one.
4. Throttle Position Sensor (TP).
Step 1
1) Turn the ignition switch to OFF.
2) Check the TP sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the TP sensor input voltage.
3) Disconnect the TP sensor coupler.
5) Measure the voltage at the R wire and ground.
6) If OK, then measure the voltage at the R wire and B/Br wire.
TP sensor input voltage: 4.5 5.5 V
(+ R - Ground)
(+ R - B/Br)
If OK, then check the TP sensor lead wire continuity.
4) Check the continuity between P/B wire and R wire.
If the sound is not heard from the tester, the circuit condition
is OK.

6) Check the continuity between P/B wire and terminal 8.
7) Also, check the continuity between B/Br wire and terminal 29.
If OK, then check the TP sensor lead wire continuity.
4) Check the continuity between P/B wire and ground.
5) Also, check the continuity between P/B wire and B/Br wire.
7) Check the continuity between P/B wire and terminal 8.
8) Also, check the continuity between R wire and terminal 11.
Step 2
3) Install the test harness to the TP sensor.
4) Check the continuity between terminal A and ground.
TP sensor continuity: Infinity Ohm (Terminal A Ground)
5) If OK, then measure the TP sensor resistance at the test harness
terminals (between terminal A and terminal B).
6) Turn the throttle grip and measure the resistance.
TP sensor resistance
Throttle valve is closed: Approx. 1.1 K Ohm
Throttle valve is opened: Approx. 4.3 K Ohm
7) If OK, then measure the TP sensor resistance at the test harness

terminals (between terminal C and terminal D).
TP sensor resistance: Approx. 4.68 K Ohm (Terminal C Terminal D)
Step 3
1) Connect the TP sensor coupler to the test harness.
3) Measure the TP sensor output voltage at the coupler
(between + P/B and - B/Br) by turning the throttle grip.
TP sensor output voltage
Throttle valve is closed: Approx. 1.1 V
Throttle valve is opened: Approx. 4.3 V
5. Crankshaft Position Sensor (CKP).
Step 1
1) Turn the ignition switch (OFF).
2) Check the CKP sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the CKP sensor resistance.
4) Disconnect the CKP sensor coupler and measure the resistance.
CKP sensor resistance: 142 194 Ohm (B G)
5) If OK, then check the continuity between each terminal and

ground.
CKP sensor continuity: Infinity Ohm
(B Ground)
(G Ground)
- CKP Sensor Peak Voltage:
Disconnect the both couplers.
Connect the multi-circuit tester with peak volt adaptor as follows.
Measure the CKP sensor peak voltage between Orange/Blue
and Green/White lead wires at the ECM coupler (Black).
G/W wire (+ Probe) O/Bl wire (- Probe)
Shift the transmission into the neutral and turn ignition switch ON.
Crank the engine a few seconds with the starter motor by depressing starter
button and check the CKP sensor peak voltage.
Repeat the above test procedure a few times and measure
the highest peak voltage.
CKP sensor peak voltage: 0.28 V and more
(Orange/Blue Green/White)
If the peak voltage is lower than the standard range,

check the peak voltage at the CKP sensor lead wire coupler.
Disconnect the CKP sensor lead wire coupler and connect the
multi-circuit tester with the peak volt adaptor.
Black wire (+ Probe) Green wire (- Probe)
Measure the CKP sensor peak voltage at the CKP sensor
lead wire coupler.
CKP sensor peak voltage: 0.28 V and more

(Green Black)
If the peak voltage is lower than the standard range,
check each coupler connection or replace the CKP sensor and inspect it again.
If the peak voltage is within the specification, check the continuity
between the CKP sensor coupler and ECM coupler.
- CKP Sensor Resistance:
Measure the resistance between the lead wires and ground. If
the resistance is not as specified, the CKP sensor must be
replaced.
CKP sensor resistance: 142 194 Ohm (Green Black)
Infinity Ohm (Green Ground)
6. Camshaft Position Sensor (CMP).
Step 1
4) Check the CMP sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the CMP sensor peak voltage.
5) Connect 3 new 1.5 V batteries in
tester
-circuit
6) Under this condition, if a suitable screwdriver touching the pick-up surface of the
more).
7. Tip Over Sensor (TO).
Step 1
2) Remove the frame cover.
3) Check the TO sensor coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the TO sensor resistance.
4) Disconnect the TO sensor coupler.
5) Measure the resistance between terminal A and terminal C.
TO sensor resistance: 16.5 22.3 k Ohm (Terminal A Terminal C)
If the resistance out of this range, Replace the TO sensor with new one.
Step 2
1) Connect the TO sensor coupler and ECM coupler.
2) Insert the needle pointed probes to the lead wire coupler.
4) Measure the voltage between B and B/Br wires.
TO sensor voltage (Normal): 0.4 1.4 V
((+) B (-) B/Br)
Also, measure the voltage as the motorcycle is leaned.

5) Dismount the TO sensor from its bracket and measure the
voltage when it is leaned 65 and more, left and right, from
the horizontal level.
TO sensor voltage (Leaning): 3.7 4.4 V ((+) B (-) B/Br)
If the voltage out of this range, Replace the TO sensor with new one.
1.3.2-Fuel System:
It consists of:
1. Fuel pump relay.
2. Fuel pump.
3. Primary fuel injector circuit.
4. Secondary fuel injector circuit.
1. Fuel Pump Relay:

Remove the fuel pump relay.
First, check the insulation between A and B terminals with
pocket tester. Then apply 12 V to C and D terminals, + to C
and - to D, and check the continuity between A and B.
If there is no continuity, replace it with a new one.
2. Fuel Pump:
Turn the ignition switch ON and check that the fuel pump operates for few seconds.
If the fuel pump motor does not make operating sound, inspect:
1- The fuel pump circuit connections.
2- The fuel pump relay.
3- To sensor.
If the fuel pump relay, to sensor and fuel pump circuit connections are OK, the fuel
pump may be faulty, replace the fuel pump with a new one.
3. Primary Fuel Injector Circuit:

Step 1
2) Check the injector coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the injector resistance.
3) Disconnect the injector coupler and measure the resistance
between terminals.
Injector resistance: 11 13 K Ohm at 20 C (68 F)
(Terminal Terminal)
4) If OK, then check the continuity between each terminal and
ground.
Injector continuity: Infinity Ohm
If the resistance and continuity is not ok, replace the Injector with a new one.
Step 2
2) Measure the injector voltage between Y/R wire and ground.
Injector voltage: Battery voltage
(+ Y/R - Ground)
NOTE:
Injector voltage can be detected only 3 for seconds after ignition switch is turned
ON.
4. Secondary Fuel Injector Circuit:
Step 1
2) Check the injector coupler for loose or poor contacts.
If OK, then measure the injector resistance.
3) Disconnect the injector coupler and measure the resistance
between terminals.
Injector resistance: 11 13 ohm at 20 C (68 F) Terminal Terminal
5) If OK, then check the continuity between each terminal and ground.
Injector continuity: Infinity Ohm
If the resistance and continuity is not ok, replace the Injector with a new one.
Step 2
2) Measure the injector voltage between Y/R wire and ground.
Injector voltage: Battery voltage (+ Y/R - Ground)
NOTE:
Injector voltage can be detected only 3 seconds after ignition switch is turned ON.
1.3.3-Charging System:
It consists of:
1. Battery.
2. Generator.
3. Regulator (Rectifier).
1. Battery:
-Battery Current Leakage:
Turn the ignition switch to the (OFF) position.
Disconnect the battery (-) lead wire.
Measure the current between (-) battery terminal and the (-) battery lead wire
using the multi-circuit tester. If the reading exceeds the specified value leakage is
evident.
Battery current (leak): Under 3 mA
CAUTION
* In case of a large current leak, turn the tester to high
range first to avoid tester damage.
* Do not turn the ignition switch to the ON position
when measuring current.
-Regulated Voltage:
Start the engine and keep it running at (5000 r/min).

Measure the DC voltage between the (+) and (-) battery terminals
using the multi-circuit tester. If the voltage is not within the specified value
inspect the generator and regulator/rectifier.
NOTE:
When making this test, be sure that the battery is in fully-charged
condition.
Regulated voltage (Charging output): 14.0 15.5 V at 5 000 r/min
2. Generator:
-Generator Coil Resistance:
Disconnect the generator coupler.
Measure the resistance between the three lead wires.
If the resistance is out of specified value, replace the stator with a new one. Also,
check that the generator core is insulated properly.
Generator coil resistance: 0.2 1.0 Ohm (Yellow Yellow)
Infinity Ohm (Yellow Ground)
NOTE:
When making above test, it is not necessary to remove the generator.
-Generator No-Load Performance:
Disconnect the generator coupler.

Start the engine and keep it running at (5000 r/min).
Using the multi-circuit tester, measure the voltage between
three lead wires.
If the tester reads under the specified value, replace the generator
with a new one.
Generator no-load performance: 65 V and more at (5000 r/min)
(When engine is cold).
3. Regulator\ Rectifier:
Disconnect the regulator/rectifier couplers.
Measure the voltage between the lead wires using the multi
circuit tester as indicated in the table in (9-11). If the voltage is not within the
specified value, replace the regulator/rectifier with a new one.
1.3.4-Starting System.
It consists of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Starter Motor.
Starter Relay.
Side-Stand Relay.
Side-Stand Switch.
Gear Position Switch.
1. Starter Motor:
-Starter Motor Removal:
Disconnect the battery (-) lead wire.
Disconnect the starter motor lead wire.
Remove the starter motor.
-Starter Motor Inspection:

CARBON BRUSH
Inspect the brushes for abnormal wear, cracks, or smoothness in the brush holder.
Ifany damages are found, replace the brush assembly with a new one. Make sure
that the length (A) is not less than 6.5 mm (0.26 in), If this length becomes less than
6.5 mm (0.26 in), replace the brush.
COMMUTATOR
Inspect the commutator for discoloration, abnormal wear or Undercut (A).If
abnormal wear is found, replace the armature with a new one. If the commutator
surface is discolored, polish it with sand paper and wipe it using a clean dry cloth.If
there is no undercut, scrape out the insulator with a saw blade.
ARMATURE COIL INSPECTION

Check for continuity between each segment and between each segment and the
armature shaft using the multi-circuit tester. If there is no continuity between the
segments or there is continuity between the segments and shaft, replace the
armature with a new one.
OIL SEAL INSPECTION

Check the oil seal lip for damage or leakage. If any damage is found, replace the
housing end.
2. Starter Relay:
Disconnect the battery (-) lead wire from the battery.
Remove the starter relay cover.
Disconnect the starter motor lead wire , battery lead wire and starter relay
coupler.
Remove the starter relay.
Apply 12 V to A and B terminals and check for continuity between the positive and
negative terminals using the multi-circuit tester. If the starter relay clicks and
continuity is found, the relay is ok.
CAUTION
Do not apply battery voltage to the starter relay for
more than five seconds, since the relay coil may overheat
and get damaged.
Measure the relay coil resistance between the terminals using

the multi-circuit tester. If the resistance is not within the specified
value, replace the starter relay with a new one.
Starter relay resistance: 3 6 Ohm
3. side-Stand Relay
The turn signal/side-stand relay is composed of the turn signal relay, side-stand relay
and diode.
Remove the turn signal/side-stand relay.
-SIDE-STAND RELAY INSPECTION

First check the insulation between (D) and (E) terminals with the tester. Then apply
12 V to terminals (D) and (C) (+ to D and to (C) and check the continuity between
(D) and (E). If there is no continuity, replace the turn signal/side-stand relay with a
new one.
-DIODE INSPECTION
Measure the voltage between the terminals using the multi-circuit tester.
4. Side-Stand Switch:
The side-stand switch coupler is located above the crankcase.
Disconnect the side-stand switch coupler and measure the voltage between Green
and Black/White lead wires.( + to Green and to Black/White).
Side-Stand Switch Voltage: 0.4 0.6 V (ON)
1.4 V and more (OFF)
5. Gear Position Switch:

Disconnect the gear position switch coupler and check the continuity between Blue
and Black/White with the transmission in NEUTRAL.
Gear Position Switch Continuity: ON
OFF
(Neutral)
(Except neutral)
CAUTION
When disconnecting and connecting the gear position
switch coupler, make sure to turn OFF the ignition
switch, or electronic parts may get damaged.
Connect the gear position switch coupler to the wiring harness.

Connect the battery (-) lead wire from the battery.
Turn the ignition switch to ON position and side-stand to upright position.
Measure the voltage between Pink and Black/White lead wires using the multicircuit tester with needle pointed probe set, when shifting the gearshift lever from
low to top.
Gear position switch voltage: 0.6 V and more
* Low to top gear position (Pink (+) B/W (-))
* Except neutral position (Pink (+) B/W (-))
1.3.5-Ignition System:
1. Spark Plug:
-Spark Plugs Removal:
Disconnect all the ignition coil/plug cap lead wire couplers before removing the
ignition coil/plug caps.
Remove all of the ignition coil/plug caps.
CAUTION
* Do not remove the ignition coil/plug cap before disconnecting the lead wire
coupler, or the lead wire will be damaged.
* Do not pry up the ignition coil/plug cap with a screwdriver or a bar to avoid
damage.
* Be careful not to drop the ignition coil/plug cap as it may open or short in a
circuit.
Connect the new four spark plugs to each ignition coil/plug cap.
Connect all the ignition coil/plug cap lead wire couplers to the ignition coil/plug
caps respectively, and ground them on the cylinder head (each spark plug hole).
CAUTION
Avoid grounding the spark plugs and suppling the electrical shock to the cylinder
head cover (magnesium parts) to prevent the magnesium material from damage.
NOTE
Be sure that all couplers and spark plugs are connected properly
and the battery used is in fully-charged condition.
-Ignition Coil Primary Peak Voltage:
Inspect each ignition coil primary peak voltage at the ignition coil/plug cap coupler.
Connect the multi-circuit tester with peak voltage adaptor as follows:
No. 1 ignition coil/plug cap:
W/Bl wire terminal (+ Probe) Ground (- Probe) terminal
Black wire terminal (+ Probe) Ground (- Probe) terminal
Yellow wire terminal (+ Probe) Ground (- Probe) terminal
Green wire terminal (+ Probe) Ground (- Probe) terminal
Shift the transmission into neutral and turn ignition switch ON.
Crank the engine a few seconds with the starter motor by depressing starter
button and check the ignition coil primary peak voltage.
Repeat the above inspection a few times and measure the highest peak voltage.
Ignition coil primary peak voltage: 80 V and more
-Ignition Coil Cap Resistance:
Check the ignition coil/plug cap for resistance in both primary
and secondary coils. If the resistance is not within the standard
range, replace the ignition coil/plug cap with a new one.
Ignition coil/plug cap resistance:
Primary
: 1.1 1.9 Ohm ((+) tap (-) tap
Secondary: 10.8 16.2 k Ohm (Plug cap (-) tap)
1.3.6-Cooling System:
It consists of:
1. Cooling fan motor.
2. Cooling fan relay.
1. Cooling Fan Motor

Disconnect the cooling fan coupler.
Test the cooling fan motor for load current
with an ammeter
The voltmeter is for making sure that the
battery applies 12 V to the cooling fan motor.
With the cooling fan motor with electric motor
fan running at full speed, the ammeter should
be indicating not 5 A and more.
If the fan motor does not turn, replace the motor assembly with a new one.
NOTE:
When making above test, it is not necessary to remove the cooling fan.
Cooling Fan Relay

Remove the cooling fan relay.
First check the insulation between A and B
terminals with tester.
Then apply 12 V to C and D terminals, + to C and
to D, and check the continuity between A and
B.
If there is no continuity, replace it with a new
one.
1.4-Complaints and Possible Causes:

Complaint
Possible Couses
Engine will not start
Compression too low

1. Too slowly starter motor cranks.
Plug not sparking
1. Defective ignition coil.
2. Defective CKP sensor.
3. Defective CMP sensor.
4. Open circuit wiring connections.
No fuel reaching the intake manifold
1. Defective fuel pump relay.
2. Defective fuel pump.
3. Defective fuel injectors.
4. Open circuit wiring connections.
Incorrect fuel/air mixture
1. Defective TP sensor.
2. Defective IAP sensor.
3. Defective ECT sensor.
4. Defective IAT sensor.
Engine idles poorly
Engine stalls often
Engine overheats
1.
2.
3.
4.
Defective fuel pump.

Defective TP sensor.
Defective ignition coil caps.
Defective CKP sensor.
Incorrect fuel/air mixture

1. Defective TP sensor.
2. Defective IAP sensor.
4. Defective IAT sensor.
Fuel injector improperly operating
1. Defective fuel injectors.
2. No injection signal from ECM.
3. Open or short circuited wiring connection.
4. Defective battery or low battery voltage.
Control circuit or sensor improperly operating
1. Defective CKP sensor.
2. Defective CMP sensor.
3. Defective fuel pump relay.
1. Defective cooling fan relay.
2. Defective cooling fan.
No sparking or poor sparking
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Defective ignition coils.

Defective CMP sensor.
Defective CKP sensor.
Defective TO sensor.
Open circuit wiring connections.
Chapter Three
MegaSquirt EFI
Controller
Chapter Three: MegaSquirt EFI Controller.

