1995 STS Miata - Intro thread
 

Hi guys,
I have been lurking around the site for a while now and thought that it was time to say hello.

My name is Dave and based on your “noob first post thread”, I guess I fall in to the “if I leave her, she’s taking everything” category; although, I have to admit, Lambo doors would look pretty sick on a Miata dog! ;-)

I currently own a Black 1995 Miata that I use primary as an autox car, it has been built as a STS class car, with most of the effort spent on setting up the custom valved Fat Cat suspension. Other mods include Race beat exhaust / intake, Kirkey seats, 949 wheels, Toyo R1R tires, sway bar, bushing ect…. I think you guys get the idea, pretty much anything to make the car go around a cone.

The only item remaining on the STS build check list is an ECU upgrade. There are a few different ways to go about this, but in a nut shell a very popular way to go (For Miata’s in the STS class) is to fit a standalone ECU in to the stock ECU case (do not ask, stupid class rules… ) and this is the route that I have chosen go.

I purchased a Mega Squirt 2 V3.0 DIY kit from a friend that decided that he wanted to go in a different direction with his CSP Miata, deciding that a PNP would be a better option for him. Come to think about it, I think that he decided that I would be buying the MS 2 from him, more than I decided to buy it from him, but either way, once I checked that I could shoe horned the MS 2 in to the stock ECU case, I started my build pretty much the next day.

The build started with removing the Serial and BD 37 pin connectors that were already mounted to the board, which were pretty much the only things that were mounted on the board before I got my hands on it, but more on that in my first thread, which I intend on starting tonight, as I have some questions for you guys, which from reading through the various threads here, you guys have the answers that I am looking for.

I am looking forward to sharing some my build details with you guys and hopefully getting a chance to chat with some of you a bit more in the very near future.

Here is a pic of my car at our home pad in Vancouver.

[IMG]https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424390546[/IMG]

Welcome, blackice!

Welcome man!

Hi Guys, wow how time passes...

I have been doing more driving than working on the ECU project, but I wanted to get back on task here, so I thought I would post up a few pictures and show you guys where I am at with the build.

Attachment 144673

Here is my latest picture, I have the Mega board mounted inside the stock Miata ECU case now, I cut a custom heat sink to fit the contours of the case better and used the stock ECU socket as well a bit of the old printed circuit board (for starters) to attach it to. I have tested the board and everything seems to be working.

Attachment 144674

The Mega Squirt board fit perfectly inside the stock 1995 case, although if I did it again, I would make the heat sink a bit smaller, so that there was a bit more room on the socket end of the case, I will most likely cut that later, just to clean it up.

Attachment 144675

Would like to know if any one has used the MAF as part of the inputs? Is that possible ?

Let me know

Thanks

Dave

I went right to using map. I am curious why you would want to use a MAF signal?

The class rules for STS state that you must use the OE sensors on the car. So I need to keep the MAF and tune around that signal or by TPS ? Either way I would really love to hear some ideas about how I might go about doing this.

A few thoughts,

Flow bench to test on the MAF to get values ?
MAP outputs and compare to MAF outputs in Tuner Studio ?
MAP outputs VS TPS Values in TS ?


Thoughts ?

Any chance you have a late model 95 (ie OBDII)? If so there's a factory map sensor that you might be able to hack in to your system...

The EGR boost sensor just checks if the EGR is operating when it knows the EGR valve is open (via the EGR Position sensor). It's not actually looking for positive pressure like a tradiation MAP sensor.

I suppose this is possible to use, but I'm not sure I've ever read of anyone actually testing it.

Would be easy enough to see if it outputs a 0-5v signal and actually works in positive pressure -- some sensors are vacuum only.

any reason you just didn't remove the old PCB but instead decided to cut it in half?


you either cheat and run a hidden map sensor, or do alpha-n code.

Thank you for the ninja edit, your original post made me a bit bitter about trying to legitimately help. Also, seeing as he's not running a turbo, wouldn't a vacuum only map sensor be OK?

Though all of this is likely moot as he probably has a pre OBDII car.

See this question in MS FAQ: 'You said the MSPNP runs speed density. Does it support other load modes?' MegaSquirtPNP by DIYAutoTune.com

There is information on unrelated forums, but I did not find any that came to a full conclusion. It looks possible, but certainly not well supported. Megasquirt Mass Air Flow Conversion

Supposedly TechSalvager made it work on a Miata, but with some sort of custom code. I'm not recommending following his lead, just giving you some possible direction.

This seems to be the newest discussion: Megasquirt Support Forum (MSEXTRA) ? MAF vs MAP. (View topic)

Sounds not straigthforward.

yeah, im a jerk. :naughty:

good point on non-boosted car. Like I said, this would be easy to figure out. and like you said probably moot :P

No, I have an early 95, so no OBD II...

Hahaha, because I am a hack :)
The other ECU was a non working unit as well I broke the piece of plastic I was trying to fit, so the pre drilled and perfectly cut piece looked pretty good at the time. I told my self that I would replace it, but so far laziness has prevailed!

I am guessing that finding a flow bench and measuring the values is the best way to go here....