My 3500s project - future daily drive

It's good to see someone else who's had positively noticeable results from going distributorless ignition. Both of my previous and current setups I had a lot of advance at the 400-500rpm cranking speed, and both generally started touch of the key nice and hard. I think I had total advance on my old V8 somewhere around 40 degrees and it absolutely flew 8)

I also haven't hooked my tacho up with my Megajolt setup, but was going to look at the diode option myself when I get round to it.
 
Seeing as the wiring from EDIS plug to coilpacks is all nice unbroken lengths of wire apart from the extended pigtail I don't really want to muck them about, so after some googling today I think I will give the "relay coil" method a go.

3rd diagram down here:

http://msextra.com/doc/ms1extra/MS_Extra_Hardware_Manual.htm#tachoout

This basically uses a transistor and the coil from a normal automotive relay to generate a flyback that will drive the tach just as the flyback from the ignition coil would. Have ordered the transistors I need as I didn't have any rated to a high enough voltage and will let you know how I get on...

Am also currently mucking about building ignition maps from the figures Ron gave me and from a few bits and bobs I have found on the net. Will run the existing map this week as I know for a fact that it doesn't blow anything up. After its given me a week's commuting glitch free I will be satisfied that the installation is ok and move onto the tweaking :D
 
I'm watching with interest. Enjoying following your progress, looks like another future plan to add to my list of improvements...
 
The relay coil does look nice and simple, may have to look into that when I get some time.

When I mapped my turbo, I sat my laptop on the passenger seat each day I went to work and on local runs, using the datalogging feature I could 'mark' any specific points or conditions on the map to review later and adjust the map and try again.
 
mrtask said:
I'm watching with interest. Enjoying following your progress, looks like another future plan to add to my list of improvements...
Click to expand...

Thanks! It's nice to be able to get the information out there especially on something like this which (from what I have seen anyway) hasn't been covered too much in this community. It really is a great modification, and the car can always be reverted to standard if wanted at some point in the future.

I would not have taken the plunge years ago with the Megajolt and then the Megasquirt on the Landrover had it not been for postings on lr4x4.com...

Sowen - my 2N5551 transistors arrived today so I built myself the relay coil setup. I had read mixed posts about the success of this method on msextra.com but I am happy to report it seems to have been a success! I haven't been able to really check it at anything more than an idle as I only got it wired in about half an hour ago and I live in a seriously quiet cul-de-sac. Don't want to annoy the neighbours! They probably hate the sound of my car anyway as I am the first to leave the street at 06:15 every morning... :?

The real test will be tomorrow on the way to work, we'll see what happens. Anyway, here's what I cobbled together. Its a bit rough but, hey! I need to heat shrink the whole thing or something to stop the back of the board shorting out, but for now I have it stuffed inside 3 sandwich bags in the boot.





 
Tach continues to work, I also checked it against the rpm displayed on the laptop and they look quite close.

Next step will be trying to miniaturise the whole thing by removing the relay body and using just the bare coil itself. Hopefully I can then get the board small enough for the whole thing to be heat shrinked.

IMG_20140501_212157_806_zps50792ccd.jpg


IMG_20140501_212203_117_zpsf740794d.jpg


Oh and I need to set two rev limiter a bit higher! I hit it this morning, which was a surprise... the screenshot shows it set ridiculously low at 4500rpm.
 
Fabulous stuff Jamie :)

Do you anticipate a reduction in fuel consumption with the changes that you have made?

Ron.
 
Thanks Ron - reduction in fuel consumption? I hope so! I still need to update the ignition map to bring in a little more cruise advance, so don't expect to get anything better until then. My last tank was 23.8mpg and that included following my wife in her VW down the M3 one evening at speeds much higher than I would normally do, so it looks like it could be promising. I have to stop driving like a lout as well, maybe I should leave the rev limiter set low afterall...s
 
Interesting, does the relay make much noise?

I'd look at upping the rev limit, you never know when you could do with that little extra bit of 'go' :wink:
 
It's funny actually, I had never listened to the relay - checked it this morning and yep it clicks away. Once I dispose of the unnecessary bits and am left with the coil alone, it'll be silent. You can't actually hear it from the drivers seat at the moment anyway, which is a relief...
 
Last weekend I changed the front brake pads as they were triggering the dash light everytime I slowed down. All four had about 3mm left.

I removed the sensor wires so that I can in future buy the cheaper non-sensor ones and then drill and epoxy the wire in place.



Last night I had a go at making tach driver mk2. I got another relay and removed the plastic shroud, I then removed the switching components inside, leaving only the coil itself. I replaced the cover as it provides nice protection against shorts. I then rebuilt the circuit I used before on a slightly smaller bit of board.

I Heatshrunk everything (the two exposed terminals on the relay are no longer functional) and then fitted to the car just now. It works, just as the first did but without the clicking.





Excuse the wiring, its all left a little bit long as I don't where the Megasquirt will be placed when I upgrade to that.





With no change in driving My last tank of fuel gave 24.5mpg - which is a little improvement. I uploaded a map based on the figures for my dizzy, which looks like this:



Car is running amazingly! :LOL:
 
The modified relay looks nice and neat, could be tucked away almost anywhere out of the way.

IMG_20140509_161802_981_zps2cfb82fa.jpg


Will really have to copy it for myself :)
 
Electronics are nice for upgrading I have a schematic of the magic box a digital ignitions
who can be adjusted for best power en or for LPG to be the best power when used.

I uses a fast processor, not a pic but a risc prosessor type who is terrible fast and so can work
also with V8 engines.

Digital advance can be set with a display who can later be unplugged when ready.

I have to design the pcb,s but not yet done that, little busy, I am a electronic engineer, so can be at handy sometimes..

regards
 

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Great work, nice to see easy add after market kit.
My company (me) does a lot of that sort of stuff also but less so with micros.

Graeme
 
Thanks for the replies!

To answer the questions- the masking tape was holding my thumbnail on after I accidentally sawed through it doing some DIY - best stick to cars perhaps! The beard trimmer is probably left over from when my wife last cut my hair... it wasn't used in the modifications to the relay :D

The Red rocket has being doing well (mostly) with the exception of the recent saga after changing the rear discs:

http://www.classicroverforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19224

The car had been vibrating under braking, which is now cured. I also fitted new front seatbelts as I wasn't positive that the passenger side was working anymore (my wife complained it didn't arrest her forward motion once when we did a sudden stop, and subsequent testing seemed to show this was repeatable).

On road testing the car this afternoon however to check wheel clearances, it became apparent that the clutch is now starting to slip when giving it beans from low down in third or fourth, thats with my foot nowhere near the clutch pedal... I am not looking forward to doing the clutch, I hate clutches :shock:

According to Fuelly we have covered 15,321 miles together since this thread started!
 
Quagmire said:
On road testing the car this afternoon however to check wheel clearances, it became apparent that the clutch is now starting to slip when giving it beans from low down in third or fourth, thats with my foot nowhere near the clutch pedal... I am not looking forward to doing the clutch, I hate clutches :shock:
Click to expand...

Check that the drop arm on the box is correctly set. If it has been set too far forward, as the clutch wears the drop arm can bottom out on the bellhousing and make the clutch slip.
 
Nice one...!!!!

We won't be seeing 'physical' tax discs for much longer...

How is the beast running at the moment, I haven't been lucky enough to see you burning around the Kingston one-way maze for a while...
 
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