1992 363ci Foxbody PIMPxs first start-up questions

Lunysgwen

Member
Oct 5, 2018
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California
In the next few months I'm going to be swapping the stock 5.0 to a Dart 363 (N/A) build from Fordstrokers - I'm under the impression the stock ECU is woefully prepared for this kind of change and have been looking into the Stinger PiMPxs setup for the car. The question for those who're more experienced in this is - Can I trust the stinger ECU for a first start-up on the engine? I have a bunch of money invested into this and I don't want to flood the engine with fuel before it's had a proper chance to at least have a break-in. Any advice for this kind of swap/setup would be most appreciated. Thank you!

-Christian
 
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You should be able to obtain a base tune for your combo from either stinger or if your so inclined I could build you a base tune. I offer tuning classes and services for megasquirt products and can help with the first start including live support on the first turn of the key.
I also offer advice for no charge. Welcome to stangnet.
 
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You should be able to obtain a base tune for your combo from either stinger or if your so inclined I could build you a base tune. I offer tuning classes and services for megasquirt products and can help with the first start including live support on the first turn of the key.
I also offer advice for no charge. Welcome to stangnet.

You are actually one of the people I was hoping would speak up. I would absolutely love to have your support for the base tune once things start towards the first startup - I want to take as few risks as possible in getting this running once I'm ready on this end. This is a project car and while I don't predict any delays, they do happen. Is messaging you through the boards here a good way to contact you?
 
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It was a toss-up between this and Pro-M. I -really- like the idea of Pro-M but I can't justify the cost. That extra thousand can be spent somewhere else and I'm confident in my current wiring setup being serviceable and up to snuff - Plus you guys have a great history of being super friendly here.

Another question: Do either of ya'll have any experience with the CAS and the coil on plug setup from Stinger?
 
I'm going to go about purchasing the ECU setup today. I want to run it while the 5.0 is in to verify what I have is currently good for it before swapping in the other motor, just in case I run into future problems I'll know it was fine before and have a baseline. I traded emails with Shannon and some brief questions and it ocurred to me I have one more to ask - The spartan controller isn't very clear about some details on their website.

Do I need two wideband O2 sensors and two spartan controllers for the ECU, or can one controller interface with two O2 sensors? If I need two controllers, do you folks have experience with PiMPxs using other wideband controllers successfully that will manage two, or is one wideband sufficent/safe enough for this setup?
 
You will only need one WB of your choice for the setup, two makes it easy to catch issues happening on one bank. but if your turbo you only need one.
I always suggest the spartan2 if your looking for a great option on a budget... I have had longevity issues with AEM and Innovate WB
 
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When you order your Pimpxs they will load a base tune to get you started, follow the install instructions closely
and you should be fine, it was actually a lot easier than I was expecting.
I had no experience with tuning and got my 393w up and running without any issues, I did a little tweaking of the
fuel tables and went for a ride using ve live.
Then got a lot of help from a91what and some from Stingers forum.
I have one AEM wideband wired into the ecu.
 
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I placed the order via their website yesterday. My current exhuast setup affords me two O2 sensors so I figure I may as well take advantage of what I already have, and ordered two of the spartan controllers+two sensors. Wish I could start planning out the wiring now but they have a lack of documentation on the website (it all comes on a thumbdrive according to them).
 
I placed the order via their website yesterday. My current exhuast setup affords me two O2 sensors so I figure I may as well take advantage of what I already have, and ordered two of the spartan controllers+two sensors. Wish I could start planning out the wiring now but they have a lack of documentation on the website (it all comes on a thumbdrive according to them).
what do you need to know? If its wiring for the WB i can help with that.. you want to supply voltage from the battery via a relay to the WB controllers and ground the controllers to the ECU ground.
 
I've got a fusebox I wired for the gauges in my engine bay complete with 30A and with the shared ground by the battery negative - Is this a good ground for the WB's? or does it need to share the ground near the ECU itself? What about the ECU ground harness connection in the engine bay? Maybe the better question is should be what pin should it be sharing with the ECU? I don't have my diagrams here at work so it's a bit more difficult to show what I'm working with.
 
I preffer to share the ground with the ECU for the WB... but thats just my personal opinion.

here are the instructions for the Spartan2
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...roller_2_User_Manual.pdf?14583750738547542903
get the heater ground hooked up to a chassis ground or too the battery, once the ECU comes in the signal wires can be added to the ecu wiring harness. did you order the expansion plug for the pimp? i suggest just getting every plug pinned out.
 
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No, I think your opinion is pretty accurate at this point. I was zooming through another thread where someone had trouble getting readings until he changed his ground. Wasn't sure if you knew off-hand where it should be/what pin it should be sharing it with.
 
I preffer to share the ground with the ECU for the WB... but thats just my personal opinion.

here are the instructions for the Spartan2
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...roller_2_User_Manual.pdf?14583750738547542903
get the heater ground hooked up to a chassis ground or too the battery, once the ECU comes in the signal wires can be added to the ecu wiring harness. did you order the expansion plug for the pimp? i suggest just getting every plug pinned out.

I have not ordered the expansion plug for the ECU. Do you recommend it as a feature I should be using in this application? It's something I think i'll need for the CAS down the road when the new engine is in for sure.