Joel

Thanks Folks, I guess it's best to do these things through the official channels - I'd been doing quite well communicating with OMEX via email, but they seem to have stopped responding so I'll try giving them a call instead. Failing that, I'll be in touch! Thanks again.

Hi, Does anyone have a startup config or even a fully mapped profile for an OMEX 600 ECU that I could get a copy of? It's for a Pinto, but pretty much anything will do to get me started. Many thanks.

Hi Jess, That's great. Could you PM me your number and I'll give you a bell to make arrangements? Cheers, Joel.

As the title, does anyone in the midlands have a car trailer to lend? I need it 20-21st March. Thanks.

Attention people with Throttle Bodies fitted, regardless of engine or ECU type, what have you done/fitted with regard to idle control valves/pwm/stepper motor, etc? I'm running Honda CBR TB's on a pinto with megasquirt, and it'll run and idle as sweet as a nut once warm, but the cold start and warm up is an absoloute bu66er! Is this the kind of thing that idle control would take care of, or do I just need more tuning of my warm-up enrichments? For what it's worth, my TB's would have originally had some kind of idle control system that I think used a worm drive to lift pins that would leak more air into the chambers to control idle speed. Unfortunately this system got lost somewhere on it's way to me, and it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing you can find on ebay - a complete TB assembly is 'only' about £70, but obviously I don't really want to go that way if I don't have to. So what are you lot using?

Nigel, I think you've got it bang on about a small amount of backfeed switching the relays, as you say it's just finding which one. I removed all connections from the heater fan, reverse light, etc, so in theory there could be no backfeed there, but the engine still over ran. The only thing on that circuit which seemed to make any difference in the end was the dash warning lights. Incidentally, pulling on the handbrake would stop the engine, as you suggested. The error with the coil supply going to earth was just a quirk of the wiring diagram I worked from, that I carried over, but I haven't actually wired it that way. Good thinking on the igniton live col supply though. I'll give it a whirl.

Spent all day on this today, and long story short I think I've found a solution although it isn't necessarily fixing the problem... The feed that supplied the wipers, heater fan and reverse light all seemed to check out, but I also found it supplied the dash warning lights (battery, oil, and brake). I removed these feeds and took the supply for them from elsewhere and hey presto it seems to work! As I said, I don't really know if this is solving the problem or just skirting round it (or if I've even found the problem), but it seems to work in any case. Thoughts anyone?

Hi Jess, The fan in this case is the heater fan and not the rad fan. I have a similar setup to you with regard to that rad fan, with a tell-tale light on the dash that slowly dims as the fan cuts out, and it's controlled through an adjustable thermostat with relay. In any case, I'm not running the engine anywhere near long enough for the rad fan to cut in, so I don't think that's the problem in this case. Cheers Joel.

Think I'm making progress... Didn't have time to be very scientific tonight, but I reconnected ign 2 to the fusebox, pulled out all the fuses, then put them back in one by until the engine wouldn't stop, and it seems to be that pesky wiper/reverse lt/heater fan connection. I then pulled the plugs from the wiper and heater fan respectively, and it still wouldn't stop. I don't know if that narrows it down to the reverse light (which is working fine), or not, but I feel at least like I'm looking in the right area now. Hopefully have a more thorough look at the weekend.

Right, we're getting somewhere. I wired it up so black/yellow ign position 2 was only powering the ignition circuit, and sure enough it starts and stops on the key as you would expect. So, how do I isolate individual supplies to various places without getting any back feed? It's probably not that significant, but in addition to the things I mentioned above (heater, wipers, etc), I noticed with this setup I also loose all power to my dash gauges. Just thinking out loud, but could I use the accessories supply (fused) to power the heater, wipers, etc. Or is that really bad practise? Cheers Joel.

