AEM or Megasquirt

[cntrl3Mass]

Alright
I have a project
2g not street legal full Drag dsm
im looking to go full standalone for this one
full 6bolt block and head
and i want to rewire Everything
and throw out the stock wiring harness because i wont need either of the fuse boxes

looking for options for a ecu
i don't want dsmlink
and i have an idea of what im getting myself into
so is mega squirt really capable of every thing that aem can do
More people will be albe to help me with aem i bet
but for what i want to do megasquirt just seems like the perfect choice
Spectre eMS-Pro Standalone Engine Management System DIYAutoTune.com

 

[propeine]

I've used the same Megasquirt 1.0 pcb v3 on three cars now. One of mine, one of my fathers's and helped a friend with his. Its a very effective tuning system in my opinion. Alot of the research has already been done for you as far as running it in a DSM. I use full COP ignition on a 1jz as well as rock solid boost control with a GM BCS. The principles are the same between systems and megasquirt is quite a bit cheaper. Hell I was never good with electronics and even opted to build my own board.

 

[Freerevving]

The newer versions of megasquirt are as good as the best standalones out there... I would do megasquirt because you can piece it together for $300-$900 (depending on how much you build yourself and what you buy to go with it) while the same equipment would cost you between $1200-3000 with a standalone that has similar capabilities... There is also A LOT of support for MS

Please keep in mind I'm not speaking from any personal experience on this one, so you can ignore my comments... but I was very close to going standalone a while back and I learned a lot of the advantages and talked with some MS guys and even looked through a support board... If I ever need a standalone, it's a no-brainer for me... well plus I like saving lots of money and building things on my own

btw there are other reputable companies out there that will build that for less than half of what Spectre is charging... sensors are extra

 

[GrnZ]

AEM without a doubt. If you got that kind of money to spend.

 

[turboglenn]

AEM if you want the flash, and have plenty of headache medicine.. To me they are all hype and I've installed at least 2 dozen of them and tuned more than that. They have their good points and then they have a ton of things that really piss me off and I tune everything from Autronic, motec, haltech, U-tech, hondata, chrome and more...megasquirts too.. I love MSnS, it's a great system, plenty of "available features' (depends on how you order or solder it) and unlike most plug-n-tug AEM's it's very easy to from one car to the next with it.

The MSnS has a TON of respect from me, and the price is just an extra nice thing to boot.

Don't get me wrong, i like AEM's but some things are such a PITA to deal with or get right on them that sometimes I'd rather just sell one on ebay and replace the customers box with an old haltech or Link (not DSMlink)

Mainly it boils down to your skill... If you can wire a MSnS then the tuning Will be easy... If you need plug-n-play to feel like you can install it, then you may have to spend several hours reading AEM's crappy manual and trying this and that until you get it right ..borrowing some one Else's map rarely even gets a car more than started even with the same parts

 

[diatenshi]

If you have the time and patience to put megasquirt together and install it, it is an amazing system. You will not be disappointed.

 

[someguyonline]

aem is the way to go as long as the tuner knows what they are doing. hard part is alot of tuners are full of BS and may lead you to belive they know what they are doing. example: i've done 3 cars in the last month or so that have been tuned by well know shop, the fuel maps looked like someone spent about 45 seconds on and the timing maps were almost completly linear not to mention about 5 degrees too much. My point is make sure you are not paying someone to learn on your car.

 

[someguyonline]

sorry for the rant, i just feel that aem gets a bad rap because of inexperience, none of this has anything to do with anyone posting in this thread.

 

[turboglenn]

someguyonline, i whole heartedly agree with what you said. I've sorted out more crappy tuned AEM's than any other system.

What bugs me is the damn graph style systems for everything right down to idle control.. I'd rather program the steps and modulation of the motor/valve than to just drag a line up and down that has no real explanation of what it's doing. I guess I'm more of a fan of older DOS systems. I was working on the AEM when it was still GEMS/PEFIS when Jason Siebles bought it from GEMS in Europe and then resold it to AEM as their own system. IMO it's just a pain to work with because there's way too much there for the basic user. I've been doing this all for about 12 years or more and although i can tune an AEM (better than most in this town) I would still prefer a simpler system that's just as effective.

Most shops around here download maps and can't even make their own worth a crap.. I've seen 55* timing under 25+ psi of boost just thrown in because th shop didn't take the time to write an entire map, they just traced where the "ghost cell" was going and worked those areas... that car broke 2 pistons on cyl # 1 right at the wrist pin from detonation, now that I've tuned it, it's running strong and doesn't blow up every other month

 

[someguyonline]

turboglenn, i feel you i guess its all what you are comfortable with. i really like the boost comp and knock control of the aem over the older stuff,flat shift is really easy to set up as well(lots of fun). although i know haltec has some new software so i'm not sure if the e8 or e11s have these features. all in all the systems are only as good as the guy(or girl) behind the laptop

 

[someguyonline]

I've seen 55* timing under 25+ psi of boost just thrown in because th shop didn't take the time to write an entire map, they just traced where the "ghost cell" was going and worked those areas...

its a shame someone paid for that tune,,55* is plain stupidity. this makes me want to post one i pulled from a blown up evo this weekend