Megasquirt

[Huw]

Well....as I am killing time without access to my car (overseas)....
have been pondering things I would like to do to it....as I drive it daily, am seriously considering EFI but being quite an expensive endeavour I am a bit dubious.

My question is, does anyone have experience with the Megasquirt kits? (either assembled or unassembled). They have a huge following at HybridZ but I can see myself creating a whole heap of problems if no one in Australia knows how to fix them when things go wrong.

Huw

[WogsRus]

Yep we run one on our targa car no probs.

[Huw]

How was it to set up? Compared with other systems?

I trying to figure out if I can fit it into my budget before moving (and sending the zed) to Japan (end of the year).

It also seems to be the preferable route to go if drive the car regularly (over Weber's or other forms of carbs). What does everyone know of this?
I do quite a few long haul'ish trips, so not spending all day at the petrol pump is nice (although being able to get to the pump quickly is even nicer)

Huw

[Zeddophile]

Megasquirts are fine - run one on my rangie, and also on my GTV (3.0 quadcam V6 with ITBS and coilpacks).  Not too hard to setup, as long as you have some understanding of wiring.

[garvice]

If you do go with Mega squirt, don't skimp on the wiring. I bought my car with a Mega squirt installed and hated the thing! I thought that it was a piece of rubbish (Tune seemed to change, run rough one day, crap the next. Lean one day, rich the next). Although I was a bit unfair on the system as it was wired poorly with no screening on the input wires. So, make sure you wire it well and take some care with the installation.

You have to keep in mind that the computer is built to a budget. Things like wiring is connected via a parallel printer connection or only being able to run high impedance injectors (unless you use inline resistors) etc. So just keep in mind that you are buying a budget computer, so you can't expect it to be the be all and end all.

[WogsRus]

not sure on our setup, but ours is an early one, one of the first, the best thing is that it does it's own lamda chasing, set the figures and drive arround teh computer will set the air fuel mixes to suit the lambda you want.

The later series are USB and have the facility for high impedance injectors.

[Zeddophile]

If you do go with Mega squirt, don't skimp on the wiring. I bought my car with a Mega squirt installed and hated the thing! I thought that it was a piece of rubbish (Tune seemed to change, run rough one day, crap the next. Lean one day, rich the next). Although I was a bit unfair on the system as it was wired poorly with no screening on the input wires. So, make sure you wire it well and take some care with the installation.

You have to keep in mind that the computer is built to a budget. Things like wiring is connected via a parallel printer connection or only being able to run high impedance injectors (unless you use inline resistors) etc. So just keep in mind that you are buying a budget computer, so you can't expect it to be the be all and end all.

The mixtures changing can definitely happen if it hasn't been configured right.  Heat soak on the intake air sensor is a common cause of that one, but there are plenty of others.  With a good tune, it will drive like a standard car every day (and better, if the standard car had an L-jetronic or similar on it!)

As far as the resistors go, the first of the Range Rover efi setups (L-Jetronic) actually have a resistor pack for the injectors as standard.... Was convenient when I put MS on it 

[bryan3976]

hi sorry for the bump but were would the best place to buy this from and what do i need to know to do the wiring i want run efi and ignition

[garvice]

Run screened cable for your Crank/cam signals. Don't skimp on this step, it will cause you issues.
I like to twist all my signal/outputs wires as well, but that is a little anal.
Not sure where to buy from.

[gav240z]

hi sorry for the bump but were would the best place to buy this from and what do i need to know to do the wiring i want run efi and ignition

I'm wondering where the best place to buy this ECU is also?

I think you will need to convert your distributor to electronic ignition (some kind of CAS will be needed) and fit your EFI fuel pump and tank baffle (with return line). Then you will need injectors and a fuel rail and manifold. You will also need to fit an 02 sensor somewhere in your headers.

Wiring will be a challenge for me also, but I don't plan on doing this conversion for a long time (if at all - I want to see how the Triple Carbs perform first).

I'm sure I've forgotten something so check this link out for more details on EFI.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,7515.0.html

Also alot of the HybridZ.org guys have converted to megasquirt with their L28 Turbo's so have a search over there.

[Zeddophile]

http://www.glensgarage.com/catalog/index.php

http://www.megamanual.com/mtabcon.htm

http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms1extra/MS_Extra_Manual_Index.htm

[Six_Shooter]

Before you jump on the MS bandwagon, look at using a Delco ECM, from a Holden. There is plenty of information around on how to retrofit the Delco ECM, and for that matter other OEM ECMs to the engines not designed for it. www.delcohacking.net has plenty of information, and the website is also based in Oz, so there it is heavy on Oz specific info.

