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

[jabbatron]

..........

[timbosaurus]

I'd suggest using the elec dizzy of a 22r/18rgeu and the vr conditioner on the ECU. If u go down the ms2 path you should build/buy an lm1815 based conditioner which is more robust. If you go down the microsquirt path you'll need a coil driver.

I agree on the benefits of the ms3, but most of the features aren't needed for the RG, I wouldn't do it.

Same with single coil/dizzy vs multi coils. All the stuff is already there for single coil and performance will be the same and wiring will be easier.

And your not the only one who thinks spending 8hrs with a soldering iron is not worth the 100 bucks saving, lol.

[timbosaurus]

And you should also factor in a new TPS plug, new coolant plug, new iat plug, both sides of a generic 2 pole sealed connector for the dizzy, a narrow band O2 is a good idea, relay and fuse block

[river]

Hi,

You could also use an Autronics ECU, such as the SM4, but not sure if it's overkill for this application.

seeyuzz
river

[timbosaurus]

A nice Autronic is never overkill mate.

What you do get for the extra $1500 odd bucks to go with a name brand ECU is not a performance benefit, but that a workshop will happily install and tune it for you.

Dump them with a megasquirt kit or tell them to install tunerstudio and learn how to use it, and they'll justifiably run a million miles (or charge a million bucks). So you're essentially forced to assemble, install, and tune (up to a ccertain point anyway) the setup yourself.

Different horses for different courses really.

[Omegaman]

Guys, im humbled by the resposes and the offers.
I appreciate the The assistance u guys give on this forum.

Just to answer some questions that have been asked.

- the green temp switch was changed, to a new one on the weekend as temp gauge did move when warm. .
- previously i did get the lift pump and vn high flow pump working on seperate relays, also working with AFM.
- i had established injectors were firing, new spark plugs fitted.
- dizzy has been check with another, all symptoms are same.
- fuel pressure from Rising pressure guage at 38psi constant.
- surge tank overflow back to tank. Both filter clear and clean.
- contacts on ECU and Afm and earth solid.
- tps adjusted correctly.
- as far as the question on fuel. i meant that after all the no hassle starts i've made, the fuel delivery would have stop at one stage.
so maybe not a fuel thing. But i will re-check.
After i did the video, i did say fuk it. so i packed up and gave up. lol
but i'll give it another shot.

jabbatron, your offers are over the top. cheers man.
its not the money that holds me back from upgrading. Its the thought of why cant this work..
even if i sold 2 x 18rgeu ECU's, wiring loom, 1x dizzy, complete emanage blue with all cables and EO1 display. i would get close to the $600 mark.
i would happily put $1000 into yr account to have u sort this out completely. I would even have grog, BBQ and a heated pool available for u.. lol
But at this stage, i only work on the car each weekend and so far with this problem that has come up last weekend, i want to spend next weekend
trying to sort it out.
I will go through from back to basics and re-check everything.

I know i've taken up this thread over the last 3 weeks. But while u guys sorted all yr 18rg problems out, mine was in storage.
But now i want it on the road.

i've never read the megasquirt thread, but i will start reading it, as there pro's and cons for each ecu, from what i see above.

i will edit this as i think of what else i had done.
cheers again.

[river]

Hi,

I appreciate the The assistance u guys give on this forum

That's the whole point of these forums, especially the tech section. And no issue taking up a few weeks of posts to get things running and questions answered, as that too is what these forums are all about.

So, post away, and post abundantly. It's what we're here for, as work at times can get too annoying, so good to think about some old 18R-G goodness while I get the local tech grunts to fix our treasury databases.

Have you (or can you create) a vid of the issue, so we can hear and see it when it dies?

seeyuzz
river

[Omegaman]

I see the point yr all making regarding the stand alone ECU's.
When you've had a car in storage for so long, you just want to drive it as it stands, with the gear you have.
thats where i'm comming from right now.
My plans will be later, once i drive it for a while is to just port and polish a spare geu****270 head that i have.
Also re- grownd my ****270 spare adjustable cams to 292's or there abouts.
this will be done with a stand alone ECU's, but when the time comes.
the arguement will be why not buy Stand alone now and sort it, but again to do that, i would want to commit to all the upgrades, ignition, injectors, fuel supply, etc.
which will determine what ECU would be benificial. Easy to tune, who can tune and how often..
so bear with me on that upgrade.

