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Using Vacuum Advance With FiTech Controlled Timing

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Another day of tuning - reset rotor cap to 9* up two from 7*. Kept the alignment of rotor tip better to post.

I may have to back my timing back by 2 degrees - 14* down to 12*. Cold starts are a little hard, warm starts no problem.

First time since I've owned it I see a fault code #36 - ignition noise but it's intermittent - it comes and goes.

Do I have to shield the white (MSD) and black (Fitech) wires from engine/ignition noise? The wiring path is the same as before just a case of wire exchange - blue (tach) for white (coil).

65-StingRay/Wayne

Stingray, I would agree with the 12*, or even 10*...the reason being that it's much less work on the starter and easier on the flexplate/flywheel.  I'm actually replacing my flexplate right now because of a single broken tooth (see pic).  From trying to start the car after the tooth broke, I can attest to the fact the engine stops at about the same place each time...so the same tooth/teeth take the initial load on each start. The old flexplate was 153 tooth, new one is 168 so that should help also.

Back to your car.  I first want to ask if you agree that 36* total advance (that's without vacuum) and 52* at cruise are the numbers you're working toward...is that correct?  Next question, what RPM do you want the total timing in by?  Right now you have a max ECU advance of 34.4* at 3000 rpm.  If you want the curve to come in faster, this is where you'll need to lower your mid-rpm breakpoint.  I was a little confused by the lower values for your WOT across the board...I would be use the same as for 45kPa or maybe go a little more aggressive.  And is there a reason you dropped the timing @6000 from where it was @3000?

As for phasing...

With base and initial set at 12* I'll need 24* additional to get to 36* max for the ECU "mechanical"...so 12* dizzy.
The vacuum advance has 16* crank so 8* dizzy
The total spread is from 12* to 52* (the 36* plus 16*) equates to 40* crank and 20* dizzy.
I'll be setting my rotor to 12* advanced (remember, this is just the adjustable rotor that's advanced).  Here is my reasoning (all the degrees are dizzy unless stated otherwise):

  1. There are 45* between posts, my 12* rotor advance is just a little over 1/4 the distance to the next post, so little chance of crossfire.  And, the only time the spark will have to jump that far is at start.  As soon as the engine fires there will be vacuum and 8* degrees will be added...so now I'm just 4* off center.
  2. Lets use these ECU inputs (crank degrees): 12*@idle, 20*@1100, 36*@3000, 36*@6000 and make a WOT run.  As soon as you floor it the vacuum goes to zero and at 1100 the rotor is 8* from center (started at 12*, 20-12=8* crank/4*dizzy, 12-4=8).  At 3000 the max timing is in and the rotor is now dead center (started at 12*, 36-12=24* crank/12* dizzy, 12-12=0) and will stay there until you let off the gas and the vacuum starts adding more timing.
  3. When the engine experiences the max timing of 52*, the rotor is 8* from center.  From above, there is a 20* dizzy spread, setting the rotor 12* advanced means there's 8* on the other side. Now to be spot on, I've actually just accounted for 21* because I did not include the zero in the number line from -12 to +8.  So set the rotor to 11.5* 🙂
  4. Using these settings, the rotor is over the center post at peak torque (about 4K rpm and WOT) which is what you want because that's when it's hardest to fire the plug.

As for you code #36...your ignition system is working harder because instead of the rotor being centered on the post all the time like when you were using actual mech advance, it's having to jump further.  That means more electrical noise and the FiTech is know to be sensitive to that.  Try moving all the FiTech wires as far from the coil/plug wires as possible.

As to ProCal software...I'd stay away.  They released one version and never updated.  If you want to modify your handheld files to gain access to full 3x3 tables instead of the 2x3 you're limited to since it's a non-adder system, we can work on that later.

Please keep us informed as to your progress...BTW, 4 years in Minot, ND...very familiar with the great white North!  And when you find the Corvette guy's name, please pass on along with URL.  Terminal works!

Cheers!

Hugger 1/Rick

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i had that same problem on my 871 blown 545 with fitech I am running 36 degrees with a locked dizzy msd 6al and a 3 step retard  I swapped out 4 fly wheels and 3 4hp starters till I wired it like a full blown race care I put the ground side of the ignition coil on 1 of the toggles on the switch panel, now when I crank it it spins up fast and steady and I flip the coil switch fires right up no issues

Quick question Stingray...what blue wire?  If it's a FiTech wire...it should not be connected to anything.  The ECU is now getting the tach reading from the 2-wire dizzy.

Quote from Hugger1 on October 18, 2019, 9:08 pm

Quick question Stingray...what blue wire?  If it's a FiTech wire...it should not be connected to anything.  The ECU is now getting the tach reading from the 2-wire dizzy.

Correct that's the way I have it. I found a post where Austin answered and said after you swap wires blue for black that the blue wire should be grounded. I'm trying to kill the code. But to what you said about the spark scatter being greater instead centered on the post causing the code 36. Makes sense.

