- Joined
- Dec 25, 2002
- Location
- mont, AL
Composed by Doug Kauer and Kenny Howard (and anyone else that pitches in hahaha)
There has for some time existed a definite wall in Volvo tuning that is
difficult to breach, It seems that without some form of full engine
management you cannot reliably surpass the 250~300 hp mark. Seeing as
conventional engine management systems are both expensive and often
difficult to tune, it understandably presents the absolute furthest point
the average Volvo tuner can achieve.
Those days have come to an end. Before diving directly into megasquirt, it
should be mentioned that there are alternative methods for those who shy
away from electronics.
The first is any kind of extra injector controller, this will get you a
degree of flexibility and will raise the horse power ceiling, but these can
be just as difficult to tune and often require constant fiddling (really,
most of the methods presented here do, including megasquirt). Also the issue
of locating space for more than one extra injector is difficult, and
assuring equal fuel flow to all cylinders is problematic at best, and at
worst will cost you a head gasket or set of pistons. The only easy cars to
add AIC?s to are K-jetronic outfitted 240 turbo?s, as you can easily
integrate the injectors/fuel rail with a b230 style intake. A good source
for these are found at www.splitsec.com but are more expensive than buying a
Megasquirt (which can also be used as an AIC).
Next up on the list of drop and play tune toys is the Apex?i SAFC?. This
little gem is great for people who want: Marginally larger injectors, either
for a safety net or more boost, don?t want to mess with things like the
wiring harness too much, and those who don?t mind adapting a potentiometer
based Throttle Position Sensor (off an 850 or other vehicle) to their car.
The problem the TPS presents however is that LH2.2 and 2.4 both work off of
throttle switches rather than a variable resistance TPS, so you might end up
having to piggy back a connector, this still isn?t difficult however. An
SAFC will all you to run bigger injectors, compensate for them (including
BOV?s). In terms of fuel control, it?s a fairly decent unit, its got it
limitations just like anything else (numerous map points are lacking, and
it might likely will not have support for all the Volvo stuff, I have never
personally tried to use one on my car so I cannot say exactly how well or
poorly it will work).
Then there are piggyback units like the SMT6 that Eric Simpson has used,
these provide a very nice level of flexibility while retaining mostly stock
operation of everything else. However, they are not all that cheap, and
according to most sources extremely difficult to install even by the
manufacturer.
And to finish things off, we have the full EMS systems. Haltech, Motec, Electromotive, DTA, Wolf, AEM, the list is long and the features plentiful, as is the price. There isn?t a whole lot that needs to be said here, other than many of these system have a feature built in that allows them to ?self tune? themselves to a greater or lesser degree and then you can make adjustments from there. This is something to consider, because megasquirt does not (yet) have anything like this.
Now, the pros and cons of megasquirt. Obviously the glaring drawback for
many is that you have to build it yourself. While initially daunting, its
not difficult at all, and for the ultra scared, you can buy pre-assembled
units for around $200 that come ready to go. Next, you will basically have
to rewire many things on the car (although interfacing with the factory ECU
harness isn?t difficult, locating an accurate wiring diagram of it is). Most
of these things are not difficult per-se, however they are time consuming
and its easy to make mistakes. I have made several over the course of
constructing my setup and changing things, etc, and have as of yet damaged
nothing on the controller or the car (aside from a few coils). Everything
however becomes much more interesting once the unit is on the car and you
crank the car up that first time, its all suddenly worthwhile, the sense of
accomplishment is akin to many hardcore drugs, you will be on top of the
world. Tuning is a blast and you will stand in awe of the amount of control
you now have over the horsepower output of your Volvo.
(A tip of advice, some MS?ers have created their wiring harnesses from
scratch, but you can just as easily adapt a harness from any LH equipped
Volvos).
It should be noted with all of these modifications and any other power
increasing modification you can potentially damage and/or destroy things on
your car. Before attempting any kind of modification you are urged to ensure
that your car is in top mechanical shape. Keep a fire extinguisher around at
all times, you never know when it could save your car or someone else?s (but
do charge them for it!). All the usual disclaimers apply,
On with the good stuff. When you order your megasquirt, you will be placing
two orders, one for the board, processor and a few other items (the partial
kit), and another for the rest of the components, this one will be through
Digikey. You will probably want to purchase a straight through serial cable
at this time as well, as radio shack is overly proud of theirs. Resist the
urge to pull everything out and look at it as soon as it gets there, there
is nothing worse than getting ? through the project only to realize you lost
the other bum rectifier. Take inventory, make sure you have everything, get
a notebook and organize it all, tape the components to sheets and label them
as they correspond on the bill of materials in the assembly guide (an old
tackle box works GREAT for this). Read the assembly guide through completely
before touching anything. Allow yourself about 6 hours on a weekend or some
other time when distractions and interruptions will be at a minimum and
build the circuit. If you opted for the stimulator, you will be able to test
as you go, I didn?t, and ended up waiting until the end to make sure
everything worked. It did, but you never know.