2.1-Introduction:
The MegaSquirt family of EFI controllers (including MS-I, MS-II, MicroSquirt, and the
MS-II Sequencer) are programmable electronic fuel injection controllers that will
provide fuel control on one to 16 or more injectors, of high or low impedance, and
for any number of cylinders, even three and five cylinder engines and odd-fire
engines.
If you have MegaSquirt-II, electronic control of number of ignition systems are
supported, including: 7 or 8-pin HEI from General Motors, EDIS from Ford, TFI from
Ford, or you can control a single coil directly. For fuel only control, you can trigger off
an inductive coil's negative terminal (but not a capacitive discharge coil (CDI) coil,
such as a MSD 6a, which will need a conditioning circuit).
2.2- Principles of Tuning Programmable EFI Systems

This is an introduction to tuning with a programmable electronic fuel injection ECU.
It is written specifically for MegaSquirt
An engine has three primary 'control parameters' that we can manipulate to optimize
the way the engine runs under various conditions:
The amount of air going into the engine,

The amount of fuel being mixed with the air that goes into the engine,
The timing of the spark to ignite the air fuel mixture.
Some Basic Tuning Terms:

1) AFR - refers to the ratio of air to fuel in the intake mixture going into the
cylinder.
2) ATDC - used for ignition advance timing, it refers to the crankshaft position
(in degrees) After Top Dead Center on the power stroke.
3) BTDC - used for ignition advance timing, it refers to the crankshaft position
(in degrees) Before Top Dead Center on the compression stroke.
4) Boost - This refers to the artificial increase in manifold pressure above the
barometric pressure based on a turbocharger or a supercharger.
5) CLT - this refers to the coolant (antifreeze + water) temperature, and is an

important factor in determining the warm-up and cranking enrichments.
6) EGO - refer to exhaust gas oxygen. The amount of oxygen remaining in the
exhaust can be a good indication of the air/fuel ratio of the intake mixture.
There are a few types of EGO sensors that can directly measure this
remaining oxygen. One type, a 'narrow band (NB-O2)' sensor, measure only
one mixture called stoichiometric. Second type is the 'wide band (WB-O2)'
sensor, which is capable of measuring deducing AFR ratios from 10:1 to 20:1.
7) EGT - refers to exhaust gas temperature.
8) MAP - (Manifold Absolute Pressure) Measure of the absolute pressure in the

intake manifold (related to the engine vacuum), to determine the load on the
engine and the consequent fueling requirements. The standard MAP sensor
in MegaSquirt is the MPX4250 (2.50 BAR, or 15 psi (vacuum) + 21 psi (boost)).
9) IAT - refers to the intake air temperature, or the temperature of the air
entering the cylinder. This is important because if we know the temperature

and pressure of a specific volume of gas, we can calculate the mass of that
gas, and determine the amount of fuel we need to add. So we measure the
IAT, the MAP, and then use the volumetric efficiency (VE) to estimate how
much the corresponding values will be in the cylinder. The relationship
between the pressure, temperature and volume of a gas (air, in our case) is
called the 'Ideal Gas Law'. MegaSquirt uses this physical law to determine the
amount of fuel to add.
10) MAP dot - The rate at which the MAP sensor output changes (and thus the
rate at which the MAP itself changes).
11) Detonation - Normally, the burning ('combustion') starts at the spark plug
and spread smoothly (but very quickly) from there. If the combustion starts in
a second location within the combustion chamber, because of a hot spot in
the cylinder, then the two 'flame fronts' each raise the pressure in the
cylinder, possibly to destructive levels.
12) Retard - The process of reducing the amount of ignition advance timing,
often to avoid detonation.
13) Switch point - the voltage at which a narrow band sensor goes from a low
voltage to a high voltage, indicating a stoichiometric mixture.
14) TPS dot - The rate at which the TPS sensor output changes (and thus the rate
at which the throttle position itself changes).
15) Volumetric efficiency - This is the ratio of the mass of air that enters the
cylinder to the displacement of that cylinder.
16) WOT - (wide open throttle).
The amount of air going into the engine is primarily determined by the throttle.The
throttle can be opened anywhere from 0% to 100%. Larger openings mean more air
going into the engine in general, and more power output from the engine. The fuel
must be in a narrow range in proportion to the air. The chemically correct ratio is
called 'stoichiometric'. More fuel is 'rich'; less fuel is 'lean'. Stoichiometric mixtures
are around 14.7:1 for gasoline.
Stoichiometric air/fuel ratios are not necessarily the optimal target for best power or
economy though:
-For best power, you will want to run rich
-For best economy you will want to run lean
There are a number of general operating conditions that apply to most automotive
applications:
-In the table below you will find some common tuning symptoms, and the action you
might take to reduce them:
Spark Advance
Advance is always referenced to the crankshaft position in degrees Since there are
360 in a crankshaft revolution,one intake stroke, which takes a revolution, is 180.
Normally the advance is specified as 'before top dead center' (BTDC). This means the
number of degrees the crankshaft would have to turn to reach the very top of it travel
from the spark point.
Sparking before TDC is necessary because the fuel and air take some milliseconds to
burn. Typical values range from 5 degrees BTDC at idle to 35 degrees at wide open
throttle (WOT) and possibly even higher under cruise conditions.
If the burning takes 2 milliseconds to reach maximum pressure, at 3000 rpm the
piston & crank will travel 36 in that time. There is an optimal point (peak pressure
position - ppp) in the piston movement when we want the burning gases to reach their
peak pressure (usually about 17 ADTC), so we need to start the burn early to get the
peak pressure where we want it (in this case 36-17 = 19 BTDC).
Notes:
Timing advance is low at low engine speeds, because the piston is moving
slowly, and the fuel has time to burn near TDC. At higher speeds, the timing
must be advance.
Too much advance isn't good though. The peak pressure is reached too early,
and the result can be that the burn doesn't proceed smoothly across the
combustion chamber, but instead fuel and air in the furthest areas of the
chamber spontaneously ignite from the pressure and radiant heat in the
chamber (this is called 'detonation' and it can be very destructive).
As well, spark and fuel tuning interact. That is, the amount of fuel affects the
optimal timing, and vice versa. Here is a graph showing the relationship on
one typical gasoline engine:
Tuning Fuel
To adjust the amount of fuel to correct a lean condition, The parameter we want to
increase may be in the VE table, the accel enrichments, the warm-up enrichments, the
after start enrichments, or the cranking pulse widths (among others). Which parameter
we adjust depends on the conditions under which we find the engine is lean.
Conversely, if the engine is rich, we decrease the appropriate parameter(s).
For maximum power, we want to run richer than stoichiometric. This is because the
engine's output is primarily limited by the amount of air that enters the cylinders.
That, in turn, limits the amount of fuel we can burn. However, to make sure all of the
oxygen is consumed, we must supply a richer than stoich. mixture, so that any
residual oxygen always has fuel nearby to combust with. The result is that maximum
power typically occurs between 12.5:1 and 13:1 (if the ratio is much richer than that,
the excess fuel actually quenches the flame front).
It may also be true that the engine wants to idle rich of stoich., especially if it has an
aftermarket camshaft. A 'hot street' engine may idle best at 13:1 to 14:1 (where it will
achieve minimum MAP kPa, which should be the tuning goal for idle). However, for
emissions regulated applications with a catalytic converter, the idle mixture is usually
stoichiometric in order to maximize the conversion efficiency.
For one naturally aspirated engine, here is an example of a target AFR table:
Typically, naturally aspirated engines want the mixture slightly learner at peak torque
than at peak horsepower. So the 'WOT' row at 100 kPa is slightly leaner at lower rpms
(except at the very lowest rpms, where the richer mix acts like additional accel
enrichment - and also helps with cold starting performance).
If this engine was boosted (supercharged or turbocharged), the kPa scale would
extend above 100 kPa, and the mixtures would become even richer, as rich as 10:1 at
maximum boost in some cases (the rich mixture cools the piston, and also helps
prevent detonation).
The area around 1100 to 2000 rpm and 45 to 75 kPa is this vehicle's 'cruise' (the low
rpm is a result of a 4-speed overdrive transmission). Leaner mixtures here really help
the fuel economy, and prevents the plugs from fouling. For this engine, 16.5:1 AFR is
the leanest this engine/vehicle can run without a 'lean surge'. Note that in fully
warmed up conditions, the cruise kPa on this vehicle is around 45 kPa, so the target
AFR would be 16.5:1.
The area between 500 and 800 rpm below 85 kPa and above 45 kPa is idle. 13.5:1
gives the lowest MAP kPa, and thus the most efficient idle on this engine (though this
AFR would not be suitable for an emissions controlled engine).
The rest of the table is 'conventional', with just some blending to avoid sharp
transitions (which can definitely be felt in the car).
The same areas of the VE table are used for tuning to reach these target AFRs (in
most cases, the AFR table is only used to set the wide band target, so if the EGO
closed loop isn't operating, the fuel is controlled from the VE table).
Tuning Spark Advance
To create and tune the spark advance table, you should try to understand what your
engine needs in the following areas:
1. Total advance at WOT: should be from 24 to 40 depending on your bore
size and combustion chamber characteristics. Older design engines (i.e. push
rods, domed pistons, etc.), and those with large bores (big blocks, etc.) need
more advance, about 36 to 38. Newer designs (4 valve/cylinder, swirl port
engines, etc.), and small bores, generally require less, about 28 to 32.
Engines that have a lot of miles on them require less as well, because of oil
leakage into the chamber. Lower octane fuel also requires less advance (it
burns more quickly), so if you are running 87 octane, use a few degrees less
total advance than if you are running 94 octane.
2. Idle advance: In MegaSquirt-II , this is the advance at the idle rpm and MAP
value. Larger initial advance numbers produce a slightly more fuel efficient
idle, but may make the idle unstable and result in higher emissions (this is
why most engines use the no vacuum advance at idle). Too much initial
advance can also make the engine hard to start. Generally, keep the initial
advance at 6 to 10.
3. RPM based advance: This is the advance as read across a row (at a constant
MAP kPa). Generally for a performance engine, you want the advance to be
'all-in' by 3000 rpm. So for a given MAP (say 100 kPa) the spark advance
should rise from the idle value to the maximum by about 3000 rpm. Your
particular settings will depend on your MAP and rpm bins.
4. vacuum (MAP) advance: This is the advance as read in a single column of the
advance table (at a constant rpm). As the load on the engine is reduced, the
fuel burns more slowly and more advance is required. This means that you
should have the advance increase for a given rpm as the MAP value
decreases in kPa. So, for example, if you have 32 advance at 4000 rpm and
100 kPa, you might have 40 advance at 4000 rpm and 50 kPa. You can make
the intervening values evenly spaced to begin with, and tune them later. You
can experiment by using up to 10 to 20 more advance at the lowest kPa
bins compared to the highest kPa bins.
Note that the optimum amount of total advance is not necessarily the most that doesn't
detonate. For example, with a modern cylinder head design, you might get maximum
power at 32, but might not experience any detonation until 38-40. However you
will still want the advance to come in as quickly as possible (without knocking) up to
32.
The exception to maximizing the total advance is the initial advance the engine uses
when cranking. Higher initial advance will generate better 'off-idle' response
(especially with an automatic transmission), but can cause hard starting, to the point
of physically breaking the starter. Some sources recommend up to 14 to 20 of initial
advance for performance engines. However, if you have installed MegaSquirt-II (or
MicroSquirt) on a high compression, large displacement engine that already puts an
additional strain on the starter, limit your initial advance to 4-12, then have the
advance come in rapidly after 600 to 800 rpm.
To tune the spark table, you will need drive the car and listen for detonation. If you
hear any (or better yet, if a datalog shows any feedback from the knock sensor) reduce
the advance at the spark advance table point where the detonation occurred. Start at
low engine speeds and low engine loads, and work towards higher speeds/loads
progressively. Always keep the spark table smooth by adjusting the neighboring
'cells', or driveability may suffer.
Let up on the throttle immediately if you hear the rattles of detonation. Then remove
and inspect your spark plugs. Look for evidence of detonation on the porcelain nose
of the spark plug that surrounds the center electrode. detonation will show as "salt and
pepper", which is tiny flecks of carbon and/or aluminum that indicate detonation has
occurred.
If there are no 'rattles', and no salt and pepper, you can increase the advance by a few
degrees, and repeat. Check the spark plugs after each drive. As you continue to
increase advance, you will eventually either hear detonation (let off the gas
immediately!) or you will slow down. At this point, decrease the advance at that point
of the spark advance table, increase the VE at the same point in the VE table, or use
higher quality fuel. Do not continue to operate an engine that shows signs of
detonation.
2.3-The Tuning Process.

The tuning process starts with setting the general parameters to get the engine
started, and continues until the engine performs optimally under all conditions (as
judged by the tuner). To optimize the engine performance (including power,
efficiency, cold start performance, etc..) we start with base settings, and adjust them
one at a time to get the best performance.
There are a few fundamental principles to tuning:
o You are trying to determine what the engine wants, not what you read in a
magazine, or what a friend says, or what your pet theory states should be right.
The engine itself must always be the test bed to reject or accept any changes
you make. Base the things you know on what your engine tells you, nothing
else.
o
Save settings file (.MSQ) often, and keep baseline setting you can return to. If
you are tuning over a longer period of time, you might want to keep notes of
the changes you made and the effects they had. This can be very helpful to
review later.
Change one thing at a time. Don't make 5 changes at once. If you do change a
lot of things, you may be better or worse off, but you won't know what helped
and what didn't, or why.
Measure what your changes do to the engine's operation. Sometimes this will
be on a dyno or drag strip, sometimes it will be more subjective, (and require
more sensitivity from you as a tuner/driver), but always check on the changes
before making another. If you don't see an improvement, return to your
previous settings.
Try to determine what engine operating characteristic you are trying to change
before making any adjustment, and be aware how the change affects that
condition as well as other engine operating conditions. This requires
understand the different operating conditions, and we will cover this in detail
shortly.
Datalogs are your best friend. They let you examine the engine operating
response in great detail without having to drive at the same time.
The tuning process is an iterative process of determining what the engine wants. We:
1. test the engine under specific conditions.
2. ask ourselves 'when isn't the engine running as well as it could'.
3. think hard about which parameters we have available to affect the operation of
the engine under the above circumstances.
a) make an educated guess based on the symptoms we see about which of
the parameters should be changed, in what direction (higher or lower),
and in what amount.
b) test the engine again.
c) note if the change helped or hurt (or did nothing).

If the changed help, try changing the same parameter a bit more
in the same direction, but by a smaller amount,
If the change made things worse, go the opposite direction and
see if that helps,
d) If the change had no effect, we reset the parameter to the original
value, and think hard and try another parameter,
4. test under another set of conditions to tune other parameters (different areas of
the VE table, accel enrichments, warm-up enrichments, etc..).
General Settings and Engine Parameters
We have three general sets of parameters to set:
Fuel: By adjusting the fuel, you are controlling the ratio of air to fuel that the
cylinders ingest. For a number of circumstances the engine encounters, there is
an optimal AFR. your task in tuning is to figure out what this optimal AFR is,
and how to set the fuelling to get it there. With fuel, there are a few
fundamental things to remember:
o To make maximum power, we want more fuel than stoich. (richer,
lower AFR), because we want to be sure to consume ALL the oxygen
(even if a little fuel is unburned). Typical full power AFR are 12:1 to
13:1 for gasoline. This is because it is the air flow that limits power
(not fuel flow),
o To get maximum fuel efficiency, we want to make the mixture a little
leaner (higher AFR, about 15:1 to 16:1) than stoich to be sure of
burning all the fuel,
o To get minimum emissions, we want to run stoich. (14.7:1) as much as
possible.
Air: FIdle, idle stop, etc
Ignition Advance: This refers to the exact timing of the spark near the end of
the compression stroke. It must be correctly set for all conditions, or the
engine might detonate, overheat, or just run poorly.
Parameters could be further divided into:
tuning adjustment parameters (that we use for tuning).

configuration parameters (that we use to set up the ECU and that are
constant for a given engine/vehicle).
For example, req_fuel is a configuration parameter - it tells the ECU how big the
engine is and how much the injectors can flow, etc. We don't use it (normally) to
change the fuel delivered once we have calculated it for our engine and its fuel
system. On the other hand, VE is a tuning adjustment parameter - we use it to
control the fuel amount. In this document, we'll only cover tuning adjustments.
Parameters may appear as single value, 2 point values, or tables:
Single values: you set one value that is used no matter what the conditions.
For example, setting the 'input capture' to 'rising' edge or 'falling edge' will
mean that trigger edge is always used.
2-Point values: 2-point values give the dependent response value at two
different conditions (ideally at the extremes of the operating range of the
independent variable). Then the response value is determined as if the
response was a straight line function between those two conditions (i.e., it is
'linearly interpolated').
For example, the 2-point cranking pulse widths typically are set at -40F and
170F. These are the values used at those temperatures. At intermediate
temperatures, the interpolated cranking pulse width is set to an intermediate
value, which is weighted depending on the actual temperature.
Tables: Others parameters are tables, and use a number of values depending
on the 'independent variable' to determine the dependent value (the response)
to use under the current conditions. Tables can be "2-D" or "3-D":
o 2-D: associates 1 response value with 1 input value. When the
inputs values are 'in-between' bin values, the response value is
interpolated between those values, as in the 2-point interpolation
above. For example, the stepper 'IAC steps' table gives the number
of steps at any coolant temperature.
o 3-D: associates 1 response value with 2 input values. For example,
the VE table is a function of engine speed (rpm) and load (MAP). If it
is a 12x12 table, as in MS-II, then there are 144 separate values that
can be used depending on the conditions. The value resulting from
the table is also an interpolation (as in 2-point), but between the 4
closest points of the horizontal and vertical bins.
Parameters typically come as milliseconds or percentages:
Numbers that are in milliseconds (like the accel enrichments, etc.) richen the
mixture when they are increased, and lean it when they are decreased.
PWM percentages are also 'absolute'. This is for injector current limiting and
can only run from 0% to 100%.
Finally, some parameters are 'multipliers' (in %) like the warm-up enrichments. They
are like the 'absolute' percentages, but they can be (and often are) larger than 100%.
What these do is take the base pulse width obtained from the req_fuel, VE, and
MAP, etc.. and multiply by the parameter value. So a warm-up enrichment of 100%
means no change, while a value of 130% means increase the fuelling by 30% over
what was calculated from the MAP, VE, etc. 90% would mean decrease the fuelling
by 10% (such as in the decel fuel amount). VE percentages are tell MegaSquirt how
much air is entering the cylinder, and it tries to match the air with the right amount
of fuel. If the VE is increased in the VE table, then the fuel is increased to match. So
when you want to richen the fuel at a particular rpm and load, you increase the VE
table entry(s) at that point. Conversely, if it is already too rich, you decrease the
entries.
2.4-Configuring of Megasquirt-II
Tuning Software
The software application you use to tune and configure your MegaSquirt-II controller
is called TunerStudioMS by Phil Tobin.
To tune all the parameters of your MegaSquirt-II controller so that your engine runs
the best it can, you will need to do the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
First, install and learn to use TunerStudioMS.

Next, set the constants.
Get the engine started and idling.
Then tune the PWM criteria.
Then tune the cold start and warm-up enrichments.
Then tune the VE table, the AFR table, and the spark advance table.
Finally, set the acceleration enrichments.
This section covers the first two items. the remainder are covered in the Tuning
MegaSquirt-II section.
Setting the General Parameters

Some general principles to follow when setting the configuration parameters are:
Always save a combination after you have changed things, and give it a
descriptive name. that is, don't save every file as megasquirt.msq, you won't be
able to recover if you corrupt a file. Instead, save files with names like
msii_june2605.msq, or some other scheme that makes sense to you and lets
you identify how recent a file is.
When editing the tables, be sure to 'Burn Table' when you are happy with it, or
the changes you make will disappear when you shut off the power to your
MegaSquirt-II controller.
In general, change only those items you need to at first. If you are not sure
what a parameter does, or whether it applies to you, leave it at the default
value.
Now we are ready to start configuring your MegaSquirt-II controller.

On the main TunerStudioMS menu is an item called 'Settings/General'. You can set
these as follows:
Dual Table Use .. choose whether you want to control each bank of injector
independently, or to run both injector banks off one set of VE/AFR tables.
Barometric Correction .. choose whether you want:

-
'None' - no barometric correction,

baro correction based on the initial start-up MAP reading ('Initial MAP
Reading'), or
'Two Independent Sensors' for continuous baro correction (ONLY if you
have installed a second MAP sensor.)
X-Tau Usage .. X-Tau usage can be set to off, or accel/decel using this
parameter. The X-Tau tuning values are set in the X-Tau Time Table menu
item under Tables. See the X-Tau page for more information.
Prime, ASE, WUE Tables .. Chose whether you want two point (a high
temperature and a low temperature settings) or 10 entry tables for the prime
pulse, afterstart enrichment, and warmup enrichment. The tuning values are
listed in under the menu item Tables.
Input Smoothing Lag Factors .. Lag factors force the variables to change
more slowly than the actual input value. Note that in all cases, 100 is no lag
effect at all, and smaller numbers slow the input response speed.
In each case the PreviousValue is itself filtered.

