Car has a Link G1 not G3 - considering Megasquirt..?

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:58 am

Hi Guys as per the title, the car i have has a G1 not G3 link as i was lead to believe.

Problem is it needs some tuning help at partial throttle, on/off/on throttle etc (traffic driving).

A tune up is going to cost at least $200-$300 and any of the pc adaptors etc to play around with the tuning myself will I imagine, cost a decent whack on top.

SO, I am thinking about buying the megasquirt Plug n Play for only a little bit more than what i would spend ($595.00 US at the moment) and wonder if anyone here has any experience with it?

Does the unit self tune reasonably well....enough to save me from paying for a number of dyno tunes etc?

Any issues I should know about?

Cheers
Mark.

Cheers.

sprsta · Post by **sprsta** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:01 pm

hi is it a plugin miata link or wire in link?

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:28 pm

Not quite sure the difference, this unit has a seperate plug in loom added from the standard connectors that then plugs in to the link unit.

It looks like I could remove the link and it's own loom leaving the standard connectors to plug in the standard ECU (though i know i can't do that with the turbo etc).

It just says "Link" on the cover not "Miata link" like the ones I have seen on the net.

Euen · Post by **Euen** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:33 pm

I am using a Link LEM V5 which is based on G1 and am pretty happy with it. The interface for this was ComLink or Serial Link. ComLink is no longer available but you can still get Serial Link from Link in CH. Price is about $104 +GST, plus you will probably need a USB to serial adaptor cable.

The PCLink software is pretty easy to use and is free to download from Link's website. You could certainly set yourself up with tuning capability for quite a bit less than an MS.

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 5:27 pm

Hi Euen, so no real limitations of the G1 in a practical sense?

I figured ther would be, being that many generations old...and from various random comments on forums etc (internet comments, grain of salt required i know..)

I have to admit in WOT and heavy handed throttle applications, it does go well. Fuel economy is terrible and the low speed running is not so great as already mentioned....

I figured they were limitations of the system but if not i'm all up for saving money....

Euen · Post by **Euen** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:59 pm

I'm running mine on a normally aspirated 1.8 and have been running Targa events since 2007 without any problem. Gavin Bellars at Hi Velocity in Glenfield did the tune and I have been pretty happy with it.

Functionality-wise it is probably old technology but I don't see the need to upgrade at the moment, particularly as it is running well. If I build another engine/car I may look at the G4 but by that stage it may be up to G5.

If you have difficulty finding manuals drop me a PM but the PCLink manual is available on the Link website (linkecu.com)

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:28 pm

if you need a megasquirt a guy sells them on trade me for $600nz. serch supercharger and look for mx5

Brainflex · Post by **Brainflex** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:09 pm

warrior wrote:if you need a megasquirt a guy sells them on trade me for $600nz. serch supercharger and look for mx5

I believe the build quality is less than ideal. Be careful.

zippy2 · Post by **zippy2** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:02 am

I have been looking at getting a MS for a few months and have done a bit of looking around. As you may know there are 3 MS units the MS1, MS2, and MS3. The MS1 starting at version 2.2, then v3 then 3.7 main board.

The MS2 having a faster CPU etc, the MS 3 even more features.

They say the MS1 2.2 will run an MX5 and it has all the features you should need, I do not know if it would be a step up from your G1 link.

The MS1 2.2 sells for $150 USD (plus shipping) as a kit and $250 USD complete. (you would need a ND 76 plug - or break out box $90 USD- so add that to your cost)

There are some units offered on trademe and you might check what model and version before committing.

I am not saying the MS1 v2.2 would not suit - just that you could have one in kit form for less than $250 NZ

One unit recently offered on trademe is the excellent DIYPNP N76 unit - which is what a lot of the US forum people recommend as the unit to go for - however the kit on offer is missing the main processor (microsquirt board) so would not work at all.

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:28 pm

Thanks Guys. I have the car booked in to Torque performance on Wednesday.

With any luck some of the mystery surrounding the whole system and process will be removed.

Not to mention improving the low rev and cold running issues.......

Plus i'm heading out to pukekohe on sunday 27th (?) to check out some cars there.....might be a good drive if anyone wants to hook up?

Goodwin are doing the MX5 PNP Megasquirt for $595.00 US at the moment...so that is pretty tempting but until I get a handle on it i'm going to hold fire....well try anyway

The reason i am interestedin the Megasquirt is that (wrongly?) i believe you can set AFR's etc and it will copntrol the engine to achieve them and being open loop (?) it will self tune to a degree....and i can ask questions, post the tune for opinions etc on the miata forum.

