MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltraDork
8/29/13 1:00 p.m.

This is a work in progress, but we've been getting so many questions about LSx swaps that I've made it live on the website now.

DIYAutoTune.com's LS Central

We've got a roundup of MegaSquirt tech information on LS engines, various bits of LS swap information, some links to extremely useful external sites about these motors, and a roundup of several in-house and sponsored project vehicles using LS power.

bluej
bluej Dork
8/29/13 1:25 p.m.

whispers i love you...

Nashco
Nashco UberDork
8/29/13 7:10 p.m.

Matt, some food for thought since you're pushing MS+LS. The GM LS computers are pretty thoroughly hacked, as you are well aware, with a variety of available options on the market for hacked ECUs. I've been a big fan and user of MS for a long time. With that said, I'm impressed with how much coverage the LS already has. It might help your business if you can highlight what the MS can do that the hacked factory ones can not, since the LS market is a pretty broadly covered one.

I know you already have this, but it's fairly generic:

http://www.diyautotune.com/faq/faq.htm#chipcompare

I was thinking something like this, but specifically focusing on the LS factory, LS hacked, and MS1/MS2/MS3Pro/MS3Otherguy stuff:

http://msextra.com/feature-xref.html
http://www.diyautotune.com/faq/megasquirt_efi_ecu_options_wirein.htm

Might take you a few hours to compile it and prepare it for presentation, but I bet you'll make more sales with less hand holding in the future.

Then again, I'm not selling aftermarket engine management, so what the hell do I know? You might already be working on this too, as "work in progress" suggests. Just trying to help, as I'm a fan of your products and service. Thanks for sharing, and good luck!

Bryce

MrJoshua
MrJoshua PowerDork
8/29/13 7:36 p.m.

Thank you!

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/29/13 9:41 p.m.

I'm with Bryce. I'm curious about what the MS offers that the stock PCM doesn't.

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltraDork
8/30/13 7:55 a.m.

Bryce,

That's a very interesting question. I'll need a bit of research to put it together, but in the meantime, there's a pretty good discussion of tuners vs standalones on LS motors in general in this thread:

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/showthread.php/43932-6.0-liter-chevy

Ranger50
Ranger50 PowerDork
8/30/13 8:58 a.m.
MadScientistMatt wrote: http://www.bangshift.com/forum/showthread.php/43932-6.0-liter-chevy

That made my head hurt.

But it did raise the question I saw not answered, why isn't MS, in PNP format, out there for the LS's, but yet is available for lesser known/more narrow scope or market vehicles? (I think I already know the answer.)

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltraDork
8/30/13 10:59 a.m.
Ranger50 wrote: But it did raise the question I saw not answered, why isn't MS, in PNP format, out there for the LS's, but yet is available for lesser known/more narrow scope or market vehicles? (I think I already know the answer.)

There are several reasons, but the biggest is that an MSPNP would be the wrong tool for the job that we would expect our customers to be using it for. Most LS inquiries we get are about engine transplants.

The MSPNP lineup is intended to plug into a factory wiring harness - and unmodified factory wiring harnesses require almost as much modification to use in an engine swap as starting with a MegaSquirt flying lead harness. I've got a stock LS harness sitting around in my office - I had thought about trying to splice a MegaSquirt connector onto it, but it turned out to be much more complicated than that.

I suspect what most LS customers would want would be a wiring harness that is already complete with the connectors needed to run an LS motor, where you just need to wire up 12 volt power, ground, and switched power. Does that sound about right?

Ranger50
Ranger50 PowerDork
8/30/13 11:08 a.m.

I think we are discussing the difference in what is PNP. The way the one poster was putting it was, "Why can't MS be PNP like a "hot rod" harness?" It comes with all the connectors terminated and 4' or extra wire for versatile mounting options, IE- More like Holley/BS/FAST.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/30/13 12:00 p.m.

I have seen ads for a few other aftermarket EFI setups like that - they come with a full harness with all the engine plugs on them. FYI, the engine controller packages from GM, street price of about $1100, even include a fusebox as well as the full wiring harness and PCM. So there's a price point.

For all the interesting points that Dieselgeek in that bangshift thread makes, there are some things we've found. There's quite a bit of variation in the "factory" tunes that come with the crate engine controllers. One of our customers pulled 285 at the wheels on an E-Rod engine rated at 430 SAE HP out of the box. After tuning, 405. So I do wonder just how good those out-of-the-box tunes are, and we've certainly seen them improved. He is definitely right that the HPT developers (as with reprogrammers for just about about every OE ECU out there) are trying to reverse engineer a pretty complex system and may not always get it right. At least with MS you know that the hardware, the firmware and the programming interface were all developed together.

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltraDork
8/30/13 1:30 p.m.
Ranger50 wrote: I think we are discussing the difference in what is PNP. The way the one poster was putting it was, "Why can't MS be PNP like a "hot rod" harness?" It comes with all the connectors terminated and 4' or extra wire for versatile mounting options, IE- More like Holley/BS/FAST.

The way the current MSPNP is designed, once we got the basic design in place, creating more MSPNP variants is fairly easy. We already have the basic system architecture, assembly tools, and quality control procedures in place; each new design just means a little on-car testing and a new PCB.

Manufacturing a drop on harness needs different resources, techniques, and quality control procedures, so the groundwork we've laid for building more MSPNPs doesn't carry over. Which is why we went for expanding the MSPNP lineup first.

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