Ready to tackle spark! Please advise.
 

Ok, so I really want to get rid of that AFM and control spark. Please tell me if I have the right plan.

I have the 2.2 board, running fuel only. I have done the input mods. I am running 029q firmware. I plan to use King's Miata v Megasquirt post. I'm afraid to use any of the 3.0 info in case it's different.

In a recent post, I was concerned about the strength of the 1.6 coils, and Al said that they were the strong ones, but in King's thread, it says:

<Normally anything over 4ms would be fine but the 1.6L ignition system is very weak. Make sure if you have a non-stock configuration or a 1.8L you start at 3.0ms and work your way
up until the coils start to get warm.>

I hope I don't offend anyone, I just want to be really sure before I start.

After spark I plan to control the idle. At any point in this plan do I have to add a TPS?

Also, I just got my AC working, (and LOVING it, as this is my first Summer in Dallas!) and now I'm wondering, how does MS know to increase rpm when my compressor comes on?

Thanks so much guys, I am so proud of that data cable hanging out of my glove box reminding me that MS is in there working! : )

Oh, one more thing. I've got base timing pretty high. I don't remember how high, it was a while back that I set it, but i actually had to open up the slot on the CAS to allow more advance, as the car kept allowing it without knocking. I want to say 18 degrees. Do you guys stick this at 10 when you run spark with MS to give an accurate reading in MT?

How is you MS currently setup are you using both CAS inputs to drive the MS currently?

I have been running the 1.6 ignitor and coils for about 6 months without any problems at all.

Set your base timing to 10 degrees BTDC.

Send me a pm with your email address and I'll send you my .msq with the FM sourced spark table.

Yes, I am using both CAS inputs. I read a recent post about AC idle, so I think I may take care of that independently.

I would start w/ a dwell of 2.2ms and a start up dwell of the same.. My 1.8L's fried @ 4.5ms

I removed Q9 and Q10, replaced R25 and R28 with 330 ohm, and ran a wire from the side of the resistor that went to the transistor to X12 and X13. I think that was what King meant by "the top of resistor R25". Hooked them to the brown wires going to my ignitor. It tried to run backwards, so I reversed them, and it ran but only on two cylinders I think. I'll keep trying, but I thought I'd lay out my steps in case something jumped out at anyone.

Oh, and I set spark to invert, and dwell to 4. Do I set distibutor to MSnS or Off?

Set the distributor to MSnS.

No set the distributor to Off.

Then set Wheel Decoder to Generic.

My settings looked identical except for the 'rising' and '025 style', but I changed those and no difference. I can change it back to the stock wires and it runs fine, so I didn't blow a coil.

pictures make everything better.

If you blow a 1.6L coil you'll be working at it. Think you'd pop the ignitor first.

I wish. I have the v2.2 board. What's all this talk about the VB29? ignitors? Would those work with my stock coils?

I have a 2.2 Board in my miata. I'll take a picture of it tonight.
You don't need the VB921's with the 1.6L coils using the stock ignitor.
The VB921s are used if you are firing the coils directly.

Adam

That would be great. If you are running PWM idle, I'd love to see that too. I mounted the TIP122 inside my case above the serial cable, I just haven't hooked it up yet. I asked a guy at work today if his oscilloscope is portable, and it is. I think on Wednesday we'll hook it up to the wires from the stock ecm and then the wires from MS and see what's going on with my ignition.

I'M SPARKING, I'M SPARKING!!!!!!! We threw an o-scope on it and found a signal on the processor side of the resistor, and none on the led side. Came back inside and pulled it apart and apparently I kluged (sp?) the removal of one transistor. The remaining solder gunk was making a short. Cleaned it up and it runs like a champ. When I get home, that AFM is GONE!!!

If you're running an FM spark table, you'll probably also notice that it's quite a bit peppier in the mid range. At least I thought so. Pretty cool once you get it figured out. I wish I had done spark while mine was still stock instead of just fuel.

It feels good, but I plan to mess with it as soon as I kill the AFM. I should have read the timing before I backed it off, I don't know why I went and turned the CAS back then hooked up the light, but I want to say it was somewhere in the mid 20's for advance? Way off the timing marker, I couldn't believe how much advance I could give this car without knocking. So backing it back down to ten now with MS running fuel produced a heck of a bog right at throttle tip in when it is cold. Then just a slight stumble when it was warm. Now running spark on MS that seems better. But could someone help me decipher the spark settings page? If I wanted to advance base timing, would I increase or decrease:

1. Cranking advance angle (which is set at 10)

2. Fixed Angle (which is set at -10)

Neither-- change the trigger angle to get the timing light to agree with what's in the 'fixed angle' field. Noting that -10 means it's referencing the spark table.

So to set your base timing, set your 'fixed angle' to 10 degrees. Then use a timing light and adjust the 'trigger angle' until the light reads the same 10 degrees.

That's it-- now set the 'fixed angle' to -10 so that it will reference the spark table to determine ignition advance.

So setting the fixed angle to 10 is like using the jumper on the stock ecm to set the timing, make the two match, then set it back to -10 to reference the spark table?