PROJECT - Mega-jolt

[Gr4H4m]

Well, after some thinking, research, and talking to A&B, and members. I think its time to bring the car's ignition system out of the 70's......

with my Supercharger installed I have to compromise with the timing to stop the dreaded det... this means that its timed to 0 deg Before Top Dead Centre.. This hampers power but helps to stop the car from "doing a Denty" and the pistons turning into a gooey mess and dropping into the stump...

I was thinking it would be a good idea to start a bit of a project thread as it could be useful for anyone thinking of throwing out their dizzy and getting into some 3d ignition mapping. Still not quite to Mark Rally standards of wanting only to run engines without push rods.. but its a start...:D

As most dizzy's are getting old, you find wear on the shaft, something that can cause the points gap to alter, this can be helped by fitting a point-less ignition kit (Which also helps with the water problem)The other issues that suffer the age problem are wear on the internal springs which control the advance curve, and the diaphragm failing which controls the vac advance.

Megajolt allows you to complete a table of values for the cars timing, at different RPM and inlet pressure, (You can also get e TPS version or Throttle Position Sensor) Great for N/A cars and FI.. as you can get the most out of out of standard components and and upgrades in the future. Its also reported the cars runs smoother as your not relying on weights and springs, but I bet its also due to the fact most dizzys are a bit worn.

So what do you need?

1) A Trigger wheel that you can attach to the crank pulley or a machined 1257 pulley.
2) A bracket to mount the crank sensor.
3) A Ford coil pack
4) A Ford EDIS4 module
5) A Ford crank sensor
6) A megajolt unit
7) I have a MAP Megajolt so will need some boost gauge / VAC advance hard plastic pipe and connector.
8) A&B your friendly local Rolling Road Guru's :D

The unit is connected to a PC and you have some software that runs over an RS232 or serial connector. if you have a modern laptop you will need a USB to RS232 converter.

anyway enough yapping, here's some pics...

P.S if I have anything wrong please feel free to correct me as I've only just started down this road.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/megajolt.jpg


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[Gr4H4m]

Well after some trial and error I have tested the connection to the new mega-jolt unit.

Most laptops don't have serial connections so I got a USB to RS232 converter lead. If you use one of these you need to check what comm port in the computers device manager, with these leads the port numbers are norm about the 7 or 8. also they tend to move when you plug the lead in. You need to add this into the options of the mega-jolt software so you can make a connection.

you also need to supply power to the Mega-jolt unit. I did this by taping the + and - leads onto a 9V DC batt.

then you should get the megajolt screen.... cool I have added some values to the table and written it to the ECU to check you can read write.

You can see from the picture that you have load on one axis and RPM on the other. The load is shown from the manifold pressure and this enable you to set the ignition timing in a grid form per 1000rpm. No more relying on springs and weights in the dizzy. Should make the engine much more safe under boost and more compliant off boost... can't wait. These principles should also be an advantage on a stock car / to highly modified allowing you to get the most from an mods...

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/MJtest.jpg

[Deano]

cool :cool:

[spinndrift]

I'll have to keep an eye on this as we're looking at going down this route with the rally car.

[Gr4H4m]

got the ford bits coming...

Coil pack EDIS4 module and the sensor (Not that I need the sensor as the crank wheel is coming with one)

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/fordstuff.jpg

[Gr4H4m]

well the last bit of the puzzle is soon to be on its way from sunny Aus, thanks the Ben the guy that built my supercharger kit.

Trigger wheel, and sensor and the sensor bracket.
What a totally cool idea, its a bolt-on kit, so no machining or welding when you get it and its supercharger friendly, as it sits before the pulley.:cool:

Check out these pics fresh from Aus mmmmm........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/ben92/P1010258.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/ben92/P1010256.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/ben92/P1010251.jpg

[apbellamy]

I guess as I'm going down the SC12 route too, I'll be needing to do this as well!

[Gr4H4m]

been out and done a bit this afternoon...

I have stripped the rad off which took me some time to remeber how to gett it off whilst the SC was till on the car...

Grey grease everywhere, looks like on the the CVs has a hole in it from the track..

Made a little bracket to hold the coil pack, picked a location so I can run it to A&B on the dizzy and then swap it over..

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coil2.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coil3.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coil5.jpg

[Gr4H4m]

and here it is fitted on the car..

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coil7.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coil8.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coil10.jpg

[apbellamy]

looking good

[Gr4H4m]

thanks

[Gr4H4m]

Made the wiring loom for the Meajolt setup

Mid way... twisting the wires to check the connections before soldering...

