The V8 Owners Forum -

DaveEFI wrote:As I said, MS is basically a DIY system - although many sell it as a turnkey unit too.

If you go down the DIY route, there is a lot to learn. Which some may not want to - in which case they'll have to dig deeper to pay for the expertise of a pro. But at least they have that choice - unlike commercial only units.

The V3 board - my favourite for DIY - has fully protected injector drivers.

You really have never used anything other than MS ?

You seem to have some obscure thinking that aftermarket ecu's can only be used by professionals of some description.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Some are easy, some are complex. But you certainly dont need to pay a "professional" if you are prepared to learn.
Virtually every aftermarket ecu's software is free to download, most have excellent manuals to read as to how to use that software, as well as good dealer and manufacturer support when problems arise.

You seem to make it out that proper branded units are some mysterious beasts that no mere mortal can ever use. Complete and utter nonsense.

You appear to be reading between lines that I didn't write.

I've been looking at the mtech £495 I'm just trying to confirm that it will run a gems 4.6 fuel injection and ignition, and another is the dta but I'm not sure on cost on these.
I can't really be bothered learning how they work I just want to fit it and get going.

Mtech is a company who build Megasquirt into their own enclosures.

Are they any good? £495 seems a decent price if its mega squirt.

There are several different Megasquirts, at different prices, and variations according to spec.

I'd strongly advise you to learn at least the basics so you can decide what you actually want.

^ What Daves says - MS prices vary hugely depending on whether you go for MS1 (cheap, simple enough for most RV8 stuff) or MS3/MS3X (more expensive but has more capabilities than you can shake a stick at.)

See here:

http://www.ms3efi.com/feature-xref.html

Do a search on Google for MTech and MegaSquirt, youll soon find out that they were banned from buying MS ECUs and the way they ripped us all off by making fake boards, etc, etc.

Dont take my word for it, there are warnings about them all over the place,
thanks
Phil

Right, I just bought a 4.6 gems of fleaBay (wish me luck) I want to run efi & ignition with variable adv/ret for lpg. I'd like to run a tacho & temp control (run richer up to temp), plug a laptop in (goes without saying) I've only got a mac are they pc only??
Where does that leave me?

Hi Phil, just sussed out who you are, so I'll start by bugging you first.
I love the look of your ms3 kit but £900 is about £500 too far for me have I got any options with you??
I'm guessing NO, but hit me anyway.
Do I need 3 for the stuff listed above?

Cheers,
Martyn

mateyboy67 wrote:Hi Phil, just sussed out who you are, so I'll start by bugging you first.
I love the look of your ms3 kit but £900 is about £500 too far for me have I got any options with you??
I'm guessing NO, but hit me anyway.
Do I need 3 for the stuff listed above?

Cheers,
Martyn

Consider that a "kit" should have everything to make installation and running a simple task.
Dont underestimate the value of that, especially for a novice.

You might think you are saving money by buying "parts" cheaper, but it could end up costing you a lot more in grief.

You would not need MS3 for the basic requirements you have listed.

Good, glad to hear it, that's a start then.

Yeah, as Steve says, £900 includes everything you need apart from HT leads and a bracket for the coils. Thats for fully sequential fuel and VW based coil packs (wasted spark)

An MS3 with MS3X card (lots of I/O, 8 injector outputs) to run the VW coils, or LS2 COPs, etc, with semi-seq fuel is £615 if you want to get all the other parts yourself. This can run full seq if you give it a cam signal.

I've just developed a new board for the MS2 ECU (MS2X) this allows for 4 injector outputs, a couple of programmable outputs, 2 digital inputs, second O2, etc.
On a V8 it will give you semi-sequential fuel reasonably cheaply.

Cost for an MS2 ECU with this MS2X card is £475 inc a 1m bare ended loom, comms lead and manuals.
I can do this as a kit of bits for £675, see here:
http://www.extraefi.co.uk/RV8_Kits.html#semi

A normal MS2 ECU as kit of bits is £615 see here:
http://www.extraefi.co.uk/RV8_Kits.html#wasted

or without the kit of bits its £415

All the ECUs are fully built, waranteed, loaded with base map, come with a 1m bare ended loom, comms leads and manuals.

You also get a discount if your a paid member of this forum,
thanks
Phil

Hi
I have one of Phils kits as described with the 1m loom and a couple of custom bits, it is full MS3 but I am at the moment doing sparks only, I want the rest to handle logging and activating some other stuff later (I have mechanical fuel injection). I bought my coils seperatly but they drive straight off the drivers as fitted.
Phil offers very good support for his products and once I had sorted the Dumb errors I made my set up runs as I want and I will develope it further. However be aware MSQ is developed as an open source system and that tends to mean it has far more features than may be necessary, it is complicated to work out what you want to use but it is not impossable. The menu structure on things like tuner studio is poor, many items that logically should be all under one menu are scattered, (there is meant to be an "outputs test" mode which I would find incredibly usefull, only trouble is I cannot find it anywhere).
Many many people have got MSQ/EFI extra running, it is a very good system but you do need to be patient, you do not need to be an expert but you do need to keep at it, and be prepared to walk away and have a cup of tea when your brain gets tired. If you want inexpensive EFI control that will pay for itself quickly (much quicker than LPG ever would) just by the fuel you save then it does just that, it also lets you tune the engine in real time and offers future development features at minimal extra cost.
Best regards
Mike

That's a pretty good summary.

No two engines or installations are going to be exactly the same, so it's not really possible to provide a complete kit which will 'bolt' straight on. Unless you already have a standard installation where is is possible to provide a plug and play ECU replacement. But you are then restricted to the basics of that original system.

Sadly, not wanting or willing to learn about fitting aftermarket injection but also not having the funds to pay someone to do it for you ain't compatible.