For example, suppose your last MAP value was 70, the lag factor is 40 and the current
MAP value read directly from the sensor is 90. Then your MegaSquirt-II (or
MicroSquirt) controller will calculate:
NewValue = 70 + (90 - 70) * (40/100) = 70 + 20*0.4 = 78
If the MAP then remains at 90, then next value would be:
NewValue = 78 + (90 - 78) * (40/100) = 78 + 12*0.4 = 82.8
and so on...
This has the effect of slowing your MegaSquirt-II (or MicroSquirt) controller's
response to fluctuating input values, both smoothing them and reducing the effect of
noise in the signals.
The following inputs can have lag factors applied to them:
-MAP Averaging Lag Factor,
-RPM Averaging Lag Factor,
-TPS Averaging Lag Factor,
-Lambda Averaging Lag Factor,
-CLT/MAT/Batt Averaging Lag Factor,
-Knock Averaging Lag Factor.
Start-Up .. RPM: This is the rpm at which your MegaSquirt-II controller

switches from the cranking pulse width injected at every ignition event to the
pulse width calculated from the fueling equations (MAP, IAT, RPM, etc.). 300
rpm is good for most automotive engines, but a higher value may be needed
for motorcycle engine or other specialized uses.
Rev Limiter
Algorithm - you can select:
-None - no rev limiter
-Spark Retard - reduces revs by retarding the ignition advance,
-Fuel Cut - reduces revs by eliminating fuel.
Notes
-Maximum Retard is the MOST the spark can be retarded in spark RetardMode
-Lower Rev Limit is the level at which that the fuel is re-enabled in Fuel Cut
mode, and the level at which timing is fully restored in Spark retard mode.
-Upper Rev Limit is the level at which the rev limiter is initially applied.
For example, if you set the upper limit to 6000 and the lower limit to 5800, then in:
Spark Retard mode:

o Spark would be applied normally (from the advance table, etc.) until
you reached 5800 rpm.
o It would then be cut linearly as the revs increased to 6000 rpm.
o Note that the spark is retarded with rising revs between 5800 and 6000,
as well as when the revs fall.
Fuel Cut mode:
o Fuel would be applied normally (from the advance table, etc.) until you
reached 6000 rpm.
o Fuel would then be cut completely, and restored ONLY when the revs
dropped to 5800 rpm.
o Note that the fuel is NOT cut with rising revs between 5800 and 6000,
only as the revs fall.
If you are using a knock sensor, separate baro sensor, or non-standard MAP sensor,
you can configure your MegaSquirt-II controller to work with them using the 'Sensor
Calibration' dialog under 'Tools'.
The MegaSquirt-II code is set up for the standard General Motors temperature
sensors. If you are using other sensors, you can use the 'Calibrate Thermistor Tables'
dialog under 'Tools'. You enter the bias resistor value and three temperature/resistance
points, and the table is created and downloaded to your MegaSquirt-II controller for
you.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT burn tables ('Calibrate AFR Table' or
'Calibrate Thermistor Tables') on a running engine. Even idle is NOT allowed,
because these tables ONLY exist in flash, so once a table is erased, there is
nothing but garbage in there until it is re-programmed, one word at a time. Until
that reprogramming is complete, operating the engine is unsafe.
MegaSquirt uses coolant and air temperature sensors to determine the warm-up
characteristics of the engine and the density of the intake air. They are essential to
proper functioning of a MegaSquirt controller. Both sensors are Negative
Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistors. This means that they are resistors whose
resistance decreases as their temperature goes up.
MegaSquirt uses the temperature sensor as one leg of a voltage divider. 5.00 Volts
(we will call this Vs) is supplied to a default 2,490 Ohm (2.49K Ohm) resistor (called
a "bias resistor", and we will denote it as Rb) and this resistor is connected to the
temperature sensor (denoted here by Rs) which in turn is connected to ground.
The voltage between the two resistors is:

V = Vs * (Rs/(Rb+Rs)) = 5.00 * (Rs/(Rs+2490))
Resistor Rp does not affect the voltage divider, it simply limits the current to the
processor pin (there should be very little current anyhow, the input is "high
impedance").
Setting the Injector Criteria

Before attempting to start your your MegaSquirt-II controller equipped engine, you
will need to set a number of parameters that determine how MegaSquirt injects fuel.
These include the injector open time, Req_Fuel, injector control criteria, PWM
criteria, EGO characteristics, etc. These constants are either calculated, or based on
the configuration of your system.
On the Settings/Injector Characteristics page:
Injector Opening Time (ms) ..(InjOpen) is the amount of time required for the
injector to go from a fully closed state to a fully opened state when a 13.2
volt signal is applied. Since fuel injectors are electro-mechanical devices with
mass, they have latency between the time a signal is applied and the time
they are in steady-state spraying mode. Typically, this value is close to 1.0
milliseconds. Note that the closing time should be subtracted from this value,
but it is generally very small and can be neglected.
Battery Voltage Correction (ms/V) ..(BatFac) is the number of milliseconds

that your MegaSquirt-II controller adds to each fuel injection pulse to
compensate for the slower opening of the injectors with lower supply
voltages. Generally 0.10 ms/V to 0.20 ms/V is about right. So, with a 0.20
Battery voltage correction factor and supply voltage of 14.5 Volts, a 1.0
millisecond 'opening time' is adjusted to 1.0 - (14.5-13.2)*0.20 = 1.0 - 0.26 =
0.7 milliseconds.
PWM Time Threshold (ms) ..(InjPWMTim) is the amount of time the Pulse
width has to be on before PWM starts. This allows full voltage to reach the
injectors while opening. Generally you should set this to the same value as
your injector opening time (~1.0 millisecond).
Injector PWM Period (sec) .. (InjPWMPd) is the time between cycles of

on/off and the Injector Duty Cycle is the % of time it stays on relative to the
total time for one cycle. You use high frequency to make things smooth. Since
the injectors stay open for milliseconds, you need a period that is much shorter
than that. Such a frequency never lets the injector start to close - the turn off
turn on cycle is so fast that the injector stays where it is. Keep this value
between 10 and 25 KHz (100-40 sec).
To tune the PWM [pulse width modulation] values for your engine, you need to
know what kind of injectors you have- low impedance or high-impedance. If you are
running
If you are running high-impedance injectors (greater than 10 Ohms), then set the:
PWM Time Threshold to 25.4 msec, and the

PWM Current Limit (%) to 100%.
On the 'Settings/Injector Control' page:
Required Fuel .. (ReqFuel) this is top field of the Constants window. It has a
calculation dialog to help you find an appropriate value. It should contain the
injector pulse width, in milliseconds, required to supply the fuel for a single
injection event at stoichiometric combustion and 100% volumetric
efficiency.In order to come up with this value, TunerStudioMS provides a
calculator that will suffice for 99% of applications To use the calculator, click
on the Required Fuel button, and fill in the fields (Engine Displacement,
Number of cylinders, Injector flow, and Air:Fuel ratio, then click 'Okay').
The upper REQ_FUEL box is the amount per cylinder,The lower REQ_FUEL box is the
value down loaded to MegaSquirt. It is the REQ_FUEL number on top, but scaled by
your selected injection mode (number of squirts and alternate/simultaneous).
For example, if you inject simultaneous and one injection, and have the same
number of injectors as cylinders [i.e. port injection], then REQ_FUEL on the bottom is
the same as REQ_FUEL on top. Same with alternate and two squirts. If you put in
simultaneous and two squirts, then REQ_FUEL is divided in half - because you squirt
twice, you need to inject 1/2 the fuel on each shot.
Note: if you choose alternating for port injection, make sure your number of squirts
is an even number (2,4,...) and evenly divisible into the number of cylinders. For
example, with an eight cylinder engine, you could use alternating and 2, 4, or 8
squirts/cycle. With a six cylinder, if you choose alternating, you MUST use 2 or 6
squirts/cycle. Also, the only possible combinations for an odd-cylinder count engine
are either 1 squirt/simultaneous or N squirt/simultaneous combination, where N is
the number of cylinders."
"OK" means the combination will work with either simultaneous or alternating. "no"
means it will not work with either, i.e., not at all.
The maximum injector pulse width possible with your MegaSquirt-II controller is 65
milliseconds.
Control Algorithm .. (FuelAlpha) All tuning advice in this manual is based on

the speed-density algorithm. Alpha-N uses the throttle position (alpha) and
RPM (N) to calculate the amount of fuel to inject as opposed to using the
manifold absolute pressure (MAP) and RPM to calculate the amount of fuel
to inject. Alpha-N is useful for long duration cams where the resolution of
manifold air pressure (map) would be small. It is also useful to get smoother
idle on engines that have erratic map values. MegaSquirt be converted from
its default speed-density calculations to Alpha-N which uses RPM,
temperature and TPS only. You must have version 2.0 (or higher) of the
embedded software installed. Start up the tuning software, go to the
Constants dialog and change speed density to Alpha-N. Re-map your VE
table. You will no longer use the MAP sensor for estimating the load on the
engine, the throttle position and rpm are used instead. This can help with
cams with long duration and/or a lot of overlap, as they have low and
variable vacuum at idle, making tuning very difficult.
Injections per Engine Cycle .. ("squirts") is set the number of squirts you
want per engine cycle. You want this to be set so that your idle pulse width is
no less than 2.0 ms, if possible, and your Req_Fuel is less than 15-18
milliseconds, but more than 6 milliseconds. These values allow proper tuning
of the idle mixture while maintaining the ability to apply enrichments
(acceleration, warm-up, etc.) under full throttle. This is the total injector
events that you wish to occur for every engine cycle (360 degrees for two
stroke engines and 720 for four strokes).
Note that this works with the 'injector staging' parameter (below) to determine the
base fuel pulse width, so be sure to read that section as well.
There is some benefit to choosing 2 squirts/alternating for port injection, since only
half of the injectors fire at once, the pressure drop in the fuel rails is reduced and the
fuelling is more consistent.
With throttle body injection, the number of injection/cycle you can will depend on
your number of cylinders, plenum size, Req_Fuel, etc. You have to experiment to see
what works best for your combination. Generally, you will need at least as as many
squirts per cycle as you have cylinder, though you can run this alternating.
Injector Staging .. (Alternate) can be either simultaneous (both injector

drivers - i.e., all the injectors - fire at once), or alternating (one injector driver
fires on one injection event, the other fires on the next, and so on; 'pingponging' back and forth). If you choose alternating for port injection, make
sure your number of squirts is an even number (2,4,...) and evenly divisible
into the number of cylinders.
For example, with an eight cylinder engine, you could use alternating and 2, 4, or 8
squirts/cycle. With a six cylinder, if you choose alternating, you MUST use 2 or 6
squirts/cycle. Also, the only possible combinations for an odd-cylinder count engine
are either 1 squirt/simultaneous or N squirt/simultaneous combination, where N is
the number of cylinders.
Note that , with port injection and alternating injection, you must choose at at least
2 squirts per cycle, otherwise every other cycle for each cylinder will get NO fuel!
The engine will run very badly. (One squirt is fine with simultaneous.)
More squirts are more likely to help if the engine:
o
o
o
o
has a low idle rpm.

is tuned to relatively lean (ex. stoichiometric or leaner) idle mixtures,
has high idle advance (say more than 15 to 20 BTDC),
wants larger accel enrichments.
However, if the engine is tuned so that the idle MAP is minimized (likely 13.5:1 AFR
or so), and has a higher idle speed (say 800 rpm compared to 600 rpm), then more
squirts is less likely to help.
There are definitely some down sides to more squirts:
o
o
More squirts makes the tuning more sensitive to the correct opening time, and
this is one of the harder things to determine accurately.
More squirts reduces the effective resolution of the req _fuel, accel
enrichments, etc. (since they are adjusted in 0.1 msec steps, but on
increasingly short pulse widths)
As well, more squirts eats up more of the available time with open/close
cycles, reducing the dynamic range of the injectors. So users who have chosen
their injectors based on the net horsepower may find they are too small at high
rpms and loads. This can damage an engine, and must be avoided at all costs,
of course.
So more squirts may help. They may not, however. And this can be a bandage for
poor idle or accel tuning. So users should start with 2 squirt/alternating for port
injection, and tune it as well as they can.
Then, if you can't solve some issues, you should try more squirts. But jumping
straight to more squirts is probably not a good idea - most often it just masks the
need for a richer idle mixture or more accel enrichment.
There are 4x as many injection events with 4 squirts/simultaneous compared to 2

squirts/alternating, so the pulse width is just 1/4 as long (neglecting the opening
times).
The req_fuel calculator will show this - watch the top and bottom numbers as you
make changes to the alt/sim and number of squirts. The top number stays the same (it
is the 'unadjusted number' for 1 squirt simultaneous), while the bottom 'adjusted'
number used for the pulse width calculations changes with the number of squirts and
simultaneous/alternating.
Note that the above tables show which cylinder is at TDC at specific crank angles.
Which injector fires when depends on which injector bank they are connecting to.
Engine Stroke .. (EngStroke) values for engine stroke type are two-stroke or
four-stroke. MegaSquirt uses engine stroke to determine how many degrees
are in an engine cycle.
Number of Cylinders .. Is the count of the cylinders on your engine. This

value is actually the number if ignition events per cycle sent to the ignition
input on the controller.
Injector Port Type .. (InjType) is used to select the type of injectors that you
are using, either throttle body (if the injectors spray above the throttle plates)
or multi-port (if the injectors spray into the intake ports).
Number of Injectors .. (NoInj) is the total number of injectors MegaSquirt is

controlling, whether port or throttle body injection.
MAP Type .. values for this may be selected from the option menu, and are
either 115 kPa or 250 kPa. All Version 2 MegaSquirt partial kits have the 250
kPa MAP sensor (this is all MegaSquirt sold in the last few years). The MAP
sensor type should be auto-detected from MegaSquirt EFI Controller, but if it
is not, select the right one and hit "Send to ECU".
Engine Type .. (OddFire1, OddFire2) has the options of odd fire or even fire.
Odd-fire or even fire does not refer to the firing order, but rather the interval
between successive firings.
So if you have a 4 cylinder, and a spark every 180 degrees, you have an even
fire. Almost all 4 cylinder engines are even fire.
On the 'EGO Control' page:
EGO Sensor Type (EgoOption):

o Disabled If you don't have an oxygen sensor installed, choose
'Disabled' under EGO Sensor Type in MegaTune, and your
MegaSquirt-II controller does not use the numbers in the AFR table to
adjust the VE table numbers (as shown above) when calculating the
pulse widths. There is no feedback.
o Narrow Band O2 Sensor If you have enabled a narrow band oxygen
sensor, choose 'Narrow Band' under EGO Sensor Type in MegaTune,
and MegaSquirt-II will try to adjust the amount if fuel injected, up to
the limits you specify, to give the oxygen sensor voltage specified in
the tuning software. The AFR table is not used, instead a single oxygen
sensor voltage target is used.
o Wide Band If you have a narrow band O2 sensor OR a wide band
oxygen sensor & controller, choose the appropriate setting under
Settings/EGO Control in MegaTune, and be SURE to go to
Tools/Calibrate AFR Table and select your controller type. Make sure
to have the your MegaSquirt-II controller connected and powered up
while you do this - the calibration is saved for both TunerStudioMS
(on the PC) and to MegaSquirt-II (to which the calibration table is
downloaded). Then your MegaSquirt-II controller will adjust the
amount of fuel injected based on the AFR table until the sensor
reports a voltage corresponding to the air/fuel ratio in the
appropriate cell of the AFR table (for wide band) or switch point (for
narrow band).
Ignition Events per Step .. (EgoCountCmp) This is the number of 'sparks' the
engine sees before adjusting the fuel amount based on the EGO sensor
feedback. Large numbers make the EGO feedback respond more slowly, but
also tend to make it more stable.
Controller Step Size (%) .. (EgoStep) This is the amount the EGO will be
adjusted after the number of ignition events specified above. Smaller
numbers make the response more stable, but slower.
Note that the wide band control algorithm does not use the constant step size
controller algorithm that was previously used in MegaSquirt EFI Controller, it now
has a P (just proportional) control algorithm, since it gives much more reliable
information than the narrow band sensor does. your MegaSquirt-II controller
computes the difference between actual and target AFR, then uses that to do what it
thinks is the exact adjustment to pulse width needed to attain the target AFR. So,
step size and events don't play a role at all and they are grayed out when the wide
band algorithm is selected.
Controller Authority (%) .. (EgoLimit) This is the maximum the EGO

feedback is allowed to adjust the fuel from the VE table, regardless of the
state of the O2 sensor feedback. Large numbers (50% to 80%) are better
when the set-up is rough, smaller numbers (5% to 15%) are better when the
VE table is 'dialled in'.
Active Above Coolant Temp () .. (EgoTemp) This is the lowest coolant

temperature at which EGO feedback is allowed to operate. It is necessary to
prevent the EGO feedback from working against the warm-up enrichments
when the engine needs to be particularly rich while cold.
Active Above RPM .. (RPMOXLimit) This is the lowest engine speed at which
EGO feedback is allowed to operate. It is necessary for those engines that
need to be rich while idling.
Active Below TPS (V) .. (TPSOXLimit) This prevents EGO feedback with either
a narrow-band or wide band sensor from operating at wide-open throttle
(WOT), because narrow band sensors are not effective at measuring the rich
mixtures required.
Active Below MAP (kPa) .. (MAPOXLimit) This prevents EGO feedback with
either a narrow-band or wide band sensor from operating at high loads,
because narrow band sensors are not effective at measuring the rich
mixtures required.
Note that after you select your EGO sensor type, you should go to the 'Tools/Calibrate AFR
Table' dialog and select the sensor output curve.
For example, if you have a narrow band sensor, select that; or if you have a DIY-WB
controller select that, etc. Then click on the 'OK' button and a file will be create and
downloaded to your MegaSquirt-II controller that indicates the corresponding
air/fuel ratio for various sensor/controller output voltages.
You can also create your own custom table by entering two point on the output
curve.
Setting the Tables:

Before starting your engine, you need to populate three types of tables: the VE
table(s), the AFR table(s), and the ignition advance table
VE Table(s) .. (ve_table): Unless you already have a very good idea what your
VE table should look like, use the 'Generate VE Table' under 'Tables/VE
Tables/Tools' to automatically fill in the VE table(s). You will have to do this
twice if you have selected the dual table option above. If your engine is
outside the parameters of the VE table generator, you will have to tune the
VE table to optimize it. In that case, you can start with the default table, or
anything else that makes sense to you.
AFR Table(s) .. (afr_table): If you have a wide band sensor, fill in the air/fuel
ratio table. Generally, you want it to be lean in the areas where it is lightly
loaded and you want best economy. You may be able to run as lean as 17:1 in
these areas. At WOT, conventional wisdom is that you want 13.0:1 at peak
torque, and 12.5:1 at peak horsepower. Then blend the WOT and economy
areas so that there is a smooth transition. You will have to do this twice if you
have selected the dual table option above.
Ignition Table .. (adv_table): In general, you want:

o Low MAP (low engine load) = more spark advance
o High MAP (high engine load) = less spark advance
o Low CLT (cold engine) = more spark advance
o High CLT (warm engine) = less spark advance
o Low RPM = less spark advance
o High RPM = more spark advance
Making a Spark Advance Table:

