brodie

Took some pics, as promised, which may be of some interest... This shows the intercooler, believed to be a colorado/dmax item, between the grille and radiator. Radiator has been remounted about an inch higher, be redrilling it's mounting ears, to allow 2" intercooler pipes to pass neatly underneath. NOTHING was cut on the car. Finished dizzy cap arrangement. Old dizzy has been cut down. Still need to neaten up the boots of the COPs though, will get to that with some sikoflex one day. This shows the secondary throttle body, which sits under the airbox & in front of the charger. These days its paralleled with the pedal, rather than the vacuum-controlled arrangement I once had. It keeps things much much quieter. Note the large cylinder on the front of it, that's the bypass which is controlled by Megasquirt. Current engine bay pic.

Aww shucks... Thanks for the kind words guys! Took the car for a nice long run this morning too, and its only about 10 degrees here. Once the charger body warms up its pretty common to see just over 9lbs at the manifold. COPs proved themselves well, AFRs are far more stable than previously. The megasquirt can be as basic or as advanced as you want it to be, if you have the understanding. If you're looking for a plug&play solution though, look elsewhere. I spent at least 9 months of researching before I embarked on it, but was after an in-depth project and am extremely happy with the results. Basic? I've plenty of room for expansion, but am currently controlling with the 'squirt: -4 injectors, in 2 batches of two -Radiator fan, runs based on coolant and intake air temp (to cool intercooler) -Alternator, reduces engine load on hard accel over 1800 rpm, by dropping charge to 12.4 volts -2 EDIS modules for COP ignition, full control over advance/retard -Wideband oxygen sensor feedback in full closed-loop system, will log with laptop attached too -PWM idle control on 7ke throttlebody -Throttle bypass valve on secondary throttlebody infront of charger, opens when cold or more air required -Check engine light -Shift light -Rev limiter -Fuel pumps -Controls cranking for keyless ignition -Self tunes from oxygen sensor and burns to flash memory ...And probably lots more I've forgotten... I'm only using MS2 as well, which was the best I could get in 2007. MS3 adds lots and lots of other goodies, including on-board SD card logging and sequential injection. It's only limited by your ability to research and implement, buit if well tuned is comparable in performance to any name-brand ECU. Mine drives well, considering I have had no dyno time, it's all been on-road tuned.

Smithius: You mean you don't have the MS in yet? Thought that'd be in there by now! Happy to help with your wiring if you need it..... doityourself: Hven't looked into the ca18 CAS, but would be very, very surprised if it didn't... there's not much you can't trigger it with. Given that theres a large nissan ca18 & sr20 following with these, info should be easy to come by. On a different note, finished my dizzy cover today. I love the array of PVC fittings at the local hardware store! Have realised that there's a lot of bits that I havent posted photos of, including the intercooler, so will have to post some soon!

Cheers. No sorry they're dumb coils, ie - no igniter... but that's what I was after. These require plugs that have removable tips where the lead normally attatches, which isn't so easy to come by these days. If you're looking for something with an inbuilt igniter, look on ebay, there's some sort of new toyota igniter that's being marketed as a conversion for the mx5/miata crowd, and is going for about $100 for a new set last i looked, seemed rather inexpensive. Another tidy alternative in dumb coils is off a ca18 nissan (or was it an sr20? I forget). They are on a frame already and have red boots, it all almost lines up and the boots are a good fit too. I bought a set but preferred the bike coils. A bosch 211 igniter makes a neat job if you can't find the smart coils you're after too...