As far as the actual construction of the Megasquirt, it is surprisingly
easy. One of our members (Doug Kauer aka Doug242ti) built his and said it
was the very first PC board type thing he has ever built, and it worked
first try (according to him). The instructions are outstanding, and there is
plenty of web support online. The Stim will come in handy during the
construction process, as you will be asked to test certain parts of the MS
multiple times along the way. The most difficult process of building your MS
is the building of the wiring harness at the connector. It is only difficult
in the respect that it almost requires 3 hands to position the wires, hold
them and solder them. A small vice comes in handy here.
Getting your car ?Squirted?:
Once you have an assembled MS, it is time to start interfacing with the car.
We can split this into two sections:
Turbo 240?s, and other k-jetronic cars:
240?s are a little more difficult to convert to MS as they have the complete
opposite fuel system from the factory. You will need a b230 intake, fuel
rail, injectors (740 Turbo injectors at least) ? High Pressure fuel
injection hose, and its various plumbing. Nice thing is, you can rip out the
k-jet box, wiring, hoses and plumbing.
From here there are two options as far as wiring goes, build your own
complete harness, or try to interface a LH Volvo wiring harness. Building
your own isn?t that difficult, and in some respects allows you to really
trim down the wiring to just what you need.
740?s, and other LH Volvo?s:
LH cars offer a neat benefit of having a useable wiring harness from the
factory. You can either cut the ?computer connector? off or wire into the
connector (should you ever need to return to LH). Unfortunately the wiring
diagrams change from year to year so it is up to you to get a copy of your
corresponding wiring pin-out.
Installation:
For installing the car, besides the vehicle specific features, your going to
need a couple odds and ends. The first is a variable resistance TPS. The
ones we?ve had luck integrating is units from any year Volvo 850 (though I
would imagine any of the newer models would work to). You will also need a
SPST relay to trigger the fuel pump, a Intake Air Temp sensor and possibly a
coolant temp sensor.
1: Retrofitting the TPS:
Lucky us, the 850 TPS is an almost bolt on replacement. Using a b230
throttle body, remove the original TPS. You?ll see the end of the throttle
shaft that slides into the TPS. You will have to trim back the shaft with a
regular old hack saw as seen in this picture:
Then, when you try to bolt the TPS down, you?ll see that its ?stops? are
clocked differently than the stocker. This is an easy fix. I took a piece of
aluminum, and cut it into a square and screwed it into the TB. Then I
?clocked? to where I needed it and screwed it down in place, like so:
Simple as can be!
The relay is also just as easy. Find the stock fuel pump relay and either
using a test light or a good service manual find the following:
12v Bat
12v -> fuel pump
12v switched
Wire in the new relay to these corresponding spots, using the MS fuel pump
output as the ground. This will turn your fuel pump on and off. Another tip
I can offer is install a SPST switch inline with the ground as a manual fuel
pump cut off. Not only is this an added safety benefit (in case of fire)
sometimes when your in the early tuning stages you?ll have to kill the pump
and fuel in order to clear the car of fuel enough to start it (especially if
your TPS isn?t hooked up).
You?ll also need to integrate an IAT sensor. I put mine here:
No real issues here, but there is a lot of places you can put it. You?ll
need the connector, wire one side to the MS and the other is grounded (same
as the GM style temp sensor).
From this point, all that?s left is the ignition. What some people are doing
is using 240T distributors and MSD boxes with very simple ignition curves.
This is working well, but isn?t ideal. Its upside is it is VERY simple to
hook up (the two outs from the Dizzy wire straight into the MSD box and your
done).
There is a new option though, squirt and spark
(insert Kenny drivel here)
Now, you?ve got everything you need to start your car! Double check all your
connections and have an extinguisher on hand incase of disaster. Turn the
car to the ?run? position and listen for the fuel pumps and watch for leaks.
If there aren?t any leaks, crank it and see what happens. Its probably not
going to idle, but it will most likely start (mine started on the default
map, ran horribly but started!). From here its just a matter of tuning and
having fun!
Here is where I insert my ?you need a Wideband o2 sensor? plug. Yes, you can
get some decent tuning done using a Narrow Band o2 sensor, but it is
extremely dangerous to do any boost tuning on a NBo2. I actually found a
dramatic off boost increase in drivability via WBo2 tuning. Its often little
2-3 percent changes that you can?t see unless using a WBo2.
