Impending Installation: Tell me my plan is ok!

spetom · Post by **spetom** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:29 am

Hi,
This weekend I'm (finally) ready to put all my MegaJolt parts into the car - and just wanted to double check I had the right idea. I use the car to get to work every day, so can't really risk connecting (and disconnecting) everything only to find it doesn't run.

The trigger wheel and sensor are already in place (and as far as I can tell with a multimeter, the sensor is at least picking up the wheel's rotation).

I plan to:
Position EDIS, coilpack and connect up with the sensor. At this point, I'm going to leave in place the distributor and old coil, in case there's a problem (disconnected from power, of course).

Without the MegaJolt, the EDIS should be able to run the engine (in 'limp home' mode).

Assuming it runs, connect up MegaJolt. Make sure THAT works.

Finally, remove distributor and old coil, secure wiring, load various MAPs etc...

That sound ok? Will leaving the distributor in have any adverse effect?
And having never run the MegJolt software - are there readouts it will give me to tell me if the trigger wheel / sensor are working ok?

Thanks a lot: looking forward to getting this done!

NITROPIXIE · Post by **NITROPIXIE** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:44 am

Firstly is the engine carb or fuel injection?? If carb then there shouldn't be a problem, if its fuel injection then you may have a problem unless you have solved this already.

Firstly i would get the megajolt unit talking to the computer to make sure that works ok. You can do this out of the car using a 9v or 12v batt. I used the power supply out of my desktop which is 12v, the black and yellow wires. If using a MAP sensor then you can suck on the tube and you can see the gauge move on the computer screen to varify connection is ok.

There is no reason why you can't attach the EDIS and megajolt up to 12v in the car but do not attach the ignition leads to the plugs. Keep the engine running on the dizzy and you should see rpm and load on your computer screen. Here you can observe idle rpm and load, use a timing light and observe the advance then at least you can set the megajolt up easier at idle and gives you a starting point. You could even attach spark plugs to the ignition leads of the megajolt side of things and see if you get sparks whilst using the dizzy to run the engine, jsut make sure you ground the plugs.

Once your happy and you think you have setup on the megajolt side of things then you can think about disconnecting the dizzy and wiring the spark plugs in the engine to the coil pack. All i would do is disconnect the power to the coil and leave the rest of the old ignition system in situ. If your not sure about something reconnect power to coil and ignition leads and it should work on the dizzy again.

Hope this helps

Ryan

spetom · Post by **spetom** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:55 am

Thanks for that Ryan,
Yes, it's a carb engine - actually, it's an A-series, probably much like your own (looking at your other post).

I hadn't thought about testing the MegaJolt before installing it - but it's a very good idea. I'll have a go at that tonight!

Don't know how long it'll be before I can get the car onto a rolling road and the map properly set up. I'm hoping that a roughly-equivalent map will be ok to run on (engine is a 1293 with stg2 head - can't find one quite right).

eaton_mini · Post by **eaton_mini** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:06 pm

When you do remove the dizzy, dont forget to take the dizzy drive out as well (bit thats diven from camshaft) as that makes a horrible mess once its been round the inside of your engine a few times!!!

NITROPIXIE · Post by **NITROPIXIE** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:04 pm

Glad to hear another A-series is goin the same route. I'm still fine tuning, but once it is road worthy it will be goin to the rolling road for a proper sort out.

oh yes thats very important to take the spindle out when removing the dizzy, otherwise it could be quite costly, a long 7/16 bolt if i remember rightly is used as the spindle has a thread on the end of it to help removing it. I tried putting one back in without using a bolt threaded on the end of it and ping, it dropped into the gearbox, so engine and gearbox had to be split, not fun!!!!!!!

A map i have found quite useful so far is http://www.autosportlabs.org/viewtopic.php?t=1815 works quite well on my car for the time being, until it gets properly tuned.

Let me know if you have any problems

spetom · Post by **spetom** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:59 pm

MegaJolt tested (firmware updated too), and it all seems to work. Bit of trouble when I discovered I had no COM port on my PC - had to dig through the loft to get an old Win98 machine, and that had no USB ports, so I had to burn the drivers to CD...

NITROPIXIE · Post by **NITROPIXIE** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:29 pm

I had the same problem and had to dig out an old desktop to use with it. It is a damn pain when i want to use it. Have to look on ebay for a cheap one.

Well at least you know that part works ok, bring on the rest.