Evening all. Been a long time since I posted here. Haven't done a lot to the car except driving it, and a bit of fine tuning & minor stuff here and there, but thought the latest addition may be of interest to some of you. Many of you may recall that I was running a distributorless setup previously, using a ford EDIS system. Whilst I do like the setup, it did have a couple of shortcomings. One was that the spark, whilst fine when the car was NA, was somewhat inadequate on cold mornings under boost. The 'cure' to this was to close the spark plug gap to about 0.6mm, which worked, but I was never happy with this solution. The other objection that I had was that, due to the limitation of the double-ended coil used for wasted-spark purposes, the spark had the opposite polarity on 2 cylinders. Not a big deal but it bothered me. Used to foul 2 plugs more than others in the early days, and wore two of the plugs strangely too. I don't mind the idea of wasted spark, but really wanted coil per cylinder, thus giving each cylinder the same spark polarity. Bought some Honda CBR bike coils, mocked it up, and well, I'll let the pictures tell the story. Suffice to say it works really well, and with normal plug gaps too!

Sorry for the late reply I have had the 7ke idle valve working successfully with megasquirt for some time now It is not wired like any other 3 pin idle valve or any other denso valve that I have found, took me ages to figure it out, as there seems to be very little info anywhere PM me for more info, I have the pinout documented. Cheers, Brodie.

Thanks everyone for all your kind comments. ke70dave: I am a big fan of the megasquirt - depending on what you're expecting from it. If it's a turn-key solution you're after then it's NOT for you. IF you want to read, read, read some more, and then play around and customise the unit, before even beginning with the teething problems after fitting to the car - and you expect it to be a project - then it's fantastic. I did a lot of research before deciding it was for me, and I wouldn't go back. I'm running an MSII v3 with 2.891 s/w by the way. The edis I purchased used, on ebay, from the UK. I also purchased another module (from US this time) to enable me to easily run coil-on-plug... down the track. I will get to that one later, but the twin wasted-spark coils work great for now... and look like a dizzy too. Since the units aren't readily available here I keep it in the boot as a spare - just in case. The car only does about 800kms max a year anyway, so I doubt it will be required. As for a job I'm the workshop manager for an automotive installation company here in Adelaide - so we fit things like handsfree kits and cruise controls thru to cargo barriers and window tint. Not superchargers though! This car is just my hobby to keep me entertained, it's been in the family since new and I've had it about 8 years. I've done all the work on the car in my shed at home - so it's all backyarder special - but I still like to do things properly. I'm aware it's far from the best option to power-up a ke30, but it's different - and hasn't cost huge $ to do. Cheers, Brodie.

