Evening All
Few things now appearing on this thread both here and on LR4x4 that are of interest, inc Zens and his comments on MS3, and 'Phil Ringwood' of Extra DIY
So, some info to fill in some gaps.
Phil Ringwood of Extra EFI, erm "Guru" on Megasquirt, don't think for one minute I am ever going to knock Phil - he will forget prob more than I will prob ever know on Megasquirt - he is a Lecy genuis, part of the team theat actially programmed the "Firmware" for the ECUs - think of firmware as say Windows XP, Vista & etc and MSQ as Rover V8 Zetec XJ whatever etc, and that is not only waaaaay beyond me, but frankly always will be
Phil I think gets huge pleasure and satisfaction being right in the heart of the techy stuff, that makes MS work, he and I are a million miles apart in what we do, and thats why MS is so bludy great !
Without the Phils of this world some of the cutting edge stuff wouldn't happen, MS is Shareware, the software and support is free, peeps of all walks of life with a mixture of skills and knowledge make it what it is.
What Phil and I hope I bring to MS are poles apart, he is the chap for things like MS3, I am not, even tho I have a mate wnating one for a V10 racer - me getting involved will prob be a one off, and it will most likley give me a big F off headache or 10
But Phile is super knowledgeable on MS, software, programming etc etc etc. What he does is more the cutting edge sytuff, and support the further development etc which I am in awe of, what I do is very different.
Yonks back now I had this Daft engine - a 4.5 John Eales Rover V8 full race, had Jag injectors, Jag AFM and a Mark adams modified ECU - it ran worse than a bag of ****. It was a race engine I wnated it in my road going 90
Net result was if I could give it large at 3000+ RPM all was fine but thats tricky on Guilodford high street
so it often coughed sputtered and died in embarrasing places and times
Que MS
I heard about this from a couple of well known culprits John Utterride and Bill Shurvington, both have minds size of planets like Phil and knowledge that turns mine to Pulp, but I saw the light
MS was a HUGE process to fit on my truck, whilst the ECU was fairly easy to get and get made (beyond me !) the trigger wheel, brackets for VR sensor, coil packs, and a raft of other stuff took me absolutely ages to make and I near gave up so many times. The trigger wheel was made on a milling machine by me with a dividing head and some maths, 5 wheels later I had one that was "OK" I now have them cut on a near 900,000 laser machine accurate to a wigets nagger (thats tech speak BTW
) and can be fitted in minuties
And thats basically what I do I SPECIALISE in ROVER v8s and have a series of Kits (a La What Sam Bought) with anything > eberything you need for a full and easy install
I use MS1 V3.57 with the latest firmware and a series of V8 MSQs that I have got over the years of tinkering.
The Rover V8 is really a bit of a snotter of an engine, a USA Cast of Buick 50s engine, Bought and messed up further by BL, with applainging unrelaible and badly Mapped ECUs with no diagnostics and die at the sight of any water and ot die cos they are bludy Lucas junk.MS3 is really really state of the art, some peeps think that MS have moved away from their initial base of being simple user friendly and robust etc, maybe, but engije technology has come in leaps and bounds since MS arrived, MS3 means you can take the quatrrovalve 5. diddleee CANBUS power coded injectored nightmare engine from a scrappee shove it in a racer and get prob more power and Torque than factory ! (loose the Emmission garb, tune for power not economy etc etc) BUT MS3 on a Rover V8 ? As I say sometimes, thats like putting stockings and suspenders and lipstick on a Pig, under all the glam, its still a Pig
MS3 IS good on modern complex engines, MS2 I am not a lover of, MS1 I love and is far more than enough for a rover V*, Twin Maps ie 1 x fuel 1 x LPG NOS yes, Traction control yeah if you wnat and Boost yes that too, MS1 is underrated and too many people think more is better - if you wnat to learn get MS1 learn learn and learn then see if you really need MS2. I am delihted that a MS1 powered modded TVR Chimea that I tuned on the UK Roads with MS and MLV out performed a muppet who had spendy emerald fitted (and badly tuned) he therefore decided to go MS and did, had it again badly set up, but it wa MS2 so had to be better eh ? Nope my mate in his lowly MS1 pees all over it. MS2 IS better with injector control and bigger tables but for a cooking Rover V8 Hmmm, also a MS1 well set up will beat5 a MS2 MS3 or DTA / emerald spendy time hands down when NOT set up properly. More complex = more tricky to get right and more chances of being wrong
What I do is complementary to MS, what Phil does is the same, the Rover V8 doesn't need MS2 or defo doesn't need MS3, but I love my Rover V8s and thats what I play with. I hope that peeps will see me in the megasquirt world as a nice nutter who helped and supported them to get Megasquirt on the V8, get it sorted and get the bug, if I have done that I am a happy man.
I had a big well paid job that near put me in a box 6 foot under at an early age, paid well, hated it, now I get up every day and get to fiddle with ideas and items to help peeps squirt a V8 without the sheer terror I had.
Am I better then than Phil R ?
Er, non, defo not !
Different yes, specilaised Yes, but better defo not, he is one of those "Geeky Gurus" I look up to !. I have also pointed a number of TVR MS2 enquiries to him, yes buy my brackets No, MS2 = go talk to Phil :O)
You'll find the MS world is bigger than you may think, but 1 HUGE word of warning - DO NOT BUY ANYTHING that isn't sold as GENUINE B&G stuff, there are some nasty devinat copy merchants out there selling rip of copies, they are cheap for a reason - they are F junk
Even little old me has been approached to have stock of copy stuff, they got really obnoxoiyus when I told them what I though of them ! - scum
Bruce was hugely supportive of Me when I wrote to him years back and asked and explained what I was planning to do, his view and comment back was "Suport the Megasquirt comunity and help make it better" was what he said, thats what I try to do in me own little way, and there are a number of good guys out there and some that are not, including ECU builders that frankly need shooting.
The only reasosn they are stil alive is that its illegal to kill them
But be warned carefull who and what you buy, DO NOT BUY NON GENUINE B&G STUFF - period
So, hope the above adds a bit to the thread and the wonderfull world of Megasquirt
I'll end with a Pic of my new even sillier engine
All 5.2 342 BHP and HUGE Torque full race Rover V8 5.2 CC from Mr JED again, bought it a dreadfull condition of boxes of bits and now running again
Makes for a fairly "rapid" Challenge 90 on the road
Love megasquirt
Nige