Now go out and let her rip!
There has for some time existed a definite wall in Volvo tuning that is
difficult to breach, It seems that without some form of full engine
management you cannot reliably surpass the 250~300 hp mark. Seeing as
conventional engine management systems are both expensive and often
difficult to tune, it understandably presents the absolute furthest point
the average Volvo tuner can achieve.
Those days have come to an end. Before diving directly into megasquirt, it
should be mentioned that there are alternative methods for those who shy
away from electronics.
The first is any kind of extra injector controller, this will get you a
degree of flexibility and will raise the horse power ceiling, but these can
be just as difficult to tune and often require constant fiddling (really,
most of the methods presented here do, including megasquirt). Also the issue
of locating space for more than one extra injector is difficult, and
assuring equal fuel flow to all cylinders is problematic at best, and at
worst will cost you a head gasket or set of pistons. The only easy cars to
add AIC?s to are K-jetronic outfitted 240 turbo?s, as you can easily
integrate the injectors/fuel rail with a b230 style intake. A good source
for these are found at www.splitsec.com but are more expensive than buying a
Megasquirt (which can also be used as an AIC).
Next up on the list of drop and play tune toys is the Apex?i SAFC?. This
little gem is great for people who want: Marginally larger injectors, either
for a safety net or more boost, don?t want to mess with things like the
wiring harness too much, and those who don?t mind adapting a potentiometer
based Throttle Position Sensor (off an 850 or other vehicle) to their car.
The problem the TPS presents however is that LH2.2 and 2.4 both work off of
throttle switches rather than a variable resistance TPS, so you might end up
having to piggy back a connector, this still isn?t difficult however. An
SAFC will all you to run bigger injectors, compensate for them (including
BOV?s). In terms of fuel control, it?s a fairly decent unit, its got it
limitations just like anything else (numerous map points are lacking, and
it might likely will not have support for all the Volvo stuff, I have never
personally tried to use one on my car so I cannot say exactly how well or
poorly it will work).
Then there are piggyback units like the SMT6 that Eric Simpson has used,
these provide a very nice level of flexibility while retaining mostly stock
operation of everything else. However, they are not all that cheap, and
according to most sources extremely difficult to install even by the
manufacturer.
And to finish things off, we have the full EMS systems. Haltech, Motec, Electromotive, DTA, Wolf, AEM, the list is long and the features plentiful, as is the price. There isn?t a whole lot that needs to be said here, other than many of these system have a feature built in that allows them to ?self tune? themselves to a greater or lesser degree and then you can make adjustments from there. This is something to consider, because megasquirt does not (yet) have anything like this.
Now, the pros and cons of megasquirt. Obviously the glaring drawback for
many is that you have to build it yourself. While initially daunting, its
not difficult at all, and for the ultra scared, you can buy pre-assembled
units for around $200 that come ready to go. Next, you will basically have
to rewire many things on the car (although interfacing with the factory ECU
harness isn?t difficult, locating an accurate wiring diagram of it is). Most
of these things are not difficult per-se, however they are time consuming
and its easy to make mistakes. I have made several over the course of
constructing my setup and changing things, etc, and have as of yet damaged
nothing on the controller or the car (aside from a few coils). Everything
however becomes much more interesting once the unit is on the car and you
crank the car up that first time, its all suddenly worthwhile, the sense of
accomplishment is akin to many hardcore drugs, you will be on top of the
world. Tuning is a blast and you will stand in awe of the amount of control
you now have over the horsepower output of your Volvo.
(A tip of advice, some MS?ers have created their wiring harnesses from
scratch, but you can just as easily adapt a harness from any LH equipped
Volvos).
It should be noted with all of these modifications and any other power
increasing modification you can potentially damage and/or destroy things on
your car. Before attempting any kind of modification you are urged to ensure
that your car is in top mechanical shape. Keep a fire extinguisher around at
all times, you never know when it could save your car or someone else?s (but
do charge them for it!). All the usual disclaimers apply,
On with the good stuff. When you order your megasquirt, you will be placing
two orders, one for the board, processor and a few other items (the partial
kit), and another for the rest of the components, this one will be through
Digikey. You will probably want to purchase a straight through serial cable
at this time as well, as radio shack is overly proud of theirs. Resist the
urge to pull everything out and look at it as soon as it gets there, there
is nothing worse than getting ? through the project only to realize you lost
the other bum rectifier. Take inventory, make sure you have everything, get
a notebook and organize it all, tape the components to sheets and label them
as they correspond on the bill of materials in the assembly guide (an old
tackle box works GREAT for this). Read the assembly guide through completely
before touching anything. Allow yourself about 6 hours on a weekend or some
other time when distractions and interruptions will be at a minimum and
build the circuit. If you opted for the stimulator, you will be able to test
as you go, I didn?t, and ended up waiting until the end to make sure
everything worked. It did, but you never know.
