Beginner Transplant
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Teching In
Joined: Feb 2014
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Beginner Transplant Beginning a performance budget(iron5.3 ) LS transplant into an old POS,what PCM is budget friendly,& configurable? I read a bit about Megasquirt.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Megasquirt can be a challenge. I had my ECU built by DIY Auto tune, Inc. The last time I built a circuit board was a Heath Kit in the late 70's. That didn't work out so well. So I had a pro build the ECU.
Then I built the harness. That was nice because I could put Weatherpack connectors where I wanted them to make maint easier. And it was slightly cheaper than buying the ready built harness.
Tuning and getting everything to work the way I wanted it to was the challenge. The programming software is good, but not great. And I had to learn all the in's and out's of EFI tuning. The learning curve is steep.
But, that was for a 600+hp SBF.
For my current LS1 project, I have been told that the stock ECU and harness can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. Although I was tempted to use another Megasquirt, I'm using the stock harness and ECU. I'll add some connectors here and there, but otherwise leave it stock. Once the car is assembled, I'll have it dyno tuned.
My current engine is fairly stock for now. Just a small cam and head change. But as my engine program progresses, I may change to a different ECU later one.
The one thing I really like at bout the MS3 is data logging. The ability to log all that data during a 20 minute race is very valuable. I would consider the Megasquirt3 just for that feature alone.
Then I built the harness. That was nice because I could put Weatherpack connectors where I wanted them to make maint easier. And it was slightly cheaper than buying the ready built harness.
Tuning and getting everything to work the way I wanted it to was the challenge. The programming software is good, but not great. And I had to learn all the in's and out's of EFI tuning. The learning curve is steep.
But, that was for a 600+hp SBF.
For my current LS1 project, I have been told that the stock ECU and harness can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. Although I was tempted to use another Megasquirt, I'm using the stock harness and ECU. I'll add some connectors here and there, but otherwise leave it stock. Once the car is assembled, I'll have it dyno tuned.
My current engine is fairly stock for now. Just a small cam and head change. But as my engine program progresses, I may change to a different ECU later one.
The one thing I really like at bout the MS3 is data logging. The ability to log all that data during a 20 minute race is very valuable. I would consider the Megasquirt3 just for that feature alone.
Last edited by .boB; Feb 18, 2014 at 04:20 AM.
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6
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+1 for stock harness and ECU. It will save you an *** load of time and money on this build plus it is more than capable. You can be limited by RPM but you will have to overcome a lot of internal engine hurdles to get it twisting 7500 before the ECU starts giving you trouble.
There are a handful of ECU's that LSx swappers look for, but you should be able to find any of the information that you need right here on this forum.
There are a handful of ECU's that LSx swappers look for, but you should be able to find any of the information that you need right here on this forum.
Don't be fooled, the stock ecu tuning software like hptuners and efi live have a learning curve as well. Even being familiar with some stand alone ecus and other tuning software I am still learning every day. Don't get me wrong, it is doable, but you will need to do some reading. The further you go from a stock set up, the more you will need to learn.
