4age megasquirt project... any point??

[BennyTheW]

Hiya,

im looking for a bit of a project for the new year and fancy a bit of electronics...

Instead of making a charming robot that will follow a torch or an electronic dice from maplins
i thought i might try and do something of benefit to the Retro rocket...

As of yet im only running a stock jdm 4age (tho this may change with looming promotion)
and i was wondering, is there any point (ie. will i see any performance/economy gains)
in me building up a megasquirt 2 unit and if so then what could those gains be? What additional
features could i then have?

I know im not going to get the world from it but even if it means i can run some better cams or maybe switch to itb's it might keep me amused for a while. (plus then i'd have it for any potential swaps)

Thanks,

Ben

[GregLeBon]

Hi Ben.

I've fitted a MS2 to a Mk1, both Na ans AE101 S/C........

I would say that fitting it to a stock 4AGE is not REALLY worth it.......sure, you have the capacity to tune the AFR, convert to sequential injection and (with a dizzy mod) convert the ignition to Wasted-spark (DLI in Toyota speak!) or even coil-on-plug.....

These will give you a small benefit in power, economy, emissions, etc...

...but not really worth it, IMHO!

HOWEVER.......if you start going down the turbo / SC route, then thats another story.....! MS will enable you to fully control the fuelling on boost, which is where most conversions suffer, as the stock ECU simply cannot deliver the goods....especially if you fit an uprated fuel pump / rising-rate FPR, etc......

MS lets YOU tune the lot......and has the huge benefit of you being able to fit it to your next car, too..........!

MS will be good with ITB's too for the same reasons: stock ECU's are programmed within a tight set of parameters...once you start going outside the box, they get "confused"!

[AlunJ]

MS is fun with a turbo on a 4a, that's for sure :) I set my MS up on a 4a initially, then swapped it onto my SC lump when I fitted that, then onto the turbo'd 4a (which I'm hoping to have on the road in the next few weeks). It's very nice to be able to use one ECU regardless of what I actually put in the car :D

On a stock motor you'd maybe see a slight improvement in power, but would probably only do it on an NA for the features like launch control / flatshifting etc. Most of the other features would be going to waste on a stock 4a though unless you're fitting throttle bodies, camshafts, high-comp pistons etc in which case it'd love it.

The MS1 I was using (megasquirt and spark extra firmware) allowed multiple fuel / ignition maps, launch control & flatshift, rev limiter, idle control, TVIS control (adjusting the on / off points can smooth out midrange power a little on the NA motor) and a wasted spark ignition system using some ford bits (so goodbye distributor). If you have an airflow meter, it'll allow you to dispose of that too.