Long time lurker here. I don't post often but thought it time I share some latest pics As some of you would have seen previously, I have a ke30 2door sedan with a 3k, worked head, lightened flywheel, EFI (7ke manifold), Megasquirt, distributorless ignition (EDIS), etc etc. It even has a catalytic converter. I have now added an AMR500 supercharger, which is originally from a 930cc twincharged Nissan March Superturbo. I fitted it to the engine using custom brackets, which I knocked up on a spare block in my shed. This was the easy bit! The pulley on the S/C was changed from serpentine to a v-belt type from a corolla alternator. My crank pulley already had a toothed wheel bolted on the front to determine crankshaft position for the ECU. To the front of that I have added a power steering pulley from a Nissan Navara, giving me a pulley ratio of about 1.95:1, and the toothed wheel sandwiched in the middle. I have designed the S/C to rock to tension/ replace the belt, rather than having a tensioner. These parts all transferred to the engine in the car easily. It started, the charger span (without plumbing connected), and made the most deafening howl I have ever heard. My ears rang for hours. My dog hid for a whole day. Her ears were ringing. It was damn loud!! At this stage I had to wait for some fittings to arrive. Planning to run the throttle on the manifold, after the charger, required a CBV (recirc BOV) to dump excess pressure when the throttle slams shut, and is also required to vent at idle, because the supercharger is boosting, even at idle. It also reduces parasitic load on the engine from physically turning the charger when it is not required. I used a bosch plastic BOV from an audi TT. Seems OK. Running a throttle body AFTER a roots supercharger is technically a no-no. Others have managed it though, even some OEM manufacturers have tried successfully, including Nissan in this charger's OEM application. Eventually the fittings arrived and I plumbed it all up, including a free flowing (enclosed) pod style air filter. I made some estimated maps for the Megasquirt based on what I expected it would need, which included both fuel, and timing, retarding approx 1 degree per psi boost. I loaded these, left the laptop on the seat and went for a drive....... It boosted! But oh my was it loud. Even at idle. It wailed like a police siren, so much so it had old ladies peering through the curtains to see what it was! You could hear it for miles and miles. I didn't care. I left my company car at home for a couple of days and drove it to work like this to see what it was like. It misfired badly under boost when cold, and was way too loud in traffic. Sitting stationary in traffic at south rd lights brought a few attention-seeking looks. I started to wonder - WHAT HAVE I DONE TO MY CAR? It really was a bit of a pig in traffic. Fun for a blast but drivability was at an all-time low. At least I hadn't modified anything permanently, or cut, or drilled any holes or anything permanent. But the boost bug had bitten. The car went heaps better. Torque was available from idle, which was always my bugbear with this car, that it didn't get moving 'till after 4k. Now it was hard to take off without wheelspin. Boost was on or off. No in-between. There was no going back now! The car sat in the back of my shed for a month or more at this stage while i thought about it. I had determined that i needed to throttle the inlet to the blower somehow to quieten it down as this was the source of the bulk of the noise. At idle, for instance, there was a ton of noise at the outlet of the blower, but because the bypass valve was open, all the noise made it back to the intake anyway. I really had objections to relocating the only throttle to the inlet of the blower, especially as I was using silicone fittings that collapse under vacuum. I didn't want lag, or the possibility of run-away if a fitting blew off (engine would just full-throttle). So I set about a dual-throttle system. The mx-5 guys do it all the time. Big throttle before blower, cracked open slightly, normal throttle on manifold operating normally. I ran a cable from the kick-down attachment on the 7ke TB to the new TB (from an SR20) before the blower. I couldn't gear it right though. The kickdown cam on the 7ke TB was just too small. But since the SR20 TB was so big, I gave it a go anyway..... Much quieter at idle. Ahhh. Drove like a COMPLETE pig though. Wouldn't start properly either as the idle-air bypass would, of course, only bypass the main throttle-body on the manifold. It also sucked silicone elbows in under vacuum, like decelerating up to a corner, then they stayed sucked in and you couldn't move out of the corner. Shouldn't have driven it to work in peak-hour that day! I even tried a coiled wire - spring type arrangement in the pipe to stop it crushing. This reduced flow - and boost. It also had some fittings under so much vacuum it damaged them. Now very disheartened, I brought it home and parked it again. And sobbed. I thought long and hard. And researched. I even took days off of work to scour wrecking yards. Which brings me to where we are now - to a car that idles and cruises like (almost) any other ke30, but accelerates with a delightfully loud supercharger whine, and 8 to 10 psi of boost from idle through to a 7000 rpm redline. Here's what I did. Firstly I changed the platinum plugs which were in the engine to cheap copper ones. Whilst they were fantastic when it was an atmo engine, plats are notoriously bad in boosted applications. I also reduced the gap to the oem .8mm to reduce misfire under boost. Then I completely replumbed the intake to the blower, still retaining the SR20 TB. I used a suzuki swift GTi airbox with a fresh finer-filter in it, because it was small and nicely designed, and the only thing I found in the wreckers that would fit my engine bay. Then the biggest change - I reversed the spring in the SR20 TB so it would default OPEN, and added a vacuum actuator to CLOSE the TB under vacuum - which would obviously be cruise and idle - when I needed it quieter. This also meant that the TB before the blower was open when cranking - and now the car would start properly again! There is also a vacuum solenoid to dump the vacuum and open the TB - I have programmed the megasquirt to open this during quick throttle movements or when the throttle is above 50%, so it wont bog down off the line waiting for it to open. How does it drive? Great, if you like the noise under throttle. I'm getting used to it, it's certainly not a daily driver anyway. There's still some refinement to go, but it's very, very smooth and drivable - Toyota could have put it there, noise aside. I get about 8psi in the lower gears, moving to 10psi in 3rd, 4th and 5th. Roll-on accelaration is hugely improved. I love watching the boost gauge! It's just so different to the way my turbo car operates, with having boost from idle etc. I guess it goes about the same as if I put a 2 litre in there instead. According to the logs I have taken while driving with the megasquirt its using about the same amount of air now as a 2 litre. Here's some pictures, feel free to ask any questions! Cheers, Brodie.

