RexSeven
RexSeven Dork
3/4/11 4:09 p.m.

I have a Cobb Accessport for my Mazdaspeed3 and I plan on using Megasquirt III or Haltech on my turbo FC. I would like to learn about ECU tuning. I'm pretty much a complete n00b when it comes to engine tuning, so if anyone can recommend me some resources for beginners like books or websites, please let me know!

P.S. I know trying to tune a car myself is asking for trouble. I'm sticking to Cobb's premade maps for the MS3. I do plan on having the MS3 dyno'ed and tuned by a shop. I would like to have an idea of what the shop is doing, though.

BigD
BigD New Reader
3/4/11 4:30 p.m.
RexSeven wrote: P.S. I know trying to tune a car myself is asking for trouble.

Don't believe that. The learning curve might be nearly vertical but it's not insurmountable for the typical person with some reasonable understanding of electronics and physics.

I'm maturing in my learning of all this and looking back, like looking back at highschool calculus in university, it's all really not such a big deal. I was extremely lucky to come across someone who has not only built a similar car using the same EMS that I wanted but was also very intelligent and infinitely patient, holding my hand through things. With his help, I converted my car to standalone, configured and tuned it.

All that said, this book is a great start:

http://www.qbookshop.com/products/136272/9780760315828/How-to-Tune-and-Modify-Engine-Management-Systems.html

Spend some time to read and absorb this writeup:

http://195.159.109.134/vemsuk/forum/index.php/topic,97.0.html

PseudoSport
PseudoSport Reader
3/4/11 5:07 p.m.

DIYAutoTune also has a book that might be helpful.

http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/performance-fuel-injection-systems-hp-books-p-436.html

fifty
fifty Reader
3/4/11 5:38 p.m.
PseudoSport wrote: DIYAutoTune also has a book that might be helpful. http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/performance-fuel-injection-systems-hp-books-p-436.html

I picked up this book recently and it's excellent. Also, i'd recommend just reading the MegaManual - lots of theory and useful knowledge: http://www.megamanual.com/index.html

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
3/4/11 5:45 p.m.
PseudoSport wrote: DIYAutoTune also has a book that might be helpful. http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/performance-fuel-injection-systems-hp-books-p-436.html

Seconded, I bought a copy on Amazon and found it rather good so far.

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt Dork
3/7/11 8:25 a.m.

We also have some supplementary notes (in addition to the regular MS3 documentation) on how to run the MS3 on an RX-7:

http://www.diyautotune.com/tech_articles/how_to_megasquirt_your_mazda_fc_rx7.htm

The first car run on production MS3 hardware, BTW, was a first generation RX-7 with an FC ignition grafted on.

ncjay
ncjay Reader
3/7/11 9:54 a.m.

Hope this helps. http://www.efi101.com/

FoundSoul
FoundSoul New Reader
3/7/11 1:19 p.m.

EFI101 is good stuff. Another option is EFITuningTech.com for live online classes.

And thanks for the feedback on the book all-- if you have a free moment and care to drop us a review on Amazon.com we'd greatly appreciate it!

Jerry Hoffmann http://www.DIYAutoTune.com

Paul_VR6
Paul_VR6 HalfDork
3/7/11 2:32 p.m.

As someone who's been around the block with all this, perhaps a few times, the Jerry and Matt's book was a really good read and I recommend it to all my customers who plan to tune their own cars are required reading.

RexSeven
RexSeven Dork
3/7/11 4:36 p.m.

Thanks for all of the replies. Should make for some good reading duing the lulls at work.

In reply to BigD:

Yeah, but like I said, I am clueless when it comes to EFI right now, so I'm not going to do something that could cost me my daily driver's engine.

In reply to Mad Scientist Matt:

Took me a second to realize you meant putting a MegaSquirt 3 in my RX-7, not my MazdaSpeed3's engine! Sounded tempting, but I don't think it would fit. It's too tall.

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
pBBV5bwzNzZc5qkrkpQu5UjdsRGHJU7crmmrjSAWO5ePhfpuPiRiKeSbUCJ55Zh2