River re the Video.
i will look at whats happening this weekend and edit a vid to show what is happening.
i will talk through it, so i dont have to type anymore. lol

[ra_28]

+ 1 for Autronic SM4 I've installed it myself and have managed to get it running with sequential injection and spark. Wasn't that hard just time consuming.

Alex

[river]

Hi,

Yes, and mine also has low oil cut off. I hate to lose this engine so got that done also. Plus hooked into the air con to maintain idle revs when air con enabled. Plus got a "boost plug" under the dash. I alwyas leave it in place, but if I take it out the power is limited to approx 130rwkw, and 170rwkw with it in place. I take it out if letting some dunderclump drive the car and I wish to limit how much power they can use.

seeyuzz
river

[timbosaurus]

...all features available in the $350 megasquirt.

Just sayin', lol.

[river]

Hi,

LOL

This isn't the thread for it, but... autronic vs megasquirt - Autronic MRM Forum Plus I have no allegiance to any particular ECU, except I wanted something that would work, not require me to fuck about endlessly, and someone to call if required for support.

Maybe things have changed since then, but there's a reason why MS is a lot cheaper than the SM4, and it's not just 'cos you do a lot of the tune and set up yourself with the MS.

seeyuzz
river

[Omegaman]

Gezz, both the above ECus sound like a night mare compared to what im going through. From what i've read.
from the extra's required to get running and the tuning, id rather persist with what i have..for the time being.

i think i'm expecting to much ease from a stand alone.
Like the piggy back emanage, you wire up, splice and then make yr map. Thats easy, providing u dont get yr problem areas like i'm having ATM.

But, with limited reading into this, a stand alone requires a lot more work, spend and knowledge to get going.

Looking back at jabbatron's example of whats required is great, cause you see whats needed over and above, to make it
a great system. But then add the time to arrange and get working comfortably. i dont want to send the car away to get it done.
And to have someone do it for me at home sounds great, but there still will be delays and troubleshooting that will require further days and expense.

In short term expenses that are required are.
- exhaust muffler and tip.
- maybe new cat converter
- blue slip, register, insurance
- hire trailer.

thats 2k just there on must do's.

if i do the head and cams. 1K
Add ecu and other requirements, thats another 2k.
i just wannna drive it 3 days a week.

i'll stop with my reasoning now. i think you all got where im comming from.

cheers guys.

[matchan420]

I am looking at SDS fuel managemant for the stand alone. They are out of Canada which is nice for me here in the Grand Ole' USA...also the fact that they set up up to the most basic of your engine then you finish the tuning with the hand held, not a comp. The only reason to find a dyno is to fine tune the timing and the knock sensor. My pop always said that time is $, so the MS is out for me. I despise wires despite I rewired my fj40 to put a 3fe head on a 2f with all the apropriate EFI components...runs nice too!

[timbosaurus]

lol, Riv, asking for a subjective comparison in an autronic forum? That's like starting a poll on here on whether I should buy an 86 or a new Commodore, hehe.

I do love the argument on the autronic forums "anyway i would rather cut my hand off than waste my time on a ms". a lot of us modify cars because we LIKE to do the work ourselves... and we WANT to know how it works... and we HAVE to know it's been done properly.

That same guy argues that MS is crap because of "things like processor performance and things like that". Obvious he doesn't understand that both the Microsquirt and Megasquirt 2 uses the same Freescale processor as many OEMs, running at 24MHz (The top dog MOTEC M880 motorsport brags about 32MHz). The MS3 uses freescales big gun S12X running at 50MHz - I know there is more to it than MHz, but it's a hardcore processor. I honestly don't know what the Autronic uses, but if it is more advanced than the MS3, I'll eat my hat. Your hat. His hat. And anyone's hat that longs to be eaten.

The sad thing is, that his forum handle is sideshow. And if that's the same guy I'm thinking of, I always though he was pretty switched on.

But anyway, they certainly both have their advantages and disadvantages, and there is no 1 right answer.

It's just my opinion that if you like to learn and have the time to DIY (your first time could take you a week, but now I can do a complete install in the same time as any other ECU - less than a day), then the MS is superior. This is mainly due to better hardware, more flexible software features, copious online documentation and support, open source software, and a wider user/installer base that mostly able and willing to help a newbie.

But if you need to have someone else do it for you, or if you have 10 thumbs when it comes to electronics, or you'd prefer not to spend that week learning upfront, then you've just gotta pay the premium to have an off the shelf solution.