Hey Ryan, Dash layout looking good, seems you're slowly making progress! Just noticed you've chosen OBX Monaco seats, that's what is in my car. Very comfortable and a great fit for the rolla, however they are not real easy to get in and out of. Depends what you're using the car for, I guess. Best of luck buddy, Brodie

As for an RFID switch I tried a coulpe of units until I ended up using a cyclops alarm which includes RFID, model P785 if anyone is interested ( and no, it's not the sole security device on the car). I do have schematics, it's crude using a few relays, but you will need some sort of device to produce an output based on RPM so it knows when to stop cranking. I have used a spare output from my engine ecu, think its set to about 700 rpm (It cranks at about 400 rpm so when it reaches 700, it's definitely fired) - but I have seen standalone devices to do this. Gaugeworks had something in their cabinet last time I was there. There is a company in the USA that makes an all-in-one solution, but be prepared to lighten your wallet. The problem with an active rfid device is that it's hard to distinguish between being IN the car or NEAR the car, the first unit I tried would allow you to start the car in my driveway when my keys were on a shelf in the house (bad!), and passive RFID devices have bugger-all range. The unit I eventually selected is low-power and active, you need to put the keys in a given tray in the car, or have unlocked it in the last 39 seconds. Works ok. I can supply a rough schematic if anyone wants. Be warned though, active rfid devices can potentially be scanned and duplicated, if a cunning thief is within range.

PS - Those keener among you may have noticed the motorbike battery where the normal battery lives - now have big battery in boot - motorbike battery is used for jump-start only when main battery goes flat - button inside to override Cheers

... And while I'm here, here's some of the keyless ignition I've been working on - have used an RFID security system with a BMW start/stop button and designed my own circuit around it: press once to turn accessories on, press again to turn ignition on. If you have the clutch in at the time it will automatically crank 'till it fires and run (single press, no need to hold). No clutch= no crank. Press a 3rd time to stop engine. Accessories turns off when u lock car. Has been in for about 6 months now and works sweet - just like all the OEM equipment in the new cars. Sorry pictures are average but my camera has trouble focussing on it. Also since I had done the 7ke conversion I got sick of stinky exhaust, so, although u will all laugh at me :blush: I removed my old large resonator and added a walker metal cat-converter (new) and smaller resonator (from current monaro)..

Hello everyone - haven't posted here in ages so thought I'd add some current engine-bay pics as it now has a 7ke manifold, works much better than the previous setup:-

PS if you really do want an LC-1 i'll do you a good deal on the brand new replacement I have just received, its in the box, haven't even stripped the wires or powered it up, you'll need a sensor. PM me if you're interested.

Yeah, techedge is still there and in production, the 2j1 is a newer product at the low end of the spectrum but still nas 2 independant, programmable outputs, same as the LC-1. I use the 2nd one to drive an LED panel voltmeter, with 9:1 set as 0.9v output, and 22:1 set as 2.2v output, so when you move the decimal point of the meter across you have a very cheap AFR display. If you are tossing up between the two, I say buy the Techedge, every time. Yep, they both use the bosch sensor, I'm using the one that came with the LC-1, apparently now there's a newer replacement for it that has faster response times which will plug-in to the 2j1 when my current one dies, no need to replace yet though. Went for a drive last weekend, pretty much finished dialing in my VE table, quite pleased with the overall drivability now. My latast project involves having the laptop display on my in-dash tv, this gives me 8 more gauges, in real-time, on the screen, just leave the laptop on the back seat as a processor (no one ever sits in the back anyway). I have it working. Will get some pics up soon. Cheers, Brodie

