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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

MegaSquirted Supra?


Calorus

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I have built four Megasquirt ECU setups over the years and currently have a Megasquirt 1 fitted to a mini running the ignition through a Ford EDIS ignition module and coil pack whilst the fuelling is being handled by a Megasquirt II on a 3.0 board with my own intake/throttle/injection design.

 

OT - sorry......Fuel injecting a Mini is very tricky though owing to the siamese ports in the head meaning two cylinders share the same intake charge. Going off the subject a little but the reason for two ECUs here is because a Mini needs equal ignition firing angles and uneven injection firing - when I started out looking at this the Megasquirt ECU could not handle that (so I ran two ECUs to leave more inputs and outputs available for the fuelling side of things) but I think a Megasquirt II will do it now whilst running coil on plug, EDIS or distributor based ignition. The Mini also needs massive injectors as the injection window is very small.....I think the 65hp twin point injection has 480cc/min injectors from the factory :D

 

Personally I don't think I'd go fitting a Megasquirt 1 ECU to anything unless it was real low budget. The injection and ignition tables are very small, the resolution on injector pulsewidth is poor, the acceleration enrichment options are extremely limited etc etc. That is not the case with the more advanced Megasquirt II kit - that's miles more advanced.

 

I would consider a Megasquirt II installation in a normal car (rather than just some fun experimenting like I have been doing on the Mini) if....

 

1) I assembled it all myself

2) I found a good mapper who was happy to map my car with this ECU. I'm Ok with mechanical stuff and PCB assembly but leave the mapping to someone else! :)

 

Might chase you down for some advice when the time comes, if you don't mind!

 

Yup, I'm going to go with the V3/3.57 board - hopefully, I'll be able to use some of the Aux ports and a solenoid valve to get the boost control into the ECU map and have that swappable based on throttle position and perhaps a kill switch. IDEALLY I'd like to get body electrics through it too. Have even been trying to read the pinouts on the heater control unit, but no dice so far...

Edited by Calorus (see edit history)
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Well, I'm pleased for you - fact of the matter is, if I just wanted a quick car I'd just open my wallet and let some other bugger do it.

 

I don't. I want MY quick car. This is about gaining the skills and aptitude to do things myself and have a basis which allows me to expand and modify it to better suit the application. The fact is MegaSquirt has been proven on cars which are exceptionally well regarded - so whilst you may have justifiable reservations about my abilities, I think you'd find reservations about MegaSquirt to be nothing but baseless snobbery. No I cannot map a car, but this is why I want to learn - I dare say even with your prodigious skill you were once a novice, too?

 

 

 

For the record - this is a final of Ubuntu (the Alpha is still on a spare HD somewhere round here...)

 

 

 

I've been called worse!

 

Dude I can't even plug a laptop into an ECU and make conection BUT I do listen to people who do know. The fact is this ecu is Ok for a low end car, the processor speed is low, the map resolution is tiny, even the plugs at termination are cheap and nasty, there are loads on MX5's and its a struggle for an experienced mapper to get a half sensible result, it depends what your after but why not fit a decent ecu and learn to map on that, it really is the lowest end. And what well regarded cars are running this ECU? do you know of one Supra running it ??? Engine Management is the one area you really do not want to skimp on. Anyway its your money and your car so crack on and good luck.

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Dude I can't even plug a laptop into an ECU and make conection BUT I do listen to people who do know. The fact is this ecu is Ok for a low end car, the processor speed is low, the map resolution is tiny, even the plugs at termination are cheap and nasty, there are loads on MX5's and its a struggle for an experienced mapper to get a half sensible result, it depends what your after but why not fit a decent ecu and learn to map on that, it really is the lowest end. And what well regarded cars are running this ECU? do you know of one Supra running it ??? Engine Management is the one area you really do not want to skimp on. Anyway its your money and your car so crack on and good luck.

 

I'd say a 249mph (though unrepeated) exit speed on the original MS speaks for itself. And the MegaSquirt 3 has a 16x16 resolution which is in the same league as anything AEM make, and certainly more than Denso made in 1993. Let's put it this way: I'm sure there is pretty hardware from the kinds of people whose names are displayed at jaunty angles on fashionable front wings but I'm not sure that the quality of an install should be judged by the attractiveness of a plug.

 

Anyway, thanks for your support - and watch this space.

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I'd say a 249mph (though unrepeated) exit speed on the original MS speaks for itself. And the MegaSquirt 3 has a 16x16 resolution which is in the same league as anything AEM make, and certainly more than Denso made in 1993. Let's put it this way: I'm sure there is pretty hardware from the kinds of people whose names are displayed at jaunty angles on fashionable front wings but I'm not sure that the quality of an install should be judged by the attractiveness of a plug.

 

Anyway, thanks for your support - and watch this space.

