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One for the megasquirt doubters! update 02/08/11

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Old 27-07-2011 | 02:58 PM
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Default One for the megasquirt doubters! update 02/08/11

Im just an average guy with reasonable skills and ive just built this fully working MS2 version 3, it took six hours to solder together and i can see no reliability problems as i payed attention and made sure all my soldered connections were good.
If for the unlikley reason i blow something up (through my own fault of wiring it incorrectly) i can fix it
This ecu can also be configured for many applications, ford edis, cop's, four cylinder, or v6, v8 or any number of cylnders for that matter! turbo or NA can all be ran off of it, the possibiltys are endless.












The car is now running and i have been for a drive, a bit of tuning to do but the results are good. It has cost me £250 and around 12 hours work.
Old 27-07-2011 | 03:02 PM
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looks good fair play but i dont rate your engine loom
Old 27-07-2011 | 03:11 PM
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interesting do you just buy this as akit if so were from?
Old 27-07-2011 | 03:14 PM
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Wow I take my hat off to you ( that's if I had a hat lol) and here's me shitting my self about fitting autronic with a cossy loom to my car
Old 27-07-2011 | 03:23 PM
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Originally Posted by ajamesc
looks good fair play but i dont rate your engine loom
lol, a bit of spiro wrap and it will look top notch
Originally Posted by saph4be
interesting do you just buy this as akit if so were from?
I bought this as a kit for £210 delivered off of ebay
Originally Posted by Matt Baxter
Wow I take my hat off to you ( that's if I had a hat lol) and here's me shitting my self about fitting autronic with a cossy loom to my car
thanks, yeah you have to be carefull, if you blow up your ecu it will be costly! (ive blown up a ms before, incorrect wiring, but i managed to change out the components that i cooked!)
Old 27-07-2011 | 03:41 PM
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that is cheap and well done - i would be shitting bricks soldering that
Old 27-07-2011 | 03:49 PM
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top effort my man, and you say you have average skills, compared to bill gates yes lol
Old 27-07-2011 | 05:51 PM
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lol looks like you done well!
Old 27-07-2011 | 06:06 PM
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You built that to run edis? presumably not running iscv? Looks nicely done
Old 27-07-2011 | 08:17 PM
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Originally Posted by rhinopower
You built that to run edis? presumably not running iscv? Looks nicely done
thanks all for the possetive comments, it runs edis as i didnt want the added hassle of making extra circuitry to control the cop's, plus edis does not need the dwel and vr sensor setting up and so in my opinion will make it that bit more bullet proof. I was using the edis to control the two wire cop;s, but that proved problematic so i have now switched to a more conventional coilpack and leads.
Old 27-07-2011 | 08:31 PM
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i now do that sort of stuff for my day job, but its mostly surface mount stuff, i can hardly see some of the things and you need to use tweezers to pick the caps and resistors up lol.

good job tho my man. my downfall in doing something like that would be the mapping lol

only downside i can see is that its a bit on the big side, if it were surface mount its would be less than half the size, but also a fair bit harder to solder
Old 27-07-2011 | 08:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Fudgey
i now do that sort of stuff for my day job, but its mostly surface mount stuff, i can hardly see some of the things and you need to use tweezers to pick the caps and resistors up lol.

good job tho my man. my downfall in doing something like that would be the mapping lol

only downside i can see is that its a bit on the big side, if it were surface mount its would be less than half the size, but also a fair bit harder to solder
thanks, doesnt matter abouve its size imo, just makes for easier assembly. (sod surface mount stuff!)
Old 27-07-2011 | 08:58 PM
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Good job on the soldering
this is what i love about MS its the learning experience but obviously its not for everyone, when i finally get my locost on the road next year (2.0 zetec on MS) i will be learning to map which is just something that interests me, i can see how its not for everyone though.
Old 27-07-2011 | 09:00 PM
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imo megasuirt is ideal had 1 on my twinturbo v6,ran sweet as a nut and had a load of features
best stand alone ecu for the money imo on the market
Old 28-07-2011 | 10:43 AM
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thanks again, ill keep you all posted as i tune it
Old 28-07-2011 | 11:08 AM
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Megasquirt is a good system, the only problem is, put it in an old Ford and pretty soon the circuitry looks like its been in a lake half its life. It really needs waterproofing after assembly.
Old 28-07-2011 | 11:26 AM
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Im having mine mounted neatly inside the car in a carbon housing so its easy to access for mapping
Old 28-07-2011 | 11:42 AM
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Looks good Chaffe! have you got any mapping experience before or are you a novice?
Old 28-07-2011 | 02:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Stu @ M Developments
Megasquirt is a good system, the only problem is, put it in an old Ford and pretty soon the circuitry looks like its been in a lake half its life. It really needs waterproofing after assembly.
lol, yeah thats why im putting it in an old subaru
Originally Posted by SapphyMike
Looks good Chaffe! have you got any mapping experience before or are you a novice?
Been doing this kind of thing for about five years now, mapped around ten turboed cars and a couple of NA cars, and only destroyed one engine lol. So yeah i have a little experience, nothing compared with someone who does it for a living mind you.
TBH, my bird could make the ecu, the instructions are very good, and as for the engine loom its only 12 wires, so again very easy. You just need to either be shown the mapping or read up carefully about it, i was out last night with my mate tuning the fuel map, hehad never seen it before in his life! withing 15 mins we were working as a team tuning.
Old 28-07-2011 | 04:19 PM
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I run my 24v cossie xr4x4 on megga cum, great learning experience.

found the 24v started to valve bounce at 7k lol

Also I cut the connector off a old ford ECU and connected it that way, so I could just plug it in, or swap the old ecu back in mins