Hi Nigel, It's a Premier Wiring Systems loom, and the ign position 2 (black/yellow) also feeds a fuse box with a common supply to the wipers; reverse light; heater fan. The ingnition light behaves as you would expect after startup and running, but illuminates when you try to turn the engine off. I don't have a spare switch - I did wonder if wiring up through a fancy starter button kit might bypass the problem? This might be a red herring, but my loom fitting instructions says to take an output from the alternator to the battery VIA the starter solenoid. I'm fairly certain I've taken it straight back to the battery. Could that be a problem? From memory, the only wires going to the starter are the main big chunky battery cable and a blue/black from the ignition switch. Cheers Joel.

Interesting development on this one - after a bit of investigation, sure enough I'd wired the supply to the main igniton and fuel pump relays from the accessories point. So I changed it to a switched-live supply, and now the engine won't stop! You can take the key out and walk away the engine just keeps running. This didn't happen when it wired through the accessories point. Can anyone suggest a reason why this might be happening or where to start looking for the problem? Thanks again.

Thanks for the replies chaps. I suspected a simple case of 'wrong wire' from the igniton switch, though interestingly that hasn't actually changed since I was running a bog standard carb setup, at which point it all worked as you would expect. This issue has only come about since I spliced in all the wiring for the injection setup, which makes me wonder if something strange is happening at the main igniton relay, or possibly even a knackered ignition switch? In any case, you've convinced me enough to investigate further. Thanks again.

I've somehow managed to wire my loom so everything is powered up at the first ignition point (first turn of the key after releasing the barrel lock), rather than the second point (just before cranking). So you turn the key one click and the fuel pump primes, power to ECU, etc. It's not a problem in itself as everything works, the engine runs, and I don't have any accessories that require the igniton to be on, so I'm happy to leave as-is, but I just wanted to check I wasn't likely to be doing any damage frying circuits or that Mr.MOT inspector will have any issues with it? It's wired (or at least should be) as per the attached image. Cheers.

The default download folder is indeed set to 'downloads', and it's definitely not saving there or anywhere else. It does just seem to be an internet thing as I can create and save docs, bmp, etc with no problem. I can also copy and paste from a usb stick. I tried disabling the firewall and antivirus (zone alarm and AVG respectively), but it makes no difference. I've scanned with AVG, A-Squared and MSE, none of which found any nasrties, and I'm using IE and Firefox. I can otherwise use the internet and do everything else no problem, it just won't save anything. The disk is only about 20% full, and there's a couple of other machines on the network that are all working fine. Very strange. Any other ideas anyone?

One for the computer buffs... My parents have an unusual problem with their pc, that I don't really know where to start with. It seems you can't save any files to disk. For example, if I right click>save as an image, it appears to save it but when you explore the destination folder there's nothing there. The same when downloading larger files like programs, the download appears to complete but the destination folder is empty. Any ideas greatly appreciated. I'm not that familiar with Vista, and as I said it's not my pc so I don't know what changes have been made recently. The only attempted fix I've made so far was to create a new admin profile, incase the original was corrupted, but that hasn't helped. Cheers.

IT RUNS !!! ....it actually blinkin' runs! I can't quite believe it Assuming you've no idea what I'm on about, my 2B is finally nearing the end of an extravagantly long switch to fuel injection. I took it off the road shortly after the Stafford show ....2009!! ...to fix what was then just a leaky fuel sender seal. That escalated into fitting: a new custom fuel tank suitable for injection; electric fuel pump; filters; new boot; complete new fuel lines; set of Honda CBR throttle bodies; custom FastDan manifold; custom jenvey fuel rail; zetec injectors; adjustable fuel pressure regulator; Megasquirt ECU; Weber crank position kit & 36-1 toothed wheel; EDIS module and coilpack; partial rewire; Stack lambda kit; 2-wire coolant temp sensor... ..and while all that was going on, there was the slightly unrelated work of: new clutch; new engine mounts; new gearbox mount; new dash; new steering wheel; partial respray; new bulkhead; new battery.. and a whole load of other stuff I've probably forgotten. You get the idea. Anyway, after nearly 2 years to the day since it last ran, it fired up for the first time with the new setup today . Early days yet, but even using the default un-tweaked Megasquirt values you can just tell it's going to run better than it ever did on a carb. Happy days.

