FlatBlack Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I posted this on MSExtra, needing some help getting my 78 280Z Turbo swap to run. I got my map from mikeatrpi, he is running a modified VR dizzy off his N/A motor. Here is the map I am running: http://forums.hybridz.org/showpost.php?p=1044528&postcount=112 After hooking up the IGBT circuit according to the DIYAutotune writeup: http://www.diyautotune.com/tech_articles/how_to_megasquirt_your_280zx_turbo.htm I am getting RPM in Megatune, when the car is cranking over, and with the stim board. The dizzy is hooked up to the relay board according to the DIYAT diagram. The D2 diode was wired in backwards by the previous owner, so I jumpered it as the megamanual suggested: # For most installations, diode D2 {1N4001DICT-ND, the marked 1N4001} is not needed. Do not install D2, install a jumper (made from a snipped off lead) in its place. It is located beside D1, closer to the heat sink. Note: this diode (D2) is needed only if the ignition system has a large offset bias - most systems do not have such a bias. So, to start, you can either solder in a jumper wire in this location, or, you can install the diode D2, and then install a jumper around the two leads of the diode - in effect shorting it out. The latter will allow you to snip the jumper later on if needed, putting the diode back in circuit. Solder the diode in observing the banded end as on the board, then solder a wire jumper across the diode itself. When the wire from the coil to the distributor is taken off and 'jumped' to metal on the car or a spark plug is hooked up, it will fire, but seems to be 'weak' spark. I bought a brand new cap and rotor for my distributor, and after trying to get it to fire today we took the cap back off and there are no 'fire' marks on the points or the rotor. When cranking the car, no spark is getting to the plugs when the plugs are out of the motor. I'm not sure if the problem is in the wiring in the board or the wiring harness [not getting enough power or something like that], or wrong settings of my msq. Any advice for me? This is a MS1 V3.0 Extra Code board with the IGBT circuit wired up to trigger spark, I'm using the 029y4 Version of MegaTune, when I go to the configuration setting and select "extra.ini" it says the code is 029y3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrumpetRhapsody Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cramer Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Does your Stim board have an IG LED? If so, does it blink when you test the MS on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 I recall that it was blinking, Trumpet says he can't remember if it was a solid light or if it was blinking. I'll go check it out after work. I lined up the dizzy shaft notch with the oil shaft notch according to the "How to rebuild your Nissan OHC motor" book, but I wonder if there is a possibility that the rotor is off so much that it can't spark to the point on the cap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cramer Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 The rotor phasing could be the problem, so it wouldn't hurt to check. Also let me know what you find about the LED on the Stim. The blinks may only be visible at low RPM settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 Thanks for the reply Mr. Cramer - I've had company in town for a few days so I won't make it out to the shop until tonight. Will reply tonight or tomorrow morning. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrumpetRhapsody Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 The IG LED does blink, yes. Sorry Mat, had to check Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 Chris = best friend Haha thanks buddy. I know I've been a slacker but Katie is leaving tonight so it's back to the Z! Going to stop by HF to pick up a impact set, do you need anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cramer Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Ok. At this point, I'd check the rotor phasing and make sure that is OK. Also, any chance you may have internal damage to the distributor cap? I've seen some brand new distributor caps ground so off-center they'd probably break if put on an engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 I made it out to the shop last night. I had to reset the dizzy shaft. It is now facing in the proper direction. I had other people tell me that there was no spark hitting the spark plug wires, but I never confirmed this. There is now spark getting to the plugs. I had an extra plug hooked up to cyl 1 and cyl 6 wires and they were both sparking. I could have sworn that I heard it fire in two cylinders the first time I tried to crank it, but I didn't smell any exhaust gas [open DP currently] and it could have all been in my head. I ran down my battery again trying to adjust random settings and get it to start. Never did get it to run though. I need someone out there to help me, hopefully I can get Chris out there later this week. I guess it's all an issue of timing now, so I'm going to have someone physically rotate the dizzy head around while trying to crank it, hopefully that will help? There are two possible ways that you can mount the distributor, I didn't see a directional key. I'll try to find a picture of a stock setup. I wonder if I have the dizzy head mounted 180* off. The motor was on TDC compression stroke when I reset the dizzy shaft, so that should be good. The LED was flashing the whole time I was cranking it, and I saw the spark from the plug wires. Chris suggested I might have "weak" spark, could this be a possibility? Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeatrpi Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Mat, were you able to: 1) Put cylinder #1 to TDC and verify rotor position and wire connections - firing order - on the cap? 2) Set the correct trigger angle in megatune? Pull the fuel pump fuse and crank the engine while watching for 10 degrees fixed angle with a timing light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 #1 Yes Good call on #2, I was unsure on what trigger angle I need. Thanks Mike, I'm going back out tomorrow. I spent this evening spending more of my income on Z parts :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 So, went out to the shop with my roommate tonight. Nothing changed, but somehow the Z gods are not looking on me kindly. I once again have no spark past the coil wire. It sparks with a purplish flame when I put a spark plug on it, but once again nothing at the cylinders. Can anyone help me? I am not to the point of moving on to HEI or EDIS yet. I want to make this work. I have a Z31 turbo dizzy available if that matters. I saw a Big Phil video and he swapped the internals into the 83 dizzy housing. I'm not sure if that will help though. I get a RPM reading in MegaTune, and spark off the coil. I can't figure out if this is a mechanical issue or MegaSquirt issue. Why won't this work??? Can someone give me a MSQ running an 83 Dizzy on MSI V3 Extra? Do I have my wiring harness hooked up wrong? If so, how am I getting RPM in MegaTune? I tried uploading the data logs and it won't let me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrumpetRhapsody Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 You need to put them in a zip or rar archive to upload them. Also, forgot to mention this the other day when we were talking about weak spark: Weak spark = Purple, only jumps a short gap Strong spark = White, can jump a longer gap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cramer Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I'm pretty sure it's mechanical at this point. The ECU is working, the coil is sparking, but the spark isn't getting through the distributor. I would suspect either your timing or the rotor phasing is off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeatrpi Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) Mat - Were you able to set the trigger angle, per our google chat yesterday? I'm going to guess "no" because its not sparking to the cylinders. Maybe you can play with the numbers anyway and see if it helps? Also - what color is the coil wire spark to a ground point? Edited July 31, 2009 by mikeatrpi whups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybear Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=107106&page=2 Mat, not sure if that link will help any but it seems (at least from my reading) that he had the same problem as you and is now running it w/o the GM HEI. Hope that helps, still new at this MS stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 I'm pretty sure it's mechanical at this point. The ECU is working, the coil is sparking, but the spark isn't getting through the distributor. I would suspect either your timing or the rotor phasing is off. That's what I was thinking, I'm not sure what I need to do at this point though. I have already re-set the dizzy to TDC. Is there no adjustment in MS I can make for it being out of place? I was thinking if I rotate the dizzy housing it should spark to a cylinder at least. The rotor arm is pretty big. I tried it yesterday and got nothing. Mat - Were you able to set the trigger angle, per our google chat yesterday? I'm going to guess "no" because its not sparking to the cylinders. Maybe you can play with the numbers anyway and see if it helps? Also - what color is the coil wire spark to a ground point? Yeah, no spark on Cyl 1 so no timing :/ Thanks for your help though. I will do it once it idles. If it ever does. I didn't see what colour the spark was to the body, I could check when I go out tomorrow. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=107106&page=2 Mat, not sure if that link will help any but it seems (at least from my reading) that he had the same problem as you and is now running it w/o the GM HEI. Hope that helps, still new at this MS stuff. Thanks for the link, Deric. Good read. Would anyone suggest just moving on to HEI or EDIS? It's not really in the budget right now, but I can make it happen if it needs to. More work less sleep [until school starts at least]. Thanks for all of your help guys, the Z has been down for a month now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrumpetRhapsody Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Your coil won't spark further than 1mm. Your coil worked perfectly on James' car. We've triple checked your wiring. We've looked over the circuits on the board, everything checks out to the best of our abilities You've tweaked every setting in Megatune ... The HEI module is $15 and AZ has a return policy. I don't know why we're still talking about this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybear Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Mat, I would say give the HEI a try, its cheap and if it will make it run it will be the best $15 dollars you ever spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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