I've been following MS, since before MS1 was really a reality, back when it was called EFI-332, but have found that it just hasn't had all the features that I want or can find in a Delco ECM, the early MS didn't have ANY spark control, and in my case would have had to leave the stock ECM to control my spark, which meant using stock tables, or leaning to tune just spark of the OEM ECM, well if I went that far, why not just use the Delco ECM? The MS2 started adding in some features that are neat like nitrous control and user definable extra outputs, but still lacked some other things that I wanted, like VSS input. MS3 which has just recently been released has really piqued my interest, due to some of the new features like SD card datalogging, native USB connectivity and the MS3X expansion board, that in my case would give me the posibility of sequential injcetion, sequential ignition, and then at least 4 other extra outputs. Honestly, I really don't need all of that, but it could be there. FWIW, I don't see the need in SFI in most performance applications. For the price though, it doesn't give me enough to justify trying it out. I'm also really not a fan of those LPT connections. I do use a JimStim on my ECM test bench though.

FWIW, I'm running a North American Delco ECM on my L28, and it runs well, I couldn't be happier with the results.

I bought my JimStim and a couple other things from diyautotune.com. I would buy from them again, Matt Cramer, who run diyautotune is also on hybridz and a few other sites, always helping out.

[Zeddophile]

Before you jump on the MS bandwagon, look at using a Delco ECM, from a Holden. There is plenty of information around on how to retrofit the Delco ECM, and for that matter other OEM ECMs to the engines not designed for it. www.delcohacking.net has plenty of information, and the website is also based in Oz, so there it is heavy on Oz specific info.

I've been following MS, since before MS1 was really a reality, back when it was called EFI-332, but have found that it just hasn't had all the features that I want or can find in a Delco ECM, the early MS didn't have ANY spark control, and in my case would have had to leave the stock ECM to control my spark, which meant using stock tables, or leaning to tune just spark of the OEM ECM, well if I went that far, why not just use the Delco ECM? The MS2 started adding in some features that are neat like nitrous control and user definable extra outputs, but still lacked some other things that I wanted, like VSS input. MS3 which has just recently been released has really piqued my interest, due to some of the new features like SD card datalogging, native USB connectivity and the MS3X expansion board, that in my case would give me the posibility of sequential injcetion, sequential ignition, and then at least 4 other extra outputs. Honestly, I really don't need all of that, but it could be there. FWIW, I don't see the need in SFI in most performance applications. For the price though, it doesn't give me enough to justify trying it out. I'm also really not a fan of those LPT connections. I do use a JimStim on my ECM test bench though.

FWIW, I'm running a North American Delco ECM on my L28, and it runs well, I couldn't be happier with the results.

I bought my JimStim and a couple other things from diyautotune.com. I would buy from them again, Matt Cramer, who run diyautotune is also on hybridz and a few other sites, always helping out.

Have you checked out the MS Extra code version which is available for both MS1 and MS2?  Adds many many features to both.  I'm running fuel and (dizzy based) spark on an MS1 in my V8 Rangie, and fuel and spark (wasted spark with coil on plug) with an MS2 on my V6 Alfa.  Both are running versions of the MSextra code.  Memory tells me MS2 Extra accepts VSS inputs, but I stand to be corrected - its something that hasn't interested me.

As for MS3, to be honest I haven't checked it out.  MS2 with extra code gives me more than enough for what I need in any situation so far, and the MS3 is considerably more expensive.  Some cool features, but getting to a price point where it needs to compete with comparable aftermarket ECUs.

As far as DIY Autotune go, never dealt with them, but as you say, they are active on the MS sites, and very supportive to users.  I would imagine they would also be excellent to deal with, just that I bought my first kit from Glensgarage, and it arrived very quickly, hassle free at one of the cheapest prices at the time.  Hence I continue to use them.

[Six_Shooter]

From what I had seen there was only rumours that VSS could be used in MS2 with the extra code, no one really seemed to persue it. I think I read that one guy got it working, but it was only used to display vehicle speed, it wasn't actually integrated into the code to control anything. This is one of the biggest reasons I have stayed with the Delco ECMs.

MS3 does have my interest though.

Oh, I had also dowloaded one of the MS tuning programs and it lagged so badly on my laptop, that I decided that if the software had lag issues that bad, that it was of no use to me. FWIW, I had WAY more than recommended minimum specs for hardware and software. Tried downloading and installing it a few times too. Never did figure out why it lagged so bad.

[Zedback]

hi sorry for the bump but were would the best place to buy this from and what do i need to know to do the wiring i want run efi and ignition

Had MS2 running on my 280zx for fuel and spark.  Bought it all from DIYAutotune.  I do recommend buying the wiring loom, makes life easier. 
I ran the injectors through the stock resistor pack to save fiddling with pulse width modulation.
I ran full spark conrol off the 280zx distributor (no CAS).  If you remove the vacuum advance and lock the mechanical advance the signal from the electronic dizzy works fine.
Spent many nights reading 'megamanual' and 'ms2' sites to really understand what was going on.  Also hybridz megasquirt forum, particularly for the dizzy setup.  Referred to the 280zx FSM for many of the sensor parameters.  Worst part was getting the right year 280zx wiring diagram.  All up was somewhere around $800-900 a few years ago. 

Seat of the pants difference was significant BUT the engine  had been modified with 10:1 compression, lightened flywheel, and extractors.  Did'nt experience any of the problems others have mentioned.

Go for it.  It was a lot of fun and I learnt a heap.