Megasquirt or aftermarket PCM?

Just install MegaSquirt or some other system that allows you to tune your car, or just have a question about tuning and the options available? Feel free to ask it here.
vielecustoms
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Megasquirt or aftermarket PCM?

Post by vielecustoms » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:47 am

what are the advantages or disadvantages of megasquirt compared to a aftermarket pcm? :friday:
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Post by epatchett82 » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:03 pm

disadvantages of ms- not plug and play
- more knowledge is needed for tuning

advantages of ms- gives you COMPLETE control of your engine

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Post by Lackof » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:27 pm

i do believe you also need a laptop or some type of computer to diagnose your engine and to use MS ... so for someone that doesn't have that .. that could be a disadvantage

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Post by vielecustoms » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:31 pm

well, I don't have a problem with programming or building / wireing electronics. (thats what I do!) I was also wondering if megasquirt took place of the complete pcm or just certian operations (feul, Spark, etc....)
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Post by RTizzle » Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:57 pm

Normally megasquirt runs strictly fuel and spark. You can set it up to control everything buts thats alot more work. I have megasquirt myself but I have yet to install it on the car.

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Post by speedjunkie » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:39 pm

it isnt alot of work, i know someone is going to bitch about this probably but go over to neons.org and ask either boostjunkie or drvnslly (i think thats how you spell it), all you really need to worry about is getting an external voltage regulator because the stock is in the pcm
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Post by infil » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:14 pm

MS is not alot of work. the haltech e6k that i just recieved from ssc is a lot of work ehhe
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Post by vielecustoms » Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:24 am

Can it be changed back to the normal pcm? I imagine the emissions boys here would love it if I had the MS
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Post by speedjunkie » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:51 pm

yes, just use it for fuel and spark and use quick disconnect connections
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Post by 1stGener » Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:27 am

Whay I want to see is someone dyno the aftermarket pcm's against a Megasquirt!
WANTED to buy, Performance parts for my stock 98 R/T

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Post by Lackof » Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:26 am

MS gives you 100% more control over your engine end of story. AF pcms give u only elevated levels compared to the stock pcm.

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Post by chipdogg » Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:22 pm

MS is definitely better due to complete control of engine. I'd disagree with the "it's not alot of work" part of what you guys are saying. Granted, it's not alot of actual "work", the worst part is soldering up the board (unless you get it pre-built) and wiring it into the car, plus adding any sensors you may need.

The "work" is in the tuning and research part of it. If you get it all wired up and it doesn't do anything, then what. We should be getting our MS unit today for our Busa engine but we're gonna toss it on my car first to see if it works, to practice tuning and modifying stuff, and also just cuz the Busa motor won't be ready for a few months yet.

I don't want to see people go into it thinking "oh it's not alot of work" and then getting pissed cuz it's confusing as hell. The easy part is wiring it in, doing accell enrichments, cold-start enrichments, etc. is all the difficult stuff. Plus you'll need a wideband, which is something I'm gonna have to get soon :x
'97 black ACR coupe- #3 - Scrappy
'96 black coupe- #4
'97 magenta coupe- #10 - 13.379 @ 101.07 mph
'04 SXT mtx - #45 - GF's DD
'96 ACR
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Post by chipdogg » Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:24 pm

speedjunkie wrote:it isnt alot of work, i know someone is going to bitch about this probably but go over to neons.org and ask either boostjunkie or drvnslly (i think thats how you spell it), all you really need to worry about is getting an external voltage regulator because the stock is in the pcm
For complete replacement of stock PCM? You also need to worry about fan control, as well. There's alot of other little stuff that needs to be tweaked too. Have you ever installed MS into a car yet? Actually, to everyone that says it's not that hard, have any of you guys done it? Just wondering.
'97 black ACR coupe- #3 - Scrappy
'96 black coupe- #4
'97 magenta coupe- #10 - 13.379 @ 101.07 mph
'04 SXT mtx - #45 - GF's DD
'96 ACR
'95 Astro Van
'11 Chevy Express
'02 atx - #48
'98 Intense Blue R/T - #49
'04 SRT-4 - #50
'99 Intense Blue R/T - #51

52 and counting, when will it stop?

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Post by speedjunkie » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:10 am

chipdogg wrote:
speedjunkie wrote:it isnt alot of work, i know someone is going to bitch about this probably but go over to neons.org and ask either boostjunkie or drvnslly (i think thats how you spell it), all you really need to worry about is getting an external voltage regulator because the stock is in the pcm
For complete replacement of stock PCM? You also need to worry about fan control, as well. There's alot of other little stuff that needs to be tweaked too. Have you ever installed MS into a car yet? Actually, to everyone that says it's not that hard, have any of you guys done it? Just wondering.
actually i have installed it on my car, just spent the better part of last weekend re-running my wires. What I should have said is the only thing you need to worry about that cant be controlled by the megasquirt is the voltage regulator for the alternator
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Post by chipdogg » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:50 am

Well like I said, running the wire is the easy part. Get it running yet? That's the fun start, especially guessing the cold start from nowhere is a blast. Cold start enrichment FTL. Tuning it once it's warm isn't that difficult, MegaTune will do it for you, but it won't set cold start enrichment, accel enrichment, decel enleanment, etc. Almost anybody can put the board together and run the wiring for it...
'97 black ACR coupe- #3 - Scrappy
'96 black coupe- #4
'97 magenta coupe- #10 - 13.379 @ 101.07 mph
'04 SXT mtx - #45 - GF's DD
'96 ACR
'95 Astro Van
'11 Chevy Express
'02 atx - #48
'98 Intense Blue R/T - #49
'04 SRT-4 - #50
'99 Intense Blue R/T - #51

52 and counting, when will it stop?

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