Bernie Baake wrote:
I knew I had read about Megasquirt somewhere. I was hoping that someone else had some experience with this type of injection control I guess I'll get my feet wet and go it alone. Maybe Megasquirts assistance and forums will be enough. I wonder if GRM would like to take on the conversion. HA!! Fat Chance
It works and I've helped a buddy set one of the early versions up on his 1st generation RX-7 (replaced the carb, kept the stock dizzy for ignition). It should be easy with the MR-2 since they have such a simple ECU/wiring (maybe a distributor ignition depending on which version of the motor/car you have). I'll bet you that someone else has already set it up for your car if you look at
www.msefi.com under "success stories". I've got a MS 2.0 PCB which I self-assembled (it's about 90% done, I can talk to it with my computer, yay) and will be working on implementing in the next months, I hope.
I never really soldered on a PCB beforehand, just practiced on some "scrap" PCB's and had my military certified avionics friend look over my work to let me know what I needed to modify in terms of my technique. If you read all the MS documentation, they even tell you how to solder "properly" but I would do a little more research/practice beforehand. A lot of folks have built one as their first project, usually recommended to start on some "scrap" PCB or build the 'stim first.
You could also pay a little more and get one assembled and tested. I chose to self-assemble so I would know how it worked if something ever went wrong down the road.
I think it's far superior to the GReddy e-manage (I considered and read quite a bit about them) since at least you have access to change stuff and and update path don't have to deal with GReddy support (the lack thereof). The PowerFC is a nice ECU to get running and go but not much tweaking (my background is in a 93-95 RX-7) and is in some ways limited. The AEM is probably the most flexible stand-alone...a "baby-MoTeC" if you will but with power and flexibility can be heartache. It has matured over time and continues to do so. One "+" the AEM has over the PFC is that it doesn't have updates to the ECU programming and AFAIK the only support for tuning is by a "hack" - the DataLogit which isn't endorsed by Apexi. YMMV - different computers work better for different platforms...also, depends on who is doing the tuning...you should get something that you tuner has a lot of experience with, otherwise, they are going to have to deal with a learning curve of a new EMS as well as tuning your car. I know a competent shop that does work on and is certified by the factory for both the AEM and PFC, but they are located in the Charlotte area.
Tec-II was the benchmark standalone for Miatae as well as other cars but it uses a different tuning methodology - equations, not a map/grid system, so you need to find someone familiar with that (although it doesn't seem very hard to understand and learn). They are in VA, so you could probably actually take your car up to their place and get it tuned by the manufacturer.
Also, you may want to just brew your own wiring harness if you are doing the MS - might save some $$$ if you can graft/rebuild an N/A MR-2 wiring harness (and put that money toward the MS kit). I sort of have two N/A MR-2 parts cars, not sure when/if I can get to them, or if they got hauled off (long story)...I'll look into them if I get a chance in the near future.
HTH...
Regards,
--Ashraf
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