Megasquirt 380SL -> 560SL

[GregZ]

Hi All,

I am posting some pictures of my Megasquirt/EDIS conversion. I have converted my '83 380SL to Megasquirt a while back as I was sick of the K-Jetronic always having some trouble. Meanwhile my engine developed a leak from the rear main seal and thus it had to come out. As I was preparing for the job, I thought it'd be just soo much "cooler" to have a 560 engine in the bay. Thus I got my hand on a resurrectable M117 560 engine (actually by the time I got one that was resurrectable I bought three - so I have many engine parts if someone needs any ). As the engine is out I am fitting my Megasqurt over to this engine and I am adding an EDIS-8 distributor-less ignition (controlled by my Megasquirt). As the 560 engine is wider than the 380, I had to redo the intake manifold.
So, I am posting pictures of:

• The original setup with the 380 engine

• The new intake manifold with the injectors on the engine (the idle air valve is in the middle of the engine)

• Another view of the above

• The EDIS pickup mounted and the modified main pulley (also visible is the plugged up distributor).

• The bracket to hold the the EDIS-4 coils.

• The bracket populated.

• The air filter added.

I still need to do some wiring and weld a new exhaust system. More pictures will be coming when and if I finish stuff and if there is interest here.

[GregZ]

And the rest of the pics...

[tjts1]

Very cool setup, thanks for sharing. Which version of MS are you using? Extra firmware? Probably the most time consuming part of my MS1extra setup was tuning idle control to work well with the automatic transmission and AC clutch at all temps. MS2extra is a lot more advanced in this respect but my MS2 car is a manual. Both cars are still fuel only but I would like to do EDIS on the MS2 car soon. Will be following this closely.
cheers
Justin

[GregZ]

It's been a while since I touched my MS controller. As I recall, I put together an MS2 with a V3 board, a relay board and a wide-band O2 sensor. I was running the regular firmware. My idle air control was (and still is) based on the original MB air control valve (obviously connected to different places, essentially bridging the butterfly valve). I have ran it with a PWM signal, it took a little time to adjust it but it was not that difficult.

[Hirnbeiss]

Looks really good, esp. the fuel rails.

[Mike D]

What did you use for a throttle position sensor? How did you modify the pulley for the EDIS pickup? What are you using for a pressure regulator?

Looks pretty good.

[GregZ]

The TPS is from some old Ford (late 1980s V8). I had to manufacture (mill and turn) a small adapter piece from aluminum. The 36-1 wheel is from a late 1990s Ford 4-banger. I used a lathe to turn up the hole so that it fits the pulley snugly. I then made a bracket for the pick-up from a thick piece of aluminum, set the engine to TDC, and marked the location of the missing tooth on the pulley (for V8 it is the 5th tooth after the missing tooth). I heated up the wheel with a torch (as it was really snug) and pushed it into its place, verified its location and MIG-welded it to the pulley at 4 places.

The fuel rail was made out of raw fuel rail material. I used aeroquip hoses and connectors. I am especially prod of the fuel pressure regulator's mount (that is the same rail turned upside down). They are not hard anodized just sprayed with the same color (from AutoZone). The brackets that hold the fuel rail were made from an aluminum straight edge I picked up at Harbor freight. If I had to do it again, I would probably just get my hands on a D-Jetronic fuel rail set up (which I have now but still decided to use the rails). The injectors are from a 5L Ford V8. The pressure regulator is a 3.0bar regulator from a 1990s Volvo.

The idle air valve is using the (defunct) EGR hose's connection on the bottom of the intake. The PCV system uses a filter/valve from an old Buick and a generic drip container from Ebay.

[Mike D]

Hunh. I've got the same TPS. I ran into a clearance problem with the intake so I had to do a more Mickey Mouse set-up. I need to pull to pull it back off because I'm not too happy with it.

I used the ProMax 350 (or some such number) black fabric hoses instead of the braided steel. I don't like mixing steel around aluminum parts. That steel will eat through aluminum like it's butter. Keep an eye on your clearances.

I used 3/4" EMT conduit clamps for hold downs. They're not as snazzy as the ones you made but I'm running the stock air cleaner and you can't even see the mods.

I like the EDIS mounting. It fits right in with the wiring harness for the injectors.

I went with an adjustable in-line regulator. I mounted it on the firewall directly behind the air cleaner, once again with the exception of seeing two short lengths of hose it can't be seen.

[ericdee]

Nice, do you know what type of HP gains you're getting?

[Strife]

I am working towards these same goals for a 380SL - I like your use of the original idle controller. My intake doesn't have this type of fitting, though. I had crazy ideas about using a GM throttle body with a TPS and IAC already fitted.

Do you have the dimensions of the fuel rail and distances between injectors?

[taylorgraff]

Originally Posted by GregZ

Hi All,

I am posting some pictures of my Megasquirt/EDIS conversion. I have converted my '83 380SL to Megasquirt a while back as I was sick of the K-Jetronic always having some trouble. Meanwhile my engine developed a leak from the rear main seal and thus it had to come out. As I was preparing for the job, I thought it'd be just soo much "cooler" to have a 560 engine in the bay. Thus I got my hand on a resurrectable M117 560 engine (actually by the time I got one that was resurrectable I bought three - so I have many engine parts if someone needs any ). As the engine is out I am fitting my Megasqurt over to this engine and I am adding an EDIS-8 distributor-less ignition (controlled by my Megasquirt). As the 560 engine is wider than the 380, I had to redo the intake manifold.
So, I am posting pictures of:

• The original setup with the 380 engine

• The new intake manifold with the injectors on the engine (the idle air valve is in the middle of the engine)

• Another view of the above

• The EDIS pickup mounted and the modified main pulley (also visible is the plugged up distributor).

• The bracket to hold the the EDIS-4 coils.

• The bracket populated.

• The air filter added.

I still need to do some wiring and weld a new exhaust system. More pictures will be coming when and if I finish stuff and if there is interest here.

I'll take a 560sl oil pan (planning on making my 1979 450SLC into a 560 like what my brother did). Ears on benzworld directed me to you. Love what you did with that engine, I'm going for the same thing.

[GregZ]

Here are some more pictures. I have wired everything up including custom ignition wires, and put on the PCV system.

@taylor: sorry, I had to go to much trouble to get a 380SL oil pan myself (it is the same for all aluminum block SLs).

[GregZ]

Originally Posted by Strife

I am working towards these same goals for a 380SL - I like your use of the original idle controller. My intake doesn't have this type of fitting, though. I had crazy ideas about using a GM throttle body with a TPS and IAC already fitted.

Do you have the dimensions of the fuel rail and distances between injectors?

My original set up was for a 380SL (the very first picture). I used copper fittings and cut pipe threads in the aluminum intake. Te fuel rail dimensions I had somewhere but cannot find them. It was relatively straight forward to measure. Someone (sorry I do not remember who) wrote an article about how to manufacture these rails and his hole dimensions were almost exactly the same as mine (I found his picture and hopefully he will not mind me attaching it here). I recall him posting a nice engineering diagram on his fuelrail somewhere on the Internet. The TPS modification is not that difficult if you can manufacture the middle piece that goes between your throttle valve and the Ford TPS. I believe I have posted dimensions on that a while back. I have to find my drawings and scan them...

[f4bones]

Very nice work - I'm just starting on a similar project - putting a 5.6L lower end w/ 10:1 euro pistons with AMG heads into my 107 500SL - if it's not too much trouble, could you post close up photos of your TPS interconnect and you pickup wheel / sensor mount? I haven't bought any of the Megasquirt stuff yet, so let me know if you would go a different route now that you've done it a few times. I have a full CNC shop, so plan on drawing the rails and other parts in Solidworks - will post drawings when done.

[GregZ]

I made two of the interconnects, I have to find the other one. I used a small CNC mill to cut it out although it could be easily just turned, drilled, and milled. Let me see if I can find the other one and measure it + post pictures.

I think it would be easier just to get your hands on a D-jetronic set up from an early 450sl. You may be lucky and find one at a junkyard. If you are going to do the fuel rails however, then measure the distance between the holes (the figure I posted is good enough but it may be a couple tenth millimeters off (as it is given in inches and the car was manufactured in Europe).

For the sensor mount, I just used a thick aluminum piece I had laying around. You will need to turn four pieces from aluminum, two to hold the plate to the distributor cover and two to hold the sensor to the plate. If you PM me with your email address I can send you high resolution images of the images I posted.

Greg