For the love of a tractor engine: The life and times of the 18R-G

[TTV8RA23]

I will take a pic of the altenator tomorrow as this will help you guys in the know identify whether it is internally regulated or not. It has a 3 pin plug on the side and a lug or two on the back of it.
Cheers
Simon

[The Witzl]

unless you have a trigger wheel of some kind, you will need to use the VR (variable reluctor) sensor in the dissy.
The MS2 files i will be sending you tomorrow are for my 18RGE, 9.7:1 pistons, 22853 head, otherwise stock rebuilt motor.

You will need to get the dissy mechanical advance "locked" (ie, welded) so that there is no mechanical advance from the distributor, hence providing the MS2 with a stable fixed engine position signal. I found that i did have some issues with random "spaz-out" events with my ms2, whereby occasionally under full WOT, above 4000rpm it would haev these brain farts and all the signals would go spastic and the engine missed a couple of beats. I never managed to iron that out..... it shit me to tears though..


Also, my tune had an AFR target table, using a wideband O2 sensor.... so you will need to probably reconfigure it all.
The ignition map and fuel map are probably pretty good though. If you have lower comp pistons you may need a bit more fuel and a little more advance.

Also, i never got the acceleration enrichment sorted out. I could just never get it right.....

[o_man_ra23]

The reluctor gives the MS2 an ignition/injection event signal. It is usually run using the mini coaxial cable if you get the MS2 wiring loom from DIY Autotune, as the signal is susceptible to a lot of noise (relatively small changes are being measured). The shield on the coax should only be earthed at the Megasquirt, and not at the dizzy end or anywhere in between.

[TTV8RA23]

Witzl im running LC1 wideband 02 sensor and controller so hopefully that will work out well. Also my motor is virtually stock just has some "lumpy" cams in it. And im running a hall effect CAS i am machining grooves in the back of the crank pulley for it to read. 36-1. again something i bought off DIYAUTOTUNE when i bought the ECU. And the Dizi is all fully locked up. I welded the bottom section up so it cant move as Oman detailed but he used a pin(same shit different smell). The top section where the vacume diaphragm thing moves it on the large bearing i have not welded up i was just not going to hook up vacume lines. Is this satisfactory?
Cheers and thanks very much for the informative educated answers guys!
Simon

[The Witzl]

TTV8RA23..................

My setup was:
- stock 18RGE
- 9.7:1 pistons
- stock EFI intake manifold
- stock injectors
- stock electronic dissy (VR signal), welded for no mech advance, with 4-pulse per 720º crank rotation (ie, standard)
- Bosch MEC 712 coil (just your regular bosch coil)
- Innovate LC-1 wideband O2 sensor and controller (hooked up linear 0-5V output into the MS-2)
- Nissan Pintara TPS (from pintara that looks like R31 skyline)
- MS-2 on v3 PCB (stock MS-2)


With your setup, if you have made up a 36-1 crank trigger, you are best to use this for your ignition/crank trigger input. it will give the most stable and accurate signal. If you are still using the distributor to distribute the spark (ie, single coil), then you will only need to have this 36-1 trigger input, and dont worry about the dissy VR sensor for any crank/ingition trigger. It's only if you are looking to go coil per plug that you would want to look at having the 36-1 wheel and the dissy as a "home" signal to tell the MS-2 when the engine has come back to cyl 1.

So basically... you should be able to copy many of my configurations and tables, and just adjust the configurations to suit your version of megasquirt and your 36-1 trigger input.

I would also strongly recommend to fit a fully variable TPS. The stock 18RGEU TPS is a switch, so its pretty much useless.

Below are some pics of my setup for reference, as well as my igntion advance table. I dont have my VE table unfortunately.... and dont have Megatune software on my laptop anymore to copy it out.

[Zammo]

^^^^ thats pretty

[TTV8RA23]

Thanks again Witzl ill see how i go. Yep i have changed TPS i have adapted an RB throttle onto the front of it! And yes just using single coil and using the dizi to distribute the spark and running the sensor off the crank shaft. What you said in MS thread about hall effect sensor supposed to be reading a magnet has me worried though as this setup is what they recommended on DIYAUTOTUNE. The sensor has 3 wires.
Cheers
Simon

[The Witzl]

if your sensor has 3 wires - it is most likely a hall effect sensor, with the 3 wires being:
- POWER (+)
- EARTH (-)
- Signal (pulse)

there are some sensors that use some internal trickery to do the same thing as a hall effect sensor, without needing a vane to pass through the magnetic field per-se.
I'll post that in the MS thread too.

[TTV8RA23]

http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/h...sor-p-479.html
This is the one im running and it has it running off a trigger wheel so must have the internal trickery that you speak of.
Cheers
Simon

[o_man_ra23]

According to Wiki, the hall effect sensor uses the rotating vane to block the permanent magnet's effect on the hall sensor PCB, effectively requiring the trigger wheel to pass through the sensor. The one you have purchased does not. In saying that, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that, as Witzy man said, your sensor is in fact a variable reluctor with electronic trickery (or as is commonly referred to at work - propellor head shit) to take the rough and somewhat clumsy signal of a VR sensor and turn it into a nice square wave the same as what a hall effect sensor would give. This means your signal won't be so susceptible to noise, and the mini coax is no longer required. You would also connect it as if it were a hall effect sensor.

In lieu of this information, it is reasonable that DIY Autotune would sell it as a hall effect sensor, as this would get their patrons to wire it up correctly, and prevent confusion.

As for locking off the top spinning plate simply by using the vacuum advance arm, and not applying vacuum. This is exactly what I did, and it didn't give me any troubles that I know of.

[The Witzl]

yep - that sensor is a Hall effect unit.
Its just picking up a changing in the magnetic field as the ferrous metal passes the internal permanent magnet (ie, each tooth passing by), which the hall sensor picks up and converts into a pulse signal.

[ra_28]

Hi

Anyone had problems with the cam shafts touching the tapper cover? I've had my 18rgte running for a few days now nutting through small oil leaks and so on. But my big problem was the very loud ticking coming from around number one cylinder, like a poorly adjusted tappet. Now this made me mad as I had just finished spending close to 3k on the head.

When I pulled my tapper cover off and checked the valve clearances I found them all to be perfect so I looked at the tapper cover to find the lobe on intake cam had been touching the side of the tapper cover??


Has anyone had this problem before?? my cams do have 12.5mm of lift but I wouldn't have thought it would touch the rocker cover. After carefully adjusting the rocker cover it now sound like a very grumpy motor with no more ticking.

Cheers
Alex

[MorGo]

Cam lobe touching the valve cover? Just plain impossible!!
Probably you have one shim misplaced and happen to get properly seated while you messed with the cover.

[ra_28]

Cam lobe touching the valve cover? Just plain impossible!!
Probably you have one shim misplaced and happen to get properly seated while you messed with the cover.

Hi

The head has been setup not to have any shims fitted, direct valve on bucket. Also how would messing around with a rocker cover seat a shim?

Alex

[o_man_ra23]

To set up for no shim, you would need either valves with the stem protruding further past the colletts, or have a larger base circle diameter, which when combined with your increased lift would indeed move the tip of the cam lobe dangerously close to the valve cover.