Well done Rich, nice result. Sounds like they easily could have squeezed a full test in when you were "late" though. Don't mean to add to your frustration but my Dad's wedding car passed with a Mini wiper motor just a few months ago. I don't recall them even checking the speed! I have a Mountey steering wheel pad if it's of any use?

Yep, I have both. It's a twin choke Weber 2V carb (standard from 2ltr). It has a stepper motor and heater, but it will run without any of that connected up. You'll just need to feather the throttle until it's warmed up. Standard manifold too. PM me if you're interested and I'll stick it in the post.

Yes, I have MS2 v3 main board. I was hoping to use speed / density rather than Alpha N if I could help it, but as you say my setup might be against me in that respect. I do have vacuum take-offs from each TB, which I can branch together but it remains to be seen how much and how consistent the vacuum will actually be, especially with my cam. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to feather the throttle until it was warm (I used to have to do that with the carbs anyway!), but it would be nice if MS took care of all that. Anyway, I'll pm my email address now. Cheers. Joel.

Hi Tim, This is great news, any help at this point would be enormously appreciated. I've downloaded Tuner Studio and the Log Viewer and various other bits, but at the moment I'm still configuring the basic parameters in MegaTune (injector settings, calibrating thermistors, etc), and haven't got as far as tables or starting the engine. I think I'm going to need some kind of PWM-able vacuum idle valve too, which I haven't even started trying to get my head around yet. I have the Stack wideband kit installed, which I think uses a Bosch sensor. Should I pm you my email address? Cheers, Joel.

Hi Mowerman. I genuinely don't mean to be antagonistic but I don't really follow what's wound you up? If it's the 'nothing happens near me' issue, I was simply speculating as to why people might think that and how it might be resolved. I certainly don't think that; I'm fortunate enough to live in area with a very active and well attended local club (Gary Clarke does a great job) where there's always something going on. If that's not it please say and I'll be happy to clarify my point

Hi Chris, just to clarify I wasn't suggesting a web v mag argument, I love getting the magazine too. I was just suggesting (in my opinion) that the website is the club's prized asset, in terms of the help and technical knowledge it offers, to the extent that many builds would never get completed without it (mine included). I'm happy to stand corrected on the % of members who use it though.

Probably correct on both counts, but that just reaffirms my point that if you order a 'GAZ kit for a 2B' from Dampertech, as I did, it might not necessarily be a perfect fit for your car. I found the GAZ units were so much shorter than the zimmers they replaced, that I couldn't safely extend the top mounts far enough out of the roll bar to reach them. Hence having to wind the spring up. Just to clarify, I AM recommending Dampertech, this size issue is just my personal experience.

I think if you consider which club resource the majority of members make most use of, it has to be this website. More so than hog roasts and gazebos and free beer and the like. I would imagine it's how the majority of people discover the club too, and would be the most sorely missed if it were gone - if Rhocar as a club (gazebo and all) had no presence at a show it wouldn't stop me going, but if the website was gone I'd be screwed! So whatever happens in terms of restricting content and the like then so be it (personally I think it's fine as it is), but as the most used and arguably most important club resource, perhaps shifting some spare club funds in Mats direction for the upkeep of the site should take higher priority? Regarding 'nothing ever happens near me', I would imagine for the most part people just want a sunday afternoon blat around the local lanes with a few like minded people, regardless of what they happen to be driving? I think the club at the top end do a great job of organising the bigger events like Le Mans and track days, but perhaps more resources need to be shifted down to the local area secs to promote local events? I'd rather receive a compiled list of local events/meets/shows (both Rhocar and none Rhocar) with my annual membership pack than a 5 page photocopy of members contact details. Just a few thoughts.