matts 94 mx-3 gs build. MOARRRRR GOODIES

[mx3matt]

so my disty died again and i spent the day googling and found that megasquirt doesnt wanna play nice with the hei module.

found this article.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/26916794/Al ... to-control

[mx3matt]

"Some people may wonder why we can't use a GM HEI 4-pin module. The reason is the GM HEI 4-pin module doesnt' produce the square wave pulse like the 7-pin does for the tach output, it also thinks it is controlling the coil when you wire it up so it switches the dwell period... which for megasquirt actually ends up modifying the tach input about 30 degrees... which is a VERY BAD thing for engine performance. Wired the wrong way you could advance your timing 30 degrees just by crossing above 1700 rpm. This could easily blow your engine so definately avoid the GM 4-pin."


i found this on probetalk, i can't stand even using probetalk but have found a lot of info regarding issues with using a 4pin hei.

[kulluminati777]

lol i dont want to hunt through 24 pages of work log but is there reason your using mega squirt? E.I. Boost or ITB´s or are you just doing it for experimentation

[mx3matt]

Lots of gains to be had without FI. but ya a lot of it was just to see what i xan squeeze out of my car, plus launch control is super fun lol.

So I went in to ignition settings and noticed a greyed out area that couldn't be touched until I changed from toothed wheel to trigger wheel, this allowed me to go in and change the gm hei/dis to the on position.
Cant hear much of a miss if any at idle, not currently cutting out either......feels pretty good and its caused pretty significant changes to my ve tables. Just have to see what happens over the next few days but heres to hoping anyways.


I pick up my new daily driver on wednesday, a 2001 grand prix gt. $300 bucks to pick it up and with repairs, safety, etest and transfer and license fees I should be just under a grand for a nice reliable vehicle.
Gonna throw the sub and amp from the mx into it & just on the 4channel and thats good enuff for the mazda plus its puts it on a bit of a diet.
The grand prix has a 2.5inch stainless exhaust already, I'm gonna fab up a cheap cold air to compliment that and throw some 18inch fast europas on it if I can swing the deal. Add hid fogs and headlights and thatll be the new daily driver as of mid april.

As of may24 weekend I'll be the proud owner of a heated and powered garage, havent seen it yet but its roughly 24x28 so plenty of space to go nuts. Plan is now to swap the motor there and rebuild the suspension completely, its on my parents new property in campbellford and my dad is talking about installing a hoist in his main shop, as well as a press and a hoist for our shared galaxie project.

Heres a couple pics from 2 summers ago.
[img]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =720%2C540[/img]

[img]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =720%2C540[/img]

And heres a old pic of my protege......boy i miss her

[img]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =720%2C540[/img]

[mx3matt]

lol i dont want to hunt through 24 pages of work log but is there reason your using mega squirt? E.I. Boost or ITB´s or are you just doing it for experimentation

I'll probably go itb's or supercharged one day down the road, but for me it was just to squeeze the most power out of it while still being able to maintain fuel economy.
i've got wiring and grounding problems that are making things a bit more interesting but it'll all sort itself out one day.

[mx3matt]

[mx3matt]

So bday is 2 weeks away so i've begun operation etest. welding a cat on sometime before wednesday as thats night here in scarborough and the easiest night to have buddies drive while i tune. Going to be tuning initially for 14.7afr's and pretest thursday to see if im anywhere near passing. I'm hellbent on getting thru the etest with MS.
Looking forward to the reduced exhaust noise and smell as its kinda hard to explain why i have flames and gas coming out the tailpipe.
This was the last "fun" tank of gas before emissions and i got 18-20mpg's including highway lol

[kulluminati777]

I just watched the video and wow

[mx3matt]

so with the new etest regulations it was a major pain in the a-- getting this b---- to pass.