IF - that is the case (and i realise i may be WAY off), it doesn't take many commercial dyno tunes on the G1 to cover the cost, not to mention the fun of learning and tweaking AND potential growth factor as I build the car up further....

Please feel free to correct any of the (mis) information above!

Mark.

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:38 pm

i'm not a big fan of autotune..what if the measuring device goes aout of calibration...you are then in engine grenade territory.

i prefer the "lock it in eddie" way of tuning

zippy2 · Post by **zippy2** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:41 pm

the PNP one is most likely this one http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/mega ... p-154.html - lots of details on their site.

you will need a wide band O2 if you are going to run open loop

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:24 am

I see what you mean Slydit, but couldn't a bad sensor do that to a closed loop as well....?

Brainflex · Post by **Brainflex** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:57 am

Mad Kiwi wrote:I see what you mean Slydit, but couldn't a bad sensor do that to a closed loop as well....?

That can be said about anything on engine management. O2 sensors are very reliable, used on millions of vehicles world wide.

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:29 pm

Brainflex wrote:
Mad Kiwi wrote:I see what you mean Slydit, but couldn't a bad sensor do that to a closed loop as well....?
That can be said about anything on engine management. O2 sensors are very reliable, used on millions of vehicles world wide.

i agree but the wideband unit that people use the most has a bad habbit of "locking up" and putting out rubbish from the controller. It's perfectly fine for tuning when you have your laptop plugged in and monitoring but i wouldnt trust it 100% every time. the narrowband just isnt accurate enough to tune properly with.
whats wrong with inputting the values just like they always do it..or you could log an autotuned run and then input the datalogged values in to the fixed tables.

if you look at my dyno graph you can see how small differences in AF ratio made a difference to power output...why "tune in" those swinging AF ratios by using auto tune?

sprsta · Post by **sprsta** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:30 am

i have set my wide band to send a full lean signal when it has an issue but i also have a gauge and the led flashes when its not working correctly

auto tuning is usually done then set and forget,
it is only the L3 correction which have an affect over tuning in day to day driving, and that can only add or remove 6 points at any time. then this info is deleted when the car is turned off and starts again next time unless the data is saved.
so unless your sensor is bad when you are autotuning you dont have a hell of alot to worry about.

r3spct · Post by **r3spct** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:44 pm

Did Torque give you a idea of what the tuning cost would be? A mate took his car there with a Link G4 that he had tuned himself on the road, wanted them to finish off the tune, the car ran fine when it went in, but had flatspots and felt average after the tune, and a $1500 bill.

I do a bit of tuning on Primera's and Pulsars atm, but i am looking for a mx5 atm and have been considering a Megasquirt. There are tuning boards available from Japan for the factory ecu, but i cannot find any further information to support using these boards. To be fair the factory maf is not the best anyway, so the megasquirt takes care of this too.

Post by **jif** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:13 pm

On 20 November 2011 18:44, r3spct <horsepower@mx5forum.co.nz (horsepower@mx5forum.co.nz)> wrote:

Did Torque give you a idea of what the tuning cost would be? A mate took his car there with a Link G4 that he had tuned himself on the road, wanted them to finish off the tune, the car ran fine when it went in, but had flatspots and felt average after the tune, and a $1500 bill.

I do a bit of tuning on Primera's and Pulsars atm, but i am looking for a mx5 atm and have been considering a Megasquirt. There are tuning boards available from Japan for the factory ecu, but i cannot find any further information to support using these boards. To be fair the factory maf is not the best anyway, so the megasquirt takes care of this too.

hi MK
if you're sticking with the Link, flyinmiata has pretty good maps as well as a tuning guide up on their website. Even if you don't have a MiataLink , the boost targets and fueling curves will get you pretty well in the ballpark. That's what i went with and never needed a "professional" tune - it was (scary) quick and never melted anything in over 5 years of daily-driven, boosted fun

But it does sound like your OVERRUN_MAP setting ?? needs adjusting - see the pdf below.

If you go the megasquirt path, they also have base maps for miatas if you search. Same comment re: boost targets and fuelling curves.

www.flyinmiata.com/support/instructions ... tuning.pdf (you prob want section 12, #3 !)
http://949racing.com/megasquirtinfodownloads.aspx

cheers...

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