The basic principles to determine the maximum advance for your engine
o
o
o
older engines (1960s up to 1990 or so) with two valves - max advance = 36
newer two-valve engines - max advance = 30
three or four valve engines - max advance = 26
then adjust for bore size:

o under 3.5" (89mm) - subtract 3
o between 3.5" and 4.000" (101.6mm) - no adjustment
o over 4.001" (+101.6mm) - add 3
then adjust for the fuel:
o
o
o
regular - subtract 2
mid-grade - subtract 1
premium - no adjustment
That gives us a maximum advance figure. It you have an aftermarket combination

with a good squish area and optimized quench, subtract another 2. If you have a
flathead, add 3 or 4 or more
From idle to 3000 rpm, we want the advance (@100kPa) to increase fairly linearly
from the idle advance to the maximum advance. idle advance is really a matter of
tuning, but assume 8 to 16 in most cases, with stock engines being on the lower
end, and 'hotter' engines being on the upper end.
So if we have a hot engine with 36 maximum advance and 16 idle advance
(at 800rpm), the spark table might look like this for 100kPa:
100
16
16
18
24
28
36
rpm
600
800
1000
1500
2000
3000
Below 100 kPa, we add 0.3 per 1 kPa drop. So for example, if our total spark at
100kPa and 4000 rpm was 36, the advance at 50 kPa would be:
36 + 0.3 x (100-50) = 51
and the advance at 45 kPa and 800 rpm would be:
16 + 0.3 x (100-45) = 32.5
However all of these would need to be tuned, and it often helps idle stability to limit
the advance at idle to under 20.
For boosted engines, you subtract 0.3 of advance for every kPa above 100 (it's not a
coincidence that this is the same factor as for the 'vacuum' adjustments). Because
101.3kPa=~14.7psi, this works out to ~2 per pound of boost. It is often the case that
you want to limit the retard under boost as well, typically so that it takes out no
more than about of the maximum advance at 100 kPa.
2.5-Tuning Your MegaSquirt-II

Get the Engine Started and Idling
Be sure
1) you have configured your MegaSquirt-II.
2) to set your base timing before starting your car. And verify that you have
entered the base timing value into the 'Advance Offset (deg)' field of the
dialog at 'Settings/Ignition Options'.
Note that
o Prime pulse .. it is meant to clear any air that might have leaked into the fuel
system while the engine was shut down.
o Cranking pulses .. it is meant to Supply fuel for starting , they are both rpm
and temperature dependent, and thus much more likely to give the fuel you
need.
Generally, keep the prime pulse as short as possible (typically around 2.0
milliseconds is a good starting point), and tune the starting using the cranking
pulse widths instead.
Cranking Pulse Widths:

o The cranking pulse width at -40F should be about 3 to 5 times the
170F value.
o If you over-estimate the correct values, you WILL flood the engine.
o To begin, set the -40F cranking pulse width to about 88% of your
"upper" req_fuel value, and the 170F cranking pulse width to about
23% of your req_fuel. Those should get you 'in the ball park' for
starting.
o Once you have the engine running, you can tune the cranking pulse
widths with small changes, moving them up or down together, and
check it over a few days worth of starts before deciding which
direction to go next. Remember that the cranking pulse widths need to
be with ~0.5 milliseconds of the optimal value at both -40F and 170F.
o You move them up and down together, but not by the same amount.
You want to keep the cold cranking pulse width about 3 to 5 times the
hot cranking pulse width.
For example, suppose your req_fuel was 14. Then you might start with
a cold cranking PW of 12.3 and a hot cranking pulse width of 4.0.
Suppose you try this and see it is too rich, and your temperature when
you tried it was 40F. So you need to lean it out (after making sure the
engine hadn't flooded, in which case you would have to clean the
plugs). You might try reducing your cold cranking pulse width by 0.8
milliseconds, to 11.5. You don't want to also reduce your hot cranking
pulse width by 0.8. You really want to reduce it by the proportional
amount you reduced the cold pulse width, which would be
0.8*(4.0/12.3) = 0.26 = 0.3. So you would reduce it to 3.7.
This maintains a reasonable ratio between the pulse widths. You don't
have to calculate it each time though, just adjust the hot number by
about 1/3 of the cold number, and you should stay 'in the ballpark'.
Conversely, if you had to richen the pulse widths, you might add 0.8,
and 0.3, etc
o In a 'piggy-back' application, do not set MegaSquirt's cranking pulse

widths to zero. This will cause unpredictable pulse widths up to 13
milliseconds. Instead, set them to 0.1 milliseconds in that application.
This allows very little fuel to flow.
o It is very easy to flood the engine, especially when cold, without
realizing it, and this can confuse your start tuning quite a lot. So it's
better to start with low pulse widths and work your way up in small
steps (lean cranking is much easier to recover from).
o As you get closer to optimal cranking pulse widths, you can adjust just
one of the hot or cold pulse widths a bit to fix particular starting issues
for example, if you have hot start issues, warm the engine up fully
(ideally by driving, not idling) then shut it off and adjust only the hot
pulse width slightly to get the best starting.
o If your engine doesn't respond while cranking at all, try disconnecting
the serial cable to the laptop from your MegaSquirt controller. The
power supply from the laptop may interfere with your MegaSquirt
controller at times, making the engine impossible to start. If you try to
datalog a cranking attempt, and the datalog is blank, or you are getting
resets (secL keeps dropping back to zero before reaching 255), then
you likely need to disconnect the laptop while cranking. You should be
able to reconnect after the engine is started, and tune/datalog
normally, without any issues.
o Most engines are quite sensitive to the cranking pulse widths, so you
may need both pulse widths to be within about 0.5 milliseconds to
start well under all conditions.
o Make sure you have power while cranking, otherwise you are starting
on your prime pulse, and will go crazy trying to tune it.
o Keep the prime pulse short, less than 4.0, and ideally around 2.0, while
tuning the cranking pulse widths.
o Make sure you are not in flood clear mode while cranking.
o
Datalog your starting attempts using TunerStudioMS, and study them

carefully, you will learn a lot.
o Don't use EGO feedback to guide you on cranking pulse widths, it

won't help you at all, and may confuse you a lot. Instead, use your
subjective sense of how long it takes the engine to start at any
temperature (you are seeking to minimize this, obviously).
Afterstart Enrichment:
If the engine tries to start, but dies right away, you need to adjust the after start
enrichment. Generally this should be between 25-45% for 100 to 250 cycles.
Warmup Enrichment:
If the engine starts but dies after a several seconds or minutes, then you need to
adjust your warm-up enrichment. Use up to 15% greater than the defaults if that
seems to help.
VE Table:
o Adjust the values at the idle kPa and rpm to get it to idle.
o Change the VE table entries while watching the engine MAP and try to lower
the MAP as much as possible.
o Do this after the engine has warmed up.
o As you do this, the engine rpm will rise, and you may have to adjust the
throttle stop on the throttle body to lower the rpm back to the desired idle
speed.
Once the idle VE are tuned, you will have to retune the afterstart and warmup
enrichments.
Check that the IGN LED on your MegaSquirt controller (the LED closest the DB9 serial
connector) flashes on and off as you crank the engine.
If it doesn't, your MegaSquirt controller either:
Does not have power (possibly only while cranking - many automotive power
feeds are disabled while cranking, make sure your 12 Volt feed stays 'hot').
Does not have a tach signal.
If you have been trying to start your engine for more than 15 to 20 minutes, you ought
to investigate other sources of problems before continuing to try to start the engine.
Properly tuned, your MegaSquirt controller will start your engine quickly and
reliably.
If you have trouble with starting, either hot or cold starts (or both):
1. Make sure you have set your TPS so that its voltage is well below the 'Flood
Clear threshold (v)' (TPSWOT) specified in the warm-up wizard.
2. Verify that the ADC count increases as you open the throttle, otherwise you
have the TPS wired backwards. You should recheck the TPS range each time
you change the idle position or reassemble the throttle linkage.
3. Verify that the source you have chosen to supply +12 Volts to your
MegaSquirt controller with is receiving power while cranking. Some
sources give 12 Volts in RUN but not CRANK. The engine will be very
difficult to start if your MegaSquirt controller is connected to such a source.
4. Make sure the injectors and fuel pump also have power while cranking (and in
run, of course).
5. Make sure that you have enough voltage during cranking to open the injectors.
For cold starts, you have a cold engine and a cold battery that make high
demands on the starting system. Make sure your battery/alternator, etc. are up
to snuff , and put them on a charger before attempting to start if necessary.
6. If you are using the VR tach input circuit, you may have to adjust the R52 and
R56 potentiometers on the V3 main board if you don't get an rpm signal while
cranking. You may be able to pull the distributor and spin it in a drill to set the
pots, otherwise you will have to experiment while cranking the engine.
7. Verify that your fuel lines to the fuel pressure regulator are the right way
around. If your fuel is pumping, and your injectors are opening, but the spark
plugs are dry, there's no fuel. So pull a spark plug to have a look. If they are
dry, check your regulator connections.
8. Make sure your fuel filter(s) are not clogged. Even if they are brand new, the
fuel system may have tiny pieces of debris in it from being opened, and this
might clog the filter(s) very quick once the fuel starts to flow.
9. Make sure your MegaSquirt controller is receiving a tach signal for starting.
Make a datalog (Alt+L then enter), crank the engine a few times, and then
check that the datalog shows the rpm is non-zero while cranking. If your
MegaSquirt controller doesn't see an rpm signal, it will not start.
10. Make sure your PWM setting are not so low that your injectors no longer fully
open after cranking. Note, however, that the code disables PWM during
cranking. This was done so that PWM values (% and threshold) could be
lowered under running conditions. However, the PWM set-up needs to be
sufficient for a poorly charged battery that has just had to start a cold engine,
with the heater/defroster running full-blast, etc.
11. Remember that the cranking pulse widths need to be with ~0.5 ms of the
optimal value at both -40F and 170 F. Generally the -40F cranking pulse
widths should be about 3 to 5 times the 170 number. If you overestimate the
correct values, you WILL flood the engine.
12. For tuning, the engine needs to be it a true cold-start state. That means not
flooded - which can easily happen when you are playing with the numbers. If
you suspect you may have flooded the engine, disconnect your MegaSquirt
controller and crank the engine for at least several seconds or more. Keep a
battery charger handy.
13. Check to make sure the injectors are actually firing, so that you are sure there
is not a fault in the wiring causing you to run without a full deck of injectors.
This is easy with throttle body injection, just look at them with the air cleaner
off. With a port injection system, see if you can smell gas at the exhaust.
14. Use a timing light to verify that you have spark, and that it is appropriately
timed.
15. If the engine tries to start, but dies right away, you need to adjust the after start
enrichment. Generally this should be between 20-30% for 100 to 250 cycles.
16. If the engine starts but dies after more than several seconds or minutes, then
you need to adjust your warm-up enrichment.
Note that the afterstart enrichment, warm-up enrichment, and VE table all interact.
VE is the 'base'. Warm-up enrichment (WUE) adds a percentage to the base VE fuel
when the engine coolant is below a specified temperature. Afterstart enrichment
(ASE) adds another percentage to the 'base VE fuel + Warm-up enrichment' for a
short period after starting (typically less than 30 seconds). The afterstart amount
tapers from its initial setting to zero over this period, so ASE has its biggest effect in
the first few seconds. Please note that if you get you ASE right, but them go on to
adjust either or both of the WUE and VE tables, the ASE may need a further
adjustment. Similarly, if you adjust the VE table, the WUE may need to be readjusted.
17. Check a datalog of your cranking to verify that your cranking speed is 300
rpm or less. If it is more then 300 rpm (not very common, but possible), first
check that you are not getting ignition signal "spikes". If you are getting
spikes, then add the Dave capacitor, or try the other solutions in the ignition
triggering section of this manual. However, if your engine actually does crank
at 350 rpm or above, you need to make adjustments to the code to continue to
use the cranking pulse widths while the engine is cranking.
18. If your dash tachometer no longer works after sharing a signal with
MegaSquirt EFI Controller, the most common solution is to add a resistor with
a value between 1K and 100K Ohms to the tach input line to MegaSquirt. This
is simple and cheap, and there's no switching issues or other complications.
Some people use a 100K pot as variable resistor, tune it until it works, then
replace it with an equivalent resistor.
Setting the PWM Criteria

To tune the PWM [pulse width modulation] values for your engine, you need to know
what kind of injectors you have:
o Low impedance .
o High impedance.
For high-impedance injectors (greater than 10 Ohms)
o
o
PWM Time Threshold to 25.4 msec, and the

PWM Current Limit (%) to 100%.
In essence you are disabling the PWM mode. This allows full voltage to the
injectors throughout the pulse widths.
The injector opening time and PWM time threshold should be set to approximately
the same value. So adjust the PWM time threshold, and the opening time together.
However, once you start to tune the idle, if you have to revisit the PWM parameters,
change only the PWM time threshold but do not change the opening time.
The reason for this is that changing the opening time also changes the AFR,
especially at low rpms, so it forces you to also retune the VE table. So unless they get
to be different by more than about 0.5 milliseconds, leave the opening time alone
after tuning the idle and cruise VEs (unless your are willing to retune those areas).
On the car, setting the PWM parameters is very easy to do and only takes a few
minutes. At idle the overall injector pulse widths are small compared to their close
time, so adjust the PWM current limit before taking the car out on the street where
injector pulse widths become high, increasing the possibility of overheating your
injectors (and blowing fuses).
You may find that you can idle at a very low PWM%, but the engine will stumble or
cough if given any throttle. This can be due to a too low PWM% especially if your
injectors are large and the idle pulse width is approximately equal to the PWM Time
Threshold. In that case you may be idling almost entirely on the PWM Time
Threshold. So rev the engine occasionally as you are tuning the PWM parameters, to
ensure that you haven't gone too low.
Resets:
Resets generally indicate that the power to the processor was interrupted. This could
mean that the input power actually was cut, or there was a power surge into the
ground, so that there was no longer a 5v differential between the inputs and the
grounds.
When your MegaSquirt controller resets, TunerStudioMS displays a 'RESET X' in the
lower right corner [where X is the cumulative number of resets (including restarts)] ,
it will also beep.
Resets can cause a number of problems that cause the engine to run badly, including
messing up the baro correction and enabling after start enrichment. So you should
try to cure any reset issues before putting a lot of effort into tuning.
Resets are often caused by noisy power supplies (usually the alternator), or poor
grounds.
Fix the grounds, make sure all are perfect and do not connect to areas that are
dirty, rusted or painted. Place them close together.
check the alternator,shut the engine off, remove the wiring to the alternator
(don't let it ground on anything, some wires might be hot). Then start the engine
and see if the resets go away. If the resets disappear, the alternator is the
problem.
You can fix the alternator by adding a car stereo power filter to the MegaSquirt
controller's 12V supply. These are cheap ($5) and widely available. They typically
have three wires:
o one from a switched 12V source (the original source for the MegaSquirt).
o one to go to the MegaSquirt controller (with clean power).
o and a ground wire.
Ignition noise (solenoids turning on or off) can also cause resets.
Check your harness routing to see if any ground or signal wires are near
noise sources such as spark plug wires or the coil. Finally, non-resistor spark
plugs have been known to cause resets. Use resistor plugs whenever
possible.
Setting the Cold Start and Warm-Up Enrichments:

If the engine is cold out, you may have to figure out the cold start enrichments
(warm up enrichments) right away to keep the engine running until it warms up.
If it is reasonably warm out, the default values may be sufficient and you may be
able leave the cold start enrichments .
Once the engine fires up (defined by engine RPM greater than 300 RPM), the engine
goes into after start enrichment (ASE). The after start enrichment starts out at a
user-defined percentage enrichment value (typically around 20%), and ramps down
to 0% after so many ignition trigger events, which is user-defined (use about 200 for
this number to start). This is an enrichment above the normal warm-up enrichment,
which is temperature dependent.
Tuning the VE Table(s)
The VE table represents the volumetric efficiency and air/fuel ratio at each rpm and
kPa (0=total vacuum, 100=atmosphere, etc.).
Volumetric efficiency is the ratio of the amount of air actually fills the cylinder to the
amount that would fill the cylinder in a static situation. The VE is used in the
'fuelling equation' :
pulse width = Req_Fuel VE(rpm,kpa) MAP E + Injector_open_time
There are a number of ways to specify VE. MegaSquirt controller specifies it relative
to the manifold absolute pressure and includes the AFR in the VE table.
That is:
VE = (actual air mass)/(theoretical air mass)*AFRstoich/AFRactual
To set up the fuel curves for the engine with MegaSquirt-II , you have a number of
parameters to work with. The most important of these are
The Req_Fuel value.

