z-ya

Hopefully it doesn't have a battery 8^)

The FPGA has non-volitile RAM in it (inlcuding the CLBs?)? Are you going to plug these NI PCI cards into some sort of PCI backplane? Is it going to be a PC motherboard? I guess I haven't been following your project very closely, sorry. I thought you wanted to add some glue logic to the proto area on the V3.0 PCB. Keep us posted on your project.

I would think that if you need to some timing logic outside of what the processor can do, a small PAL would probably do the trick. FPGAs are way overkill for use as glue logic in a Megasquirt. The processor can do 99.9% of everything. Now to use an FPGA to exclusively do all engine management fuctions would not be a good choice. Engine management system have many parameters, including multiple fuel and ignition maps. Memory is required to store all this information. When you instantiate memory in an FPGA, you suck up a lot of potential logic. Memory is never a good use of an FPGAs resources. You would also need to design a serial port to change the paramenters. Also, because an FPGA is volitile, each time the MS is turned off, it would loose it's program. You would need to burn the serial prom in circuit each time you made change to the map. A lot of work when the processor can do all but a few rare cases where timing beyond its precision is required. Lastly, you need different, and sometimes costly tools to develop FPGAs. You need an HDL compiler, simulator, and synthesis tool. If you don't know how to write VHDL or Verilog, then you really have an up hill battle. With the procerssor all you need is a free compiler, and knowlege of C. Or do no programming as all of the work is already done for you by the MS developers. My $0.02? Stick with the $10 processor.

The threaded hole is for the Nissan rear main bearing cap removal tool. You can also thread any hardened bolt of the correct thread into that hole, put a vise grip on it, and pry up on the vide grip with a pry bar to remove the rear cap if it's stuck.

Just get a stock L28ET engine in good shape. You can easily get 350HP (crank) on a stock long block at 12-15psi. Spend your $ on a good turbo, intercooler, 3" exhaust, 370cc/min or bigger injectors, and engine management. If you can't find a good used engine, then I'd go with any L28 block and the Arizona Z car forged flat tops that use the 9mm L24 rods. You will need to bore to 87mm. Run a P90 (solid lifter) head with just a fresh valve job and resurfacing. Keep the stock cam, as it is fine for your HP goals. Use a 2mm NISMO gasket with 3 coats of copper spray. Run an engine management system that allows complete timing control. If you are good at wiring, Megasquirt is a good option. If not, I'd suggest an aftermarket unit. My preference is the Wolf34 v4.0 from WolfEMS as I've installed a number of them and they are easy to tune, and work great. For the most part, boring, stroking, cams, head work, are not required for the HP levels you want to achieve. I've tuned a number of L28ETs with stock internals using the above suggested mods, and they make well over 300WHP.

So you plan on driving the MSD with the distributor, and then triggering the MS off the MSD? You want to drive the MS with the MSD tach ouput. I would lean towards the negative coil trigger configuration.

What coil are you using? Is it a 280ZX turbo coil?

What coil are you using? If it is the stock 260Z coil, it might require a ballast resistor. If you don't use one, the coil will draw too much current, causing both the module and coil to get too hot. The resistance of the primary on those coils is much lower than a newer 280Z or 280ZX coil. Get one of those, or an MSD blaster 2 coil.

Ask and you shall recieve! Thanks Moby!

To do true wasted spark, you will need three separate TTL outputs to drive the three VB921s. Yes, the MS can do this, but I'm not sure if the firmware supports it. If you drive all three VB921s with the same ignition output signal, you will fire all six plugs simultaneously. Not sure how this would effect idle, performance, etc., but it should work.

Jon, I can see more accurate timming. There is only one way to find out if more HP is attainable (before and after dyno sessions).

Jon, I'm not sure how much you would gain by adding EDIS to your Mikuni equipped L6. I'm assuming that you have your advance set as high as possible without detonation. And I'm also assuming that you have a hot coil and an MSD or something. You are also probably running a high CR, and a healthy cam. It seems like a lot of effort to go though when in the end, the timing map will be fairly consistant at the max advance you can run. And since you don't have much vacuum, the ignition map will stay pretty much in the same load band all the time. Running it in Alpha-N mode (TPS referenced load) might give you more timing range. With Paul, he is running EFI too, so while the MS is in there, might as well have it do the ignition too. I'm running EDIS on my supercharged L6 track car with great sucess so far (besides blowing the head gasket 8^( ).

It is much simpler to think about it as spark energy. Yea, if you want to break out your calculus and electromagnetic theory, you can precicely calculate the spark on each plug. But you will need to have gone through 3 years of EE study before you can do that. Let's keep it simple. Yes, the spark energy is divided in half btween the two plugs. My point was that it is not divided exactly in half, and therefore one plug always gets less energy. The COP setup fixes this. I would lthink that most if not all COP units take a +5V or +12V square wave as an input. They are not current triggered, but fire when a certain voltage threshold is crossed. Ron, this will work fine with the setup you are doing for Brian as the Wolf puts out a +5V square wave on its ignition outputs.

