I was perusing the forums a bit for some information on standalones, but couldn't find any thread on it.
I was curious what the GRM crowd would recommend. I know, I know, MEGASQUIRT, right? Is that truly the way to go? I need something that is easy to work with, and it must be durable. I myself will not be doing the tuning of the vehicle itself, just the installation of the standalone.
Anybody have experience with AEM, VIPEC, or any of the other systems out there?
I would love to see a comparo of the current offerings vs. MS
We have a rep locally that does VEMS, and those that have used it, rave about it. http://www.vems.us/
I put a Haltech e6x in my turbo RX-7 a few years back. Did everything myself including the tune and it's still running. No complaints on the Haltech.
I have never seen a person get megasquirt to work 100% of the time.
I loooove the Hydra system that FM uses for their turbo setups. Two years of hard use and counting, and I've never had a whisper of trouble from it. The Subaru crowd seems to love them as well.
That said, I've seen plenty of Megasquirt setups that are reliable. I don't know much about the AEM setup, but I don't recall having talked to anyone who was unhappy with theirs.
I'm about to try the Tactrix / Openport system on the WRX. On paper, it seems like a winner but the applications are somewhat limited. It's tough to beat the price for it, though.
AutoXR wrote: I have never seen a person get megasquirt to work 100% of the time.
I have.
AutoXR wrote: I have never seen a person get megasquirt to work 100% of the time.
You must not be looking very hard 
. Ours works 100% of the time, the TFI on the other hand...
They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.
I thought it was 80% of all statistics are made up?
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
I know 2 people who put an MS on a 2.3t. One ended up yanking the motor and putting in an LS1 (I know, it makes no sense), the other ran like a 10.79 quarter mile in a nearly full weight Mustang SVO with a cast iron head and a manual tranny at nearly 7,000 ft. elevation.
So it seems like there are two type of MS people - those who 'get it' and have great results and it's never an issue, and those who NEVER get it and it's always an issue.
We stuck with the factory computer because we figured out how to make it work well (read: throw the VAM in the trash and convert to mass air).
I don't think i've ever heard anything bad about Autronic or Motec.
If i suddenly get rich, the Celica will get Autronic. But i won't get rich, so i'll stick with AEM.
If you're having someone else tune it, then I would seek out the tuners in the area and see what they're use to tuning with and what their feelings are on one brand over another.
Personally, MegaSquirt does so much and support is a mouse click away that it makes the big name brand vendors look a bit silly sometimes.
Bottom line, there seems to be subtle differences between the different products available. The important things to look at are the features needed for the vehicle, who will do the tuning and what is their comfort level with any particular system. If the end use will be doing the tuning, then I'd go MegaSquirt since help is readily available, if its a shop, then let them guide the decision making.
What's the application?
zomby woof wrote: What's the application?
Now Mike, what kind of silly question is that? What do you think it is? A turbo sprint of course!
I've already contacted Matt on TS, but Ontario is a LONG ways away.
HiTemp guy wrote: 1 I also still fail to understand why it is necessary to ditch the perfectly fine ignition system.
I seriously doubt that you have to do that. Look at the MS2Extra manual. It seems to handle just about every ignition out there (except for my 924s). MS will give you exactly what you put in to it. Read absorb and re read. I have learned so much about engine management. I think that most failures occur when people go get a MS and try to install it in a weekend or three having no EFI experience. It is so powerful and can do so much you really need to pick a destination (motor type, ignition type, induction, hp, injector type / ohms, fuel pump, TPS versus MAP etc.) Then Just lay each system out and plan it out. You will end up with a shopping list for bits that you will need that can usually be had through ebay or your local P&P or if needed just purchased new. The other thing you will need to plan out is the wiring. Are you going to use the stock harness or make up your own? If you have an EFI car get another ECU for it and use the plug in it to wire the MS in to. (What i am doing) The only other thing you will need to do is get the calibration readings for the sensors if you re not using gm. This sounds daunting but with the help of others and some searching on the web it is not hard to find. Most shop manuals will have this info for testing the sensors. If you like doing this type of thing the you will succeed at MS.
You get what you put in to MS. It is definitely not for everyone!!!!
AutoXR wrote: I have never seen a person get megasquirt to work 100% of the time.
I had Megasquirt on 3 different builds: all were my daily driver, including -20 deg C Ontario weather. The only time it gave me trouble was when I corrupted a file, resulting in extremely incorrect warm-up values.
The difficulty with the MS is getting a tune right. Unfortunately, the same difficulty exists for any standalone.
I'd rather struggle getting a $300 setup to work right than a $3000 dollar setup, when the end result really isn't that different. That is to say, it's entirely up to the tuner...and YMMV. Literally and figuratively.
I LOVE megasquirt, it was easy to get running on 2 different "all-motor" neon builds (cams and 2.0, cams and 2.4) an SRT swap, and a Briggs and Stratton 3.5. Tuning took a while, but a wideband makes it easier...and the support of MS has increased DRAMATICALLY since then, as have it's capabilities. MSII wasn't out the last time I built one... It's relatively easy to find someone with a similar build (no matter how crazy the build....) and get a baseline tune from there.
Nathan
MS is the only answer.
You have resources who have squirted the very vehicle you are using.
Matt's a pro. The install in my GT was done in less than 2 hours, tuned. It wasn't perfect, but after I told him what it was doing, he fixed it.
Look at Tim's car.
In reply to njansenv: A B&S 3.5??? Details, details, my man. That sounds like it was fun It also might be a great way to teach the 14-year-old nephew about fuel injection, ignition timing, cam timing.... Thanks, Bob
zomby woof wrote: MS is the only answer. You have resources who have squirted the very vehicle you are using. Matt's a pro. The install in my GT was done in less than 2 hours, tuned. It wasn't perfect, but after I told him what it was doing, he fixed it. Look at Tim's car.
Hopefully I'll hear from Matt soon then! I wasn't aware he did the work on Tim's car. You also have a PM on TeamSwift Mike 
AutoXR wrote: I have never seen a person get megasquirt to work 100% of the time.
waves hand I have. I've been driving one since 2007-ish, and it's now on its (counts on fingers) fifth engine.
Most Megasquirt issues that I've seen were strictly wiring. People don't seem to have decent grounds, or decent power, or they make junk conenctions.
Buy a premade flying-lead harness, buy new connectors instead of re-using junk ones, use heatshrink crimp connectors (not soldering! soldered connections have no business being on an automobile - they can't handle vibration) and ground everything at the same point, and you should have no problems.
Additionally, if you DO have a wiring problem, figuring them out seems to be a black art, and if you can't figure out how to make a reliable wiring harness, you probably can't figure out how to trace the problems.
In reply to Knurled:
I've never had a soldered splice fail in an automotive application. Maybe you're doing it wrong?
I don't know, I never do them. I've repaired a lot of them, though.
The proper way to do it would involve stress relieving it with a good chunk of heatshrink. A lot of people don't do this, and the soldered joint comes apart right next to the blob as the vibration cracks the wires. And sometimes you'll start to have problems when all but two or three of the wires are broken, leading to wonderful intermittent problems, or connections that show continuity but simply won't pass enough current. (An old washer pump works great as a circuit load tester, BTW)
Or, you can buy a good crimping tool, use the heat shrink crimp connections, and never worry about it.
Yeah, I shrink wrap everything. I also twist the wires together very tightly before soldering. I don't really leave a blob, as all of the solder gets wicked into the wire.
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