Ontario requires three pictures on top of the 2 speed idle etest.
gotta take a pic of the rear license plate, the vin plate on the door jamb, and a pic of the cluster in the on position with all dummy lights illuminated.
well that's where the fun began....... so to get that cluster pic I had to unplug the megasquirt and plug the stock ecu back in. get the pic needed and switch back to megasquirt. I initially had tuned for 14.7 at idle and 14.7 at 2500rpm.

the good news about the new test is the don't measure nox anymore, so your able to run a lot leaner.
they focus on hydrocarbons and co%.
so ran it nice and hot and the first test failed 1.5 times the limit at 2500rpm, and 5 times the limit at idle lol.

so cut some fuel and leaned out idle to 15afr and same for 2500rpm. numbers improved and I passed 2500 limits but actually failed idle worse then the first test. so went home disappointed that I was gonna have to run the stock ecu if I was gonna pass, hooked it all back up and used my wideband to datalog the afr ranges under the stock ecu.

went back and created a new tune with 10 degrees less advance across the whole powerband, cut fuel to 15.5 at idle and voila she passed with flying colors!
very excited that I was able to get megasquirt to pass.
about 3 weeks to a month and she'll be going away for the winter and the grand prix will take over daily driver duties for at least the winter.

pretty extensive rebuild is in the works.

1. remove/sandblast and powder coat front and rear subframes.
2. sandblast/ powdercoat ttl's and new poly bushings.
3. powdercoat front and rear calipers.
4. repair d/s rocker
5. complete respray( either satin black or deep impact ford blue)
6. respray te37's with the colorshift paint/polish lips
7. rebuild front control arms with poly bushings and rx-7 ball joints.
8. complete steering rack rebuild and depower.
9. install klde and finish the port and polish on intake manifold.
10. install k8 flywheel and stage1 clutch.
11. partial wire tuck.
12. redesign audio setup and make a cleaner install.
13. purchase and install ksport coilovers(only thing left to purchase)
a lot of planning has been done, and I've got alomost 2g's in parts complied over the last 6 months. now having my own garage definetly helps.

[mx3matt]

didn't realize its been this friggin long since i updated lol..... yes i still own the mx and it had been waiting ever so patiently for me to do something.

so quick update since the last time i posted, car has been sitting for months waiting for me to do something, so in the few months ive had terrible luck with cars(on my 4th replacement vehicle since mx3 went away) and finally have started getting back to the mx. over this winter i decided that rather then make a really fun summer car i've decided to make this a track car that is still legal enough to be driven back and forth to the track.

interior will be gutted of almost everything, backseats and all audio are out. have decided to gut the heater box and all rear trim out also. i broke the l/f coil spring last fall so i need to now purchase ksport coilovers.
this summer's goal is to have the interior stripped out and most of the exterior pieces removed for this winters respray. the biggest body repair that need to be down is a patch on the front rocker panel needs a 3x4 inch patch and a few other lil spots need to be scuffed down and prepped before the respray. front and rear subframes will be remove and some casters will be tacked in place so i can roll it around on the shop floor. we are currently rebuilding and setting up new equipment in the shop.

shop is capable of handling 3 cars comfortably, being as its 50ft long by 36ft wide.
so far we have redone all the shop lighting with 3 rows of 8 single tube fluorescent receptacles.
I also managed to talk him into wall lighting for body work purposes. so there are 4 tubes on each wall that i are on a independant switch. heavy duty 12 inch industrial pusher and puller fans have been wired and installed as well.
This weekend we finally bolted the compressor to the floor on hockey puck isolators lol. its an 80 gallon 2 stage cast iron and looks bloody impressive i gotta say. also recieved the electric cable hoist last week so thats the next piece to install, its 660lb single line 1300lb double line so should handle anything we can throw at it. before any body work i need to install the track and heavy vinyl curtain system my dad got from a friend. it'll play host to body shop as well as mechanical depending on whether the fans work well enough. my dads pretty adamant about keeping overspray and body dust to a minimum so i've been trying to figure out some way to keep it to his liking. can't afford a downdraft and dont know enough to make my own. its been a great experience but i dont know if i ever want to take it this far again.

its been a tough road as my dad ended up having a pretty major heart attack a couple months after he and my mother moved into the new house up north, he still hasnt been cleared to do anything so i've had to sit there and be instructed on how to do most of this and it hasnt been easy to say the least but i've learned a lot and patience has much improved also. it'll all be worth it in the end.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Did you have any luck tuning for the etest?

[mx3matt]

ya it passed by the skin of its teeth. i can't remember exactly what i had for settings as that laptop is sitting up north at the moment but i had to pull a good amount of fuel and retarded the timing a bunch to squeeze it through.

i should have mentioned that i know the guys at the shop i used for etesting. they allowed me to plug in my stock ecu so they could take the required pic of the all the cluster lights functioning properly. then plugged the ms back in and ran the test.