As far as the actual construction of the Megasquirt, it is surprisingly
easy. One of our members (Doug Kauer aka Doug242ti) built his and said it
was the very first PC board type thing he has ever built, and it worked
first try (according to him). The instructions are outstanding, and there is
plenty of web support online. The Stim will come in handy during the
construction process, as you will be asked to test certain parts of the MS
multiple times along the way. The most difficult process of building your MS
is the building of the wiring harness at the connector. It is only difficult
in the respect that it almost requires 3 hands to position the wires, hold
them and solder them. A small vice comes in handy here.
Getting your car ?Squirted?:
Once you have an assembled MS, it is time to start interfacing with the car.
We can split this into two sections:
Turbo 240?s, and other k-jetronic cars:
240?s are a little more difficult to convert to MS as they have the complete
opposite fuel system from the factory. You will need a b230 intake, fuel
rail, injectors (740 Turbo injectors at least) ? High Pressure fuel
injection hose, and its various plumbing. Nice thing is, you can rip out the
k-jet box, wiring, hoses and plumbing.
From here there are two options as far as wiring goes, build your own
complete harness, or try to interface a LH Volvo wiring harness. Building
your own isn?t that difficult, and in some respects allows you to really
trim down the wiring to just what you need.
740?s, and other LH Volvo?s:
LH cars offer a neat benefit of having a useable wiring harness from the
factory. You can either cut the ?computer connector? off or wire into the
connector (should you ever need to return to LH). Unfortunately the wiring
diagrams change from year to year so it is up to you to get a copy of your
corresponding wiring pin-out.
Installation:
For installing the car, besides the vehicle specific features, your going to
need a couple odds and ends. The first is a variable resistance TPS. The
ones we?ve had luck integrating is units from any year Volvo 850 (though I
would imagine any of the newer models would work to). You will also need a
SPST relay to trigger the fuel pump, a Intake Air Temp sensor and possibly a
coolant temp sensor.
1: Retrofitting the TPS:
Lucky us, the 850 TPS is an almost bolt on replacement. Using a b230
throttle body, remove the original TPS. You?ll see the end of the throttle
shaft that slides into the TPS. You will have to trim back the shaft with a
regular old hack saw as seen in this picture:
Then, when you try to bolt the TPS down, you?ll see that its ?stops? are
clocked differently than the stocker. This is an easy fix. I took a piece of
aluminum, and cut it into a square and screwed it into the TB. Then I
?clocked? to where I needed it and screwed it down in place, like so:
Simple as can be!
The relay is also just as easy. Find the stock fuel pump relay and either
using a test light or a good service manual find the following:
12v Bat
12v -> fuel pump
12v switched
Wire in the new relay to these corresponding spots, using the MS fuel pump
output as the ground. This will turn your fuel pump on and off. Another tip
I can offer is install a SPST switch inline with the ground as a manual fuel
pump cut off. Not only is this an added safety benefit (in case of fire)
sometimes when your in the early tuning stages you?ll have to kill the pump
and fuel in order to clear the car of fuel enough to start it (especially if
your TPS isn?t hooked up).
You?ll also need to integrate an IAT sensor. I put mine here:
No real issues here, but there is a lot of places you can put it. You?ll
need the connector, wire one side to the MS and the other is grounded (same
as the GM style temp sensor).
From this point, all that?s left is the ignition. What some people are doing
is using 240T distributors and MSD boxes with very simple ignition curves.
This is working well, but isn?t ideal. Its upside is it is VERY simple to
hook up (the two outs from the Dizzy wire straight into the MSD box and your
done).
There is a new option though, squirt and spark
(insert Kenny drivel here)
Now, you?ve got everything you need to start your car! Double check all your
connections and have an extinguisher on hand incase of disaster. Turn the
car to the ?run? position and listen for the fuel pumps and watch for leaks.
If there aren?t any leaks, crank it and see what happens. Its probably not
going to idle, but it will most likely start (mine started on the default
map, ran horribly but started!). From here its just a matter of tuning and
having fun!
Here is where I insert my ?you need a Wideband o2 sensor? plug. Yes, you can
get some decent tuning done using a Narrow Band o2 sensor, but it is
extremely dangerous to do any boost tuning on a NBo2. I actually found a
dramatic off boost increase in drivability via WBo2 tuning. Its often little
2-3 percent changes that you can?t see unless using a WBo2.
Now go out and let her rip!
no love for the FBotW :*(
