It’s hard to believe it’s been over two years since an update. The wagon is still daily driving and has been great; no real problems at all. It still gets attention and is fun to drive. My favorite comment lately is, “that’s the hottest wagon in [state].” Hilarious.
Megasquirt:
The setup:
my very old MS1 pcb3.0 (this is the third car I’ve set it up for)
Raspberry Pi 3b running Debian and Tunerstudio
7″ display for the Pi
Wireless mini keyboard/touchpad to make changes
It’s been running on Megasquirt since Sept. of ’18 and I’ve had no problems with it, except the coolant temp sensor died once. It was very easy to figure out the problem because I could see exactly what it was doing through Tunerstudio, which is one of the things I love about MS. Being able to tune it has really made it a lot more drivable and enjoyable. I had a list of random odd problems with the original ecu and it never seemed happy or responsive, so that’s all gone now. It isn’t a perfect tune since I just am going by seat of the pants, but it feels good and I’m happy with it.
Operation Duration:
The setup:
1.8L turbo cam (Sealed Power CS784)
Also known as the higher duration cam swap. This was one of my goals for after I was able to tune the car, since it would benefit from it after swapping in a better cam. I’ve been running the new cam since Dec. of ’19 and it’s added a noticeable amount of breathing to the engine. Well worth the approximately $50. The change in longer duration took a little tinkering to get the car idling well again, but all went well after that. The rocker tool I made and detailed in another post came in handy as usual. Speculative specifications on the cams below (advertised durations are estimates.) The numbers at .050 and lifts are likely accurate, but some sources vary slightly. Either way, duration is going from 202 to 223 at .050, which is a healthy jump. There are bigger ones out there, but I chose this one mostly because it isn’t much more lift, not knowing how much I could get away with.
1.8L na (1982-1986 GM L4 1796cc)
intake duration @ .050 inch lift = 202 (adv 247)
exhaust duration @ .050 inch lift = 201
lift .408 intake (.240)
lift .4106 exhaust (.239)
estimated advertised duration of 256
1.8L turbo
intake duration @ .050 inch lift: 223 (adv 270)
exhaust duration .050 inch lift: 223 (adv 265)
lift .417 int (.245) or .427 (.251) [varying info]
lift .421 exh (.247) or .430 (.253)
centerline 123
estimated advertised duration of 270
In progress:
Going back to previous updates I had mentioned doing a turbo swap. I have changed my plans (for now) to try something a little different… I am going to leave you in suspense as to that plan and will make it a new post instead, which should not be years in the making. I will say that I have all the major parts required and about 3/4 of the fabrication is completed.