Thanks very much. :o As for the headers, sorry I don't remember for sure which brand they were and couldn't find the invoice for them, but I'm pretty sure they were a pacemaker or similar, they're 4-1 and to be honest I would have preferred 4-2-1 - but they were really cheap @ trade price at the time so I couldn't resist. They fit and work well anyway and were only about $150, was very loud with them ending under the firewall while i drove it to the exhaust fitter to have the flange welded to the rest of the system. :( The wideband is a whole other saga. I did buy an innovate lc-1, it failed in the first 24 hours, dead. This was very frustrating as now i could only attempt to dial in my freshly-injected engine by ear. Having posted it back to the usa at my expense I received a new replacement within about a month or so, but without any explanation. The replacement unit worked great for about 3 months , then it started behaving oddly one day and within a day of the symptoms appearing it too had died totally. I sent it back to the usa again - at my expense and am currently waiting for its return. Unable to accept the unreliability of this i bought the cheapest techedge product I could find, a 2j1. Let me add that the innovate product was functionally a very nice piece of equipment, just electrically fragile. The techedge product so far seems a little more robust and accepting of voltage fluctuations, and unlike the innovate is much easier to mount the controller in the cabin instead of the engine bay which pleases me. IF you are looking to buy a wideband take a look at the techedge gear, its made in australia and although some of the products may not be as cosmetically pleasing as their competitors they seem to work well. Hope to go for a long drive tomorrow to let the car tune itself! Cheers, Brodie.

quote 'KE25 KID' " any idea how much it all cost??" Hey. Mmm, maybe best for me not to think about the answer to that question :lolcry: To be honest I spent WAY more on this than I had originally intended. I'm probably about $1600 or so out of pocket for the whole conversion. However I could have done it quite a bit cheaper if I tried by using used parts etc... I have bought most parts new where possible or totally rebuilt what I couldn't get new. I've had to buy 2 wideband oxygen controllers because one unnamed brand continually failed for no apparent reason, and I needed something consistant. USB to serial converters can be problematic too as I am discovering (and expensive buying several until one works). I spent too much on the fuel pump too :) But at the end of the day was it worth it? Totally. It's starting to get into colder weather down here lately, mornings are about 10 degrees C. It starts first turn of the key with no pedal and idles perfectly. It drives great when cold. Fuel economy seems good, low down torque is markedly better, and overall the engine is much smoother. AND I've just added one-touch start to the ECU, so one quick flick of the key to "start" and it cranks until it fires, all by itself. It's certainly brought this tired pushrod engine into tis century...

Yes it is a wasted spark, dual coil.

Hello again all Yeah it's fair to admit I put a bit of forward planning into this project, I collected parts for about a year before beginning. As for being easily superchargeable, yeah its no drama, especially as the FPR is built into the throttle body and boost-referenced - ie it takes its vacuum feed from the throat of the TB, so will wind its pressure up automatically as boost increases - should handle 6psi or so no drama. I have included the only manifold picture i've got - it's sitting on the floor of my car waiting to be taken to the welders in this shot - note the marks - no one runner was tapped for the AIT sensor, no 4 runner had a thread welded in for the brake booster as it's an early (pre brake booster) manifold. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the spacer fitted to the manifold but its really not that exciting. Also please excuse the throttle hookup in the second pic - has since been done properly but was busting to take for a strap around the block at the time. Nickz - the trigger wheel comes from an american company called DIY-Autotune(.com) - they sell lots of bits and pieces like this - also who I sourced the ECU from. I recall it cost about US$30 plus postage (actually cost more than the item to post(!). There are lots of companies in the US selling trigger wheels with various mounting methods, I selected this one carefully as it pretty much bolts straight on. The pickup for the wheel is from an escort, but an ABS wheel-speed sensor would be a fine alternative. Bye for now

