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Evo 8 ECU, harness, and individual coil pack, upgrade on B4pro

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    Evo 8 ECU, harness, and individual coil pack, upgrade on B4pro

    So I was talking to the guys at Carl’s Alignment shop the other day and was describing my never ending tuning woes when they advised me to either chip the GTX ECU that this BPT uses, or repurpose another ECU. According to these guys, an OEM computer module is more reliable and easier to use than other alternatives, not to mention cheaper. The cheaper part depends on if you are able to find someone skilled enough to do the work of fabricating one. Enter Carlos at BP Performance Specialty.




    A few relevant specs about the car would go as follows,
    1990 Mazda Protégé 4wd
    JDM GTX engine and transmission swap
    JDM ECU
    460 RX7 injectors
    Y code VAF
    Vj20/Vf 8 hybrid turbo


    I used the harness that came on the chassis, so I guess that would be a B8 harness modified by me for the 4 wire TPS sensor.


    At the time of purchase, this Evo 8 upgrade cost me $695, not including the MAP sensor and adapter. (Ooo, MAP sensor) The links to those parts are as follows



    At this point in the log you might get the impression that I go throwing money around like I have a lot of it. That is not the case. (lol) It wasn’t until one of our forum elders pointed at this that I decided to make jump. What sold me on this upgrade was the promise of a reliable, smooth running build. I really didn’t want to part out and sell so this is kind of the last chance for this car. If this new upgrade doesn’t satisfy me, I believe I can repurpose it to work with my other build. I asked Carlos about this and he was guarded with the information but made a vague offer of help. The fact that it was tuned for this car in the first place makes me think it can be done.

    I don’t blame Carlos for being protective of this information because I’ve seen how ideas get consumed by the web. If you’ve never had a noob repeat your own ideas back to you, let me assure you it’s not a pleasant feeling. Respect the work, and respect the creator for investing his time and effort into the community. Props for a bad ass workaround to a vexing tuning issue. Thanks man.

    There are some things I’m just not going to show. If you have questions about the making of the upgrade, I would direct you inquiries to the first link on the page.


    I’m happy to have comments and questions but would ask that you ask yourself one question. That is, “am I adding value to this thread”? The way I see it, I’m helping a hacker help us. Your help is also appreciated. I benefit too because I'm no rocket scientist. Lucky for me I don't have to be.

    Other links that seems relevant
    Last edited by 1st Gen; 06-22-2016, 06:48 PM.
    1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
    1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
    2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
    1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

    #2
    My other helper is busy growing up so I had to get a new helper. Meet Romeo. I didn't like his name at first but it kind of fits.

    A pic of the car. OEM coil, GTX ECU with B8 harness, and Y code VAF. Since this ECU uses a MAP sensor, the VAF will no longer be needed. Personally, I think this has been the source of much of my problems.

    The new individual coil packs or coil on plug design, COP, looks top notch. The harness that connects it to the rest of the harness is very straight forward. The next pic is for the MAP sensor (I think). I’m still waiting on the sensor so I haven’t been able to check this yet. It looks like the only plug not accounted for. The next plug is for the ambient air sensor. I guess I can just mount this anywhere but it seems like a good idea to put it as close to the air cleaner as possible. Next are the plugs for the Denso injectors and the distributer .

    On this tenth pic is all the good stuff. The first going from left to right is the plug to support the COP harness. The second might be the O2 sensor but am not sure. It doesn’t look like what I have. The next is the one that plugs into the head next to the thermostat, then the air temp sensor, the MAP sensor, and finally the TPS sensor.

    This pic is the entire harness at that end. Pretty relaxing really. The issues for me are as follows,
    Will the fuel pump work? (Edit-I just got a PM from Carlos. He's got this handled. Great news)
    Will the Tack work?
    How custom do I want to get mounting the ambient air sensor, map sensor, for best results.
    I think there may be a plug under the dash that I don’t recognize either.

    An a side note, the radiator hose in that VAF pic has a spring inside it that rusts. That will also be replaced during this tear down as it fills my cooling system with iron oxide. Not cool at all.

    Diagrams and schematics


    Edit-I've added more pics so some of the descriptions may not coincide. I've proofed but---
    Attached Files
    Last edited by 1st Gen; 07-11-2016, 11:48 PM.
    1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
    1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
    2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
    1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

    Comment


      #3
      1. blue plug is to flash the ECU.
      2. OBD2 port.
      3. Ignition ON power. I'll hook them both up unless otherwise warned.
      4. Ground, I'm going to ground these to the chassis inside the cabin and then an extra ground wire under the hood. Or, just make sure the existing grounds are clean and well seated.
      5. Knock sensor which can actually be left in the old harness so this plug is not needed
      6. Plug for O2 sensor is not needed. Not sure how that works.
      7. Fuel pump relay, ground the green stripe wire. (wouldn't that make the pump run continuously, unless the power is ignition on. hmm)
      8. A pic of the harness on top of the engine. The plate the coils bolts to needed a little dremel to fit the bolt holes correctly. Just a tiny bit.
      9. Top notch cable management
      10. Temp MAP sensor location.
      11. This hole in the firewall was for the air conditioning that I did not replace after the engine swap. I would have had to modify the regular access for the wire loom. Getting the plugs through while trying to be gentle was a bit of a Shaolin move.
      12. The red wire coming off the fuse block is for the wide-band. Am thinking of doing something like this for the ECU, although more permanent. This wire has come loose plenty of times.

