Mega Squirt v3.0

[JeffMcKC]

I am going to make a new manifold and thinking of going EFI I am gettting to old to want to change jets all the time. I want to hook up to my old Holley ICT Ignition am I better off with a XFI Fast system or is the Mega Squirt just as well, I am looking for ease of use too, on my Drag Week Small Block N/A Car it makes a little over 600 HP. Thanks!

[QuarterHorse]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

It's all going to depend on who you talk to honestly. I know somebody on this board that's going to suggest the Mega Squirt hands down. I had zero luck with it, sent it off to Oregon for help, got it back, still no luck. I actually called somebody somewhat local who's on this site and couldn't seem to hook up with him. I ditched my set up for something else.

Good luck with whatever you choose. I don't have any experience with the FAST stuff, but know it's a little spendy, especially compared to the Mega Squirt stuff. Sometimes you get what you pay for though.

[VWMMP]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

It's all going to depend on who you talk to honestly. I know somebody on this board that's going to suggest the Mega Squirt hands down. I had zero luck with it, sent it off to Oregon for help, got it back, still no luck. I actually called somebody somewhat local who's on this site and couldn't seem to hook up with him. I ditched my set up for something else.

Good luck with whatever you choose. I don't have any experience with the FAST stuff, but know it's a little spendy, especially compared to the Mega Squirt stuff. Sometimes you get what you pay for though.

You probably had zero luck because of the guy who built it - I forget his name but he is in Oregon. He is no longer able to obtain product or support from bowling and grippo (the originators of megasquirt) due to his poor customer service. If you want to talk Mega Squirt, Dieselgeek on this forum is one of the experts. He has more experience then he lets on with this stuff.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

Hope to hear from him about it then. Good or bad, It looks like the fast is more user friendly but I maybe all wrong and I need to learn to be able to tune it after its on, and I can barely e-mail

[QuarterHorse]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

It's all going to depend on who you talk to honestly. I know somebody on this board that's going to suggest the Mega Squirt hands down. I had zero luck with it, sent it off to Oregon for help, got it back, still no luck. I actually called somebody somewhat local who's on this site and couldn't seem to hook up with him. I ditched my set up for something else.

Good luck with whatever you choose. I don't have any experience with the FAST stuff, but know it's a little spendy, especially compared to the Mega Squirt stuff. Sometimes you get what you pay for though.

You had zero luck because of the guy who built it - I forget his name but it is probably the same guy that goes by patatron on the vw forums. He is no longer able to obtain product or support from bowling and grippo (the originators of megasquirt) due to his poor customer service. If you want to talk Mega Squirt, Dieselgeek on this forum is one of the experts. He has more experience then he lets on with this stuff.

I'm not wanting to step on toes at all, but how do you know who built it?

I bought my stuff from DIY Auto Tune pre built. I had a gentleman go out of his way who made an adapter board for a Ford AODE trans in a 1st Gen Lightning so I could use the stand alone for the engine only. Not sure if this is where the problem was or not. I called Scott a few times with no luck. 1st few attempts to actually just put the MS in and tune it for me, the second to help trouble shoot. For whatever reason, he got busy, and couldn't return phone calls after I got it all installed. This wasn't his problem, I'm not bashing anybody.

I feel I'm pretty mechanically inclined myself, and decent at trouble shooting. Nothing was working in the system, after reformating my laptop and running several different patch programs to tune it all. I got sick of it, sold it for pennies on the dollar, and switched the truck over to Mass Air. (They were Speed Density stock).

I'm not bashing anybody or any brand, just my experience with MS. I won't ever try it again. If I go stand alone, it'll probably be something from FAST.

[QuarterHorse]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

Hope to hear from him about it then. Good or bad, It looks like the fast is more user friendly but I maybe all wrong and I need to learn to be able to tune it after its on, and I can barely e-mail

I would definately buy pre-built if I were you if you do go MS. I had poor luck on the MS boards too, as I seemed to catch a little flack for not putting one set up together from scratch. I just all in all had poor luck with the system, and couldn't get any feedback for the issues I was having with the set up. I'm sure it's came a long way from a year and a half ago when I attempted the use of it.

[squirrel]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

I think MS is aimed more at true believers...they'll do what it takes to make it work, and also be more likely to assemble the board themselves.

I have oan older MS board I put together a few years ago, never used it though, because I'm lazy. But I also like building electronic stuff, so I'm not a normal car guy.

seems if you put an assembled MS on ebay it should get a few bucks...????

[VWMMP]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

It's all going to depend on who you talk to honestly. I know somebody on this board that's going to suggest the Mega Squirt hands down. I had zero luck with it, sent it off to Oregon for help, got it back, still no luck. I actually called somebody somewhat local who's on this site and couldn't seem to hook up with him. I ditched my set up for something else.

