I am currently doing an engine swap using into a 79 Fiat X1/9 using a L15A1 engine. Finding info on this has been difficult, someone was putting one in a jet boat, people have used them for airplanes but finding info on using the squirt on this particular engine has been difficult. I figure if I add it here it may be easier for others in the future to do the same thing.

Off the top the engine is a throttle by wire and needs to be changed to a cable drive. I got a throttle body from a 2004 Acura RSX. I was surprised how close the bolt pattern was, I imagine it would be a very easy to get that to fit in place of the original and it's a bigger bore. That's not what I wanted to do, I pulled the TPS off it and the cable pulley and tossed the rest. I removed the Fit's TPS and throttle by wire gear, little motor inside and tossed it all. I took a little nut driver extension and JB welded it into a little pocket the original TPS pickup sensor sat in. That gave me a little bar to mount the cable pulley to and then a flat bit to turn the Acura TPS. I made a stand off from the original mounting holes to put the TPS to and away we go.

Testing a TPS involves finding the wires that are open, they will be 5V in and ground. If you put an ohm meter between one of those wires and the sensor wire you will get a changing reading as you turn the wiper. One will give you a reading at low throttle the other at half to full throttle. I can't remember which but I will post a Youtube vid that's 2 minutes long showing this. I also had a bad MAP sensor... surprise!... Testing a MAP is very much like testing a TPS, 5V in, GND and sensor. The output from the sensor will not be 5v but change with barometric pressure. For the fit 1 is 5V 2 is sensor and 3 is GND.

That's what I can think of off the top, I'm not far into this and have not started tuning at all. If anyone wants to chime in with some injector information that would be fantastic!

 

Thanks for sharing! I've considered bolting on one of those baby Aisin superchargers and using Speeduino to run it. The TBW and dual-ignition were kind of bothering me, but I didn't really have time to mess with it anyway so far.

 

I think the Speeduino would be cheaper but I have no electronics/computer background at all. I guess if I could have found someone to build one for me but I didn't want to add that much time to my swap. It would take me ages to get that up and working then I'd have to add it to my car. I figured with the Squirt at least I can just plug it in and there's enough people with somewhat relatable experience.

I do like the open source aspect of it much better, maybe I'd try one if I do this again, or even build one to replace the squirt while the car is running. I think it is potentially a better option.

 

Does anyone know how the Vtec on this engine engages? I'm looking at the rocker arm oil pressure switch and the rocker arm solenoid. I ASSUME.... I need to maybe run the rocker arm oil pressure switch to a relay and then through the relay the rocker arm solenoid from the Microsquirt?


So it looks like the rocker arm oil pressure switch is a safety for the rocker arm solenoid. So it looks like, for safety issues, you could have the oil pressure switch run a relay then the Microsquirt supply power to the solenoid at a desired RPM or TPS position through the relay.

 

So I had an issue with the crank sensor. The manual says to use a 1/4W 1K resistor


But with the resistor in place I lose my crank signal. Remove the resistor and HEY! there it is... What do I know? left it out for now.

My next issue was the bad MAP sensor, I bought a new replacement for the 08 Honda Fit, the Squirt takes 0-5v sensors, the Fit uses a 0-5v sensor, what could go wrong? Well, it sits right beside the TPS, the TPS uses a Yellow/Red and a Green/White as 5V in and Gnd. then the sensor wire. I connected the VREF 5V+ from the Squirt and the other to.... I think Yellow/Red was the gnd, and the TPS sensor wire to the TPS and the MAP sensor wire to the MAP. Power things up and no Squirt.... Pull everything apart, Squirt comes up. Start adding sensors and when I plug in the MAP the Squirt checks out, off line. With the TPS it works fine, same VREF, they are soldered in at the same point, same ground, soldered in at the same point. I have no idea why this is happening.

 

Water pump delete L15A1
So I got a belt that fits perfectly with the water pump delete, 5PK830. Tight getting it on but it fits well and keeps the alternator tucked in. I don't think you can get a smaller belt to fit.

I also have the engine back in the car , so far the Acura TPS is fine and now I have a working GM 3 bar MAP.

 

Wait, what? A water pump delete? I've no idea how that would work unless you'll use a separate electric pump...

 

I wouldn't mind that.

 

Yup, Davies Craig unit.

 

So apparently the L15A1 does not use a 60 -2 crank trigger but a 12 +1 trigger wheel. The MegaSquirt has a Honda decoder that will read this but the Microsquirt does not. I had to pull the timing cover off and remove the two teeth that were close together so now it is an 12 -1. Now I am getting a good crank signal.

Also the Honda crank sensor uses 12V, I ended up using a Hall Tech crank sensor that will work with 5 to 24V but the resistor needed will vary depending on the voltage. I used the Microsquirt VREF +5V and a 1k resistor.

 

So with this the injectors will not fire, they will; fire in "inector test mode" but they will not fire with the settings in Tuner Studio, you need to change the PWM settings.
"" If you are running high-impedance injectors (greater than 10 Ohms), then set the PWM time to a number like 25.4"

Changing to the suggested 25.4 worked.

 

Weird update, but whatever. I had issues getting the Microsquirt working with this engine in part because of the crank sensor. The Fit (now it's been a while so hopefully I get this right) has a 12 +1 tooth gear. The Micro will not read that gear while the megasquirt will. There is some confusion with that. It took a few phone calls before the guy I spoke to wean AHHHH wait a minute! So I had to grind one tooth off. Now, the sensor reads correctly. I think buying the new sensor was a waste of money as I thought it was the problem.

 

So in the pic, I removed BOTH teeth that were close together leaving an 11T gear with a large space that the Microsquirt can read.

I also had issue with the Honda MAP sensor and had to get one.... I can't remember, Chevy I think.

 

If you haven't already figured it out, the VTEC pressure switch is more of a diagnostics and emissions-protection feedback device for the ECM. The ECM energizes the solenoid, oil pressure from the solenoid drives the spool valve, spool valve switches from low flow (rocker lubrication only) to high flow (pressurizing the rockers). The switch registers the pressure ramp-up, signaling the ECU to start the associated enrichment, ignition timing and such. There have been VTEC engines without pressure switch(s). They just "run blind", the ECU program assuming the solenoid and spool valves are doing what they should.

 

Honestly it's been hard. My daughter ended up with her 4th concussion and the docs will not let her play hockey any more, but my son still plays. Lots of time goes into that. I have it running, but no drive shafts or coolant tubes yet so not drivable. Hopefully this year I will get it done. It's been a 5 year project so far, That's embarrassing.

 

Hey I might need a little help or insight. I have dropped an 09 L15 in a utv and bought a microsquirt ecu. It's been sitting for a year since I last touched it so my current research is rusty but I'm going to jump back into it. Like you I couldn't find any info on using a microsquirt on a l15 engine, although dyi autotune said it will work. I just need the basics to make it run, any help would be much appreciated.

 

Oh man... The laptop I was using for my car is gone. I had everything on a stick but I don't know where it is. My son is getting into playoffs with hockey and then tryouts so lots of excuses right now! since getting it running I have been working on the trans cables and cooling lines. Maybe I'll have to get off my butt, and install the software on something else.