Last edited by JohnnyB; 28-07-2011 at 04:21 PM.
Old 28-07-2011 | 05:02 PM
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Well done chaffe, I'm getting my turbo cabrio ready for m/s, just gotta sell my cossie stuff first
Old 28-07-2011 | 06:58 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnnyB
I run my 24v cossie xr4x4 on megga cum, great learning experience.

found the 24v started to valve bounce at 7k lol

Also I cut the connector off a old ford ECU and connected it that way, so I could just plug it in, or swap the old ecu back in mins
I made a similar adaptor once, worked really well once i had re-wired it the correct way! thats how i blew some components up in my second MS!
Originally Posted by studabear
Well done chaffe, I'm getting my turbo cabrio ready for m/s, just gotta sell my cossie stuff first
cheers, great stuff mate!
Old 28-07-2011 | 07:02 PM
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Just back frm some one man tuning (lol) got all the cruise/low throttle fuelling quite good now, the car is very good to drive now after an hors worth of tuning. Next will be to put some more ig advance into this light throttle area and re-assess the AFR, then im going to sort the boost fueling! A few very short bursts of boost shows that the turbo i have chosen spools up well between 3-4k and my actuator is set about 11psi, i will be aiming for nearer 18 psi end result
Old 28-07-2011 | 07:09 PM
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Have you tried tuner studio? Has a feature called ve analyse live and will help you tidy up your fuel table using target tables etc, i got my st170 engine running pretty hot using it.
Old 28-07-2011 | 07:18 PM
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Originally Posted by rhinopower
Have you tried tuner studio? Has a feature called ve analyse live and will help you tidy up your fuel table using target tables etc, i got my st170 engine running pretty hot using it.
my mate has it, although ive not tried it tbh, my laptop will shit itself if i try that on it! although i do have another laptop to load ms onto, so might give it a go in the future mate
Old 28-07-2011 | 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by chaffe
I made a similar adaptor once, worked really well once i had re-wired it the correct way! thats how i blew some components up in my second MS!

cheers, great stuff mate!

I just got the correct wiring pin outs of the 24v loom.

simples, but I still got the TPS the wrong way lol
Old 29-07-2011 | 05:51 AM
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tps is always a hit and miss with me too lol, i got this one right first time round (sheer fluke!) but its no big deal to change the wires as you know
Old 29-07-2011 | 07:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Autoflock Motorsport
Im having mine mounted neatly inside the car in a carbon housing so its easy to access for mapping
Stu's point is even inside the car they arent the dryest place in general, reall the board needs spraying with a sealant to ensure that the internals stay in good condition despite being placed in an old ford, carbon cover or not, unless its air tight.
Old 29-07-2011 | 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by chaffe
tps is always a hit and miss with me too lol, i got this one right first time round (sheer fluke!) but its no big deal to change the wires as you know

I was so focused on fuel map(not checking TPS) I started it(the first time) with the tps suggesting full throttle.

it started, but fuck me how much black smoke lol
Old 29-07-2011 | 09:08 AM
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I always use TPS as a sanity check that the ecu is powered up ok and chatting to the laptop etc before I turn it over, as its the easiest sensor to change the value of and check the laptop registers it etc.
So I turn the ignition on and wind the throttle open and shut to make sure its all ok, before trying to start it, (if its a turbo car I also blow and suck on the map sensor pipe) I also glance at the coolant and air temps and make sure they are both reading about the same and roughly ambient.
Then I turn over with the plugs out and fuelpump disconnected to check the crank sensor, and in the case of MS you often have to play about with the input sensitivity pot to get a stable reading.
Then fire up.
Old 29-07-2011 | 09:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Chip
I always use TPS as a sanity check that the ecu is powered up ok and chatting to the laptop etc before I turn it over, as its the easiest sensor to change the value of and check the laptop registers it etc.
So I turn the ignition on and wind the throttle open and shut to make sure its all ok, before trying to start it, (if its a turbo car I also blow and suck on the map sensor pipe) I also glance at the coolant and air temps and make sure they are both reading about the same and roughly ambient.
Then I turn over with the plugs out and fuelpump disconnected to check the crank sensor, and in the case of MS you often have to play about with the input sensitivity pot to get a stable reading.
Then fire up.

Chip,

If I ever do it again, I agree its nice and simple to check, spotted with in seconds when I was monitoring the ECU dash board.

everything is a learning curve
Old 29-07-2011 | 09:31 AM
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Originally Posted by JohnnyB
everything is a learning curve
Agreed on that, no one has absolute knowledge of engines, we're all still learning
Old 29-07-2011 | 10:11 AM
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i do the same mate
Old 29-07-2011 | 11:49 AM
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I would love to be able to do this...
Old 29-07-2011 | 08:18 PM
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how much do those sell for pre built?

as i have all the kit at work to easily assemble these and laquer the boards, might be worth a look lol
Old 29-07-2011 | 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Fudgey
how much do those sell for pre built?

as i have all the kit at work to easily assemble these and laquer the boards, might be worth a look lol
problem is they have to be specced for a specific application, vr/hall sensor, wasted spark, distributor, cop's, edis etc. i would think there would be £100 profit per ms for a built one
Old 30-07-2011 | 07:37 AM
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Guys I'm looking at fitting throttle bodies to a cvh and this looks a good option

Who does them it I had all the bodies fitted and plumbed in ready
Old 30-07-2011 | 06:53 PM
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Originally Posted by rsmark86
Guys I'm looking at fitting throttle bodies to a cvh and this looks a good option

Who does them it I had all the bodies fitted and plumbed in ready
extra efi
Old 30-07-2011 | 09:19 PM
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I can personally recommend James Murray
Old 30-07-2011 | 09:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Chip
I can personally recommend James Murray
as can i, he added some bits to mine and checked it over for a couple of issues for me not so long back.


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