Not to dis, carbs, but while you have the Megasquirt unit in there, you might as well have it do the fuel too. The MS EFI will out perform any carb.

GREAT write up Paul. A couple things I'd like to mention. The main, and really only drawback to a conventional wasted spark setup is that both pugs do not get the same spark energy. Since both plugs are fired off the same coil, and due to the nature of this electro magnetic circuit, one plug gets a slightly hotter spark. This is not a concern for most engines. Only the ultimate performance/race engines running lots of boost, or extreme compression ratios will really care about one spark being slightly hotter. A COP setup basically fixes this issue since each plug has not only its own coil, but also its own coil driver. But to use COP with EDIS and Megasdquirt, it will still be wasted spark. But who cares if you waste a little of the vehicles electrical energy every cycle. The inportant thing is that all cylinders are getting the same spark energy (within the tollerance of the COPs).

You can also clean the head and block of any gasket material, place the head on the block, and then use a feeler gauge to check for clearance. Check all around the head. if you can't get a .003" or .004" gauge in there, the head and block mating surfaces are probably OK.

You can use the stock 280Z or 280ZX resistor pack. It is located on the firewall next to the clutch master cylinder. I've used them in a number of MS installtions, and they work fine. I suggest using the stock connectors to wire it into your MS harness.

I think you will need to run a different cam to get 400WHP. You should be in the 325-350WHP range with the setup you describe at 15psi.

Doesn't look like they calibrated the actual engine RPM, with the RPM the dyno is measuring. So this will totally throw off the HP measurements on the chassis dyno. Next time confirm that the chassis dyno RPM matches the RPM on your in car tach.

Paul, Something is not making sense with this wet vs. dry discussion. I talked to your friend Brian, and he has been talking to Andy at Camden. Andy says they must be run wet. When Ken Jones was thinking of using the Camden SC, someone at Camden said it was OK to run it dry. If I look inside mine, the seals are white. I'm assuming that they are Teflon. Teflon does not need to be lubricated. I've done a track day, and at least 30 dyno pulls with mine, with no loss of boost. Yea, I can add a couple more injectors in the TB adapter plate I made, but I would like to avoid it if at all possible. I may just run it as is this year and see what happens.

I'm running the JCR kit, but with Megasquirt fuel injection. I picked it up used, so I don't know if you can still get them from JCR. I know that you can get parts, and possibly the manifold and pulleys from camdensuperchargers.com. Hear is a before and after supercharger dyno plot: Any know if these Camden superchargers are wet or not? I've been running mine dry, and it appears to be holding 8psi of boost OK. I just don't want to wear out the seals with no fuel going through it. I'm in no rush to add more injectors ahead of the supercharger to lube the seals. Thanks

Paul, One is all you need. If you put another one in parallel, the capacitance will be addative. This may or may not be advantageous. If all is well with the new wires and plugs, I'd leave it as is. The RS-232 cable was acting as an antenna, pulling that EMI into the MS. Grouding it at the chassis, gave it the best shield as related to the ignition coils. When you groounded it at the DB37, it created a long ground loop through the DB37 cable, and you relay board. I'll try the feeler gauge trick today. Thanks

Paul, Did you install that little capacitor that came with the chrysler coil pack? I hooked it up on mine. I'm also using a Summit Racing universal V8 HEI wire set. The quality is really good, and the price was great ($26). An the set came with a crimp tool too. I don't think the head is warped. I check this by cleaning both the block and head surfaces, and I then set the head on the block with no gasket. The head does not "rock" on the block at all. I would assume that if the head was warped, there would be a noticable "rock" when the head is sitting on the block. Thanks for the maching offer, as I'm sure you do a great job. I have a guy a few miles away that does all my machining, so I'll have him check it.

Paul, Yes, the cable internal shield should be connected to the DB9 shell. At least that is how I have always made RS-232 cables. Check for continuity on the cable between the ground pin on the DB9, and the DB9 metal shell. They should connect. So if this shield floats, it looks like it can cause noise on the data signals to the MS. This is causing you reset problem. When you tie the shield to chassis ground, you are either eliminating a ground loop, or just shielding the data signals from noise. Personally I would fix this by soldering a small wire on the backside of the MS PCB from the shell pin (like you show in your photo), to the nearest ground. Make it is a good solid ground. You can tie it to ground on the DB37 connector if you want. This should fix your problem. Weird problem, as I and many others have v3.0 boards, and don't have this reset problem. I would also re-check you DB37 cable just for kicks. There might be a wiring problem there that is amplifiing the sensitivity of the RS-232 input. On another note, I overheated the race car at the track, and blew the head gasket. Ahhh! I don't I warped the head though. Putting in a NISMO gasket Monday.

Yes, I agree, it sounds like something in the Max233 RS232 tranciever circuit. A bridged solder joint or a bent IC pin if it is in a socket. Give it a good visual inspection. I bought a pre-mande MS for a customer of mine, and I found over 10 cracked solder joints around the processor. I went ahead an reflowed every solder joint on the PCB. So far, the reliability problems seem to be fixed. Have you tested to see if the reset problem exists on the stimulator? This would rule out power supply noise and or ground loops.