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V3 MicroSquirt® - QuickStart Guide      
      

Congratulations on the purchase of your V3 MicroSquirt® EFI controller. This page gives you an outline of the steps required to get your engine running with your V3 MicroSquirt® controller. Each step has a link to more detailed instructions (and most pages of detailed instruction have links to the theory behind those instructions). Click on the accompanying links for more detailed instructions on any of these 14 steps.

  1. Read the safety instructions first! Click the link for more information.

  2. Install your chosen fuel system. Your MicroSquirt® controller can work with either throttle body injection systems, or port injection systems. If your engine is already fuel injected, you can skip this step. If you are converting your engine to EFI, you will need fuel injectors, throttle body, bungs and fuel rails, a fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, and EFI-rated hoses, clamps, etc. Click the links for more information.

  3. Install your chosen ignition system. Your MicroSquirt® controller can work with many distributors, and crank/cam wheels (of the form M-N). If your ignition system is on the list below, you can skip this step. Click any of the following links for specific information on various ignition systems:

  4. Mount your V3 MicroSquirt® EFI controller. Your MicroSquirt® controller should be mounted in a cool dry location (not under the hood). The enclosure is 'water resistant'. You can fully seal it, if you wish. The ampseal connector is already sealed, so you just need to seal the top to the bottom of the case to get a fully sealed unit. Click the link for more information.

  5. Install your throttle position sensor, coolant temperature sensor, intake air temperature sensor, exhaust gas oxygen sensor, and manifold absolute pressure sensor (MAP) (and/or mass air flow sensor (MAF)) on your engine. Click the links for more information.

  6. Wire the sensors, actuators, and power supply to the 35 pin Ampseal harness.

  7. If you are using a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor alone to help determine engine loading (i.e. not MAF only), connect the MAP sensor's nipple a full-time manifold vacuum source using a vacuum hose. Don't worry about the length of the hose. Pressure changes move at the speed of sound (~1100feet per second) so any delay is negligible. If you are using a MAF sensor, install it now. Click the links for more information.

  8. Install TunerStudio MS tuning software (and MegaLogViewer, if you wish):
    1. The tuning software for your V3 MicroSquirt is TunerStudio MS (aka. "TS"). You can download it from here.
    2. To view datalogs of the engine output channels that you have recorded on your laptop, you can use the software called MegaLogViewer (aka. "MLV"). You can download it from here.
    Click the links for more information.

  9. Apply power to your V3 MicroSquirt controller with a relay and a good ground on the vehicle (or on the bench if you are testing). This will bring your V3 MicroSquirt® controller to life. Click the link for more information.

  10. Establish a serial communication link to your PC. If your tuning laptop does not have a serial port (most don't), you will need a USB/serial adapter dongle. Install the USB/serial adapter driver software and hardware, supply power and ground to your MicroSquirt controller, and open TunerStudio MS. Go to 'Communications/Settings' and 'Detect' the connection to your MicroSquirt® controller, then 'Accept' the connection when it is found. You need to set the "ECU Type" on your MicroSquirt® controller the first time you run it (click the "burn to ECU" button for this and any other change to stick). Until you set the ECU Type, all the other parameters will be grayed out. Click the links for more information.

  11. Calibrate your external sensors. You must set-up the: If the resulting sensor values look good in TunerStudio MS, this means the TPS values aren't backwards, you have set the correct MAP sensor values, etc., and you may be just minutes away from starting your engine with your MicroSquirt® controlled engine. Click the links for more information.

  12. Adjust the basic configuration settings to match your engine and fuel/ignition systems. This includes the VE, AFR, and spark advance tables, cranking pulse widths, number of cylinders, ignition input configuration, set the dwell, etc. If you are using a toothed wheel with 1, 2, or 4 cylinder wasted spark, or 2 cylinder sequential (with an additional cam sync signal) in one of the Dual Spark ignition modes, configuring this setup is now easy with the AutoTrigger mode. Click the links for more information.

  13. Check that your V3 MicroSquirt® controller recognizes the tach signal while cranking so it knows how fast the engine is turning. Remove the fuel pump or injector fuses and crank the engine for a few seconds with TunerStudio MS connected, running and datalogging. TunerStudio MS's datalog (and tach) in should show 150 to about 400 rpm while cranking. If it does, you have good ignition input(s). If you do not get a tach signal, re-check your ignition input configuration. Replace the fuses you removed earlier. Click the links for more information.

  14. Now you can begin to tune the MicroSquirt® controller's parameters to make your engine start, warm-up and run well. Start by trying to get you engine to start and idle, then progress to higher engine speeds and loads. You will need to set up the cranking pulse widths, afterstart enrichments (ASE), and warm-up enrichments (WUE) and idle air controller parameters, a volumetric efficiency (VE) table, the air-fuel ratio (AFR) table, the spark advance table, and the acceleration enrichments. If you have not tuned an EFI system before, please review the basic EFI tuning guide. Click the links for more information.

If you have any questions or problems that can't be answered from:

you can ask questions at the MicroSquirt® support forum which is at: www.microsquirt.com

MegaSquirt® and MicroSquirt® controllers are experimental devices intended for educational purposes.
MegaSquirt® and MicroSquirt® controllers are not for sale or use on pollution controlled vehicles. Check the laws that apply in your locality to determine if using a V3 MicroSquirt® or MicroSquirt® controller is legal for your application.
©2011 Bruce Bowling and Al Grippo and Lance Gardiner. All rights reserved. MicroSquirt® and MicroSquirt® are registered trademarks. This document is solely for the support of MicroSquirt® boards from Bowling and Grippo.