Megasquirt is ridiculously addictive!

[QWKDTSN]

So I built a DIYPNP Megasquirt ECU (INB4 hipstergram)



Flashed it with firmware



Installed it in my Miata



Which has this engine



Made this custom dashboard in Tunerstudio to monitor all my functions



And now I could spend literally all of my time driving around and tuning my car... Having 100% control over the mechanical symphony and its various sensors is crazy. Tuning a carbureted engine is my roots (and I'm not any good at it) but when you can build your own ECU and tune it so that your car starts and runs in any condition 100% better than it did when stock is crazy. I love putting it in 3rd gear and flooring it from 1000 RPM up to the rev limiter and watching the air-fuel ratios be perfect with no chugging, bucking, pinging or hiccups.

Just wanted to share. My thanks to all the great people out there that have developed this system so that people like me can have control over their cars. If you've never installed Megasquirt in a car, you've really got to try it. It's not as hard as you think thanks to the designers who have made it easy!

[emmettlodge]

So are you some kind of nerd or something?

Also, that's incredible that you can make your own circuit board.

[MAG58]

Welcome to the sickness. I've got MSIII on my DD, MSII on my father's and two more cars in my fleet or my immediate families fleet getting MS of some form or another. It's increasingly addictive when you learn all the things you can do with each individual system.

The following it has with Miata/Nissan/Early 90's BMW groups is awesome, but if you really want to see how fantastic MS is, find someone that's converted an old car with carbs or CIS and see how much it absolutely transforms the vehicle

[Geesixty]

Very cool, OP.

[TheDarkEnergist]

That's pretty awesome. Are you Asian? Do not attempt if not Asian.

[Old Windy]

Also, that's incredible that you can make your own circuit board.

^^ This! I didn't knew you could do that. How difficult was it? The MSS bug has been itching me lately....

[urogolf]

ran MSNS in my old rabbit with GSXr throttle bodies... learned so much about what it takes to make a car run (electronically)

[emmettlodge]

^^ This! I didn't knew you could do that. How difficult was it? The MSS bug has been itching me lately....

I was (until now) pretty certain that only Japanese scientists had the secret to circuit board technology.

[MAG58]

^^ This! I didn't knew you could do that. How difficult was it? The MSS bug has been itching me lately....

If you've got a free weekend, a decent soldering iron, and some patience, they're actually pretty simple to assemble, if a bit tedious.

http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms2extra/build_manual.htm

[QWKDTSN]

If you've got a free weekend, a decent soldering iron, and some patience, they're actually pretty simple to assemble, if a bit tedious.

http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms2extra/build_manual.htm

This! And actually the DIYPNP models made by DIY Autotune are very simple. That's what I built. I remember reading threads 10 years ago about Megasquirt. If you built your own Megasquirt computer back then you really WERE a huge nerd. You actually had to research where every wire needed to go for your particular application, do math, etc...

http://www.diyautotune.com/diypnp/

With mine, it came with all the parts I needed, every resistor individually bagged and tagged, and a detailed description of where every jumper wire on the circuit board needed to be soldered. I'm already a decent hand at soldering, which made it easy, if a bit tedious.

There are guys out there that build and sell these boards so you don't have to make them yourself. They can crank out a fully finished ECU in a couple of hours. It took me a full weekend. But I'd rather do EVERYTHING so that I understand what's going on. There's no magic to what goes on in that black box if you make it yourself

Oh, and I'm not asian.

[SCIROCCO SPEED]

Which has this engine

OP, this is awesome! I keep telling myself "one of these days i'm getting MS..."

I'm curious about this setup... I see a supercharger on right, that pipes the air over to the intake manifold on the left... but where is it pulling air from? is the intake hidden below? I'd like to see more pics of your setup

[Old Windy]

I was (until now) pretty certain that only Japanese scientists had the secret to circuit board technology.

Only when it involves giant robots (Mazinger Z)

[emmettlodge]

Only when it involves giant robots (Mazinger Z)

Your anime prowess is lost on me. I only watched Inspector Gadget until I was 6 or so, then I decided TV was stupid and haven't touched one since

[QWKDTSN]

See the foam brick at the lower right corner of the supercharger in that pic? That's the foam air cleaner. Not the best location because the header is also on that side (this supercharger application is known as a "hot side" supercharger) but in a Miata there isn't an easy way to get cold air. I'm planning on rerouting the intake up to the cowl to get some colder air (you can just see half of a hole in the firewall at the right hand side of the photo)

[Old Windy]

If you've got a free weekend, a decent soldering iron, and some patience, they're actually pretty simple to assemble, if a bit tedious.

http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms2extra/build_manual.htm

Ok, now to actually get the free weekend and the patience. The other one is the easy one.

[QWKDTSN]

(it cracks me up that the song used in this video is "Popcorn" which was the first electronically created song and is perpetually associated with nerdiness)

[Gus Polinski]

That's pretty awesome. Are you Asian? Do not attempt if not Asian.

