You Don’t Know ‘Squirt! PART 2 By Jerry Hoffmann
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obody would ever tell you Bob Kurgan of Kurgan Motorsports doesn’t know squat. But Bob knows ‘squirt too. MegaSquirt EFI that is. Furthermore, Bob is pretty well known as one of the best big-power drag car tuners on the east coast and his shop sees cars come from far and wide to get dialed in by him in Braselton, GA. DIYAutoTune.com’s HQ is a short 30 minute drive from Kurgan Motorsports, so Bob asked us to stop by a while back to show him just how far MegaSquirt EFI has come, and to let him “play” with the product. Why change the ECU? While the MS3-Pro is the most powerful EMS offered by DIYAutoTune.com and rivals the featureset and capabilities of systems that cost several thousand dollar more, Bob was specifically interested in the MegaSquirtPNP line of ECUs, which allow for a super-simple installation as they plug directly into the factory wiring harness replacing the stock computer. The MSPNP Gen2 (part# MSPNP2-EEC4A8) allows you to eliminate the stock ECU and the MAF completely on your 88-93 5.0 Fox, and gives you full control of your ignition, fuel tables and more for just over $800. This is far more control than a ‘chip’ or ‘flash’ programmer can give you, allowing you to run any injector size (high or low impedance) you’d like with the built-in Peak-N-Hold injector drivers, and giving you full control of two-step launch control and redline rev limiters, electronic boost control, and plenty of other features needed in a drag car. Typically in drag cars it’s not uncommon to see a multitude of ‘little black boxes’ installed controlling these things. The two-step rev limiter, boost retard pulling back the timing so the head won’t lift and pistons stay in one piece under boost, boost controller dialing in just how much boost the engine runs, etc, etc, etc. The MegaSquirtPNP Gen2 let’s you eliminate all of this though, and gives you a single tuning interface granting you full control of all of this in one place. Say you want to close the wastegate completely to spool the turbo as fast as possible off the line, then open it just in
Jeremiah McNeil’s 1985 Fox is a gorgeous example of what a Fox can be. And today we make the bite match the bark.
time to prevent boost from spiking and hold boost at a dead steady 17psi all the way to redline? Not a problem. You want a two-step rev limiter for launch control and a separate soft and hard limit at redline? Fuel cut, ignition cut, or a combination of the two— again, not a problem. With fully mappable 3D fuel and ignition tables you can dial any engine into perfection, and let that monster purr like a kitten. Until you mash the pedal under your right foot and let the monster out again that is. Victim of the day Enough telling you about the computer we’re using, what brings us to Kurgan Motorsports today is Jeremiah McNeil’s 1985 Ford Mustang. A beautiful car that’s as much ‘show’ as it is ‘go’, with shaved firewall, tucked wiring and a clean Borg Warner 76mm turbo installed, Bob suggested we throw a MegaSquirtPNP Gen2 in it and ‘see what it can do’. So far Jeremiah has followed the fairly typical path of ‘band-aids’ on his turbo Mustang, with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, larger than stock (42lb/hr) injectors, and locked out ignition timing at a static 18 degrees. Jeremiah enjoys his car, but couldn’t help but wonder if there was more if he just got rid of the band-aids and got the right tune on it. This is a stock block, 100% stock internal car. This is a 1992 302 EFI swap, and the motor has never been opened up. The only change that’s been made apart from the turbo is an Explorer SVO intake manifold. He’s had it on another shop’s Dynojet dyno before, and made 365whp and 467wtq at 9psi of boost. Again, that’s locked at 18 degrees of ignition timing, which works at wide open throttle, but driveability and power everywhere else, at cruise speeds and partial and even heavy throttle is likely to suffer when running locked-out timing like this. If all you’re ever doing is running wide open, and you don’t give a crap about how the car runs at anything other than wideopen, then that’ll work just fine. If you want maximum horsepower/torque and fuel economy at partial/heavy throttle while below WOT, you want to be able to dial in your ignition timing to make maximum brake torque at all load/rpm ranges. And that’s just what a standalone EMS like the MSPNP will do for you. Install Time
Part# MSPNP2-EEC4A8 fits 1986-1993 5.0 Ford Mustangs and Thunderbirds, while the MSPNP2-EEC4B8 fits 1994-95 5.0 Mustangs and T-birds. Several other models are available for foreign and domestic vehicles, see www.mspnp.com for details. 86
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Normally the installation takes about an hour, maybe less for a basic install. As I type this Jim just finished installing the system onto this little pony, and after configuring the base map for the 42lb injectors he and Ben just fired the car right up with no drama. From beginning to end this install took about two hours, but that included a few optional bits Jeremiah decided to have us hook up today. We ran a couple wires to tie his wideband into the ECU and we also installed and wired an electronic boost control solenoid so we can dial the boost curve in through the MSPNP as well. As everything is hidden up in the wheel wells and cowl of this car, that was a little bigger effort than to get to and modify the hidden wiring and components. Jeremiah would like to see 400whp today, RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE