I'm a newbie, planning a MS chevy 292

[jesdude]

Hello everyone,
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any advice that is given. I am excited to learn and apply what I have learned to my projects!
I have been looking into Megasquirt products for over a year now but have yet to purchase anything for my project. I have a 1953 Chevy club coupe and I will be installing a chevy 292 inline six cylinder engine and either a 700-r4 or a 4l60e transmission. I believe I am leaning toward the 4l60e because it would get rid of the TV cable that the 700r4 uses and keep the engine bay as clean as possible and reduce the number of cables and brackets hanging off my intake. My engine has siamese intake runners and so I know that I want to start with adapting a GM tbi injection to my intake and use the stock type injectors that it comes with. I may install individual injector for each of the 3 intake runners someday but not for a long time if ever. I also have a stock distributor that has a Pertronix conversion kit installed. I will probably try to run the car's stock gauges at first but add auxiliary gauges as needed that can be hidden somewhere until they are needed. From what I have read so far, It seems to me that the ms3 with the v3.57 would be the best fit for me and allow the easiest expansion in the future and be easily hooked up to my modern laptop and android tablet if needed. I thought I would like to build the board myself at one point but I have changed my mind on that in hopes that I reduce any problem later down the road. What do you guys think?

[Matt Cramer]

An MS3 would be overkill for a fuel only TBI install, but it would be the best bet if you're planning on sequential injection or other high end features down the road.

The transmission will require a separate box - either a GPIO board, or a MicroSquirt running James's transmission control code.

[jesdude]

I didn't know about the microsquirt trans controller code but that would be a neat option. About how much would that cost?

I do have a general idea of upgrades in the future that I would want the MS3 to handle and semi-sequential injection and seq spark would be part of the plan eventually. The sdcard logging feature also would be nice.

[dontz125]

Matt and the gang at DIYAutotune sell the uS plus a short pigtail for $339. James' transmission code itself is free to download and install.

[jesdude]

That's not a bad price at all. Do you hook it up to the same signal wires as the MS3? Can you give me a link to james' code?

[billr]

If you are confident about your soldering skills, I encourage you to think again about building a (V3.0) board yourself. With its through-hole design it will be easier to repair or modify in the future, less problems. Also, my understanding from past threads here is that the V3.57 uses a slightly different "tach in" circuit, and it seems to be more fussy than the one on the V3.0 board.

[jesdude]

I have soldered quite a few things like automotive harnesses and small circuit board repairs but I have never tackled anything that was like the v3.0 board. Hmmm.....I do want the least fussy option though. I would probably have to buy a better soldering iron as I have just used the $30 home depot iron over the years. It would be nice to have an adjustable unit. You have to use the rosin core solder on this, right? If the v3.0 is the heavier duty/less fussy/cheaper option then I could still consider it. How long would it take to complete?

[Matt Cramer]

If you are confident about your soldering skills, I encourage you to think again about building a (V3.0) board yourself. With its through-hole design it will be easier to repair or modify in the future, less problems. Also, my understanding from past threads here is that the V3.57 uses a slightly different "tach in" circuit, and it seems to be more fussy than the one on the V3.0 board.

The only difference is that the resistor on the V3.0 is a slightly higher value for more noise reduction. You can get the same effect on a V3.57 board by putting a 10K resistor inline with the sensor.

[dontz125]

That's not a bad price at all. Do you hook it up to the same signal wires as the MS3? Can you give me a link to james' code?

Transmission controller section in the manual.

[jesdude]

Okay, thank you guys.
I looked at the transmission pages and that would be great but I can tell i have a lot to learn about all the software and all the options there are!
My engine is currently on a stand that I built and I plan to get it running with MS and then transfer it into the car when it's ready. It will have a radiator, electric fans, alternator, etc. all mounted and ready before i ever fire it up. OH and I know I will be buying the innovate wideband as well to make tuning easier.

[jesdude]

I was looking around DIYautotune.com and saw this http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/diyb ... p-424.html.
My daily driver 87 gmc truck uses the popular 1227747 ECU and it no longer has to pass emissions standards here in Houston, tx or anywhere for that matter. This has me wondering if I would gain any extra level of performance and/or drivability if I converted the truck over to Megasquirt. The truck runs OK and gets me around but I know for a fact that it's not performing like it should because of the factory setup limits. I've had it for 8 years and it just now has about 130,000 miles on it and still starts up great every time and everything works (except cruise control) but it really lacks acceleration compared to what it used to do AND sometimes will die on me when I have the a/c on and come to a stop or shift into reverse. It has nice new fuel pumps, distributor, sensors, etc. I won't get into how I have diagnosed and fixed the issues in the past because I already know what's causing the engine to die and it is something dumb, but I sometimes think it would be better if I could change parameters on the ECU myself in order to keep it running it's best rather than relying on the factory tables that are designed for fuel economy and emissions standards and the slower response to sensor inputs. I also would like the ability to see all the information that I can't with the factory ecu. Am I wrong to think about doing this? Would I most likely gain what I seek?

[Steven]

how is the 292 coming along? i've just completed a 250 with cop and port injection. it would be helpful to compare set-up notes... Regards Steven

[jesdude]

Well i'm not sure how to post pictures on here or I would show you but the engine is on a stand at the moment awaiting pushrods. I haven't ordered any of my MS stuff just yet because i'm in the middle of moving and once I get settled in a couple weeks then I can get started on it again. I plan to use the MS3 with a gm tbi on an adapter plate for my offenhauser manifold and then use the stock distributor with a pertronix conversion kit. If anything, I'll need your help since you're already familiar with everything! So since you did COP then did you mount a trigger wheel to your harmonic balancer? Is there a way for you to send pictures of your setup?

[Steven]

Dude
I'll start a new thread later and post some pics there, then it will help anyone with a gm straight six.
Steve