      I'll start pairing down the needless duff as soon as I get the engine running. there are sensors and wires that are no longer needed

      This harness installs over the top of the stock harness so all that chassis business stays where it is.
      Attached Files
      Last edited by 1st Gen; 07-11-2016, 11:34 PM.
      1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
      1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
      2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
      1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

      Comment


        #4
        1. The white with red stripe going to the fuel relay is the switched power source I spliced into
        2. Another pic of same splice from a different angle.
        3. The LED flashlight cost $4.99 and was really handy. Some random plug I cannibalized the power wire from. Nexus 4. Connectors
        4. The lead I ran clear to the battery
        5. Old ECU still plugged in. Haven't tried to unplug it yet
        6. Running a ground from fuel pump relay
        7. Fuel pump grounded to chassis.
        8. Cleaned for best contact
        9. ECU ground.
        The red wire with the yellow connector is the ground for the AFR meter.

        As warned, tach doesn't work. No coil anymore. I can hear the fuel pump spin up when I turn the key on which is good.
        The car runs rich atm. 11.5 at idle. The car doesn't have the same power curve that it did. It's definitely smoother, but a strange torque curve.

        Edit-
        I added some random pics of the engine bay, the mess in the passenger side floor board, and the RX7 460 injectors that I'm using with this engine. I know it's not very tidy but I never really cared about that. I'll see what I can do about getting the inside of the car more passenger friendly.

        I contacted Carlos about the rich fuel mix condition and he said it's easy to fix. More as it unfolds. I'd like to get a video up of the boost and wide band gauges as I go through a pull but my camera girl is going to be busy for a while. It'll happen when it happens.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by 1st Gen; 07-25-2016, 07:11 AM.
        1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
        1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
        2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
        1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

        Comment


          #5
          Cool, nice to see you got one of his setups. Let me know if you need any injectors since I offer discounts on my 610cc kits for anybody who purchases one of his ECU/Harness packages. If you need want smaller I will have a 330cc kit available soon, but 610 can run on a small engine/low power setup just fine with his tuning.
          92 Mazda MX3 GS> For sale, $1750 OBO
          94 Escort wagon--BP swap coming, VF10 Turbo, COP, EVO ECU, 03 ZX2 front end conversion
          "Hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable"
          EV14 330cc@3Bar injector kits available.
          EV14 GT500 injector kits available for the BP. 610cc@3Bar.
          EV14 925cc@3Bar injector kits available
          BP Forged H beam rods available now
          KL Forged H beam rods available now
          K8/KF Forged H beam rods awaiting test fit
          FS Forged H beam rods
          awaiting test fit
          F2 Forged H beam rods awaiting test fit
          FE3 Forged H beam rods coming soon
          Mitsubishi 3.8 MIVEC rods coming soon
          Aluminum CAS/Distributor caps
          BP oil jet eliminators
          EV14 fuel rail spacers
          More stuff coming soon.......

          Comment


            #6
            My God Man! 610cc's!
            lol, I guess this is capable of big power, but that's really big power.
            1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
            1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
            2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
            1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

            Comment


              #7
              Haha well these days 610's are not really that big. They will support about 300-350WHP on pump gas but either way he can re-scale that ECU for whatever size injectors you want to run just like a Megasquirt.
              92 Mazda MX3 GS> For sale, $1750 OBO
              94 Escort wagon--BP swap coming, VF10 Turbo, COP, EVO ECU, 03 ZX2 front end conversion
              "Hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable"
              EV14 330cc@3Bar injector kits available.
              EV14 GT500 injector kits available for the BP. 610cc@3Bar.
              EV14 925cc@3Bar injector kits available
              BP Forged H beam rods available now
              KL Forged H beam rods available now
              K8/KF Forged H beam rods awaiting test fit
              FS Forged H beam rods
              awaiting test fit
              F2 Forged H beam rods awaiting test fit
              FE3 Forged H beam rods coming soon
              Mitsubishi 3.8 MIVEC rods coming soon
              Aluminum CAS/Distributor caps
              BP oil jet eliminators
              EV14 fuel rail spacers
              More stuff coming soon.......