The AFR table (1212 Air/Fuel Ratio).
The VE table (1212 volumetric efficiency table).
You should be aiming to achieve 12-13:1 air/fuel ratios under full throttle, and 1517:1 under light loads for a naturally aspirated engine.
Boosted engine may require a richer mixture under power. Conventional wisdom (not
always right) suggests that you tune for ~13.1:1 at peak torque, and 12.5:1 at peak
power for a naturally aspirated engine. Boosted engines can run as rich as ~10.5:1 to
11.0:1 under boost.
In all cases, you don't want to run lean at high loads - it can be very destructive to
your engine.
Why?
The exhaust gases are always hot. with a lean mixture, there is extra oxygen left over
in the combustion products ,combining very hot oxygen with hot aluminum results in
the aluminum (the piston) burning just like if it had been hit with an oxy-acetylene
gas cutting torch! The burning of the aluminum adds further heat, and the process gets
catastrophically destructive in a hurry.
Note that at low loads there isn't enough heat in the combustion products to raise the
piston temperature enough to initiate burning of the aluminum, So lean mixtures at
low loads are safe and save fuel.
With rich mixtures, the aluminum can't burn , there's no oxygen left after combustion,
and it's too cool in the chamber before combustion.
Detonation can also be caused by lean mixtures, which is another reason to avoid
running lean at high loads. It will cause huge spikes in the cylinder pressure (that is
audible as 'knock'), that can damage the pistons and even the cylinders by over
stressing them with mechanical loads. It must be avoided at all costs.
Rich mixtures burn more slowly (because there's no enough oxygen for the amount of
fuel) than lean mixtures (for which an excess of oxygen ensures quick combustion),
and this can result in detonation as the unburned portion of the chamber is compressed
and heated by the still combusting portion. At low loads, the cylinder combustion
speed is much slower (because the air fuel density is much lower), making detonation
less likely, so lean mixtures are again okay.
To start you tuning efforts with MegaSquirt-II, you can calculate an initial VE table
that has sufficient RPM and kPa bins, as well as an estimate of the VE based on your
maximum torque and horsepower figures. To do this, use the Tables/VE
Tables/Tools/Generate VE Table utility in TunerStudioMS2.25+. This calculated VE
table will need to be tuned carefully to avoid damage to your engine, however.
With a narrow band oxygen sensor, tuning the fuel mixture involves setting up
a VE table(s) which is rich (by increasing the entry in the VE table) at high
loads and rpms, or lean (by decreasing VE entry) at low loads and rpms.
With a wide band oxygen sensor, tuning the fuel mixture involves setting up a
'stoichiometric' VE table(s), and richening (by increasing the entry in the AFR
table) or leaning (by decreasing AFR entry) at each point in the AFR table.
Note: Exhaust leaks 'upstream' of the oxygen sensor will cause the sensor to misread
the air/fuel ratio and enrich the mixture. Air injection systems, if upstream of the
sensor, will do the same under some conditions.
Make sure your exhaust manifold gaskets, etc... are in good shape and your sensors
see only exhaust gas before using the closed loop EGO sensor feedback feature of
MegaSquirt-II.
Deciding exactly when and how much you should run rich is mostly an important
thing:
When tuning, you will find the engine will "surge" at low loads and "coughs" at
higher loads if it is run lean. Adjust the AFR at the point where this happens so that
this does not occur.
Check the plugs for detonation (tiny black and white flecks) when tuning at high loads
and rpms if you suspect detonation at all.
Note that detonation can be caused either by a lean fuel condition (VE too low) or
too much spark advance (for the fuel).
The simplest way to distinguish these two conditions is with an oxygen sensor.
Volumetric Efficiency (VE) entries in the 1212 MegaSquirt-II VE table are

expressed as a percent (i.e. 65 represents 65% volumetric efficiency).
For MegaSquirt-II, VE is relative to manifold pressure, according to the following
equation:
mass air in cylinder = (VE x MAP x cylinder volume) / R(constant) x MAT
So mass air increases with boost (MAP), but VE does not keep rising. There are many
reasons for this, one of the most important being residual exhaust gas in the cylinder,
which displaces the air you are trying to stuff in there. The mechanism by which EGR
enters the cylinder is the intake/exhaust valve overlap. As boost increases, this
window between intake and exhaust allows more residual gas to flow back into the
cylinder because the exhaust backpressure rises at very high boost, and can become
greater than the intake pressure. So in practice, VEs are never much greater than about
130%.
For normally aspirated engines, values above 100 kPa are essentially wasted. Put
them so they cover entire rpm/boost range of your engine. That is, you want to cover
from your slowest idle speed to your red line, and from the kPa at idle or deceleration
(whichever is lower) to full throttle (with boost, if applicable). Evenly spaced values
work well, but you may choose different values to suit your combination.
Even a turbocharged engine capable of 20 lbs/in of boost will generally not have
extremely large VE numbers. The addition of fuel for boost comes through the MAP
term in the fuel equation:
pulse width = Req_Fuel VE(rpm,kpa) MAP E + Injector_open_time
In essence, the mass of the air entering a cylinder is computed using the ideal gas law
(PV=NRT), where the pressure P is a function of VE and MAP, the volume V is the
cylinder displacement, the air temperature T is a function of E, R is the gas constant.
We are looking for N, the mass of inducted air and then that result is combined with a
characteristic number for a given injector.
If you get the injector opening time correct, and the REQ_FUEL accurately represents
the flow rate of your injectors, then the VE entries will be close to the VE noted
above. However, if your opening time is not right, or your REQ_FUEL is not, then
the numbers will be skewed by the amount the values are in error. In general, except
for when you are first trying to get your engine started, use the calculated value for
REQ_FUEL and do not change it.
In theory, at stoichiometric mixtures, the VE values at 100kPa would reflect the
torque curve of the engine at WOT (ignoring friction effects), assuming a constant
AFR level.
Tuning the AFR Table(s):
Air/Fuel Ratio (AFR) entries in the 1212 MegaSquirt-II AFR table are expressed as
a ratio of air to fuel by volume (for example 14.7:1 represents a chemically correct
("stoichiometric") ratio for gasoline. A ratio of ~16.5:1 gives good fuel economy at
low engine speeds and loads, while a ratio of ~12.5:1 gives maximum power at high
loads and rpms. These entries are used to adjust the oxygen sensor target voltage, and
only if you have a wide band sensor.
MegaSquirt-II uses one or two 1212 Air Fuel Ratio (AFR) tables for tuning.
Depending on the EGO feedback option you have selected:
If you don't have an oxygen sensor installed, choose 'Disabled' under EGO
Sensor Type in TunerStudioMS, and then you MegaSquirt-II controller will
not use the numbers in the AFR table to adjust the VE table numbers when
calculating the pulse widths. There is no feedback.
If you have enabled a narrow band oxygen sensor, choose 'Narrow band'
under EGO Sensor Type in TunerStudioMS, and you MegaSquirt-II controller
will try to adjust the amount if fuel injected, up to the limits you specify, to
give the oxygen sensor voltage specified in the tuning software. The AFR
table is not used, instead a single volt target is used.
If you have a wide band oxygen sensor & controller, choose 'Single Wide
band' under Settings/EGO Control in TunerStudioMS, and be SURE to go to
Tools/Calibrate AFR Table and select your controller type. Then your
MegaSquirt-II controller will adjust the amount of fuel injected based on the
AFR table until the wide band controller reports a voltage corresponding to the
air/fuel ratio in the appropriate cell of the AFR table.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT burn tables ('Calibrate AFR Table' or 'Calibrate

Thermistor Tables') on a running engine. Even idle is NOT allowed, because these
tables ONLY exist in flash, so once a table is erased, there is nothing but garbage in
there until it is re-programmed, one word at a time. Until that reprogramming is
complete (it can take a few seconds), operating the engine is unsafe.
Note, the EGO feedback does not operate if any of the following are true:
1. Your MegaSquirt-II controller has not been receiving an active tach signal for
30 seconds.
2. The coolant temperature sensor has not reached the Active Above Coolant
Temp () (EgoTemp).
3. The TPS is above the 'Active Below TPS (v)' setting.
4. The MAP sensor reading is above the 'Active Below MAP (kPa)' setting.
5. Either or both of the 'Controller Step Size' (EgoStep) or 'Controller
Authority (%)' (EgoLimit) are zero.
These are set in the 'Settings/EGO Control' dialog. In particular, unless your 'Active
Below MAP' is higher than your baro reading, you will not generate EGO feedback
on the stimulator without applying a vacuum to the MAP sensor.
If you do not have a wide band sensor installed, you can calculated the VE value
required to produce any other AFR:
newVE% = oldVE% (stoich(14.7) / desired AFR)
For example, if you have a stoichiometric mixture (NB02 = 0.50 volts) with 65% VE
at a certain RPM and kPa, then to lean the mix to 16.0:1 you need:
65% (14.7 / 16.0) = 60%
To richen an 80% VE entry to 12.5:1 from stoichiometric:
80% (14.7 / 12.5) = 94%
However, you cannot use the narrow band signal to determine a stoichiometric ratio
at high engine speeds and loads - this will damaged your engine if you try! A wide
band sensor and controller can be used under these conditions for feedback control.
With wide band sensors, simply set the desired AFR (and type), and adjust the VE
table to minimize the EGO correction at all engine speeds and loads.
With a narrow band sensor, you have more work to do. Have someone ride with you
and bring up the tuning page. See where the dot hangs around when you are under
moderate load - this is where you need to focus on tuning. Later you will try to
estimate the higher load numbers from those you determine under lesser loads.
Use the up-arrow + shift to richen the VE values - enrich (with increased VE
number) the four corners around where the dot is - give each corner five up-arrowshifts, and see if this helps. Be sure to turn on EGO correction, and then tune using the
EGO correction gauge rather than the EGO voltage gauge. If correction is below
100%, then raise VE to raise correction and so on.
You can also datalog the engine parameters (including O2 volts) and inspect the
resulting file to see where the VE needs to be raised or lowered according to the
MAP, rpm, and AFR (if you have a wideband O2 sensor).
Tuning the Spark Table:
Spark advance.. refers to the position at which the spark occurs in the crankshaft's
revolution. It is measured in degrees before top dead center - BTDC The spark
occurs before the piston reaches the top of the cylinder because the fuel takes some
time to burn, and we want it well under way at maximum compression. Lower
cylinder (and manifold) pressures result in slower burning, so low MAP kPa values
have higher spark advance numbers in the table. However, because the burn time is
relatively constant for a given pressure, the timing must be advanced in degrees as
engine speed (rpm) rises.
For MegaSquirt-II the total ignition advance is based on three types of advance:
Total advance = initial advance + RPM based advance + vacuum advance
In particular, MegaSquirt-II uses three factors to determine

the total advance (called adv_deg).
1. The relevant value from the (rpm x kPa table), called ign_table(rpm,kPa).
2. The advance offset (adv_offset), roughly equivalent to the initial timing.
3. The value that MegaSquirt-II uses, not present in the above equation, is the
cold_adv_deg, which is a 1x10 table based on engine coolant temperature
(clt). A cooler engine is less susceptible to detonation, so it can use more
advance, and thus make more power and be more efficient.
So with MegaSquirt-II (or MicroSquirt), the advance equation becomes:
adv_deg = adv_offset + ign_table(rpm, kpa) + cold_adv_deg
Note that, In the code, all of these advance factors are in tenths of a degree (1/10),
and all are positive only. All ignition parameters are in crank degrees as opposed to
distributor degrees.
Before tuning your advance table, be sure to use a timing light to verify that your
'trigger offset' is calibrated. Changing the Trigger Offset in TunerStudioMS will not
change the displayed advance, instead, it changes the actual advance as seen with a
timing light. Your goal is to make these two match.
To do this, get your engine warmed-up (otherwise the timing moves as the
temperature increases) and idling, then use a timing light to verify to be certain your
actual advance as shown by a timing light equals your the advance display on the
advance gauge in TunerStudioMS. (26.3 in this case).
Note that, positive numbers denote BTDC, and negative numbers denote after TDC.
In the above illustration, you want the 'big' displayed number - 26.3 - (which doesn't
change) to match the number the timing light gives you.
You make it match by adjusting the 'small' number - 8.0 - up or down (using the +/buttons or typing it in).
So in the above example, we wouldn't know how to adjust it, because we are missing
the timing light info. But if the timing light showed 28.3 degrees, we would change
the trigger angle to 10.0 . This takes 2 degrees out of the timing (because MS-II only
adds 26.3-10 = 16.3 degrees, instead of 26.3 - 8 = 18.3 degrees), and the big number
should match the timing light, so your trigger offset is correct.
Note that you can also make the big number and timing light match by rotating the
distributor. This has the advantage of allowing you to specify the trigger offset
directly to your desired value, and still have the correct timing. If you choose this
method, you rotate the distributor until the timing light value (which changes with
distributor rotation) matches the big number (which doesn't change). Then your
trigger offset is correctly calibrated, and set to your chosen value.
The trigger offset value can theoretically be set anywhere physically, however, since
it may be used for cranking and 'fault mode' timing (GM 7-pin HEI), it is best to set it
at a reasonable number for idle, say ~8 BTDC (or whatever is recommended by the
module's manufacturer). Check this with a timing light. To get the trigger offset to
this value, you may have to rotate your distributor or move your crankshaft VR
sensor.
The trigger offset is a quick way to move the entire table around. This could help in
dyno tuning if you wanted to see in one run what retarding everywhere did to you,
then start moving things around according to the horsepower curve compared to
baseline with 0 offset.
To set the spark advance table, you should try to understand what your engine needs
in the following areas:
1. total advance at WOT: should be from ~24 to ~40 depending on your bore
size and combustion chamber characteristics. Older design engines (i.e. push
rods, domed pistons, etc.), and those with large bores (big blocks, etc.) need
more advance, about 36 to 38. Newer designs (4 valve/cylinder, swirl port
engines, etc.), and small bores, generally require less, about 28 to 32. Engines
that have a lot of miles on them require less as well, because of oil leakage
into the chamber. Lower octane fuel also requires less advance (it burns more
quickly), so if you are running 87 octane, use a few degrees less total advance
than if you are running 94 octane.
2. initial advance (adv_offset + ign_table(idle)): this is the rough equivalent of
the old 'idle advance with the vacuum line disconnected' figure. In
MegaSquirt-II it is the advance at the lowest rpm bin and a MAP value of 100
kPa. Larger initial advance numbers produce a slightly more fuel efficient idle,
but may make the idle unstable and result in higher emissions (this is why
most engines use the no vacuum advance at idle). Too much initial advance
can also make the engine hard to start. Generally, keep the initial advance at
6 to 10.
3. RPM based advance: Generally for a performance engine, you want the
advance to be 'all-in' by 3000 rpm. So for a given MAP (say 100 kPa) the
spark advance should rise from the initial value to the maximum by about
3000 rpm. Your particular settings will depend on your MAP and RPM bins.
4. vacuum (MAP) advance: as the load on the engine is reduced, the fuel burns
more slowly and more advance is required. This means that you should have
the advance increase for a given rpm as the MAP value decreases in kPa. So,
for example, if you have 32 advance at 4000 rpm and 100 kPa, you might
have 40 advance at 4000 rpm and 50 kPa. You can make the intervening
values evenly spaced to begin with, and tune them later. You can experiment
by using up to 10 to 20 more advance at the lowest kPa bins compared to the
highest kPa bins.
For example, most small block Chevrolet V8 engines like about 32 to 38 degrees
total advance at wide open throttle (WOT), depending on the heads, compression
ratio, and fuel used. Note that you are aiming to have the RPM based advance come in
at the right rate relative to engine RPM. Typically, you want it "all in" by about 28003200 RPM for a street performance motor. Additional advance above this RPM point
isn't needed because increased combustion chamber turbulence results in faster burn
times. Note that getting the advance in sooner does NOT build peak HP, but it does
build low rpm torque.
Note that, the optimum amount of total advance is not necessarily the most that
doesn't detonate. For example, with a modern cylinder head design, you might get
maximum power at 32, but might not experience any detonation until 38-40.
However you will still want the advance to come in as quickly as possible (without
knocking) up to 32.
The exception to maximizing the total advance is the initial advance the engine uses
when cranking. Higher initial advance will generate better 'off-idle' response
(especially with an automatic transmission), but can cause hard starting, to the point
of physically breaking the starter. Some sources recommend up to 14 to 20 of initial
advance for performance engines. However, if you have installed your MegaSquirt-II
controller on a high compression, large displacement engine that already puts an
additional strain on the starter, limit your initial advance to 4-6, then have the
advance come in rapidly after 600 to 800 rpm.
You might be tempted to be clever and set the high kPa/low rpm bins (bottom right)
to 0, so that the starting would be easy, and the cranking bypass signal will not be
needed. However, you need to consider two things:
1. one might have to use the cranking bypass, the module may not work
otherwise.
2. the engine really may not want to transition smoothly from cranking to starting
unless the high kPa/low rpm bins are at least 8 to 10.
To tune the spark table, you will need drive the car and listen for detonation. If you
hear any (or better yet, if a datalog shows any feedback from the knock sensor) reduce
the advance at the spark advance table point where the detonation occurred. Start at
low engine speeds and low engine loads, and work towards higher speeds/loads
progressively. Always keep the spark table smooth by adjusting the neighboring
'cells', or driveability may suffer.
Let up on the throttle immediately if you hear the rattles of detonation. Then remove
and inspect your spark plugs. Look for evidence of detonation on the porcelin nose of
the spark plug that surrounds the center electrode. Detonation will show as "salt and
pepper", which is tiny flecks of carbon and/or aluminum that indicate detonation has
occurred.
If there are no 'rattles', and no salt and pepper, you can increase the advance by a
few degrees, and repeat. Check the spark plugs after each drive.
As you continue to increase advance, you will eventually either hear detonation (let
off the gas immediately!) or you will slow down. At this point, decrease the advance
at that point of the spark advance table, increase the VE at the same point in the VE
table, or use higher quality fuel. Do not continue to operate an engine that shows signs
of detonation, even if it is brief.
If you experience detonation in your engine, then either:
1.
Your mixture is too lean. Increase the numbers in the VE table at the point the
engine detonates (or increase the Req_Fuel if the detonation occurs at all
points). Also make sure your fuel pump is operating well. It may be supplying
enough fuel at idle, but not supplying enough when the demand rises. Use the
oxygen sensor readings to determine if you are lean.
2.
You have oil leakage into the combustion chamber. check the plugs for signs
of oil. This could come past the rings or seals (possibly worn, or from
something that was forgotten during assembly, or there are blocked drain back
passages in the head, or the rings have been damaged by detonation or overrevving), a 'leaky' PVC system, or from a poor intake manifold gasket seal
allowing oil into the runners.
3.
Your spark advance may come in too far and/or too fast. Edit the spark
advance table to lower the rate at which advance is added. You may also need
to limit the total advance. Most engines will not require more than ~36
(possibly more for a flathead design, or a large open chamber, large piston
dome design). Newer cylinder head designs and 4 valve/cylinders heads
generally don't require a lot of advance.
4.
You have spark plugs that are too hot or they are incorrectly torqued (if they
are loose, they over-heat because of poor thermal contact with the head).
5.
Your thermostat is too hot, you can try as low as a 160F thermostat for street
use.
6.
Your fan is not working properly. Use an electric fan that comes on at 175F
(Many stock electric fans don't come on until 210F to 220F).
7.
You may have a lot of air trapped in the cooling system. drill three or four 1/8"
holes in the thermostat's flange (not the manifold or housing, on the actual
thermostat itself) to help bleed the cooling system while you fill it.
Setting the Acceleration Enrichments:
MegaSquirt-II has blended MAPdot/TPSdot abilities for acceleration enrichment.

You can select the proportion of each using the slider in the 'Tuning/Acceleration'
dialog in TunerStudioMS (the variable is called Tps_acc_wght in the code). If you
choose 100%, you get accel enrichment based on TPS only, if you choose 0%, you get
accel enrichment based on MAP only. Of course you can set it to any integer between
these (99%, 98%, 97%, ... 3%, 2%, 1%, etc.) and get 'blended' accel enrichment.
The default values are a good place to start (especially if your req_fuel is somewhere
between 10 and 20 milliseconds).To convert v/s (used with older versions of
TunerStudioMS) to % /s, assume that 0%=0 Volts and 100% = 5 Volts (which isn't
quite true, but it is a start), then 1.0 v/s = 20 %/s, etc..
The values on the upper right are the TPS based values (as noted by the heading
above them), those on the upper left are the MAP based values.
The two vertical columns show the current TPSdot and MAPdot values, with the
recent peaks 'tell-taled' in red.
Larger values in the "Value (ms)" entries increase the amount of accel enrichment.
Smaller values decrease the amount of accel enrichment.
The slider chooses the percentage of MAP versus TPS, some where between 30% and
60% is good for most installations. Some installations may need to use values outside
this range to solve specific issues.
MegaSquirt-II also has user configurable accel taper tuning:
The accel time, is time during which the full accel enrichment is added to the injector
pulse width (in seconds not milliseconds). The accel taper time allows you to have the
accel enrichment taper from the set value to the end pulse width gradually, rather than
having the accel enrichment end abruptly.
Each of these accel enrichments schemes has its own threshold (the rate below which
no accel enrichment is applied). For MAPdot this is the MAPdot Threshold (kPa/s)
(MapThresh), for TPSdot it is the TPSdot threshold (v/s) (TpsThresh).
By watching the bar graphs in the accel wizard, you can see how much noise there is
in the respective sensor signals. try to set you threshold(s) above these levels to avoid
unwanted accel enrichment, which can make you engine run very poorly.
After you have the VE table dialed in, then start adjusting the acceleration
enrichment. You may want to try a short acceleration shot time (like 0.2 seconds) and
increase the accel enrichment bins.
If the car does not buck under acceleration, you are close to correct settings. If it
bucks and stumbles, then it is going too lean and you need to richen that part of the
table.
Before tuning decel or accel, make sure you have your VE table close to correct
first! One way to do this is to get the VE table set up by setting the TPSdot threshold
very high (250 kpa/sec or 250 % /s, something like that) so that TPS enrich/enlean
never kicks in. Then, (in steady state) set up VE table.
To adjust the accel bins, start with them high, then reduce the lowest bin value by
0.1 milliseconds at a time until the engine stumbles or coughs under gentle opening of
the throttle. If it never stumbles, increase the rate at which you open the throttle and
try again. If it stumbles even with the above values, double them and try again.
Then repeat with the next higher bin and slightly faster throttle movement. Continue
with each higher bin and more aggressive throttle application until all the bin are
satisfactory.
The Decel fuel amount (%) (TPSDQ) enrichment can be used to improve the
economy of your vehicle. It reduces the amount of fuel injected when the TPS (and/or
MAP) are decreasing. A decel fuel amount setting of 100% means no cut. 1% means
reduce the pulse width by 99%, to 1% of what it normally would be.
Note that, decel 'enrichment' is ONLY applied above 1500 rpm.
Datalogging:
Datalogging, allows you to create a running record of the MegaSquirt-II real-time

variables. Once you have enabled datalogging (by clicking on the Datalog menu item
on the File list), TunerStudioMS polls the MegaSquirt-II controller when any of the
front page, runtime display or tuning page are active, and writes this data to a file.
The file has a comma-separated value format and defaults to having an extension of
".msl" (or ".xls", so Microsoft Excel will open them automatically if you have Excel
installed on your system).
To view MegaSquirt-II datalogs, you can use Phil Tobbin's excellent
MegaLogViewer.
MegaLogViewer supports:
Scale change, up to 8x zoom

Playback from 1/8 speed to 8x speed
Overlayed Graphs
Wideband O2 - AFR calculations
Calculated Fields - RPM/Sec, Vacuum, Boost, PW-1
Mass Air Flow mapping
Custom Formulas with free hand math
Save Graph to Jpeg for easy posting to web
Customizable colors, gauges and UI features.
User friendly interface that saves all settings and enables navigation by
keyboard, buttons and mouse.
Seeing your datalogs graphed can give you a very clear idea of how your electronic
fuel injection is working, and make it much easier to spot problems.
Note that, the datalog includes an 'EngineBit' field. This bit will tell you if the
engine was accelerating, warming-up, etc., and can be used to sort unsuitable data
lines (because O2 correction is not active under acceleration, warm-up, etc.) from the
file.
The enginebit has 7 binary bits. The rightmost bit represents running. It is 1 if ready to
run, zero if not ready, so 000001 = 1 or 000000 = 0. The next rightmost value is for
cranking, 000010 = 2 if cranking. The fields are:
2.6-Wiring and Sensors

External Wiring with a V3.0 Main Board
Note that..
The MegaSquirt EFI controller is a bank fire injection system, you connect half the
injectors to the driver for one bank (pins #32,33), the other half to the other driver
(pins #34,35). You can connect them in any order.
For troubleshooting ease, having each bank on a separate driver might help.
However, you might want to separate them into alternates in the firing order, which
some people have claimed is theoretically slightly beneficial.
As an example, on V8s with bank fire systems, manufacturers typically run one bank
off one driver, regardless of the firing order. The advantage of doing it that way is it
makes troubleshooting easier.
All MegaSquirt installations must have an input (crank position/tach) signal to

determine engine speed. This signal come on pin #24 of the DB37.
A variable reluctor (VR) input sensor is shown above. To use a Hall sensor, optical
sensor, or points trigger, you connect the signal to the same input pin as the VR
sensor.
You must ground the VR other lead of the sensor as well, pin #2 can be used.
However, pin #7 is not a 'dedicated' or specialized ground for the VR sensor, it just
happens to be a ground (the next revision of the PCB will have a dedicated ground
for the VR circuit on DB37 pin #2, so use pin #2 if you think you might upgrade at any
point).
The main grounds from pins #8, 9, 10, 11,& 18 go to one spot on the engine block.
Do not ground them at physically separated locations, and do not use a single fat
wire for this. Instead run separate wires from the pins all the way to the ground spot.
Pin #19 is the sensor ground. If you have two wire CLT and IAT sensors, their grounds
and the TPS ground should run back to the DB37's pin #19 to reduce the potential for
noise in the sensor signals.
The DB37 pin #36 is an output, used to control an ignition module, or control a coil
directly (if the high current ignition driver circuit is installed). It only needs to be
connected if you are controlling ignition timing and dwell.
Relays generally have 4 pins (marked 85, 86, 30, 87) or 5 pins (85, 86, 30, 87, 87a).
For most automotive relays, pins 85 and 86 are the coil circuit (and takes 12 Volts to
activate the 'switch' - assuming a 12V rated relay, of course!). The 12V can be
applied to either pin, with the ground on the other pin.
The controlled circuit(s) is on pins 30 and 87/87a.
30 and 87 are connected if the coil gets 12V (disconnected otherwise). This
circuit is switched ON when the coil supply circuit (85->86) is ON. It doesn't
matter which 'polarity' you connect the controlled circuit to 30/87 - the relay
simply connects them.
30 and 87a are connected if the coil does not have 12V (disconnected when it
does have 12V).
Some Wiring Considerations
You need to pay particular attention to your 12 volt power source and your
ground location.
The 12 volt supply for the MegaSquirt EFI controller MUST supply power in
both the RUN and CRANK positions. Verify this before attempting to start
your engine. Many people have assumed they have a suitable source and
spent many frustrating hours trying to figure out why their engine won't
start, all because the power source they chose wasn't supplying 12 volts in
the CRANK position. So before hooking your power wires up, put a voltmeter
(or test light) between the source and ground, and verify that you have 9-12
volts while cranking.
Noise in the charging system (from the alternator and/or regulator) can cause
processor resets or component damage in MegaSquirt. Try to connect the
+12 volt switched lead (pin #28) as close to the battery as possible. The
battery acts to smooth out the noise from the alternator. If you experience
resets in your installation, go to your local Radio Shack or automotive stereo
shop and purchase an "isolation module". These are EMI/RFI filters used on
radios to filter out alternator noise. The current MegaSquirt draws from the
12 Volt source isn't a lot, but you should get the biggest isolator you can find.
Try to ground the MegaSquirt EFI controller as close as possible to the battery
ground, sensor grounds, and other grounds on the engine. Often grounding
the MegaSquirt EFI controller to the engine block (or intake manifold), with
additional heavy gauge ground wires from the block to the frame and to the
battery, is sufficient. If necessary, run additional wires to any other part of
the vehicle that may be marginally grounded.
The MegaSquirt EFI controller only draws a few hundred milliAmps (from its
12V supply). However it sinks much much more than this by grounding the
injectors, coil, Fast idle valve, etc So the total amount sunk can easily be
several Amps to a dozen or more, and ALL of that has to pass through the
ground pins.
So you will want a multiple ground wires at the DB37 (one pin is rated at a
max of 5 Amps). too small/few ground wires might create a bias in the
ground level where the voltage at the MegaSquirt EFI controller's ground is
higher than at the battery, which can create all sort of mysterious problems.
So grounds are very, very important, and should be made as good as you can
make them. These means:
o Use the recommended number and size of wires.
o Ensure that any connectors are well soldered.
o Attach all the grounds to a single, clean (no paint, oil/grease, etc)
point on the engine.
Note:
You must use a "main relay" that supplies both the injectors and your
MegaSquirt controller, as shown in the external wiring diagram above.
When your MegaSquirt controller shuts down, the injector driver states are
'indeterminate' and might allow current to flow through the injectors. Thus
the injectors might stay open and flood the engine if the MegaSquirt
controller isn't powered but the injectors are powered.
The sensor wires are not labeled at the sensors themselves, as there are
many possible sensors. Each person has to figure the connections out for
their particular configuration.
To start, both the temperature sensors (IAT, CLT) have one or two
connections. The recommended sensors have two connections. With these,
one goes to ground, the other to the MegaSquirt EFI controller (the pins on
the sensor are not oriented, you can connect the wires either way). With a
one-wire sensor, the connection goes to MegaSquirt EFI Controller, and the
sensor is grounded through its body to the engine.
The coil or tach lead connections depend on each particular set-up, check
your maintenance manual.
The injector pins do NOT have a polarity. Pick one on each injector to go to
+12V, the other goes to MegaSquirt.
For the O2 sensor, the wiring depends on the type (1, 3, & 4 wire).
General Guidelines for Automotive Wiring
Always read, understand, and obey all applicable safety precautions for your
tools, equipment, vehicle, and electrical, mechanical, and fuel system
components. Some precautions come in your owners manuals for your
vehicle, tools, equipment, and components. You MUST find and read all of
these precautions and follow them exactly. Failure to do so could result in
injury, death, or property damage.
Load on a wire in amps is:

Wattage of the device divided by 12 = Amps
(Volts x Amps = Watts)
Keep wire runs reasonably short, but leave yourself enough to replace the
end if the terminal ever gets damaged.
DO NOT use solid core wire - it is not designed to flex or vibration - and it
WILL fail. Whenever possible, use fine-stranded copper core wire.
Bundle wires and use convoluted tubing (available in many sizes) or spiral
wrap (Spi-wrap) to protect your wires from abrasion. Clamp the bundled
wires to appropriate (not hot, not moving) locations wherever possible using
clamps or nylon tie-wraps.
Use DIFFERENT color wires for different circuits - you have not lived until you
have tried to troubleshoot a car done in all black wires five years after the
fact.
Keep records of what you do - you will appreciate having a schematic two
years from now when something stops working.
Use a load reduction relay from the ignition switch to switched hot. This is
the 'Main Relay' in the MegaSquirt schematics. If you try to route all the
MegaSquirt EFI controller current through the ignition switch, it may not last
very long.
Also, when your MegaSquirt controller shuts down, the injector driver states
are 'indeterminate' and might allow current to flow through the injectors.
Thus the injectors might stay open and flood the engine if the MegaSquirt
controller isn't powered but the injectors are powered. The main relay
ensures both the injectors and your MegaSquirt controller are shut off
together.
Work in a well-lighted area - this is hard enough to do correctly even when

you CAN see what you are doing.
Crimped vs. soldered connections - with a decent crimper used properly,

crimped connections are good. With a decent soldering gun and with proper
technique, soldered connections are good. Make sure that you have some
kind of stress-relief for each kind. Many people prefer soldered connections,
but crimped connections are faster and there is no fire hazard and no solder
blobs on the carpets.
Make room to work - partially gut the interior so you have room to move
around and run your wires. Remember you may need access later, so try not
to put wires where you can never reach them again.
If at all possible, try not to use "exotic" parts - stick with commonly available
terminal strips, relays, connectors, etc - if the part you need five years from
now is no longer available, you will have to do that part of the job over to use
what you CAN get at the time.
Making a Pigtail to Connect to MegaSquirt

You will need to connect your MegaSquirt EFI controller to power, ground, sensors,
fuel pump, fast idle valve, and injectors. You can do this using 18 or 20 gauge wires.
The ground and injector wires carry more current, however they are doubled-up
on the board.
Wherever possible, use colored wires to make hook-up and troubleshooting easier.
You may wish to build up the connector from multi-conductor cable, instead of
individual wire runs, though it can be difficult to find multi-conductor cable with
enough wires. You will need wires for the following:
If you are triggering MegaSquirt EFI controller from the negative-terminal of the
coil (-), you may want to use a shielded wire for this (there have been reports from
the field indicating that shielded cable helps reduce false triggering).
MAP Sensor
The most fundamental measurement MegaSquirt EFI controller uses to determine
the amount of fuel to inject is the manifold absolute pressure. The MegaSquirt EFI
controller uses the MPX4250AP as a MAP sensor, and it is supplied with ALL the
units from the current group buy. It will correctly measure from a near vacuum to
~21 psi of boost. It is suitable for all naturally aspirated and most turbocharged
engines. If you are going to run more than about 20 lbs of boost, you may need a
MAP rated at a higher pressure.
The MegaSquirt EFI controller normally mounts the MAP sensor in the MegaSquirt
enclosure, where it is protected from mechanical and electrical stresses (be sure to
mount it with the specified screws, don't use tie wraps or other fasteners, they can
distort the case and cause false readings and/or sensor failure). It can be mounted
remotely, if desired.
You need to run vacuum tubing from the sensor to the engine intake manifold. You
can use a nipple on the throttle body that has full-time engine vacuum (i.e. NOT
ported vacuum). The source you choose should have a high vacuum at idle, if it does
not, it is a ported source, and you need to hook your vacuum line somewhere else
(either another nipple on the throttle body, or one connected directly to the intake
manifold).
Make sure the vacuum tubing you use is appropriate for automotive environments,
so that it will not melt, dissolve from oil, etc
Don't worry about how long your MAP sensor vacuum hose is. Intuitively it seems
that shorter should be better. However, a few people have done tests to see how
bad the effect of a long hose was on vacuum signal propagation. With a ~100 foot
(~30 meters) coil of rubber tubing in between the sensor and the engine, the result
was that no delay was apparent. This was with about a 10 millisecond resolution
clock. The reason for this is that air has so little inertia that it moves very quickly in
response to a vacuum (this is how we fill the cylinders, after all!).
Oxygen Sensors
An exhaust gas oxygen sensor (EGO) is very useful for setting up the MegaSquirt EFI
controller volumetric efficiency table, and while it is highly recommended, it is not
essential.
It is very important that there be no exhaust gas leaks upstream of the oxygen
sensor. Certain conditions can draw ambient air into the exhaust, causing the
MegaSquirt EFI controller to compensate for an apparently lean condition. This will
falsely create a rich mixture in your system that can be difficult to diagnose.
Those who have converted late-model emission engines, should be careful to

understand and modify the operation of any air injection systems they have to be
sure air is not being pumped into the exhaust ahead of the oxygen sensor(s) during
closed-loop operation.
Closed loop refers to those times when an EFI computer is using the feedback on the
mixture provided by the oxygen sensor to effectively control the injected amounts.
Open Loop refers to those times when the MegaSquirt EFI controller ignores the
feedback from the oxygen sensor.
The MegaSquirt-II EFI controller uses the WB EGO sensor to it's full advantage with
144 AFR set points (12x12 table by rpm and kPa)
The Wide Band Advantage

With a narrow band sensor, we can really only tell for certain whether we are rich or
lean, but not by how much. If you look at the graph, you can see that for a narrow
band sensor, the 12.5:1 AFR required for maximum power can give O2 voltage from
0.8 to 0.95 (depending on exhaust gas temperature), yet this same range of O2
voltages can indicate mixtures from 10:1 to 14.5:1. So we cannot use it reliably to set
mixtures for full power. With a wide-band sensor, 12.5:1 corresponds to 2.08 volts,
and 2.08 volts means 12.5:1. Thus there is no ambiguity over AFR and voltages. We
can measure any mixture in the range we are likely to use, from full power through
to maximum economy. MegaSquirt-I does not currently have the capability to fully
exploit a wide-band sensor by incorporating full time, all conditions closed loop
feedback for fueling (MegaSquirt-II does).
An EGO sensor (either narrow band or wide band) has a number of conditions under
which it could mislead the MegaSquirt EFI Controller. Among these are:
The sensor needs time to warm up from a cold start. Do you want to sit and
wait 30 to 60 seconds while it does that (like a glow plug)?
A sensor wiring failure would have no 'back-up' and the car would be
undriveable. Other sensors can create problems too, but they aren't in a hot
800C exhaust stream.
exhaust leaks or EGR problems could make the engine run badly or damage
itself.
rich misfiring (i.e., fuel that fails to burn because there is to much for the
amount of oxygen available) can indicate a lean condition to the sensor
(excess oxygen that was not burnt because of the misfire). If EGO correction
is active under those conditions, this will result in an even richer mixture, and
worse misfiring, etc., in a run-away fashion. This makes tuning very difficult.
So if you think you have a possibility of a rich misfire, disable EGO correction
until you have eliminated the misfire.
you would still have to tune the engine (to the optimal AFRs), so you
wouldn't gain a lot in the process.
That's why MegaSquirt has limits on the EGO correction, and doesn't use EGO
feedback under a number of conditions. Under the conditions they do work, though,
a wide band sensor is a very nice tools to have.
If your car did not come with an oxygen sensor, you can add one. The thread for all
oxygen sensors [including wide-band] is: 18mm x1.5mm - i.e., a metric thread 18mm
in diameter with a pitch of 1.5mm, the same as 18mm spark plugs.
To fabricate a bung to mount your sensor, you can go to your local automotive parts
store and look in the section with all the HELP products. Pick up a package of "18mm
Spark Plug Anti-foulers". Cut off the externally threaded part, and weld the rest to
your manifold or down pipe. This works wonderfully .
The hex portion of the oxygen sensor is is 22mm, and a 7/8" wrench will work for
installing/removing. Unless otherwise specified, the oxygen sensor should be
torqued to 30 lbft (40 N-m). Apply anti-seize to the threads before installing.
Temperature Sensors
MegaSquirt uses coolant and air temperature sensors to determine the warm-up
characteristics of the engine and the density of the intake air. They are essential to
proper functioning of a MegaSquirt controller. Both sensors are Negative
Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistors. This means that they are resistors whose
resistance decreases as their temperature goes up.
Before electronic fuel injection, the temperature sensors were used mostly to drive
gauges or 'idiot lights', rather than control the engine. In addition, these gauges were
highly damped, and electrical noise in the signal was not a problem.
As a result, many non-EFI vehicles have 'one-wire' temperature sensors, and ground
the sensor through the engine block.
When EFI came along, temperature sensors were used to determine the
instantaneous fuelling and spark advance in some cases, and reducing noise became
essential. The manufacturer's solution was 'two-wires' sensors that use a dedicated
ground return to the ECU (instead of the much more noisy high current ground).
MegaSquirt controllers adopt a similar scheme. DB37 pin #19 is used for the sensor
ground, and the IAT, CLT and TPS ground wires should be run to it. In addition, if you
are using a VR trigger, you should bring the VR ground back to the MegaSquirt
controller (pin #2 or pin #7 - pin #2 will be a dedicated ground for the VR circuit in
future revisions, pin #7 is a general ground).
Naturally aspirated engines using MegaSquirt can use the same sensors for coolant
and air temperature, Turbocharged or supercharged engines should use an openelement air temperature sensor for a faster response time.
Note that, these sensors have different connectors. The coolant temperature sensor
uses a mushroom shaped key way where it inserts into the sensors, while the open
element intake air temperature sensor uses a rectangular connector key way.
The wiring schematic for DB37 shows only one input for all of the sensors (except for
the two for the TPS). The missing connection is a ground wire for the sensor.
Sensor grounds should be brought to the same grounding point on the engine block
as the MegaSquirt ground, unless they are grounded through the body of the sensor.
Throttle Position Sensor

