FM Link conversion to Beer Money Motorsports Rusefi and review
 

I have a supercharged 95 with a 2005 FM Link ECU, which had become problematic. I considered Haltech, AEM and MSPNP (the most likely candidate) but my local tuner didn’t want to tune MS anymore and wanted nothing to do with converting a hacked wire harness to a new ECU. I also knew that whatever ECU I got would only be as good as its tune. So, I was very enthused when my Link tuner, Ken Hill (can’t say enough about Ken) told me that he'd learned about the Beer Money Motorsports Rusefi ecu last August at Miata’s at the Gap.

With Ken and Jesse Hooven, proprietor of the ECU, I figured out that I could do the physical swap for the Link:

IAT – The Link was configured to read the EGR Blue/Yellow wire at 1M for IAT. The BMM uses a GM IAT sensor and Jesse configured the BMM to do the same. I choose to mount the sensor in the same location as the Link IAT sensor, which meant I had a bung welded on to the intercooler pipe just before the intake manifold.

WBO2 – Same wiring, but the ECU needs a jumper. More on that later.

MAP Sensor – Run a vacuum hose from the manifold through the firewall and back to the ECU. The OEM MAP sensor plug attached to the Link MAP sensor box in the engine compartment will be unplugged. I figured out several weeks later that I needed to ground the two grounds from that plug to stop my tach needle from bouncing all over, unrelated to the actual rpm.

Knock Sensor – The Link knock sensor is also plugged into the Link MAP sensor box. Unplug it, cut off the plug, run the wire through the firewall, extend the two wires (apparently some Links have a coaxial cable) and crimp on two terminals to connect to pins 2P and 2K of the ECU.

Vid on the physical conversion. You’ll see that I had no knowledge of TunerStudio whatsoever. I’ve learned a bit since then but thank God for Ken and Jesse.

After loading the .ini file and Jesse remoting in and reconfiguring the ECU from what I assume was a 1.6 config to a 1.8 config, I was able to start the car, which ran briefly and didn’t have a WBO2 reading. I sent Jesse a picture of the board and he figured out that I needed to add a jumper to R46, which since I’d had to do some soldering on the Link, I went ahead and did.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...99507bab6.jpeg


With the ECU in, the next step was to tune, which was made more difficult by my inexperience with TunerStudio, conflicting work schedules and the inability of the car to idle. But all of these variables came together after about six weeks and Ken remoting in three times (idle was fixed by Ken’s doing some “PID tuning” and ign adv adjustments) And I have a good tune (still a little rich) and a drivable car. The last tune and data log are here https://rusefi.com/online/view.php?msq=1104 and https://rusefi.com/online/view.php?log=922

So, the $500 ECU works and has modernized my 17 year old ECU. However, it was a bit of a Beta experience, which wouldn’t have worked for me without the assistance of a top tuner. But this ECU will only get better with time for the ordinary customer.

Next stop, a trip to the dyno to compare to the Link output.

Anyone need some FM Link parts?

Dyno update
 

On 7/20 I dynoed car at the same shop where I'd dynoed it four years earlier, also in July. Their tuner wasn't in so the chief mechanic and also the owner ran the dyno. Results as follows:
Solid line is the BMM
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...08084deeea.jpg

There are a couple of anomalies, like why was it making more boost in the mid range? I think the reason that the max boost was lower on the second dyno session was the rev limiter was set to 7000, which kicked in around 6800, which you can see here. Also, my tuner, who I sent the log to, couldn't see a reason for the torque spike at 4500 rpm. Still, all in all, better to show +23 whp and +27ftlb than the other direction! Car pulls hard. Now if I can only get the idle completely sussed, I'm set.

Jesse does amazing stuff with those rusEFI miata units :)

And it helps to have someone like Ken on the team as well.

Iink ecu problem
 

Many years ago i put a jackson racing supercharger and a link ecu on my 1997 mx5 and it has worked flawlessly until it now has developed a strange problem;
It starts, runs perfectly for 10 minutes, a day, 2 minutes, or any random time before engine just stops, and link keypad goes «black». If I turn of ignition and waits for a few minutes, the link keypad boots and i can start the car again and it runs fine until next time(can be 5minutes or many days). When the link wont boot the car will not start, just cranks.
I have visually checked the connectors, cables and ecu board, but everything looks fine.
I am trying to figure out if this is an ecu related problem or if it can be anything else?
I am thankful for any help/tips/ideeas😀
Best regards Lars from Norway.

Just adding a footnote. The 225 whp sited above is not a good number for my car. Poor dyno set up. Had multiple pulls on both a dyno jet but also a mustang dyno all year long and the accurate number was in the 160s, until I just recently adjusted my ignition advance. New thread at https://www.miataturbo.net/megasquir...-knock-108925/ Accurate number is more like 210 whp, which is fine with me. And I even managed not to blow up my motor.