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/MJWire1.jpg


EIDIS Plug showing the pin number 12 printed on the plastic so you know which end is which on the diag. note theres no pin11 so the wires go 12, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 from right to left

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/Edisplug.jpg


The coil pack plug again with the number so you can relate them to the diag

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/coilplug.jpg


The megajolt plug

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/MJplug.jpg


The wiring diag I used for my V4 Megajolt.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/wirediag.jpg

[Gr4H4m]

the finished item ready for installation. I'm going to use the heater air inlet to put the wires into the car so I have no issues with soldering it all up, if not you will need to complete the in car bits once you have installed the wiring in the car...

P.S the megajolt system should start and run the car in limp mode at 10deg TDC so you can test it before plugging the megajolt unit in... good to know if the unit fails



http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/Mini_Addicts_Gr4H4m/MJfinished.jpg

[Steve]

looking good mate

[Gr4H4m]

oh on A&B's recommendation I have used some rubber/foam to mount the megajolt unit not the best looking but should help to stop it shaking itself to bits.

The white wires are shielded, with the shield connected to earth to help stop interference. I got the wires from A&B... who stock everything inc the ford plugs... The coil pack wires are also twisted for the same reasons

[Gr4H4m]

Been to the wizards at A&B for some mapping fun.... Ade had a few issues with spark and had to change the plus to iridium type with the super small electrode, apparently something the Jap turbo boys use for a better spark.. He said that the older types of Ford coils are better (They are larger and the OEM's give a much better spark) very important for forced induction.

The car gave the same overall power but was slightly down on boost that previously might have a slight air leak under full boost or the gauge is crap as the MJ unit is showing a higher figure than the cheap gauge..
The low down power is higher quicker with much better off boost power. The car feels even smoother and a must have for forced induction.. I now dont fal in revs when coming to a stop as the timing can be advanced at no boost..
The car also pulls higher up the rev range as wasn't stopping at 5k like it did before.

Its strange driving a classic with a rev limiter.... :) good job I can change it...

[ben92]

Good to see it all works OK :)
As I though it wouldn't give any more peak power but make it more drivable.

Another first SC12 and Mega Jolt:cool:

[Gr4H4m]

I must say a big thanks to Ben for making the trigger wheel and sensor bracket. I'm surprised its a first but then you guys in AUS have access to better dizzy's.. Talking of dizzys I was surprised that how worn the dizzy drive on my car was...

A quick note on firing order I forgot to put yesterday to help out anyone thinking of going down this route...

The coil pack is numbered 1234 and fires in pairs using a wasted spark so this means you need to connect them in order

Coil Pack - Car cylinder
1 ------------ 1
2 ------------ 2
3 ------------ 3
4 ------------ 4

The mini's cylinder number one is closest to the rad and 4 is the clutch end.

The reason for this post is I tried on my first attempt to match the coil pack numbers to the mini's firing order and it took a while to find out why the car wouldn't start...

[apbellamy]

Sounds good.

Any pics of the finished engine bay?

[Gr4H4m]

will have to take some but it looks like the pics on te other page without the dizzy/or coil in.

I need to tidy the wiring as it was left al loose for the initial setup to ensure everything was working, I didn't want to waste A&B's time if they had to un-tape the loom to get at anything I might have done wrong... As it was the wiring was all ok.

[Deano]

Great news mate :) cant wait to see it in action

[Gr4H4m]

It would be a good time to point out bth Steve and I have had issues with standard mini plugs.

I'm now running NGK BKR7EIX plugs.

See how they go. Standard plugs seem to cause a misfire where the cars revs drop to 0 then it catches its like the megajolt power being switched off whilst driving down the road....

[spinndrift]

We're still looking at this - we had problems with water again on the AGBO stages the other weekend (funnily enough it was fine through the watersplash) so we're hoping megajolt may help with those issues.

Will be interested to here how you find it.

[Gr4H4m]

Andy,
I never did update the thread, the issue described was not a plug related issue. There was an inconstancy on the shield wiring for the Vr sensor. I made a small change to make sure that the shield was connected at both ends to earth and its been rock solid ever since. So my fault as I made both wiring looms. Just a learning curve from the first installations.


It has transformed my car as I can run the correct amount of advance for any given boost situation which was expected. However what has shocked us most is the improvement to Steve's car. I have never seen it run so smooth and start so easy, yet rev so hard. It was a real shocker to us both.

From a reliability now we have the wiring sorted it seems fine. Steve now has a very stiff car and he hasn't had any issues with the sensor mounting etc. Which looking at the Mj web site is what most people find as the problem when they first get the system setup.

Water protection should be very good as the Ford plgs have a very large rubber boot which fits all of the way down the plug and is tight on the coil pack. All of the original ford plugs for the coil pack and EDIS unit are rubber sealed in the connector. You should be able to see some mid range gains as you can play with the timing at a given rev / load range.

If you want any more info let us know or pop down to the service day to have a look on the 29th..