DIY Tuning - how to begin?

[TheDarkMajestic]

Where do i start about this black art?

[TT350chevelle]

Try here:
http://www.megasquirt.info/manual/mtabcon.htm

Look under the "Tuning Your MegaSquirt" section.

Brad J.

[whittlebeast]

Getting the nerve to get started is the most dificult. Once you do and get the motor started, the next part is easy. Get a friend to do the tuning first in the driveway and later in the street. Be VERY gental on the throttle. Do lots of data loging and post anything you don't understand. Include the logs and the msq file. Noise in signals (tps, map, rpm and temp) must be delt with before any real tuning can be done. If you can get a MSQ file from someone with a similar car would help (displacement, turbo or not, and the same number of cylinders, about the same size injectors are the most important things) Stay with the basic s19 files and GM sensors if at all possible at first for support issues.

Hope this helps

AW

[Bernard Fife]

Yeah, the only thing I would add is that tuning is a skill.

If you are new to tuning, it will seem difficult at first and your engine probably won't run quite the way you want it to. As you work at it, though, two things will happen:

- you'll narrow in on the optimum settings for your engine,
- you'll learn the skill of manipulating the various parameters, to get them to work together to produce performance, economy, driveability, etc.

So read all you can, then give it a try. And don't give up if you don't get it running perfectly in a half an hour. Like any skill, it takes practice. Keep working at it, and you'll eventually get the skill perfected, and not only will you be thrilled with how your engine runs, but you'll be happy to have a new (and quite rare) skill!

Lance.

[efahl]

lance wrote:

> As you work at it, though, two things will happen:

Lance,

Your forgot the third thing:

- You become obsessed with tuning, and diagnose every little quirk
in driveability in every car you ride in, even the ones you can't
change ("I wonder why they didn't richen the cold AE on this thing
a bit to get rid of that stumble?").

Eric

--
Eric Fahlgren http://www.not2fast.com/

[Bernard Fife]

Yeah definitely, Eric!!

And you may find yourself changing things (manifolds, cams, etc.) on your car just SO you can do some tuning.

Ahh, life is rich!

Lance.

[Enthalpy]

Yeah definitely, Eric!!

And you may find yourself changing things (manifolds, cams, etc.) on your car just SO you can do some tuning.

Ahh, life is rich!

Lance.

LOL...SO FREAKING TRUE!! I found myself changing my base pressure under the excuse of "better atomization" (which turned out to be true). I really did it so I could retune everything.

Majestic - I think you have an MR2 because there's someone with your name on our board. I'm "flyboy" on the MR2 board (Enthalpy was taken).

Welcome to the aftermarket EMS world! You will love it!

I have tuned a bit now. If you have MR2-specific questions, feel free to drop me a line! damon.becker@comcast.net.

[Enthalpy]

Actually, I transitioned away from MS when I realized knock would be a serious problem on my setup. *hangs head in shame* I did, however build one awhile ago.

I might go back if MSII supports knock sensing. If it supports ion sensing, then I'll DEFINITELY go back!

[T3Bunny]

I might go back if MSII supports knock sensing. If it supports ion sensing, then I'll DEFINITELY go back!

MS 1 supports knock sensing! Look at this:
http://megasquirt.sourceforge.net/extra/knock.html

Sure, its "expirimental" (but then so is the whole MS project...) but there are a lot of people out there with this working. And you can get a knock sensor kit out of the products and services section.

[Enthalpy]

That's very interesting! I didn't know this existed.