Let me re-read what you said about the timing and I'll reply shortly.

65-StingRay/Wayne

Quote from taylorteamracing on October 18, 2019, 8:15 pm

i had that same problem on my 871 blown 545 with fitech I am running 36 degrees with a locked dizzy msd 6al and a 3 step retard  I swapped out 4 fly wheels and 3 4hp starters till I wired it like a full blown race care I put the ground side of the ignition coil on 1 of the toggles on the switch panel, now when I crank it it spins up fast and steady and I flip the coil switch fires right up no issues

I came across your post as I was hunting the forum for answers. I thought of trying it but chickened out. But I still may try it if need to. But good advice and thinking out of the box.

edit: Today I tried your method and it worked. I should have mentioned earlier that I already have my wiring for the fuel pump routed to it's own terminal under dash. For me it's theft prevention. You need to know where the switch is to steal the car.

65-StingRay/Wayne

OK as to the 36* without vacuum using 52* with added vacuum to get your total timing - yes.

For now I'm thinking 3000 all in at 36*. But this could change with trial and error. To come in faster I have to lower the breakpoint. Knowing me I try a number of positions before deciding on the one that works best. But for now like you mentioned going to drop my base to 12* initial.

The thing about my timing dropping - I set them like you said at 3000 and 6000 at both levels of kpa  to 36* - were changed by the ECU to the values I reported in that previous post. Tomorrow I'll put them back in at 36* and see what happens.

Too bad about that tooth. The move to the 168 tooth will be for the better. I did the same thing years ago.

I'm still thinking about the rest.

Quote from Hugger1 on October 18, 2019, 7:31 pm

As for phasing...

With base and initial set at 12* I'll need 24* additional to get to 36* max for the ECU "mechanical"...so 12* dizzy.
The vacuum advance has 16* crank so 8* dizzy
The total spread is from 12* to 52* (the 36* plus 16*) equates to 40* crank and 20* dizzy.
I'll be setting my rotor to 12* advanced (remember, this is just the adjustable rotor that's advanced).  Here is my reasoning (all the degrees are dizzy unless stated otherwise):

Ok I agree with all that. Our vacuum cans are the same. So everything adds up.

  1. There are 45* between posts, my 12* rotor advance is just a little over 1/4 the distance to the next post, so little chance of crossfire.  And, the only time the spark will have to jump that far is at start. I wonder if this is where my slight hesitation at the turn of the key comes from, sometimes with just a little kickback.  As soon as the engine fires there will be vacuum and 8* degrees will be added...so now I'm just 4* off center. OK that adds up.
  2. Lets use these ECU inputs (crank degrees): 12*@idle, 20*@1100, 36*@3000, 36*@6000 and make a WOT run.  As soon as you floor it the vacuum goes to zero and at 1100 the rotor is 8* from center (started at 12*, 20-12=8* crank/4*dizzy, 12-4=8).  At 3000 the max timing is in and the rotor is now dead center (started at 12*, 36-12=24* crank/12* dizzy, 12-12=0) and will stay there until you let off the gas and the vacuum starts adding more timing. I'm good with all this. Gas on/vacuum off, rotor displaces 4* correct if I'm following. 3000 dead center yes (what's your VR number; mine at 7.5). gas off/vacuum returns timing increases. (I have read the new FAST 2.0 has built in vacuum control in their tuning section).
  3. When the engine experiences the max timing of 52*, the rotor is 8* from center.  From above, there is a 20* dizzy spread, setting the rotor 12* advanced means there's 8* on the other side. Now to be spot on, I've actually just accounted for 21* because I did not include the zero in the number line from -12 to +8.  So set the rotor to 11.5* 🙂Now I take it your saying if you or I set it at 11.5 our phasing should be as close as we can be to the post (on either side of) without getting into crossfire issues and added RF/EMI noise. Am I correct
  4. Using these settings, the rotor is over the center post at peak torque (about 4K rpm and WOT) which is what you want because that's when it's hardest to fire the plug. Yes on this point especially

As for you code #36...your ignition system is working harder because instead of the rotor being centered on the post all the time like when you were using actual mech advance, it's having to jump further.  That means more electrical noise and the FiTech is known to be sensitive to that.  Try moving all the FiTech wires as far from the coil/plug wires as possible. Already there, no more place to go. I'm going to try shielding -  the stuff you buy that shields against emi, engine already grounded to the frame.

As to ProCal software...I'd stay away.  They released one version and never updated.  If you want to modify your handheld files to gain access to full 3x3 tables instead of the 2x3 you're limited to since it's a non-adder system, we can work on that later. This is crazy I've never upgraded my software yet it works great in general - most of the problems have been my own ignorance. But yes I would like to have more control over fuel tables.

 

Click on quote to open it.

Rick make sure you let me know about those changes or have you made them already. I'm interested because our cars are tuned almost identical in the timing area.

