Celica ST165 Distributor with TST185 Link ECU - Trigger Issues

Hi everyone! Obviously a newbie here but well into the HPA standalone prep and tuning courses now.

I'm using the Link (TST185) made for the ST185 on a complete first-gen ST165 setup through a jumper harness. Both of these 3SGTE engines share the same equipement as far as tuning-critical components go (injectors, etc) but I was aware that there might be differences between the distributor from the ST165 and the ST185 as far as the trigger signals go though. Anyway, the timing was correctly set to factory specs 10 BTDC at idle with the factory ECU before switching to the Link ECU. Ditched the MAF, disabled that input in the Link and all pre-start checks and calibrations were made. Now timing is way off (idles between 35 to 45 BTDC) and idles rough and super rich (around 0.65-0.66 lambda). The trigger calibration tool was used again at idle and at 2000 to 3000k but didn't change the result. I'm assuming that it would be difficult to properly remap such a (reluctor) distributor signal, unless someone has done it before on this model? I'm looking into acquiring a complete ST185 distributor as a possible quick fix, if all else fails.

When entering the offset and ignition delay values in LINK software, you must press the "ENTER" key on your Keyboard, otherwise the change will not be applied.

In addition to the above post, make sure the polarity of the reluctor sensor is correct. Voltage goes below zero when metal / Iron leaves the sensor.

You can test this with a simple multimeter and a larger spanner placed on the sensor, let the reading settle to zero then "yank" the spanner off the sensor off quickly. You must see the minus symbol prior to the millivolt DC numbers.

Obviously an oscilloscope can tell as well but this is a simple method that also works.

Indeed, thanks! It was painfully slow to set things up in the beginning but they're falling into place much quicker now! Loving the challenge even if seemingly daunting at first.

Glad to hear you are making progress.