Just thought i'd add one of the lappy on the passenger seat with it's display up - sorry you can't see much, best I could do in low-res mode. Added one of the custom dash too - just because I love it.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The sticker on the rocker-cover is one i made with my generic label maker ie $60 at officeworks - bought it originally to label all the custom dash lights but found a million other uses after. As for the intake manifold there's not much really to see, it's had a thread tapped in the #1 runner for an intake air temp sensor, and the throats have been hogged out to within an inch of its life to one big throat which has an adaptor plate bolted on, VERY similar to a weber adaptor plate but custom made for these TB's. There's no injectors to see or anything cos they're inside the TB, one 440cc injector per 34mm throat times 2 and they open synchronously (ie they're not staged). Being enough for a 3.9litre f@lcon it will manage a 5k or even a boosted 5k fine with duty cycle to spare. 2 would be too excessive, maybe 2 of a 1.8 camira or pulsar might be better suited but they have a funny triangular fitting arrangement. Really this TB is way too big for this application - it works fine but shoots a bit lean if you floor it from idle and I can't seem to tune this out, but I can live with it. Lots of people told me it would never work, I wouldn't be able to tune it lean enought at cruise and idle but I seem to have proved them wrong. As for replacing the engine with a 5k or similar I do intend to sooner or later. I'd ideally like a 7k. At this stage this engine runs fine, but is a little tired and suffers lots of blowby, I have a 4k in the shed so I wasn't too concerned if I killed it as my EFI test bed. It won't die though, amazing considering the treatment it's had! Later

No sorry, no HP figure yet, quite drivable but lots of on-road tuning ahead of me before it's "right" - to my standard, anyway.

Hey everybody, thought some of you may take interest in my current project. I've fitted a centrepoint injection throttlebody from an EA f@lcon :P to the standard manifold, controlled by a DIY megasquirtII v3 EFI computer. This involved also fitting extra coolant and air intake temperature sensors, a return line to the fuel tank, and a high pressure pump. I also used the ECU to run my shift light and thermo fan, among other things. Having got this working I fitted a wideband oxygen sensor to the exhaust so the ECU can self tune. Once happy with the performance so far, I went ahead and obtained a distributorless ignition system in the form of a f*rd EDIS system from a british 90's escort. This involved fitting a 36-1 toothed wheel and sensor to the crankpulley, and a module and coilpack. This almost allowed me to do away with the dizzy, except that it drives the oil pump, so I machined an old dizzy down and fitted the EDIS coilpack (from a transit van) to the top of the dizzy. This allowed me to use my existing leads. All up its given me a very flexible engine management system running fuel and spark, laptop programmable from the passenger seat, making for fantastic cold starts and driveability, that self tunes itself on the fly. Not bad for about $1600 so far. And yes I considered all manner of engine conversions I could probably have done for less money but this seemed more fun and educational to me, and still looks stock under the bonnet at a glance. Have included some pictures. Will have to take some more of the laptop real-time display later. Cheers, Brodie.

Hey all That doesn't appear to be falcon TBI, as i have just finished putting this on a 3k with megasquirt, that looks more like a delco system off an unleaded JD Camira (the leaded ones were MPI) These can be quite a flexible and programmable system with the right software, looks like the dizzy has been modified nicely too. Heres a pic of falcon TBI on 3k in my ke30- (excuse the temporary throttle hookup)

Not sure of RRp on speedo and tacho... the tacho was around $100 I think but I recall the speedo being significantly more expensive, a figure of around $300 rings a bell but don't quote me on it. Can't find the part number for mine, but try vdo 165-002 - think this is the same thing but with a 200km/h max reading, mine reads to 300. If the part number doesn't help and you're keen you can download the whole VDO product catalog on the net (please don't ask me where, i don't remember) - all these gauges are "cockpit vision" series. Hope this helps Brodie