So Rookie got me really excited about the idea of moving beyond the stock programing of my 20 year old Ford ECU with a professional tune and custom chip. What quickly calmed me down was the price tag and the fact that you pretty much have to be settled on what parts you've put togther because every time you change something drastic (heads, injectors, etc) you have to go pay to have it tuned again. I've also read on the Mustang Coral that some of thiese tunes have a "service life" until the stock programing wins it's battle and starts taking back over. So, I started thinking...

What if I just dumped the A9L and built a MegaSquirt. I really didn't know what I'd be looking at cost wise but after doing some research it looks like the most expensive plug and play option from diyautotune is within $100 of the cost of having a custom chip burned and would allow me the ability to tune the car myself as I upgrade. I could even have seperate tunes for track and street. I really think this is going to be the next area of the car I upgrade.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Here's what I'm looking at:



http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/p...0-c-53_57.html

-Jason

 

Very few people on MT.net DON'T have MS.

 

Very interesting Jason. I will be following you on this one to see how it turns out. I know you will keep us informed. Hey, maybe santa will drop one down your chimney will glee....Just dont let him see those Monsters in your garage or he may be delayed....

 

So I've secured an old laptop with a serial port for the incredibly low price of $FREE and have begun the long road of reading up on every available internet post about installing one of these in a fox body Mustang. After a lot of reading I think I'm going to try to do the build myself; it seems like just the kind of challenge that's up my alley.

As an added bonus, I just added up what my current A9L computer and "selection" of air meters are worth and it looks like I'll be able to recoup over half the price of the system when I go to sell it all off. The final cost of this "upgrade" may fall right around $200.

-Jason

 

There is certainly some value in old fox wiring harness', mass airs and a9ls'.

I have ran dfi and currently run big stuff 3. I have been thinking about putting MS in my 90 7up mustang but my biggest issue is the learning curve on the tuning. All things take time, patience and someone to hold my hand along the way.

Let me know how the build goes. As for selling the fox parts, ebay.

 

A couple of snowdays here in PA have given me the chance to look into this a bit more. The more I research, the better it sounds. Using a MSII system I'll be able to use my existing Barometric sensor to sort of help eliminate the need to retune the car for the different seasons of the year (something I was warned about by my turbo Miata buddies). I could also continue to use my Mass-air meter if I wanted to make it almost as daily adaptable as a stock computer. The coolest thing I found so far is that I'll be able to 100% just "dial in" the increased displacement of my motor, the lift of my cam, the flow of my heads-it's really going to enable me to get the most out of the combo I have. It even has provisions for launch control.

-Jason

 

I ran Hydra sold it and bought the MS system for my turbo miata and I thought it was more user friendly and had way more support almost all the turbo guys run MS I have just recently purchased this for my new 302 build starting next month looking forward to the tune.

 

Cool. I'm really hoping to see more folks go this route with their Ford V8 Miatas. When you compare the cost of a MS (about $500) to the cost of a eBay A9L, larger-bore mass air meter and a custom tune (about $120 + $200 + $500) it's almost a no brainer.

I'm going to start building mine this summer after practicing with a few circuit boards projects from radio shack and studying up on programming the thing. It would be great to get a bunch of V8 MS guys who could share tunes and such. Please keep us updated with your progress!

-Jason

 

A budy of mine owns 3 5.0 Mustangs, 1 347 drag car, 347 supercharged (setup for a road courses) and a stock 302. All of the cars are between 90 & 93. He is a big believer of the Diablo chip/ Chip Master Revolution tune and has had it done on two of his cars. You can even have a switch that will switch between tunes on the fly. I stoped by one of the local shops that does tunning and an authorized Chip Master Revolution tuner and was told that the chip cost $299 and $140 for the tune. This really isn't bad when you compare it to some of the more modern day tuning software and piggy back system out there (especially in the force induction world). I was told that this is prety much a must if you have a highly modified engine and is the primarily reason I will tune my motor once it is broken in. The ECM must be configured to your specific engine setup not only for performance but overall reliability. I do recognize that you will always be limited by your weekest link and 20 year old tech is defiantly one of them but still worth the investment regardless of the software.

 

With the Megasquirt if you change something, run more boost, seasons, ect. you will need to adjust tuning to keep AFR's in line. I believe a chip is set and does not give the user changeable options. I have never ran a chip but have done alot of tuning on systems such as Cobb, Hydra EMS, AEM, Motec, and Haltec I believe EMS systems to usually out perform as well as give the user more options in tuning. Diablo is a nice system on some of the newer model engines but for the early 302's the DIY has a huge user base as well as the flexibility to incorporate Innovate gages and other technology. They are a truly pro system and you can also build your own ecu if you do not like the packaged one.

My 2 cents for what it is worth.

 

As far as I've been able to find out, having a chip burned for the car would keep the barametric pressure sensor in the loop, which is what allows the stock ECU to adjust for seasonal differences. It looks like I'd be giving this up with MS which means I'd have to retune for the winter and summer. That said, many of my turbo budies simply have two saved files, one for winter and one for summer. I also saw in some of the research I've done that I may be able to leave the mass air and barametric pressure in place with the MS which may make the MS able to do the same thing. The main disadvantage of the "burn a chip" option is the unajustability if I were to swap new parts on which I do want to do. I'd really like to add a set of AFR's and maybe even a supercharger at some point. If I were done with the car engine wise I'd maybe be leaning a little more taward having a shop tune it and burn me a chip.

-Jason

 

So has anyone installed this in their car yet?

 

Hey Six, mine is built and will be ready to replace the A9L as soon as it arrives.

It purchased from DIY AUTOTUNE on CMOC.ca and was built by Brain on MiataTurbo.

I also scored an 02 sensor and gauge which are also on the way.

I will be throwing up some pics by next week of the system being built and ideally installed in my 1990 Ford Mustang Vert.

 

nice does that come with a good base map to go off of?

 

From what I've read they come with a basic 302 1991 Mustang map (I think the test car had GT-40 heads). You then take this map and "tweek" if for your application (displacement, heads, cam, injector size, intake flow). It would be awesome to have a few proven maps uploaded here eventually. I know I'll upload mine once it's up and running (331 ci with GT-40's, 24lb injectors and an E303).
Rick, I can't wait to hear how the install and tunning turn out. I will not be pulling the trigger on this until my cooling and fuel heating issues are worked out.
-Jason

 

I'm working on the "How-To" right now.

 

Here's that "How To" page which will be updated with installation details and eventually be a place to upload/download maps:

https://www.v8miata.net/diy-how-instructions-38/5-0l-megasquirt-diypnp-how-step-step-instructions-332/#post2083

-Jason