 

Well good luck but you are wrong about the resolution on the denso !!! and the AEM ! If you need any advice though you are more than welcome to call and ask, and its not the attractivness of the plug its the integrity, and looking at that Stude, it really is basic, OHV with MSD distributor, does it have individual cylinder knock control, in gear boost, launch control, traction and anti lag etc? Makes you wonder how fast it would have gone with a decent ECU!! It obviously can be made to work on certain cars. Like I said good luck with it will be interesting to see how you get on.

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....... does it have individual cylinder knock control, in gear boost, launch control, traction and anti lag etc? ...........

 

The original Megasquirt (MS1) code and hardware is limited but the latest MS3 system is pretty feature rich:

 

Speed-density, alpha-n or MAF for fuelling calculations

16x16 fuel tables in 0.1% steps with true interpolation and movable rows/columns

16x16 spark tables in 0.1 degree steps with true interpolation and movable rows/columns

Wall-wetting transient fuel control for better driveability

On board datalogging to SDcard (max 333Hz sample rate)

Tuning by serial or built-in USB-serial port.

8 channels sequential fuel (hi-z injectors or low-z with external resistors)

2 additional fuel channels (hi-z or low-z)

8 channels sequential spark (logic level output)

6 channels mid current output for small solenoids or relays

2 'spare' conditioned 0-5V analogue inputs (+2 more raw)

Two wideband oxygen sensor input (external controller required)

(Up to eight widebands supported via external data capture)

GM-style stepper idle control

2 and 3 wire PWM idle control

Closed loop idle control

Closed loop mixture control - ideally with wideband

Closed loop boost control

Various boost control systems (gear, time, speed based)

Two stage variable nitrous control

2 step type launch control

CAN communications to interconnect other Megasquirt products e.g. transmission controller

Supports external data capture boards (e.g. for external EGT boards)

EGT data support (with external amplifier)

Staged injection

Dual fuel (e.g. LPG)

Table switching, (mainly for dual fuel use)

Water/Meth injection

Individual cylinder injector trim

Injector phase timing

Individual cylinder spark trim

Support for numerous OEM trigger wheel patterns.

Magnetic (VR), Hall, Opto crank sensor input

Magnetic (VR), Hall, Opto cam sensor input

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They are certainly becoming a lot more sophisticated. At one time someone was offering ready built boards, is that still the case, and if so, roughly how much woulda MS to the spec you cite cost? Cheers. Good luck with it, nice to see these different ecu's being tried. Anyone got a 2JZ-GTE on a DTA system?

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It is a welcome relief to see posts such as this. I can whole heartedly see both opinions. On one hand it is great that someone wants to try something different and learn in the process. Too many people just follow like sheep and take what they are told as gospel. The worst that can happen? well its not my money, but I may learn something along the way.

On the other hand some things are tried and tested and are used for a reason, generally that someone else has tried something in the past...and failed.

 

I tend towards the former and enjoy reading about new things being tried.

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They are certainly becoming a lot more sophisticated. At one time someone was offering ready built boards, is that still the case, and if so, roughly how much woulda MS to the spec you cite cost? Cheers. Good luck with it, nice to see these different ecu's being tried. Anyone got a 2JZ-GTE on a DTA system?

 

I'm not sure if you were asking me Chris but I always bought my parts from glensgarage.com but they seem to be out of stock of "built" ECUs. DIYAutotune.com are selling this MS3 ECU fully assembled and ready to roll with the latest MS3X daughter card installed for $640. They can also be bought from ExtraEFI.co.uk but I have never dealt with those guys and their site looks a bit confusing for my simple mind :)

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Regarding Megasquirt in general........the things I would like to see changed would be:

 

The case or more accurately the loom connections through the case to the board(s), some improved board mounting strategy and then some conformal coating on the finished boards - that would go a long way to make a lot of DIY installations a lot more rugged and reliable.

 

 

Editted to add:

This is a very useful link to a page that compares all the different Megasquirt options:

 

http://www.ms3efi.com/feature-xref.html

Edited by dandan (see edit history)
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They are certainly becoming a lot more sophisticated. At one time someone was offering ready built boards, is that still the case, and if so, roughly how much woulda MS to the spec you cite cost? Cheers. Good luck with it, nice to see these different ecu's being tried. Anyone got a 2JZ-GTE on a DTA system?

 

I was going to go with DTA - Walker (for it is he) seems like a grumpy old legend and I'd have been in, on, up and running for not too much over a grand. I figure MegaSquirt'll cost me not much less by the time I'm finished (full sequential MS3 ~£550, plus pretty much refreshing the ignition from scratch and having to pay for a go on a rolling road) , but I'll be honest - as you said earlier I'm the sort that likes Linux Alpha releases... And I want to use the ECU for so much more.

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  • 3 months later...

I have now found the full Megasquirt II kit that I knew I had but had misplaced in the attic. (Moving house has its benefits!)

 

It is brand new and sealed/unassembled - bought from glensgarage.com It comes with a V3.0 board (the blue one) and an anodized black case as shown here: http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/megasquirtii-programmable-efi-system-pcb30-kit-black-case-p-119.html

 

Drop me a pm if you are interested.

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