Good luck with whatever you choose. I don't have any experience with the FAST stuff, but know it's a little spendy, especially compared to the Mega Squirt stuff. Sometimes you get what you pay for though.

You had zero luck because of the guy who built it - I forget his name but it is probably the same guy that goes by patatron on the vw forums. He is no longer able to obtain product or support from bowling and grippo (the originators of megasquirt) due to his poor customer service. If you want to talk Mega Squirt, Dieselgeek on this forum is one of the experts. He has more experience then he lets on with this stuff.

I'm not wanting to step on toes at all, but how do you know who built it?

I bought my stuff from DIY Auto Tune pre built. I had a gentleman go out of his way who made an adapter board for a Ford AODE trans in a 1st Gen Lightning so I could use the stand alone for the engine only. Not sure if this is where the problem was or not. I called Scott a few times with no luck. 1st few attempts to actually just put the MS in and tune it for me, the second to help trouble shoot. For whatever reason, he got busy, and couldn't return phone calls after I got it all installed. This wasn't his problem, I'm not bashing anybody.

I feel I'm pretty mechanically inclined myself, and decent at trouble shooting. Nothing was working in the system, after reformating my laptop and running several different patch programs to tune it all. I got sick of it, sold it for pennies on the dollar, and switched the truck over to Mass Air. (They were Speed Density stock).

I'm not bashing anybody or any brand, just my experience with MS. I won't ever try it again. If I go stand alone, it'll probably be something from FAST.

I modded my response to say probably the same guy who built it- Not DIY Autotune - There is one outfit in Oregon who has a very bad reputation for poor assembly and worse customer service. I have seen Mega Squirt work on quite a few different cars with great success. Sorry to hear you have not had much luck.

My reason for going with MS was that I was running an off the shelf system that was supposed to be fool proof, they have been around for quite a while. I had the system crash on an upload of new software - back to the vendor to be fixed. I had the software crash and lose all my maps. Then the last straw was when It died competely on a run at Maxton. I parked it on the shelf. It is toast - and the vendor won't fix it. First of all Mega Squirt is not for the faint of heart. I did not want to go the bare bones build it yourself so I went with Scotts old company for mine. Someone who has support and a warranty for their Mega Squirt system. My suggestion for those who want to run an after market ecu- check around for others who have a similar engine, tranny, turbo, supercharger, nitrous or any combination of those to see what they are running. Mega Squirt might be for you, Might be the FAST system, or one of the others.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

After my own research and e-mails with DieselGeek, based on what I want and expect I plan on buying an unassembled MS kit and associated kits for my Buick in January (DIYautotune). It'll probably be early summer before I get all the FI hardware together and installed on my Skylark. So if you want to wait until Mid-Summer I'll let you know how I fare

[BBR]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

MS V2.2 here. I've built 2, sold one and kept one. I am also using an EEC-IV to MS adapter board. I haven't reached the point of starting the engine yet though. It stims fine and uploads and downloads just fine so I don't really anticipate it being too big of a deal.

[Dynoroom]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

I've run many different type of EFI systems, Speed-Pro/FAST, EFI Technologies, Accell DFI, Motec, Holley 950, Hilborn/Carabine, Haltech, BOSCH, Electramotive, & some I can't remember. They all have their pluses & minuses. I run the FAST system on the Bonneville Firebird we run. One thing I always find interesting is the guys who are ALWAYS see guys opening the laptop & tuning. I tune at home on the dyno and when I get to the salt we race the car. Never have used the laptop to tune the car at the track. It has a MAP sensor for altitude compensation, air temp sensor for density, & coolant, throttle position sensors so unless you didn't do your home work you shouldn't need to do anything (unless you want to) to keep the car consistant from run to run.
The '92 Firebird we run at the salt has run well over 300 mph with a turbocharged 368" small block with no tuning after the dyno.

[Saltfever]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

I've run many different type of EFI systems, Speed-Pro/FAST, EFI Technologies, Accell DFI, Motec, Holley 950, Hilborn/Carabine, Haltech, BOSCH, Electramotive, & some I can't remember.

Mike, I have been seriously considering the Hilborn unit because you don't need a computer to tune it. Just a screwdriver for the 9 pots. However, it is fairly expensive and I was wondering what you thought about it. PM me if you don't want to go public on this. My car will be street only, Procharger, SBC 383, 69 Nova.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

I run the FAST system on the Bonneville Firebird we run. One thing I always find interesting is the guys who are ALWAYS see guys opening the laptop & tuning. I tune at home on the dyno and when I get to the salt we race the car. Never have used the laptop to tune the car at the track.

I am in your line of thinking here. The Fast system does have support from Comp at Drag Week which is a plus

[dieselgeek]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

Cool post!


