Ignition Timing

[Don]

I did a search, but didn't learn much.

I would like to bump my timing up from 8 BTDC to 10 or 12 - How ever far it turns out that I can go without needing premium fuel.

I understand the timing is adjusted by the ECU, but I'm assuming there must be some procedure for changind the base timing - I know there is on my Miata, and I've made good use of it. On a Miata, you disable the ECU timing by shorting two connector pins under the hood, and then set the base timing by adjusting the cam angle sensor.

Is there a similar procedure for the P5 engine, and has anyone written it up anywhere? If so, my "search" didn't find it.

Thanks,

Don

 

[spoolinmp3]

- I know there is on my Miata, and I've made good use of it. On a Miata, you disable the ECU timing by shorting two connector pins under the hood, and then set the base timing by adjusting the cam angle sensor.

A fellow miata owner
Unfortunatly we cannot do the same. We are in the same boat as m2 miata owners. We do not have the ability to adjust timing. We have no crank angle sensor to adjust and we have the twin coil pack ignition setup without a distributor. The only way to retard or advance ignition is to intercept and manipulate the signal via the coil packs. This can be done through a timing controller such as the msd dis2 system(I think thats the name). The apexi itc controller will not work. Trust me I researched this topic extensivly since I went turbo. I had 16 degree advance on my m1 miata felt nice before I went turbo on that as well. The msd system is pricey and not worth the money on a n/a car in my opinion.

 

[DBR]

this has probably been posted before, but can someone post the link to get more info on the MSD products. thanks.

 

[Don]

The msd system is pricey and not worth the money on a n/a car in my opinion.

Thanks.

Sure is a shame, as I can tell my P5 would benefit from some more advance. I'm not sure it would be worth a small fortune to do though

Don

 

[Traveler]

Hey all I'm new to this site but I've been at protogeclub.com for a while. The MP3 has a more aggressive timing curve than the P5 or ES 2.0L so you could always source an ECU from one of them. I've had my 2001 ES on the dyno a couple of times now and the shop owner hooked the ECU up to his computer. The timing is SERIOUSLY lazy. Good news is, you won't need to retard for boost up to about 8 psi or so easily. The stock advance only gets to a max of 30 degrees and that not until approx 5800 rpm. It goes up in 3-4 degree steps from 16 degrees at 2250 (where we started it on the dyno). This is one of the reasons that MP3's have better throttle response. I'm personally going the supercharged route with an Eaton M62 roots type blower. I'm planning on around 7 psi max so it should live a long happy life.

 

[20ESGUY]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I rember the whole MSD DIS2 question from a post awhile back. It won't work because of the type of high resistance coil packs we have. I can't remember who posted it, or what thread it was in, but the member had actually called and spoken with the tech at MSD. I've still got one layin around from my first miata and was going to install it on my ES till I read that post, not too into buring the coil packs up.