Toyota MR2 Message Board - View Single Post - Opinions on the "Mega-Squirt" EMS? : Ongoing MegaSquirt Discussion

RickyB · 03-20-2007, 03:10 PM

The biggest pro/con of any EMS is the person who installs it and tunes it and that is the best first decision to make. A great tuner with a MS will make your car run better than a poor tuner with a MoTeC. Im not talking 9 second 1/4 miles. WOT makes for very easy tuning. I'm talking about the whole driving experience from cold start, to fuel economy, to lugging around at 40mph in 5th gear to passing the local sniffer test. If you are planning to save money by tuning the car yourself, that's fine, just realize that you will be making a huge investment in time to do what somebody else can do in a few hours.

The same goes for buying a pre-assembled system vs. a board and a bunch of parts. The kit may be fun to build once, but you will have to invest many hours in getting to the pre-assembled unit stage. If you've never built electronic kits before, then you will most likely need to purchase a few simple ones and get some experience with basic soldering and assembly techniques before you even touch something as complex as an EMS.

The question each person needs to answer for themselves when choosing an MS over any other system is how much their time is worth and how tolerant are they of not getting it right the first time. I've had MR2 customers drive into my shop with a stock ECU and leave a few hours later running an EMS fully tuned for power and drivability to their specific setup. Their total cost is $2000 out of pocket and the four hours they sat at the nearby Starbucks drinking lattes. Some of these guys were smart enough to build and install a MS and learn to tune it themselves, but at what total price? You have to be honest with yourself. If you set the cost of your time at zero, then you are not being realistic. You can work part time at that Starbucks and make more than enough to afford me or Enthalpy to EMS your car and tune it for the time you will spend on the MS project. If you do it because you want to learn as much as you can, then go the MS route since that is how you will learn the most. If you are doing it because you only have $500 right now and you must have an EMS then I suggest that you start filling out that Starbucks employment form today.

03-20-2007, 03:10 PM	#89 (permalink)
RickyB Automotive Cartographer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: California Posts: 221 Thanks: 0 Thanked 122 Times in 33 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	The biggest pro/con of any EMS is the person who installs it and tunes it and that is the best first decision to make. A great tuner with a MS will make your car run better than a poor tuner with a MoTeC. Im not talking 9 second 1/4 miles. WOT makes for very easy tuning. I'm talking about the whole driving experience from cold start, to fuel economy, to lugging around at 40mph in 5th gear to passing the local sniffer test. If you are planning to save money by tuning the car yourself, that's fine, just realize that you will be making a huge investment in time to do what somebody else can do in a few hours. The same goes for buying a pre-assembled system vs. a board and a bunch of parts. The kit may be fun to build once, but you will have to invest many hours in getting to the pre-assembled unit stage. If you've never built electronic kits before, then you will most likely need to purchase a few simple ones and get some experience with basic soldering and assembly techniques before you even touch something as complex as an EMS. The question each person needs to answer for themselves when choosing an MS over any other system is how much their time is worth and how tolerant are they of not getting it right the first time. I've had MR2 customers drive into my shop with a stock ECU and leave a few hours later running an EMS fully tuned for power and drivability to their specific setup. Their total cost is $2000 out of pocket and the four hours they sat at the nearby Starbucks drinking lattes. Some of these guys were smart enough to build and install a MS and learn to tune it themselves, but at what total price? You have to be honest with yourself. If you set the cost of your time at zero, then you are not being realistic. You can work part time at that Starbucks and make more than enough to afford me or Enthalpy to EMS your car and tune it for the time you will spend on the MS project. If you do it because you want to learn as much as you can, then go the MS route since that is how you will learn the most. If you are doing it because you only have $500 right now and you must have an EMS then I suggest that you start filling out that Starbucks employment form today.