I've tuned the following: DFI Gen 6 & 7, Autronic, AEM, MoTec, Electromotive, Haltech, FAST (older versions thru XFI), Link (M-link and Possum versions), lots of BigStuff3, Holley Commander (actually a nice little box with a good manual!), the Hillborn stuff, and played around a bit with the Pantera box. more than anything I've used Megasquirt. And you know what? THEY WILL ALL PISS YOU OFF AT TIMES. Never got my hands on any of the Bosch stuff (Dynoroom, you lucky mofo). I've done some HPTuners and SCT now as well.

The fact is, Megasquirt gets most of it's negative press because EFI and diagnostics are NOT everyone's cup of tea, and being the cheapest solution, most guys flock to it first. Try finding a "tuning guide" or any good documentation on a BigStuff3!

Self-installed EFI can be the most frustrating thing in the world because you don't always know what to look out for, what issues you may run into. NONE of the above systems are any better or worse than the others mentioned: some trade features for simplicity, others are so complicated you'll never know where to begin. My recommendation to anyone who wants to get into it, and learn to tune their engine, is to FIRST make sure you are good at knowing what an engine wants/needs. That means, knowing your carburetors. Second, is find a friend whose done this before who can give you pointers. Third, DO NOT HAVE A DEADLINE. Whenver a guy calls me for help and says "I want to be ready for a race in three weeks" I automatically know he's screwed. Deadlines kill everything when you're learning something so new.

I bet Dynoroom can expound on this. Mike, at some point YOU had to be new to this. Can you discuss the learning curve? Some people take to it like a fish to water (usually, guys who have been tuning carbs on multip0le engines and really know their stuff, who aren't afraid of a computer). Other guys seem to have no luck, and in my opinion NO system will work for them...


Jeff McKC, you live less than 3 hours from me and I have a number of customers in KC. I am going to be there in a few weeks working on a car at Procharger if you want to hook up and discuss some options. I do a lot of testing for the megasquirt guys, I recommend it because it is used by more people than all other EMS's combined. Great online support, and it has the best tuning guide available. The fact is, your first EFI install is going to be a learning curve no matter what system you choose.

Of the people on here who also might have good input, CDMBill recently went through his first EFI install. He did the entire installation himself, then had me visit when it was time to start the car. We had some intake leaks in his new manifold that took a few days to get ironed out, after that, I showed him what I was doing and he "got it" right away. He was a hardcore carb tuner like Jeff McKC. Brian Rock is getting ready to go through the same, perhaps he can chime in. he rode in Bill's car during drag week, and by the second day they were tuning the car entirely themselves. Adding pump shot to pick up sixty times, frankly it was entertaining watching them apply their track tuning carb knowledge to the EFI system. I think they're both pleased with the results, and it wasn't a lot of headache for ANY of us.

Jeff, send me a PM and we can talk offline.

To the kid with the truck, I hardly remember but it was probably sometime last year when I was working on the eMS-pro. I literally spent 18 hours a day, for 11 months, "in development" and I had practically no time for anyone. Apologies for sure, although there are a TOn of other helpful resources out there if you just take your time.

-scott

[dieselgeek]

Re: Mega Squirt v3.0

I've run many different type of EFI systems, Speed-Pro/FAST, EFI Technologies, Accell DFI, Motec, Holley 950, Hilborn/Carabine, Haltech, BOSCH, Electramotive, & some I can't remember.

Mike, I have been seriously considering the Hilborn unit because you don't need a computer to tune it. Just a screwdriver for the 9 pots. However, it is fairly expensive and I was wondering what you thought about it. PM me if you don't want to go public on this. My car will be street only, Procharger, SBC 383, 69 Nova.

I have a hard time recommending the Hilborn system, which is "Alpha-N" (as opposed to Map-N, or Speed Density), for a streetable application. The problem is, no compensation for variable load. IF you're going up a steep hill at 1/2 throttle, or level cruise at 1/2 throttle, you will need drastically different fuelling yet the Alpha-N system won't know the difference. Map-N give you load compensation. Again I'd recommend going speed density, and having a friend or someone guide you during the process to get you up to speed.

Do you know Gary Hart? He races the '53 Studebaker in BG/ALT. Twin turbo BBC. He's seventy years old, picked up his FIRST laptop last year and now the fart doesn't even need me for help. He spends hours looking at datalogs from bonneville and our test sessions. He needed a little coaching from us, and that was it. His wife is a librarian who is very computer literate, and she told me that she could NEVER get him to even sit down at a computer until he decided he needed EFI. Now the guy drives his pickup into town (Springfield MO), parks in the Starbucks parking lot, and pirates their wireless connection so he can send me datalongs and tuning files. The guy is a riot!

-scott