I came in not knowing what to expect based on thread title. I am leaving now not knowing what I just read....

[EnIgMa '06]

What processor are you running? I just bought a MegaSquirt setup last night that has an MS1 processor on a V3 board.

[AZGolf]

I would love to do something like this but it's impossible when you live in a city/state that requires OBD-II checks and frequently a drive on the dyno with tailpipe sniffers to pass vehicle inspection.

[EnIgMa '06]

Yeah, I think it's best for vehicles that are OBD1 or older. The tailpipe sniffer check wouldn't be difficult with MS, but the OBD2 check would be a challenge. A good tune can be powerful and efficient/low emissions.

[ABATurbo]

I would love to do something like this but it's impossible when you live in a city/state that requires OBD-II checks and frequently a drive on the dyno with tailpipe sniffers to pass vehicle inspection.

I feel your pain. CA sucks.

[QWKDTSN]

I would love to do something like this but it's impossible when you live in a city/state that requires OBD-II checks and frequently a drive on the dyno with tailpipe sniffers to pass vehicle inspection.

Yeah that sucks

At this point I could return the car to the stock ECU in order to pass the sniffer, it would involve putting the stock injectors back in and removing the supercharger belt. But it would be a bit of a pain. My car is a 96 so it is (was) OBD2.

Living in Puerto Rico does have its perks sometimes, no inspections

[r_fostoria]

Wait, wait, wait! Did you just build a car ECU from scratch? Is that what's going on here?

[McBanagon]

If you've got a free weekend, a decent soldering iron, and some patience, they're actually pretty simple to assemble, if a bit tedious.

http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms2extra/build_manual.htm

I've a large home-made CNC machine. Will that do?

[vasillalov]

Does Megasquirt support direct injection?

[ATL_Av8r]

But is it overclocked?

[surefooted]

That's pretty awesome.


Why did I immediately go to the website and find a car which start a new project? lol

[corradoswapT]

I ran megasquirt for about 5 years and finally got sick of retunning every 4 months as the seasons changed. plus with all the elevation changes around Utah it just wasnt practical. It works very well for race aplications but as a daily driver, forget it! I just switched to obdII and called it a day!

[QWKDTSN]

Wait, wait, wait! Did you just build a car ECU from scratch? Is that what's going on here?

Yes, but I made the thread mostly about how much fun it is to tune a car ECU yourself. The fact that I built it myself is secondary. It's not like I designed the circuit board myself, much smarter people did all that for me and included instructions about which parts go where.

That's pretty awesome.


Why did I immediately go to the website and find a car which start a new project? lol

Do iiiiiiiit There are so many cars that the DIY Autotune boxes support! And many of them are TCL darlings as well!

I ran megasquirt for about 5 years and finally got sick of retunning every 4 months as the seasons changed. plus with all the elevation changes around Utah it just wasnt practical. It works very well for race aplications but as a daily driver, forget it! I just switched to obdII and called it a day!

I understand, there are fixes for all the problems you listed (you can upgrade the MAP system to automatically correct for altitude) and a large part is correcting your MAT table so that temperature fluctuations are automatically taken care of. But I can understand how many people would not want to deal with this on a daily driver.

[emmettlodge]

I've a large home-made CNC machine. Will that do?

Wow. You should post a build thread sometime - sounds cool

[QWKDTSN]

Does Megasquirt support direct injection?

It should, the code is very versatile, it could probably be used to run anything from a weedwhacker to a turbocharged V12.

[corradoswapT]

It was ms1 with some upgraded bits. I do miss it sometimes tho. I had a nice 3 stage shift light set up, launch controll,flat shift and boost controll. all things obdII cant do without seperate electronics.

[QWKDTSN]

It was ms1 with some upgraded bits. I do miss it sometimes tho. I had a nice 3 stage shift light set up, launch controll,flat shift and boost controll. all things obdII cant do without seperate electronics.

That is awesome. I don't have a clutch switch set up to the ECU so I can't do any of that awesomeness right now.

I have never touched MS1 but things have come a long way since then. I am using firmware created by 'gslender' who is an Australian modder, he writes his own upgrades to the code and the number of features that are available now is pretty insane.

[turbinepowered]

Does Megasquirt support direct injection?

MS3 is supposed to be able to do it; you need full sequential control to do direct injection.

Rumor has it that the next version will also be able to control CR diesels...

[r_fostoria]

Yes, but I made the thread mostly about how much fun it is to tune a car ECU yourself. The fact that I built it myself is secondary. It's not like I designed the circuit board myself, much smarter people did all that for me and included instructions about which parts go where.

Yes, but the important thing is that Barry, who swore that modern cars were all disposable because of electronic components going bad and having no replacement, has been proven wrong way ahead of schedule.