The MegaSquirt controller uses the throttle position sensor (TPS) to determine:
when the engine is at or near full throttle .. To shut off feedback from the
O2 sensor.
when the engine throttle is opening or closing rapidly .. needing an
accel/decel enrichment
when the engine is flooded .. To be cleared.
TPS gives a continuously varying signal with changing throttle. There are two wires
on the external wiring schematic that go from MegaSquirt into the TPS sensor. These
two MegaSquirt wires are +5 Vref signal and a sense line. There is a third wire going
to ground.
To hook up your throttle position sensor,
Disconnect the TPS, and use a digital multi-meter. Switch it to measure resistance.
The resistance between two of the connections will stay the same when the throttle
is moved. Find those two - one will be the +5 Vref and the other a ground. The third
is the sense wire to the MegaSquirt controller.
To figure out which wire is the +5 Vref and which is the ground, connect your meter
to one of those two connections and the other to the TPS sense connection. If you
read a high resistance which gets lower as you open the throttle, It is the one which
goes to ground, the other one which had the continuous resistance goes to the +5
Vref from the MegaSquirt EFI Controller, and the remaining wire is the TPS sense
wire.
The throttle position sensor is used for flood clear mode and EGO enrichment, as
well as accel enrichment:
Flood clear mode is triggered at a TPS ADC count value of 155 (~3 volts),
EGO feedback is disabled above 178 (~3.5 volts).
In each case it is the actual voltage measured at the TPS input that is used, not the
"Throttle Position %" displayed in TunerStudioMS.
Use the "Tools/Calibrate TPS" function in MegaTune to ensure that you have an ADC
count value well below 155 at closed throttle, and above 178 at wide open throttle
(WOT). This will ensure that you are not in flood clear mode while cranking (ideally,
your TPS at closed throttle will be 20 or less), and yet still able to activate flood clear
mode. Many TPS are adjustable by loosening the screws and rotating it a bit. Also
verify that the ADC count increases as you open the throttle, otherwise you have the
TPS wired backwards. You should recheck the TPS range each time you change the
idle position or reassemble the throttle linkage.
knock sensor
Spark knock is the sound of abnormal combustion in an
engine.
Once combustion in a spark-ignition internal combustion
engine is initiated by a spark, the flame front is designed to
spread from the spark plug and travel across the combustion
chamber rapidly and smoothly. As the flame front propagates
across the chamber, the remaining unburnt air-fuel mixture
can ignite spontaneously (auto-ignites) before the flame front
arrives, due to the increasing pressure and temperature in
the combustion chamber.
When this occurs, there is a sudden jump in the pressure in the cylinder. This causes
in the characteristic knocking or pinging sound. Knocking results from ignition timing
that is too advanced for the fuel octane rating and operating conditions at that
moment.
A knock sensor can be used in conjunction with electronic spark control to optimize
the ignition advance for the fuel being used. One limiting factor in ignition timing
control is 'knocking', which is uncontrolled burning of the fuel in the combustion
chamber. This can be affected by intake air temperature, coolant temperature,
engine age and condition, air/fuel ratios, air density, altitude and humidity, among
others.
The knock sensing system is a closed loop system design to allow the optimum
amount of advance while avoiding engine damaging knocking.
The sensor should be mounted near the top of the engine block, as close to the
center as practical. Do not mount it close to noisy components such as the fuel pump
or cam shaft lifters. Mounting the knock sensor in the cylinder head is not a good
idea because of valve train noise.
Finding a suitable location of the sensor is crucial. Wherever possible, use the
location specified by the manufacturer for that engine family. Bear in mind that
knock sensing is not a magic bullet. If the compression ratio, boost pressure, or oil
contamination is too high for your fuel quality, either knock will occur or you will
lose power by having to retard timing to prevent it. Sustained severe knocking
(detonation) WILL destroy your engine, sometimes within a few seconds.
Ideally, you will be able to find a suitable threaded hole in your block to which you
can mount the sensor. If not, an alternative is to drill and tap the block, or thread a
steel adapter to accommodate the sensor on one end and a stub with the thread to
match those in an existing pretapped boss in your block. Note that it may be
necessary to change the sensor location if you cannot isolate engine noise while
allowing MegaSquirt-II to identify knock.
If you choose to drill and tap your block, choose a thick area of the block with a boss
that is at least " (19 mm) thick. Drill a " (13mm) hole. The hole should be 0.500"
to 0.625" (13 mm to 16 mm) deep. Make absolutely sure that it is safe to drill a hole
this size - YOU CAN RUIN YOUR ENGINE'S BLOCK WITH A POORLY PLACED HOLE!
Wiring the Knock Sensor and Module

The ESC module sends a voltage signal (8 to 10 volts) when NO knock is detected by
the knock sensor. If knock occurs, this signal is pulled low.
Knock Sensor Settings
Knock Control:
o Disabled: do not use knock feedback for ignition advance control.
o Safe Mode: use knock retard, but keep the advance below that which
caused knock. This backs the advance 1 small step back and leaves it
at that until TPS or MAP changes - or knock comes back. This is "safe
mode" scheme is the safest thing for a DIY set-up.
o Aggressive Mode: use knock retard, but keep advance at threshold of
knock occurring. That is, the program advances (up to the timing table
value) if it doesn't see knock, and retards if does see knock. The
difference from safe mode is that the timing can be advance all the
way to the table value after knock, not just up to one step below
knock. This may result in the knock returning, in which case the timing
is retarded again, then advanced slowly, and so on.
Threshold Direction: This sets whether MegaSquirt recognizes a voltage

above the threshold (see next item) or below the threshold is considered
knock.
Threshold (V): The is the voltage from the knock sensor module which
defines whether there is knock occurring or not. Note that you can define a
6-element table of rpm versus voltage instead of a single value. You define
this table under 'Settings/Knock Threshold'. The GM sensor/module signal is
ON/OFF, but the knock threshold value/table is there in case someone has a
system they can calibrate to their car by a threshold.
Peak (V): the maximum expected voltage value on the knock signal, used in
some configurations where the difference between the signal level and the
maximum levels indicates the degree of knocking.
Knock Count (knocks): number knock detects required for valid detection
No Knock Above MAP (kPa): no knock retard is implemented above this MAP
No Knock Below RPM (rpm): no knock retard is implemented below this rpm
No Knock Above RPM (rpm): no knock retard is implemented above this rpm,
which may be desirable if valve train noise triggers the knock sensor when
knock isn't actually occurring.
Maximum Retard (deg): maximum total retard when knock occurs. This can
be useful to prevent timing from being excessively retarded (avoiding
potential overheating issues) if the senor malfunctions or there are other
problems with the knock sensing system.
Retard Check Time (sec): this is the time between knock retard corrections,
allows short time step to quickly retard
Retard Step Size (deg): ignition retard step size when 1st knock or after
stopped, make it large to quickly retard the timing and stop knock
Advance Check Time (sec): this is the time between knock advance
correction (I.e., timing return to 'normal')
Advance Step Size (deg): ignition advance steps after knock has stopped
Recovery Advance (deg)): this is the change in table advance required to
restart advance until knock or reach table value (0 knock retard) process. This
only applies in 'Safe Mode' .
Sensor Troubleshooting
1. Whenever you have 'funny' readings from any of your sensors, the first thing
to do is create a datalog to study. You do this in MegaTune (Alt-L, Enter),
then you can view the datalog using MS Datalog Visual Viewer.
2. If you plugged your MegaSquirt EFI controller into your stock sensors and
also to your OEM ECU, you will have problems with either of them reading
correctly. To correct this:
3. If you used your OEM sensor (non-GM) and your temperature gauges don't read
right in TunerStudioMS, you'll need to:
o MS-II EFI controller use the 'Calibrate Thermistor Tables' dialog in

TunerStudioMS under 'Tools'.
You will need three temperature resistance pairs. The most

convenient way to do this that is reasonably accurate is to measure
the resistance of the sensor at room temperature, in ice water, and in
boiling water to get the temperatures at 32F (0C), and intermediate
temperature, and 212F (100C).
4. Note that if you have a bad signal from the TPS to your MegaSquirt EFI
Controller, the TPS value will slowly creep up to a maximum value, and O2
correction will be disabled. Check that your TPS connections are sound.
5. If you have trouble starting the car, and no fuel seems to come out of the
injectors, use the "Tools/Calibrate TPS" function in TunerStudioMS to ensure
that you have an ADC count value well below 155 at closed throttle, and
above 178 at wide open throttle (WOT). This will ensure that you are not in
flood clear mode while cranking (ideally, your TPS at closed throttle will be 20
or less), and yet still able to activate flood clear mode. Many TPS are
adjustable by loosening the screws and rotating it a bit.
6. If your TPS seems to work backwards, verify that the ADC count increases as
you open the throttle by using the TPS Calibrate tool in TunerStudioMS,
otherwise you have the TPS wired backwards. You should recheck the TPS
range each time you change the idle position or reassemble the throttle
linkage.
7. If you have a problem where in which you:

o open the throttle wide, but this barely moves the TPS gauge, and very
slowly,
o then when you close the throttle, it won't drop below about 30%
open,
o but the problem goes away after you shut down your MegaSquirt EFI
controller.
you probably have a faulty connection in the TPS wiring that limits the
voltage range of the TPS (a capacitor keeps it above a certain level if the
signal is disconnected while active). Check all of the connections at the DB37
and the TPS itself (as well as the relay board if you are using one).
8. If the acceleration enrichment (AE) on your MegaSquirt EFI controller comes
on for no apparent reason, it will make the car run rich. It will also run jerky
while cruising. If this happens, check your TPSdot threshold setting on the
enrichments page of TunerStudioMS - if this is really low, then you will get
erroneous triggers due to small noise spikes or bit error. Generally, you
should use a value of 0.97 volts/second or above.
9. If the above doesn't solve the TPS accel enrichment events, check to see that
the TPS wires are not near spark plug wires that could introduce noise. Also,
check to make sure that the TPS ground wire has a good connection - this
could also cause random accel triggers. Watch the runtime screen at idle to
see if the TPS number bounces around.
10. If your MAP sensor reads low (usually ~19 kPa) and doesn't respond to
vacuum or pressure, it is likely in backwards. Verify that it is in correctly (see
the assembly manual for your main board). If it isn't, unsolder it, turn it
around, and solder it back in. You will have to bend the pins the other way be careful not to break them. You probably haven't damaged any
components by installing the MAP sensor backwards.
11. If you find your MAP gauge is reading somewhat low, or doesn't seem to go
all the way to 250 kPa (in relation to a boost gauge, for example), we can't be
sure if is the MegaSquirt being low or the boost gauge being high.
The way to test the MAP sensors is with a syringe - hook it to the MAP line
and see if you get over 250. Below is a scan of the label from the syringe
know to work, so you know what to ask for at any drug store (though virtually
any syringe will do). Take the needle off and screw the syringe directly into
the vacuum line, then compress the syringe and you should get 'boost'.
You should also see about ~85-100 kPa in TunerStudioMS at rest (depending
on your elevation and the weather conditions), and 250+ kPa at maximum
pressure (which you should be able to achieve by hooking the syringe up fully
extended, then compressing it) so check that.
Check that you have 5.0 Volts on pin #3 of the MAP sensor (counting from
the square solder pad), and ground on pin #2 (less than 1.0 Ohms resistance
to the middle lead of the voltage regulator).
At normal sea level, the MAP sensor signal on the board (pin #1, the pin
closest to D4) will be 1.75 to 1.80 volts. With the syringe fully compressed
(but not bottomed out), you should be able to get at least 4.90 volts from the
MAP sensor signal pin. If not, touch up the soldering on the MAP sensor pins.
The MAP sensor signal goes directly to the CPU (through R2) on pin #23 (near
the inductors). So check that you are getting the same voltages as above on
CPU pin #23. If you don't, recheck the soldering on pin #23, the resistor R2,
the capacitor C4, and make sure that the diode D1 is not installed.
12. If your CLT (coolant) temperature sensor doesn't respond, you can:
o disconnect the DB37 at MegaSquirt, and check the resistance from
harness pin 21 to ground pin 7 (i.e., the coolant sensor reading), if it is
between 100 KOhms and 200 Ohms, you should get a temp reading. If
it is ~zero, your wiring is still shorted.
13. If your IAT (intake air temperature) sensor doesn't respond, you can:
o disconnect the DB37 at MegaSquirt, and check the resistance from
harness pin 20 to ground pin 7 (i.e., the IAT sensor reading), if it is
between 100 KOhms and 200 Ohms, you should get a temp reading. If
it is ~zero, your wiring is still shorted.
2.7-Some Safety Precautions

To reduce the chance of personal injury and/or property damage, the following
precautions must be carefully observed:
General
In order to install Megasquirt succesfully, you will need additional information than
what is contained in the MegaSquirt documentation. It is not possible to provide
exhaustive documentation for every combination of vehicle and fuel system
components. In order to have the information you will need, be sure you acquire,
read and understand:
The owner's manual for your car.

The dealer's 'shop manual' for your car.
The dealer's 'shop manual' for the vehicle from which you are using any
component which is not covered in the shop manual for your car.
Operator's manuals for any and all tools, equipment, and facilties you will be
using.
A current copy of your local fire code.
If you are not sure of anything at any point, seek the advice of a trained
professional mechanic.
In the shop, you need to:
Ensure children and animals are kept well away from the working area for the
entire duration of the work, including periods where the vehicle is
unattended.
Allow the presence only of persons who are trained, professional mechanics,
or those who have read, understood, and agreed to follow all of the safety
precautions applicable to your vehicle, tools and equipment, and any and all
applicable fire regulations.
Wear eye protection whenever you operate power tools.
When using any tool or equipment that requires household current, make
sure the device is correctly connected to its plug, and that it is correctly
grounded (where necessary - see the operator's manual for each tool or
piece of equipment).
Before each use, check the power cord for any device operating on
household current for cuts, breaks, or other defects. Replace or repair any
damage components before using.
Do not operate any power tool or equipment in damp conditions.
Wear ear protection whenever you operate loud power tools.
Do not wear loose clothing, ties, or long hair, which can get caught in moving
parts and cause serious injury or death.
Do not where a ring while working on a vehicle. It is a conductor and can
cause an injurious short circuit.
Cover as many areas of your body as possible with appropriate fire-retardent,
abrasion resistant clothing.
Get someone to check on you regularly while you are working on your
vehicle.
Keep all chemicals, cleaner products, automotive fliuds and other such
products tightly capped and out of the reach of children and animals.
Do not siphon toxic liquids such as gasoline, anti-freeze, or brake fluid by
mouth, or allow them to remain on your skin.
Get help lifting heavy components. Do not attempt to lift heavy items, or you
may injure yourself.
Mechanical Repair/Modification
Disconnect the battery before beginning any repair work. Disconnect the
negative terminal first before working on the vehicle, and install the negative
terminal last when the repairs are done.
Always ensure the park brake is applied, the vehicle is in park (automatic
trans) or neutral (manual trans), and the wheels are chocked with approved
devices.
Always consult your owner's manual for proper jacking procedures. DO NOT
WORK UNDER THE VEHICLE unless you have properly located 4 suitable
automotive jackstands under the frame at the approved locations. Don't rely
on a jack when working under a vehicle.
Always pull a wrench towards you when loosening fasteners, never push
away from your body.
Always use the proper tool for the job you are doing. Where this is specified
in the shop manual, use that exact tool. Otherwise, use the appropriate tool
of the proper size, specification, and strength for the job you are doing.
Don't attempt to loosen extremely tight fasteners, or you could hurt yourself
or damage your car or property. Take the vehicle to a licensed repair shop to
have the fastener removed.
Never use a pipe over a wrench as an extension. The pipe or wrench could fail
and casue injury or damage.
Any fastener that is removed and subsequently re-installed must be correctly
torqued to the manufacturuer's specification using an appropriate torque
wrench.
Any fastener that is replaced with another must be of the same dimensions,
thread size and pitch, and strength and ductility as the original.
Take great care when installing fasteners to guard against cross-threading.

