MPI Tuner Anyone?

[Kooldino]

When did you install your turbo system and high flow exhaust system?

Within a few days of each other...in...April.

Are you still running both cats?

Just one.

Are you still running the stock air cleaner box?

You know that I'm not.

When we installed the MPI Tuner we also ran a vent hose from the valve cover to the inlet pipe. I am talking about fuel calibration and changes made to your car. Do you think you can make all of the changes that you have done to your car from stock and still keep the perfect fuel calibration?

Well, the only things we changed that day were...
plugs
piggyback
recirculated my crankcase

The plugs and crankcase mods are pretty insignificant when it comes to turning the car over. I've changed plugs various times and it never effected startup. The crankcase recirculation made no noticable change since we did it. On the other hand, what we did change - ignition - has a glitch in it every once in awhile. Why is that so hard to imagine?

WB guys will learn at some point down the road that if you live by the WB you may die by the WB.

? AFAIK, there's no better way to tune your A:F on the street than by using the wideband. I really don't understand what you're trying to say here...

 

[Kooldino]

I'm half tempted just the pull the MPI tuner out, jump the wires, let the car sit for 2 days, and try to turn it over.

 

[Kooldino]

Yep, that sounds about right. I had purchased his cars original Racing Beat Exhaust Muffler.

Yep, Beavis is dead on, latter half of April is when it went in.

He was going to show me how the car was with the turbo, but when I got there he said that he was having problems with it, and didn't want to drive it until he had things figured out.

Yeah, the stock spool air filter blew, and had a smaller ID than the MAF, so it got all stumbly on me one day. I had to overnight a proper sized K&N cone filter (2 3/4"), and it was golden after that.

If I remember correctly he was also installing his WBO2 at the time. I think I helped him fish a wire through the firewall.

Yep.

Dana is a really kewl guy, definitely one of the more interesting members of this forum.

<3

 

[KzA]

fyi...running a ecu that is looking for vtcs and cant find it in the winter sucks huge ass..this really might be your problem dana...when I had timms ECU for those 3 days all my cold start issues were COMPLETELY non-existant..

 

[PaulMP3]

Dana... how often does your car give you the startup issue... Mine only happens like once or twice a week.. it hasnt done it for me in the past few days. Does your every not start on the first try?

 

[MPNick]

The plugs and crankcase mods are pretty insignificant when it comes to turning the car over.

To me this post just drives home the fact that you need to understand more about tuning any car.
If you have plugs that are wrong, gapped wrong, screwed up or even not tight you may have very big problem. The crankcase mod you are talking about is a bad vacuum leak. Again this is a very big problem. Before you can tune any car right you need to make sure that everything is right. If all is not right you are shooting in the dark at a moving target. Ask Chas about plugs and Big Tim about vacuum leaks and how insignifcant they are.


Thanks again


Later..........Nick

 

[MPNick]

I'm half tempted just the pull the MPI tuner out, jump the wires, let the car sit for 2 days, and try to turn it over.

This would be someting to check alng with playing with the fuel at cold start.


Thanks again


Later.........Nick

 

[MPNick]

AFAIK, there's no better way to tune your A:F on the street than by using the wideband. I really don't understand what you're trying to say here...[/QUOTE]
If you where to look for problems yes it can help you. If it does not read at cold start how do you know the afr is right where it needs to be?


Thanks again


Later.......Nick

 

[igdrasil]

wideband is just for tunning...

once you tune it...you can rely on the egt!!!!!

 

[Bigg Tim]

Do you still have your MP3 ECU in there? If not then that could be your problem, like KzA said.

 

[MPNick]

Do you still have your MP3 ECU in there? If not then that could be your problem, like KzA said.

I do know the with the old crank sensor setup you would get a something like I kick back every now and then. I have not seen it with the new coil control yet. This may turn out to be what Dana has but at the same time you cannot rules out any other problems.


Thanks again


Later........Nick

 

[PaulMP3]

the new coil control yet.

What does this consist of? What are the benifits over the crank sensor setup?

 

[MPNick]

What does this consist of? What are the benifits over the crank sensor setup?

Better starting and cleaner timing control. Retard and advance up to 20 degrees, [launch control is coming]. You can also add timing with this set up.

Thanks again


Later.........Nick

e-mail me and I can send you the info.

 

[igdrasil]

So your new unit has a crank sensor?

 

[MPNick]

So your new unit has a crank sensor?

The new setup drives the coil from the ECM. It does not need the crankshaft sensor to do timing like the old setup.


Thanks again


Later...........Nick

 

[Kooldino]

Dana... how often does your car give you the startup issue... Mine only happens like once or twice a week.. it hasnt done it for me in the past few days. Does your every not start on the first try?

Maybe 2-3 times a week. Yeah, sometimes it doesn't start on the first try, so i crank it for 1 second after that and it's up.

 

[Kooldino]

fyi...running a ecu that is looking for vtcs and cant find it in the winter sucks huge ass..this really might be your problem dana...when I had timms ECU for those 3 days all my cold start issues were COMPLETELY non-existant..

That's possible. But like I said, i never had those issues before the grey box went in.

 

[Kooldino]

To me this post just drives home the fact that you need to understand more about tuning any car.
If you have plugs that are wrong, gapped wrong, screwed up or even not tight you may have very big problem.

Obviously, but IN MY CASE, it wasn't a big deal. And if anything, a closer gap and a hotter plug would probably help my cold start. So what little change the plugs DID make only would have made my cold start better.

The crankcase mod you are talking about is a bad vacuum leak. Again this is a very big problem. Before you can tune any car right you need to make sure that everything is right.

Recirculating that breather made zero noticable difference to me. My vaccum gauge read the same...the car didn't run any different..

If all is not right you are shooting in the dark at a moving target. Ask Chas about plugs and Big Tim about vacuum leaks and how insignifcant they are.

Well, i'm not talking about their cases. Chas had loose plugs. That's a huge issue. Me having 7 series plugs gapped to .030 and then moving to 6 series plugs gapped to .028 isn't day and night when it comes to idle.

As for the recirc...like I said, it didn't make a bit of difference to me. And in every protege I've ever worked on...having the crank case recirculate didn't make any noticable change. Maybe Tim's car is diff.

 

[Kooldino]

If you where to look for problems yes it can help you. If it does not read at cold start how do you know the afr is right where it needs to be?

Because the stock computer is worrying about that.

Hell, even with my intake and exhaust, etc let's even say it DOES lean my car out a tad on idle. So it'd run let's say...15.5:1 AFR. That's still plenty fuel to start the car. But if it has no spark, it won't start.

 

[Kooldino]

wideband is just for tunning...

once you tune it...you can rely on the egt!!!!!

you watch your EGT and I'll watch my wideband.

If something goes awry, and i go hella lean, my WB02 will tell my instantly.

By the time your EGT reacts to the lean condition, your motor could be gone.

Besides that...if your target is a 12:1 AFR, and you're running a 12.5:1, looking at your EGT to determine you're not as rich as you should be will be a lot harder...the steps on the gauge are about 50* or so, and the difference between 12:1 and 12.5:1 might not be too easy to see on the gauge. And may not make the temp difference too much, for that matter.