Engine and Transmission Tech

Looks like I paid $129.50 shipping included from seller "bding44". That seller currently has three styles of Chevy coils for sale, but not the LS2 truck kind (with finned aluminum heat sinks.)

Here's how the wires turned out:

Very nice Curtis, your engine bay looks great!

Curtis,

Not a bad price for the coils and brackets shipped . I just paid $109.00 for brand new ones for 8 coils + shipping, but 2 sets of them for the Ls1 engines. Then I bought 16 connector pigtails for them. Picked up the pigtails from "autowiresolutions" e-bayer I believe for $145.00 shipped.

Curtis, a very sanitary and professional looking install there!


16 connector pigtails and 1 Ls2 truck coil. The Ls1 coil connectors will not work, so they need to be changed out.



box of 16 Ls2 truck coils with aluminum heat sinks.

After various delays and distractions...

The GOOD NEWS is that I hit the starter button this morning and my engine fired right up on it's new ignition system!

It didn't miss a single beat. I ran it until it came up to full temperature, then shut it down and came back in the house. Needs some tuning. Too much ignition advance at idle. Bogs a bit when I tap the throttle. (That might be a fuel issue, eh?) My old Sun tach isn't working right with MS3-Pro driving it, but I expect that won't be a big deal to sort out.

Here's the most important thing I've learned lately:
If you use a half-moon cam position trigger, make sure to use it with a Hall effect (3-wire) sensor.

I've made recent updates to my Photo Gallery page.

Here is a new photo and caption about cam position sensors:

The Ford shaft was cut in diameter and length. We milled flats onto its end to drive a Buick oil
pump. Note how it has a "half moon wheel" at the top instead of one with one or more narrow
teeth. The sensor at right came with it; it's a VR (variable reluctance) 2-wire sensor. I prefer
to instead use the Hall effect 3-wire sensor at left. This particular Airtex Wells sensor (part#
5S1283) is an improved version of a Hall effect sensor Ford used in the 1990s. It features an
over-molded magnet instead of one that can shake loose. The functional advantage of a Hall
effect sensor in combination with a half moon wheel is quicker starts. MS3-Pro can "poll" cam
position when the crank sensor detects a missing tooth and immediately sync ignition timing.

(I had lots of sync errors when I tried to use the VR sensor. Note also that the connector shown in this photo is the 2-wire kind for the Ford VR sensor. I didn't find a source for the appropriate 3-wire connector so I had to buy a pigtail, which was a bit costly.)

Thats great news Curtis!! I'm glad to see that the hall effect sensor worked out for you!
Some day if I have some extra time, I may have to convert mine over to hall effect.

Bill

I've got the two wire pickup with a narrow vane. Are you saying that the Hall effect will work better, or that it's just better with the half-moon vane?

Jim

Jim, with half moon and three-wire together I believe you should get slightly quicker starts. Other than that, I'm not aware of a tangible performance difference between my set-up and yours. (Once you have sync, you have sync, right?)


I corrected trigger angle offset (no more bog!), and then took my car for a long test drive. Car is running GREAT!!!!

Fast starts. Noticeably smoother at idle. Still gotta fix the tach... Then I guess I'll try switching from batch-fire to sequential injection.

Curtis, Great job! You are going to be the go to guy for info on the Megasquirt setup!

So, I know it's a little late to the party, but,
came up with another coil choice.
These are for a Subaru WRX.


They are a logic level setup so pretty much anything can run them.
They fit perfectly under the valve cover lip.

A small bracket and you're good to go.
Cheers
Fred

Not bad Fred. Logic level you say? That's ideal for the MS I am thinking. What sort of bracket are you planning to use? And about how much do they run? A bit of info on the connector would be nice too and whether or not the connector bodies and crimp pins are available or we're stuck with junkyard pigtails.

Jim