little confused. any help would be awesome

[82 turbo z]

So i'm wanting to get a mega squirt system for my build but im a little confused on what i need to be looking for. I have a 1982 280zxt 5 speed and its all stock besides a muffler, rims, and lip kit all around when i bought the car. all that i've done so far is install a boost gauge, boost controller which i need to get an electric one since the manual ones boost creep like crazy, and i plugged the emergency release valve. i also put slotted and drilled rotors all around with new pads not that that really matters for the ecu but heres a list of most of the things im planning on doing: im getting the front mount, turbo, downpipe, intake, and injectors in december. waiting to go on till i get money for megasquirt and tune.

 

-Front Mount Intercooler

-t3/t4 hybrid turbo

-ported intake manifold runners with bigger throttle body ported to match

-70 to 80lb injectors

-walbro 255 fuel pump

-custom billet fuel rail

-inline fuel regulator with pressure gauge

-Meth Injection

-3" down pipe

-3" full exhaust (catless) with muffler

-Wideband system

-port and polished head with 1mm oversized valves, stiffer springs, retainers, and mild to wild cam.

-hi flow CAI

 

etc... that should be enough to get some help.

 

i was looking at this kit http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/megasquirtii-programmable-efi-system-pcb30-kit-black-case-p-119.html but i just dont know if that has everything i need or if i need to add on to that. im new to motor skills and im going to be taking a class. i have more skills in body, paint, and suspension so im learning so any help would be awesome! thanks!

[MONGO510]

Emergency release valve? What is this?

 

Mongo

[82 turbo z]

its the thing by the blow off valve on the intake manifold. its what stops the car from going over 8 pounds. everyone plugs it with a 1 inch pipe plug. ill post pics when i find my camera

[Gollum]

I don't have MS, but I've read through the threads on it more than just a few times.

 

That kit is the entire ECU, but that's probably not all that you'll want to have on hand when you do the swap. The big other key item would be a wideband of some sort, like the LC1 and compatible controller. Without a wideband you'll have no reliable way to tune the ECU. You could probably load a map from someone with a similar setup, but you'd want to get to a dyno ASAP, and if you make ANY changes you'd be heading back to a dyno.

 

I've talked to several professional grade shops that don't care about dyno tuning for street cars and consider it "an unneeded luxury" or "something to make the customer's happy". This is because with a good wideband you'll get a better tune on the street, and be able to compensate for a wider range of factors that simply don't happen on a dyno. Dyno tuning is for you to use if you don't want to learn how to tune the car yourself, but if that's the case then there's better options than megasquirt. MS is truly for the person that WANTS to tune their car themselves.

 

All that to say "you'll want a wideband".

 

The MS FAQ/Sticky covers how to use the factory distributor, which is fine if you're not pushing the limits of the stock internals. But if you're going to reach those 400+ numbers, then you'll probably want to run a 36-1 timing wheel on the crank triggering coil packs. This will give you much more accurate timing, and a much wider range of control too.

 

And personally, I think if you have ethanol near where you live I'd just run ethanol instead of meth. E85 with an intercooler has no need for extra cooling imo. The nice thing about running E85 is that you don't run into some issues that you might have when spraying meth aside from gasoline. If you have a meth tank and for any reason you run out, or you get a clog in the system, or if your pump fails or just drops a bit of pressure then you run the risk of blowing your motor. Where as if you're running E85 you'll immediately notice most fuel supply issues. You also have less parts possible to fail in this setup. The other upside is that you can tune with it, and without it, and switch back and forth if you need to (just make sure there's less than a gallon of fuel left in the tank first!). This would also be more soft effective than meth, as you're not buying as many parts to get it up and running, and E85 is much cheaper per gallon than meth, and gasoline too!

 

In a rough tuned 350+whp STI running E85, the cost is effectively THE SAME per mile when compared to CA 91 octane premium. The reduction in MPG is roughly 20% (not even tried to tune for economy) and the cost is about 20-25% less. So it's a wash here in CA. I'd imagine that in texas you might even be saving money over premium. Something to look into.

[82 turbo z]

awesome yea i was going to get a wideband before i even put the ecu in. im going to have all these parts in a box just waiting till i get the money for a tune of somesort too if i cant figure it out just incase. And yea thats a good point on the meth injection compared to e85. i need to find out where some stations are that sell e85 to see if it will be realistic for me to do that here but if i could change from e85 back to 93 and vis versa then i would deff be able to do that. and i did not know that about the distributor ill deff have to look into that some more. Thanks for the info it deff helped

[BluDestiny]

You need to ask youself some questions like what is your budget and hp goal and is this a track motor, or a street motor before you just throw parts in your car.

 

If you're getting the port/polish for your head it looks to me like you want to make serious HP. Big Phil made almost 400 on a stock block with a big turbo and no port/polish so I find that an added expense that you don't need/can put to better parts. Also I agree with the whole meth injection thing gollum said, its another extra expense if you can just get some E85.

 

 

As for what you need in your megasquirt kit, you should call DIYautotune first. They have some pretty knowledgeable guys. Just make sure you read the sticky first in the EMS section so you know what you're talking and more importantly what he's talking about.

Edited November 11, 2010 by BluDestiny

[82 turbo z]

ok cool yea im not trying to make a track car but just a nice reliable fun street car with some nice power. mid 300 if not a little higher would be happy with me. i just want to make sure if i want to go bigger i will already have some of the main components that i can tune like the big injectors and getting a port and polish job and porting the intake manifold and the exhaust manifold. but yea im still new to the z cars and new to internal work so im sorry if i dont make sense sometimes or just sound plain dumb lol. im learning thats why im on these sites i came from a subaru so i know a little but yea. i know if i want to make some serious power ill have to get into the block but for right now i just want to build on this for now and leave the block alone till i need to rebuild then some more fun will come.