Dont try to start the engine without checking that the transmission is in
neutral (or park for automatics) and the parking brake is set.
Don't remove the radiator cap from the radiator until the engine has
completely cooled.
Don't drain the oil from the oil pan until the engine has completely cooled.
Do not touch, or allow your clothing to touch, any part of the exhaust system
until is has cooled enough to avoid burns.
Do not allow spilled liquids to remain on the floor. You could slip and injure
yourself.
Electrical Repair/Modification
Alway place an appropriately rated fuse in the power supply line to any
electrical component you add to your vehicle. See the equipment's manual
for an appropriate amperage rating for the fuse.
Use appropriate wire sizes (guage) for the current and length of your wires.
When in doubt, use larger wires.
Splices can be made using solder and electrical tape (or heat shrink tubing),
or crimp connector. If you solder, make sure to have a proper, cleaned join
before overlapping the splice with elctrical tape (or heat shrink tubing). Be
careful not to burn yourself when soldering or shrinking the heat shrink
tubing. If you use crimp connectors, be sure to use the proper tools and
procedures recommended by the crimp/tool manufacturer.
Keep all wires away from moving parts (including, but not limited to: belt,
pulleys, throttle linkage, transission cables, etc.) and away from hot parts
(exhaust, cylinder heads, etc.). Use a retentive device (such as nylon tiestraps) to keep wires in place.
Wherever possible, use a protective covering (such a convoluted tubing) over
bundles of wires.
If a fuse blows, do NOT bypass it. Find the problem and fix it before operating
your vehicle.
Never expose a battery to open flame or electric spark - batteries generate a
gas which is flammable and explosive.
DO NOT allow battery fluid to contact eyes, skin, fabrics, or painted surfaces.
This fluid is highly corrosive. Flush any contacted areas with water
immediately and thoroughly.
Be careful that metal tools or jumper cables do not contact the positive
battery terminal (or metal in contact with this teminal) and any other metal
on the vehicle, because a short circuit could occur and cause injury or
damage.
Always wear eye protection when cleaning the battery.
Batteries should always be kept out of the reach of children.
Fuel System Repair/Modification

Elimination of fuel spills or leakage from vehicles, in combination with adequate
ventilation and control of ignition sources, is the most effective way of preventing
flammable liquid fires in the shop environment. Safety measures in any work area
used for automotive maintenance, repair, or modification should also include the
following:
Keep two (2) fully charged fire extinguishers suitable for extinguishing
gasoline fires readily at hand at all times when working on your vehicle. Carry
one in your car at all times.
Do not use gasoline for cleaning parts under any circumstances.
DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY REPAIR ON THE FUEL TANK OR FUEL FILLER NECK
WHERE HEAT OR FLAME IS REQUIRED. This includes grinding, soldering,
welding, drilling, hammering, chiselling, filing, or any other operation that
might create a spark or heat.
A small amount of fuel will be releassed when fuel lines are disconnected, so
be sure to wear appropriate fuel proof gloves, and have a shop cloth ready to
catch any spillage, then place the cloth in an approved container.
Use care in removing fuel injectors to prevent damage to the electrical
connections, the injector fuel filter, or the injector nozzle.Do not use pliers to
remove injectors since their use could damage the injectors. Injectors are
electrical comonents and should NOT be immersed in any type of cleaner.
Keep all fuel lines away from moving parts (including, but not limited to: belt,
pulleys, throttle linkage, transission cables, etc.) and away from hot parts
(exhaust, cylinder heads, etc.). Use nylon straps and convoluted tubing to
keep wires in place.
DO NOT disassemble your fuel pressure regulator. It contains a spring under
heavy compression, and this could cause injury if it is accidently released.
Fuel hoses are specially manufactured. If replacement becomes necesary, it is
important to use only hoses meeting GM speciification 6163-M. Hoses not
meeting 6163-M could fail and cause injury, death and/or property damage.
An approved flammable and combustible liquids spill control procedure, in
conformance with your local Fire Code, should be implemented in
automotive repair areas. This may include the use of barriers of noncombustible construction to contain a spill, sloping the floor to divert a spill
to a proper drainage system or use of non-combustible absorbent materials
conforming to ULC/ORD-C410A.
Properly designed ventilation should be provided in automotive repair areas
to ensure that explosive flammable vapour concentrations do not
accumulate.
Ignition sources, such as smoking or cutting/welding operations that create
open flames or sparks, should be controlled in automotive repair areas if
vehicles are fuelled or flammable liquids are being handled.
Electrical equipment in automotive repair areas should conform to your
applicable Electrical Safety Code and should be maintained in good repair.
Incandescent trouble lights should be replaced with fluorescent trouble

lights. Tests have shown that incandescent trouble lights can ignite gasoline
vapours if the bulb is broken from thermal or mechanical shock and the hot
filament is exposed to the vapours. Thermal breakage of the bulb may occur
if a liquid at room temperature is spilled or sprayed onto an incandescent
bulb at its normal operating temperature (350F to 400F). Use incandescent
trouble lights with Teflon coated bulbs or fluorescent trouble lights to reduce
this potential ignition source.
Repair or maintenance work on propane (or natural gas) fuelled vehicles
should not be done unless fuel shut-off valves located at the fuel tank are
closed.
Repair work on fuel systems in operational gasoline or propane/natural gas
powered vehicles (i.e. fuel tank, associated piping and fuel injection systems)
should not be done in at home. Take your vehicle to a licensed automotive
repair shop for this work.
If you replace the gas tank cap, it must have the same features and design as
the original. Failure to use the correct cap can reult in injury, death, and
property damage.
NOTE: Despite special precautions being taken to first drain fuel-filled components,
spillage/leakage can still occur. If work on these components is required, it should
not be done without first draining fuel in an area specifically designed for this
purpose (i.e. no ignition sources in immediate area, proper trouble lights, proper
ventilation, readily accessible fire extinguishers, etc.), and should only be done under
the constant supervision of a trained professional mechanic. Drained fuel should be
stored in listed safety containers that are kept closed when not in use.
It is important to understand that these precautions are not exhaustive, because it
is impossible to warn of all the hazardous consequences that might result from
failure to follow all of the applicable safety and proper usage guidelines in the
respective owner's manuals for tools and equipment, assembly, wiring, and tuning.
You MUST research any and all components, equipment, tool, material, and shop
safety requirements yourself to ensure that you and your property are safe at all
times.
Chapter Four
Shifting Mechanism
Chapter Four: Shifting Mechanism.

3.1-Introduction:
We change the ordinary shifter to easy shifter to achieve:
Fast and easy gearshifts (using a push botton).

Driver's comfort.
We will exchange pushing the clutch for shifting by killing the ignition at the moment
of shifting using a kill ignition module.
We Can determine the optimum shifting point
by gettiny the torque rpm curve and shift at the
point where the torque at the current gear
equal the torque at the next gear.
3.2-Types:
1. Electric shifter: Uses an electric ram and engine kill box. No on board
compressor or Bottles, Co2, Nitrous or Nitrogen is needed, no limited shifts.
The electric ram kicks the shifter when the button is pressed.
2. Air Shifter: uses compressed Air (via on board compressor) and an engine kill
box. The kill box will momentarily kill the spark to unload the motor and a
pneumatic ram connected to the shifter will kick the shifter when you press
the button or do the shift.
If switched over to Co2, Nitrous or Nitrogen no compressor is needed but a
pressure regulator will have to be installed. Some systems can give over 300
shifts before you have to fill the bottle. The upshifts are clutchless full
throttle; the down shifts are performed mechanically and must use the clutch
3. Quicker Shifter: A sensor is attached to the gear shifter that will sense
pressure as you shift with your foot (Mechanically acting). This will send a
signal to kill the spark and unload the motor so the shift can happen
smoothly.
3.3-Electric Shifters
Electric Shifter, Easy Shift Kit Pingel (Universal kit)
These kits are designed for full or partial throttle, clutchless

up shifting with a single push of the button. Down shifting is
also achieved.
Clutch use is only required for starting and stopping.
Pingel Easy Shift kits include
Components:
o Dual button handlebar control.
o
Shift cylinder
o Shift cylinder support bracket

o Control module which sends a quick and
reliable signal from the button control to
the shift cylinder without any delay
o The ignition kill module which
momentarily interrupts the ignition coils.
o Fused Wiring Harness, installed one 40-amp fuse for constant power. A spare
40-amp fuse is also supplied.
o Jumper plug for reversing the switches on the handlebar control.
Connection:
Disconnect negative battery cable before attempting any work on motorcycle.
Control module & wire harness.
-The most suitable location of the control module is under the seat.
-The handlebar connected to malereceptacle on the control module by 4 pin
connector
-Control module connected to fused wire by the large 4 pin connector
-Fused wiring harness is connected to the electronic kill module threw 3-pin
connector
There are 3 loose wires from the fused wire harness:
Black ve
Red +12V
Small red for switched 12v
Secure all wires away from heat and moving parts with wire ties supplied.
Cylinder
Support bracket is supplied and can be altered to fit my design; it is mounted so
that the shift cylinder is 80-90 degrees to the shift lever pivot point (check site
pics), Install electric shift cylinder onto shift cylinder support bracket using
supplied Pingel clamp and two 1/4-20 X 3/4" socket head cap screws.
Note:
The electric shift cylinder has 2-1/4 of total travel. When installed you must use
nearly all the travel of the shift cylinder, make sure that the travel in each
direction is stopped by the shifter linkage and not by bottoming out the electric
shift cylinder. This can be done by shifting the transmission completely in one
direction and holding it.
Undo the bolt through the rod end and see that the rod end can still move 1/32
in the same direction. Repeat for the other direction. Not following this
procedure could cause damage to the shift
cylinder and loss of shifting ability.
Kill module:
The electronic engine kill module should also be

mounted under the seat if Possible.
Kill time is 40-110 ms preset is 90 ms, must be
mounted on a dry clean place away from heat
and movable parts.
o Wiring:
The brown wires get spliced
onto the ve coil signal leads
by using the blue quick tab
connectors provided, Do not connect the brown wires to the
positive side of the coil! Damage to the kill module will
result and not be covered under warranty.
connect the brown wire to each coil.
o Set the kill time: by moving the dip switches to the desired time on the
chart.
o Test: start the motor and pull the clutch and depress the down shift
button, if the motor stalls adjust the kill time shorter. Put the engine to
neutral, and try again and again
When it is good, go to ride and check the upshifts, if the motorcycle
goes into a false neutral position or staysin the same gear, you will need
to adjust for more kill time.
Recommended starting procedures:

1. Reconnect negative battery cable
2. make sure the motorcycle is in neutral and pull in the clutch lever, then start
the engine
3. With clutch lever pulled in push either button on the handlebar control and
hold it for five seconds
4. Release the clutch lever slowly (in case the motorcycle is accidentally in gear).
5. The system is now turned on and will shift when button is pressed.
6. Pull inclutch and check shifter movement by pushing either button on the
handlebar control.
7. If the top button on the handlebar control bracket makes the shifter work the
opposite way you would like, simply plug the switch reversing jumper in
between the handlebar switch and the control box.
8. Finally, if shifting up or down is not achieved, you can loosen the Pingel clamp
on the shift cylinder and adjust up or down 1/16 to 1/8 at one time making
sure not to bottom out the electric shift cylinder. Retighten Pingel clamp and
retest ride motorcycle.
9. When the key is turned off, the power to the control module is disengaged so
this procedure must be performed every time the motorcycle is turned back
on.
3.4-Air Shifters:
MPS Sport Bike Electric Air Shifter
Electric Air Shifter shifts at the push of a button.It

allows you to make full throttle, clutchless, up shifts
that does not work for a downshift. Once installed,
the rider can shift up simply by pressing the gear
shift lever. The Electric Air Shifter includes all
components and instructions necessary for a basic
installation
Electronic Engine Kill

Push In Fittings
Electric Air Valve
Air Pressure Gauge
Stainless Shift Cylinder
Replacement lifetime warranty
DOT Air Bottle:
The Standard DOT bottle included with the kit is designed to have 160 psi of
air/CO2 pressure.This is good for 5-10 shifts. Filled with standard tire type valve
The high pressure CO2 bottle is a 7oz bottle that is designed to hold 1800 psi of CO2
pressure and is regulated down to 160 psi. This is good for 300-500 shifts. This is
filled at sporting goods stores that refill paint ball gun air tanks. CO2 Air Shifter
You will need to fabricate your own shifter bracket. The Electronic Engine Kill
features easy kill time adjustment.
Mount the Shift Cylinder:

o Try to keep the solenoid as close to the cylinder as possible to not
waste too much gas.
o There are so many ways to mount an air shift cylinder; basically you
want the cylinder mounted so it will pivot freely at the pivot mount
without binding. The shift cylinder clevis should be connected to the
shifter itself or a bracket attached to the shifter with the provided pin.
o At rest the shift cylinder should be extended to of its total travel.
This allows the shift lever to travel both up and down.
o The shift cylinder should be as close to 90 degrees with the shift lever
as possible. The shift cylinder clevis should be attached 2 to 3 inches
from the pivot point of the shift lever. Make sure the shift cylinder is
in the same vertical plane as the shift lever.
Mount Air Bottle, Electronic Kill & Electric Air Valve
Plumbing:
o Cut one end of the provided O.D. poly line square.
o The first line is the supply line and has pressure equal to that of the air
tank at all times. It runs from the air tank outlet to the in port of the
electric air valve. The exhaust port on the electric air valve must
remain free. The second line is the work line and only has pressure
during the shift when the air valve is open. It runs from the electric air
valve out port to the shift cylinder.
Electrical Connections: You will need to locate and test a few things on your
bike before you start wiring. A good ground, an ignition switched 12 volt
power source, the horns, and the ignition coils. We have plug n play style
harnesses available for some bikes.
o Horn Test - Unplug both your horn leads from the horn(s). Turn the
key on. Using a test light, check each horn wire for power. If one of
the wires has continuous power the horn button circuit completes a
ground circuit to operate.
o Control Box Wiring Coils
o Power, Ground, and Activation Lead The red wire is connected to

an ignition switched 12 volt power source. Do not attach direct to
battery! The black wire is connected to a good ground.
o Electric Air Valve The Electric Air Valve has two wires. One needs an
ignition switched 12 volt power source. The other needs a ground
signal when the shift button is depressed.
Setting Kill Time The Kill Time is adjusted via a small potentiometer
accessed through the grommet on the front of the unit. Using a small
screwdriver carefully turn the pot clockwise to the end of its travel. Carefully
turn the pot screw counterclockwise to the end of its travel. This is 50 ms of
kill time. The pot only goes from 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock so dont force it.
Testing The System

o With no air in the system start the bike. Bring the rpm up to around
3000 rpm and push the shift button.
You should hear a slight hesitation in the engine each time you
depress the shift button.
If you dont hear a hesitation and the horn sounds the arm
switch is in the horn position.
If you just hear no hesitation the brown wires are probably not
hooked up correctly.
o Once you establish that you have an engine kill when pushing the shift
button remove the clevis pin from the shift cylinder and extend the
shaft to the end of its travel.
o Air up the shifter to 120 psi. We also have
high pressure CO2 systems that can shift
hundreds of times without refilling.
o With the engine off and the key on push the
shift button. The shift cylinder shaft should
snap into position.
3.5-Quick shifters
Dynojet Quick Shifter
The Dynojet Quick Shifter (DQS) kit allows you to make full throttle, clutchless,
Mechanical upshifts that does not work for a downshift. Once installed, he rider can
shift up simply by pressing the gear shift lever.
Kill time and Minimum RPM is adjustable via the provided software. You may need
to turn the kill time higher to make it work from 1st to 2nd
In GSXR 600 case there is 4 secondary injectors so the usage of ignition module is a
must to make the kill ignition.
The handlebar mounted push button Quick shifter is used in racing leagues where
modifying a bikes shift linkage is illegal. So instead one might preload the shifter and
then push a button to trigger the kill and go into the next gear.
Connection:
1. Loosen lock nuts from stock shift rod and remove rod from the motorcycle.
2. You will need to shorten your stock shift rod about 50mm or use the optional
shift rods from Dynojet to install this style shifter.
3. The Dynojet sensor uses 6mm right hand threads on both ends. Thread the
sensor into the stock shift knuckle or gear lever rod end. Now, thread the
new shift rod into the opposite end of the sensor and other original
attachment point.
Now it may be necessary to move the knuckle on the shift shaft forward one
spline to achieve proper clearance. For best performance it is advised to keep
as close to 90 degree angles at both ends of the attachment points as
possible.
4. Adjust the gear lever position as necessary by threading the shift rod in and
out.
5. Tighten lock nuts after lever adjustment is made.
6. Route the pressure switch cable to the Power Commander and
7. Insert the wires into the holes of the ignition module in our case (gsx r600).
Clutchless upshifting can be obtained you have to determine the minimum RPM at
which you can use the shifter in the software; also I have to mention that some users
said that they shift quicker after the 2nd gear.
Chapter Five
Conclusion
For tuning operation:
Engine tuning is the adjustment, modification or design of internal combustion

engines to yield optimal performance, to increase an engine's power output,
economy, or durability.
It has a long history, almost as long as the development of the car in general,
originating with the development of early racing cars, and later, with the postwar hot-rod movement. Tuning can describe a wide variety of adjustments and
modifications, from the routine adjustment of the carburetor and ignition system to
significant engine overhauls. At the other end of the scale, performance tuning of an
engine can involve revisiting some of the design decisions taken at quite an early
stage in the development of the engine.
Setting the idle speed, fuel/air mixture, carburetor balance, spark plug and
distributor point gaps, and ignition timing were regular maintenance items for all
older engines and the final but essential steps in setting up a racing engine. On
modern engines, equipped with electronic ignition and fuel injection, some or all of
these tasks are automated, although they still require periodic calibration.
An engine test facility is a complex of machinery, instrumentation and support

services, housed in a building adapted or built for its purpose. For such a facility to
function correctly and cost-effectively, its many parts must be matched to each
other while meeting the operational requirements of the user and being compliant
with various regulations.
Engine and vehicle developers now need to measure improvements in engine

performance that are frequently so small as to require the best available
instrumentation in order for fine comparative changes in performance to be
observed. This level of measurement requires that instrumentation is integrated
within the total facility such that their performance and data are not compromised
by the environment in which they operate and services to which they are connected.
Engine test facilities vary considerably in power rating and performance; in

addition there are many cells designed for specialist interests, such as production
test or study of engine noise, lubrication oils or exhaust emissions.
For Electric Easy Shift Kit
A touch of the button eliminates the need to shift with your foot or clutch and
provides lightning-fast gearshifts
Using these kits will not eliminate the need to use the clutch for starting and
stopping
Button control for the state-of-the-art control module triggers the shift solenoid
OEM shifting ability is retained after installation
Full-throttle up/down shifting made possible by the ignition kill box; also helps riders
who have difficulty with stiff clutches by making use of the clutch for up and down
shifts unnecessary

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Ministry of Higher Education

Alexandria Higher Institute of Engineering & Technology (AIET)

Design and Fabrication of A Formula Student Race Car

A graduation project report submitted to Alexandria Higher Institute of Engineering &

Amr Mohamed Nazih.

2.4 Complaints and Possible Causes

Chapter Three: MegaSquirt EFI Controller

The Formula SAE competition is organized by the Society of

1.2-Teams History and Mission

Team Leader and

1.5-Project Goals and Objectives

Wheels and Tires

Spaceframe, Heat treated AISI 4130 tubes,

Table 2: Project Budget Breakdown

NACITA, Advanti Racing and AVON Racing

Techno-ServeFor Trading and Industrial Services

Alexandria Fertilizers Company

Talaat Mostafa Group

Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company (SUMED)

1.9- Teams progress

Suspension and Steering:

The main suspension parameters are:

These parameters has changed many times as a compromise between performance,

Spring and Damper:

Hubs and Uprights:

We use Wilwoods PS-1caliper due to its light weight and

The total time

We run a turbocharged Suzuki GSXR600 2007, with a MGT1238Z Garrett Turbo.

Chapter Two: ECU Management.

1. Intake Air Temperature Sensor (IAT).

2. Intake Air Pressure Sensor (IAP).

3. Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECT).

4. Throttle position sensor (TP).

It is a potentiometer which provides a signal to

5. Crankshaft Position Sensor (CKP).

6. Cam shaft Position Sensor (CMP).

7. Tip Over Sensor (TO).

1.3-Troubleshooting of Electrical System Components

1. Intake Air Temperature Sensor (IAT).

1) Turn the ignition switch OFF.

If the Sensor voltage is higher than specified value.

If the Sensor voltage is lower than specified value

2. Intake Air Pressure Sensor (IAP).

If the Sensor voltage is higher than specified value

5) Check the continuity between R wire and G/B wire.

If the Sensor voltage is lower than specified value

If the voltage out this range,

3. Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECT).

If the Sensor voltage is higher than specified value.

If the Sensor voltage is lower than specified value

4. Throttle Position Sensor (TP).

5) Disconnect the ECM coupler.

7) If OK, then measure the TP sensor resistance at the test harness

5. Crankshaft Position Sensor (CKP).

5) If OK, then check the continuity between each terminal and

If the peak voltage is lower than the standard range,

CKP sensor peak voltage: 0.28 V and more

6. Camshaft Position Sensor (CMP).

7. Tip Over Sensor (TO).

Also, measure the voltage as the motorcycle is leaned.

1. Fuel Pump Relay:

3. Primary Fuel Injector Circuit:

Start the engine and keep it running at (5000 r/min).

-Generator No-Load Performance: