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Heh guys, got a question here about the wiring on the universal BTM for stock ignitions on a 97 GSR. Here's the situation, I had this unit installed back in April by a well known shop here in socal. After going through some install problems, they said everything was working fine. Driving around though, I realized that whenever my car would enter the positive vacuum(boost), my car would not accelerate(okay, maybe just very very very slowly, way slower than even the old VW bugs). I let JR look at it when I was in replacing my idler pulley and belts, and the mechanic there told me that I had the knob turned too high, so he turned it down and said it was fine. He was such a stupid F***, he turned it down to 0, didn't change my ignition timing from 16, and then went on saying that it would work fine as long as I kept the knob between .25 and 0. I was like WTF, this unit is POS, and since then, I just set my timing to 10 and have driven around since then.
Now that the BTC is out, and looks to be a great unit, I was considering dropping the cash to get one, but then I thought about it, I already spent 160 to get the BTM so I might as well fix it before I start up at school again. I looked at the wiring today and none of it makes any sense according to the instructions that it came with.
There are eight wires coming out of the unit, in bunches of 4. The first 4, were white/black/green/violet. The green/violet led to a connector that was not being used. The white/black looked like it was running to a connector that itself ran all the way to the dash mounted switch.
The second bunch of 4 were white/black/red/orange. On the MSD diagram, these four head towards the coil. The way it is connected now, the black wire runs to an engine ground. The white wire is connected to the white/blue wire that originally went to the positive terminal on the ignition coil. The red wire is now occupying the negative terminal on the ignition coil. The orange wire is at the positive terminal on the coil.
On the MSD diagram, of the second bunch of 4 wires(White/black/red/orange), the red is suppose to connect with the wire originally going to the positive terminal on the coil, the white/blue wire. This white/blue wire is currently connected to the white wire from the MSD unit. The White wire is suppose to connect with the wire originally to the negative terminal(Helms says blk/ylw), but is currently connected to the blue/white wire(originally to pos. term). The black wire is now suppose to go into the neg. terminal at the coil, and the orange wire goes to the pos. terminal at the coil.
If anyone is still with me, we can see that this situation is pretty messed up. I was going to call MSD today, but I got started after the tech line closed, so I'm now asking my knowledgeable legion of FI honda owners here. If anyone can help out, I'd be greatly appreciated.
On an ending note, my car runs fine with the knob set at 0, but this is probably cause the unit isn't doing anything, which also confuses me because of the discrepancy in wiring.
Sorry for writing a damn novel, but if I can't fix this thing, I'm just gonna junk it and get a BTC, with all the wiring at the ECU(much easier). Don't want to think I wasted the cash on the BTM, so lets see who can help.
THANKS!!!!!
Jon
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I'm not trying to be a jerk but the answer to your question is somewhere around here...do a search. I had the same problems. THE EASIEST THING TO DO IS TO CALL THE TOLL FREE MSD TECH NUMBER INCLUDED WITH THE CHEAP INSTRUCTIONS...which I see you were smart enough to do. They told me what was wrong and how to fix everything in minutes. If you still have problems after you talk to them e-mail me and I'll be more than happy to reply with step by step instructions. Good luck!
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Fred G.
'97 Civic EX supercharged http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/track/4059
Beech 1900D driver...2,558 shp, 10,000+ ft./lbs. tq., top speed 331 mph :)
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I say follow the manual. I installed my MSD 6BTM and followed the manual. Everything worked perfectly from the beginning.
This is how mine goes
Orange to Coil +
Black to Coil -
Red to Black/Yellow wire
White to White/Blue Wire
Stick to that and it will work. BTW, on the 6BTM there are wires that you have to cut to configure the unit for 4 cyl use. I suppose your unit has one too.
Then, you can't run full timing coz you need to start retarding even before boost comes in. That is because your actual manifold pressure is higher that what the ECU reads at the throttle body. Just experiment till you get the best performance.
Good Luck.
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If you read his post a little closer it says UNIVERSAL BTM. The wiring for the UNIVERSAL is different than the 6BTM. For example, there's only one red wire on the UNIVERSAL as opposed to two red wires on the 6BTM.
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Fred G.
'97 Civic EX supercharged http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/track/4059
Beech 1900D driver...2,558 shp, 10,000+ ft./lbs. tq., top speed 331 mph http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/smile.gif
[This message has been edited by waveoff (edited September 25, 2000).]
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The wiring is totally different from the 6 series ignitions and the universal btm. Turns out they switched the wiring for the pos and neg coils. I called the tech line yesterday and some guy helped me out. Thanks guys. No offense taken fred, but I did search the archives, but i couldn't find exact wire connections. There were subjects where peeps were told to call certain guys, thanks everyone again.
Jon
