Dyno looks good too, all things considered. If you can find a place to work on your own car, these cars and their owners tend to benefit from that. Good call on not wrapping the headers -- I always advise against that for that very reason, but kids these days -- what'r gunno do. I wonder if you got all the instrument cluster connectors seated properly after installing the LED kit? If everything else checks out, be sure to trace the fuel level signal from the edge connector to the gauge, as the traces are known to crack inside those flexible circuit boards on the back of the cluster.MaxxECU - Share Your Setup
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Tom
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Car sure looks good. Dyno looks good too, all things considered. If you can find a place to work on your own car, these cars and their owners tend to benefit from that. Good call on not wrapping the headers -- I always advise against that for that very reason, but kids these days -- what'r gunno do. I wonder if you got all the instrument cluster connectors seated properly after installing the LED kit? If everything else checks out, be sure to trace the fuel level signal from the edge connector to the gauge, as the traces are known to crack inside those flexible circuit boards on the back of the cluster.
Dyno looks good too, all things considered. If you can find a place to work on your own car, these cars and their owners tend to benefit from that. Good call on not wrapping the headers -- I always advise against that for that very reason, but kids these days -- what'r gunno do. I wonder if you got all the instrument cluster connectors seated properly after installing the LED kit? If everything else checks out, be sure to trace the fuel level signal from the edge connector to the gauge, as the traces are known to crack inside those flexible circuit boards on the back of the cluster.-
Jotronic
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Thanks, Tom. I appreciate your comments. On the fuel gauge, the blue flex circut board is gone at the Lutz Auto kit replaces it with a new three piece (four?) hard PCB board so all the connection points are fresh and new. They sent a secondary two prong connector for the back of the temp/fuel gauge that has longer prongs and I think I'll start there as I had a problem getting it to connect properly earlier. Aside from that, I may have to start from scratch to figure it out with a volt meter.Tom wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2025 2:44 pm Car sure looks good.
Agreed on finding a place to work on the car. I'm currently in a condo/apartment development where my concierge would scold me for getting any oil on the floor but I may be getting a new house later in the year, which if I do, will have a new santuary some call a two car garage. My wife thinks we're getting a house so she can accept students to teach piano;)
Slowly making progress on moving to a 36-1 setup. I made my own wire complete with shielded wire, heat shrink, and heat sleeve, which was probably overkill but should last a lifetime. Building just one wire for the new VR sensor was tedious. It’s not complicated but takes a lot of attention to detail. Full respect to those who have built their own complete harness. Learned a lot just with that one wire.
Purchased an ignition timing light. Should be setting timing this weekend.
Dumb question, the 36-1 wheel with VR sensor replaces both the reference sensor and speed sensor functions , correct? Meaning you won’t need the stock sensors.
Purchased an ignition timing light. Should be setting timing this weekend.
Dumb question, the 36-1 wheel with VR sensor replaces both the reference sensor and speed sensor functions , correct? Meaning you won’t need the stock sensors.
Yes you only need one sensor unless you want to go sequential, then you need to think about a cam position sensor.
Do you know how many teeth from Cylinder1 tdc to setup your offset on your new trigger?
Do you know how many teeth from Cylinder1 tdc to setup your offset on your new trigger?
I don’t believe MaxECU cares about teeth count to find TDC. It uses angle to sensor. I’m 90 degrees past the sensor. So now I need to figure out the offset and then set the angle in the ECU config.
But I’ll double check.
** I’ll edit this post to add that the trigger angle setting still hasn’t clicked in my brain yet, meaning I’m still confused
But I’ll double check.
** I’ll edit this post to add that the trigger angle setting still hasn’t clicked in my brain yet, meaning I’m still confused
I updated the thread I started but just to close the loop here, I figured it all out and the car is now purring at idle.
For those wondering, using a 36-1 trigger wheel with VR sensor, with the wheel missing tooth installed at 90 degrees past the sensor, the “trigger angle” in the MaxxECU config page is approximately 86 degrees. You might need to adjust for your car a degree or two up or down but my understanding is 86 will work with most cars.
The 36-1 setup fixed my sync errors.
For those wondering, using a 36-1 trigger wheel with VR sensor, with the wheel missing tooth installed at 90 degrees past the sensor, the “trigger angle” in the MaxxECU config page is approximately 86 degrees. You might need to adjust for your car a degree or two up or down but my understanding is 86 will work with most cars.
The 36-1 setup fixed my sync errors.
Nice! The MaxxECU Race + PnP will make life easier. Your mods are well thought out—just make sure your fuel pump can keep up with those 80lb injectors under boost. The base tune should get it running, but expect some tweaking.
My build:
- MaxxECU Sport (wired, not PnP—more work but cheaper)
- GTX3076R (spools fast, hits hard)
- 1000cc injectors (overkill for now, but room to grow)
- Walbro 450 (no fuel issues even at 500whp)
- Custom dyno tune (street-driven, no track yet)
A few hard-learned tips:
- Base maps are rough even with PnP, expect cold starts and idle to need tuning. My Sport took a few revisions just to drive smoothly.
- Wideband placement matters too far downstream? Lazy readings. Mine’s 6" after the turbo, welded bung.
- Log everything before your tuner touches it. Random misfires? Could be dwell time or plug gap, not fuel.
- 80lb injectors might idle like trash without small-bore adapters or proper dead-time tuning. My 1000cc’s needed both.
Bonus: MaxxECU’s built-in launch control is stupid fun. Set it up before the tune so your tuner can refine it.
My build:
- MaxxECU Sport (wired, not PnP—more work but cheaper)
- GTX3076R (spools fast, hits hard)
- 1000cc injectors (overkill for now, but room to grow)
- Walbro 450 (no fuel issues even at 500whp)
- Custom dyno tune (street-driven, no track yet)
A few hard-learned tips:
- Base maps are rough even with PnP, expect cold starts and idle to need tuning. My Sport took a few revisions just to drive smoothly.
- Wideband placement matters too far downstream? Lazy readings. Mine’s 6" after the turbo, welded bung.
- Log everything before your tuner touches it. Random misfires? Could be dwell time or plug gap, not fuel.
- 80lb injectors might idle like trash without small-bore adapters or proper dead-time tuning. My 1000cc’s needed both.
Bonus: MaxxECU’s built-in launch control is stupid fun. Set it up before the tune so your tuner can refine it.
Great info. Thanks!!
Definitely a learning curve but not impossible, so far I’m having fun with it. My kids think it’s hilarious I’m in the car with a laptop just like the guys/galls in the movies, which I won’t name
Definitely a learning curve but not impossible, so far I’m having fun with it. My kids think it’s hilarious I’m in the car with a laptop just like the guys/galls in the movies, which I won’t name