new toy has shipped

[zukitek]

I finally pulled the trigger on a megasquirt plugnplay kit . And away we go !!

[engled]

Lot of fun and we have enough people in the club using them that if you have any trouble you should be able to get help for beer or less.

[kilgojr]

I finally pulled the trigger on a megasquirt plugnplay kit . And away we go !!

I love mine. I had never built a system from scratch like that, and I did it with no problems. The amount of stuff that thing can control is way beyond anything I will ever use it for.

[zukitek]

Ill have to wait and see how its input /output capabilities are but I may have to get creative with the AC controls since the stock ECU has control of that ,but I am looking forward to tinkering with it .

[Jedi1]

Let's say you wanted to swap an S2000, 5.0 or LS2 into something that did not come with those power trains when the vehicle was originally built in Germany, would this system be a good choice for that?

[Cholewa]

it's a good choice for any engine management. You build the ECU (or have it built for you) and connect the dots. The volvo is wired entirely through megasquirt, except for the analog features (speedo, fuel gauge, other gauges) but if you wanted you could do it all through MS. It's an awesome tool.

[TouringBubble]

Yeah Sean, it woudl work, but honestly I'd get the stock harness and ECU with those options and run an EMS made for that setup. Anything after '02 or so will have a flashable ECU and there will be a tuning solution for it. The 5.0 would be the only one that you'd want to go Megasquirt with. For an S2K, get Hondata and for an LS2 you have HP Tuners and some others. I have an HP Tuners setup already if you wanted to go that route.

[zukitek]

I will add this note to those who havent assembled one of these megasquirt kits. When you buy the assemble yourself kit ...it MEANS assemble yourself. You must solder every single part onto the boards (resistors, diodes, capacitors , votage regulators, header connectors, adapter harness connectors, jumpers from the main board to the adapter board,communications port. It is not for the faint at heart or the inexperienced especially when it comes to soldering extremely close and small pins. I am on my 4th hour of assembly and I think I am going crosseyed.

I went yesterday and bought a magnifying glass on a stand alond with a mountable light. I bought a 15 watt soldering iron and it worked fine on the resistors but it sweats a bit on the larger diodes with thicker legs. I think I will go buy a little hotter iron this evening .

So in a word, be prepared to work for that money you save by not buying the ASSEMBLED ECU

[TouringBubble]

At least the board is already etched, right?

[kilgojr]

At least the board is already etched, right?

Yeah, the board comes etched. Its time consuming to build the board, but all in all its pretty straight-forward. For those people more inclined to have someone else work on their car then do it themselves, I would say that purchasing the pre-built board is the way to go. But if you are willing to sit down for a while and build the board, you will have an INTIMATE knowledge of how the system is put together and works.