              Comment


                #8
                I have a spare GTX intake manifold that I could drill and fit with a brass fitting to match the one for the adapter on the map sensor, or I could just put the map sensor directly on the manifold.
                The problem with doing this on the car is I have no idea how I would drill that hole. I don't want to buy a special drill just for this purpose.

                This is probably the best opportunity I'll have to upgrade this intake manifold. I wish I could just modify this one to make it better. I have a BP intake but I kind of borked the cut mod. I got a little too aggressive with the grinder. It would work though, maybe better than this one. Hrmmmm.

                Edit-For some reason, it seems important to have the biggest and best positioned connection to the intake as possible. That would mean drilling a hole on the back side of the GTX intake. That solves some other problems too.
                I could probably come up with a Kia intake but that would set everything back. That's not a problem really if the gains in flow and function are worth it. Still, I'd have to reconfigure the ducting from the turbo because I doubt it's the same shape as the GTX. That's the problem with the BP intake too. I don't want to deal with that hassle.

                Thoughts?
                Pics in first post.
                Last edited by 1st Gen; 06-24-2016, 11:07 AM.
                1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
                1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
                2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
                1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

                Comment


                  #9
                  I run my Megasquirt's MAP sensor hose off of one of the vac line connections on the back of the intake manifold, near the throttle body. There's no reason you couldn't do the same... mount the MAP sensor wherever you want in your engine bay and use that adapter to run a hose to the intake manifold.

                  The amount of inertia that air in a small vac hose has is almost nil. For example, my map sensor is inside the megasquirt, which is mounted under the passenger seat.
                  Escort GTR -- 11.87 @ 117.6 mph -- 320 HP / 325 Ft. Lbs. @ 23 PSI
                  ... The first FWD BG with a Toyota E153 transmission conversion in the USA!
                  Looking for BP x Toyota E153 adapter plates? PM me or contact me on Facebook: Riel Performance Parts

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by therieldeal View Post
                    I run my Megasquirt's MAP sensor hose off of one of the vac line connections on the back of the intake manifold, near the throttle body. There's no reason you couldn't do the same... mount the MAP sensor wherever you want in your engine bay and use that adapter to run a hose to the intake manifold.

                    The amount of inertia that air in a small vac hose has is almost nil. For example, my map sensor is inside the megasquirt, which is mounted under the passenger seat.
                    This really helps. Thanks.
                    1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
                    1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
                    2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
                    1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by therieldeal View Post
                      I run my Megasquirt's MAP sensor hose off of one of the vac line connections on the back of the intake manifold, near the throttle body. There's no reason you couldn't do the same... mount the MAP sensor wherever you want in your engine bay and use that adapter to run a hose to the intake manifold.

                      The amount of inertia that air in a small vac hose has is almost nil. For example, my map sensor is inside the megasquirt, which is mounted under the passenger seat.
                      Second that. Think about every Miata out there running MSPNP, and the map sensor is inside the MSPNP which is inside the car.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        This car is a 1990 Protege 4wd and the harness is a bit different. I had issues getting it to work in the first place and now realize trying to upgrade is opening a can of worms.

                        Edit-This didn't turn out to be the case. The install was actually really easy.
                        Last edited by 1st Gen; 07-31-2016, 10:51 AM.
                        1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
                        1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
                        2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
                        1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Been adding pics and descriptions.
                          The car seems to run fine but it's too rich ATM and I think that's affecting the torque. When I'm comfortable with this upgrade, I'll start using it as my daily and bring the other car in the garage for some maintenance. That was the original plan anyway.

                          Edit-If I had to do this again, I'm sure I could do it in a weekend, or a day of I had to.
                          Last edited by 1st Gen; 07-25-2016, 06:36 PM.
                          1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
                          1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
                          2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
                          1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

                          Comment


                            #14
                            So I need to tune this car. I can't do that until I time it. The thing is, I only have a standard timing light. Apparently I need an advanced timing light set to "50", and then I need to put the mark on the dampener on zero when timing it. For some reason, I'm having a hard time figuring out whether or not I can use my standard timing light to achieve this setting.

                            Harbor Freight has these lights for cheap I guess but I'm only going to use it once. I'd rather borrow one. Costless, O'Reily's, Autozone, all have loaner tool programs but none have timing lights. They'd rather sell me one. Bah.

                            Edit-Went ahead and bought one from Harbor Freight for $30. I'll describe the process later. Yea, it was timed way to fast.
                            Last edited by 1st Gen; 07-31-2016, 02:24 PM.
                            1991 Protege LX with GTX swap, DD
                            1990 4WD Protege with GTX swap, Project/garage decoration
                            2006 Mazda 3 with 2.3, Her car
                            1980 Ford F100 Short bed with 300ci 6 cylinder, work truck/home for moss

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Good updates are good.

                              Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

                              Comment

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