Just a little off topic what did you think of the pics of my return-less system. I know people have had trouble but also guys have been problem-less. I did it right from the start. Set my PWM and never looked back. It's worked quite well for me - under hard acceleration, cruise, start off line, mid-throtle response is crisp and cruising at 2500-3500 rpms a pleasure. The sidepipes are 3" internal dia. I think you know where I'm going with this.

Wayne

Hi Wayne, have not make the changes yet as I'm having a bugger of a time getting new starter bolts for my mini-starter!  Moving to the 168 tooth changed my requirements from 1 short and 1 long to 2 long.  I figured it would be easy to go to a local parts place or speed shop and get one...silly me.  The Hitachi starter I have requires bolts thinner in diameter than anything carried local...so I just ordered the ARP ones online this morning.  Did my phasing discussion above make sense?  I was trying to make it clear for others that might be trying this.

ECU not accepting the entered values...yea, I see the same sometimes.  No idea what that's about except that when I was playing with the files on the handheld there are some constraints limiting what values can be entered.  But they usually made sense; not accepting 36* of timing makes no sense.  An easy way to check the system is taking the entered values is to enter one it will take, like maybe 33@3000 and rev the engine to 3000...the handheld should show exactly that.  In your head you have to remember to add the additional 16* (or whatever the canister is providing) to that number as the actual engine timing.

As for your fuel delivery method, I wish I had found it before I set mine up.  I went through the trouble of bending a completely new 3/8 hardline from back to front.  Hopefully others may learn from what you present as a very clean solution.  You might want to have a thread just for that topic so others can find it more easily.

You mentioned previously that you had discussed using the vacuum advance with ECU timing to FiTech and they had no idea/understanding of what you were suggesting.  What puzzles me is why they don't make this the recommended solution.  An OEM spark table, hell, even the Holly Snipper spark table is huge.  It has to be to account for all the MAP/rpm combinations.  The FiTech table is 2x3 in addition to the base and idle settings; it's crazy to think timing can be managed efficiently with so few inputs available.  I'm sure they were focusing on making it "simple" instead of tunable.  Using the vacuum advance makes the spark tuning process easy because you don't have to worry about the changes in MAP/vacuum the engine is experiencing...the vacuum canister takes care of that.  And it's nice having the ECU help stabilize the idle using spark inputs.

I'm not sure I have anything else to add.  Sounds like you have it running well and now just need to play with it...because what good are hotrods if you're not tinkering!  Wish me luck getting mine running again soon!

Cheers, Rick

Good words Rick. What I don't understand about Fitech is why they can't get one or two of their engineers or at least someone who has experience with these systems to chip in.

Listen I had day of hell with my car. First thing in the morning she wouldn't start because of the load on the starter and it was cold 35*F. It tried to start and failed a number of attempts. Finally had to charge the battery for 3 hrs. after I drained it and turn the heat on in the garage to warm it up - the car and garage.

OK after I got it running I brought the timing down 2* to 12* on the light and 12* on the handheld. Played with the timing a bit, I watched the timing with and without the vacuum hose on just see the difference. Revved to 4000 and saw 50* with vacuum hooked up. I should mention that I set your numbers for 3000 and 6000 to 36* in both fields at each kpa. This time they stayed.

Also, the fault code 36, I tried to shield as much today as possible. All I had was some tinfoil for now. Re-routed the 2 handheld wires that went between the coil and dizzy the long way around. Tin-foiled the harness from throttle body to just past connector and set the blue wire from Fitech with a round conn. and grounded to a nearby grding. ter.

OK fault code gone - time for a  shake-down cruise. Driving easy early - no faults code. Got to my favorite stretch of road and opened her up to 3500 through three gears the first time. Then 4500 through three the second time. A couple of quick pulls to 5000 in 1st & 2nd. No fault codes and now running like a scolded dog with the 36* at 3000 and 6000. Base idle 12* 1100 - 15* 45kpa and the 1100 - 18* 95kpa.

Got home pulled in the garage - fault code 36 pops up goes away pops up again. The whole time I was out there no codes. I don't even have to clear the codes because they're intermittent but still I don't like it.

Check wiring, all looks good but monkey around for a couple of minutes anyway. Back out on the road, fault comes and goes but now another fault pops up -fault 105 - internet says O2 sensor can you corroborate that for me I have no idea. Isn't the Fitech O2 sensor a Bosch. Anyway the car ran strong again and the codes come and go but only at low RPM in the range of 1300-1800.

Lastly, even at 12* initial I'm still having slight kick back issues on start-up, tomorrow if it's cold she probably will not start. But if it does I'm turning the timing down to 10* and re-phasing the rotor again. I hate failing but will put up with intermittently as long as things resolve themselves.

Even though you had to bend 3/8" steel line front to back. You strike me as a guy that would take great pleasure in bending it with perfect precision.

Rick GOOD LUCK getting your ride back on the road. I'm getting ready for winter storage in less then 2 weeks. One thing more if you can post your VR drift number so I can compare- mine set 7.5

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