megasquirt EFI

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options:

•MegaSquirt-III V3.0 kit with MS3X expansion board
•MegaSquirt-III V3.57 / MS3X assembled unit - $640.00
Other recommended parts

•Two QuadSpark ignition modules $89.00x2 $178.00
•JimStim kit or assembled JimStim $ 59.00
•Stimulator power supply $ 9.00
•12' main board wiring harness $ 85.00
•MS3X wiring harness $ 78.00
•6' DB9 tuning cable or MS3 USB cable $ 6.95
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$ 1055.95


•Wideband O2 sensor system
 
Thanks for posting, I've already built my MS3 with MS3X board, I need to check my crank trigger, but other than that I think I have it set up correctly.:cheers:

Couple of things that may help.

Don't be afraid of building your own MS3, I was really afraid of making a $365.00 brick. I took my time, followed the directions and had it built in about 4-6 hours. This saved me $185.00. Plus you'll save a few more bucks assembling the JimStim and the JimStimX.

To ensure that I could build the MS3 kit I ordered my kits in stages. I ordered the Jim Stim and the JimStim X kits first, put them together to brush up on my soldering skill (The JimStim has a built in self test so I could test the tester).

Finally, buy the JimStim and JimStimX, yes it's a few extra bucks but you can actually get test the MS3 on your bench make sure it's working, you can even make sure that your basic tune is installed all prior to starting the engine. Thus, the first time you try to light off your motor, you'll have a much better chance at success and a lot less headaches.

Also thanks blownDuster71 for pricing out the system, a lot of people see the price of the FAST and AEM units and think that a GEN III hemi is simply out of reach. In my opinion MS3 makes the GEN III Hemi a no brainer of a swap that is competitive with building a comparable small block.

Regards,

Joe Dokes
 
Joe Dokes said:
Thanks for posting, I've already built my MS3 with MS3X board, I need to check my crank trigger, but other than that I think I have it set up correctly.:cheers:

Couple of things that may help.

Don't be afraid of building your own MS3, I was really afraid of making a $365.00 brick. I took my time, followed the directions and had it built in about 4-6 hours. This saved me $185.00. Plus you'll save a few more bucks assembling the JimStim and the JimStimX.

To ensure that I could build the MS3 kit I ordered my kits in stages. I ordered the Jim Stim and the JimStim X kits first, put them together to brush up on my soldering skill (The JimStim has a built in self test so I could test the tester).

Finally, buy the JimStim and JimStimX, yes it's a few extra bucks but you can actually get test the MS3 on your bench make sure it's working, you can even make sure that your basic tune is installed all prior to starting the engine. Thus, the first time you try to light off your motor, you'll have a much better chance at success and a lot less headaches.

Joe Dokes
Click to expand...

Makes it even better if you can save some more doing it yourself, if you get a chance post up some pics of your work.Would be interesting.
Thanks
 
I'll hopefully have a running MS 5.7 Hemi this weekend, but I took a pretty different path that I don't think I've seen anyone else really even consider. I started my build as a carb conversion with an Indy Mod Man intake and MSD Hemi 6 because I didn't have the money to do FI off the bat. I drove the car for several months before I had an MS2 package fall into my lap at a price I couldn't resist and I was tired of spending money on carb tuning parts trying to get the combo right.

The other big thing to consider with the FI price tag is the fuel system though. Now that I have a job I splurged a little and got a new fuel tank with in-tank pump ($700-800 seems to be the going price) because I didn't want to deal with modifying my old tank and I really thought baffles would be a good idea for a high pressure pump. You can run an external pump (I don't want the extra noise anymore) to make things a little more affordable, but the plumbing will still get you pretty bad. All in all I ended up spending around $250-300 for just the hose and hose ends, and that doesn't even count the regulator I got in my MS package deal (another $60). Long story short, the fuel system costs about as much as the computer, so make sure to factor that into the equation.

I have a friend at work with a mill, so I ended up just buying some fuel rail extrusion and drilling both it and the Indy intake for injectors with a special injector bit, so I can reuse the intake. Things start getting really tight under the hood with the rails and the firewall, but it looks like everything may just clear. I'm looking forward to hearing it run again though, it's been on stands for about a month waiting on transmission rebuild and fuel system parts. It's all wired up now, I just need to get it plumbed.
 
I don't have any pics of the build of the box, I think they are on my wife's computer. Here' some pics of my homemade spark box. I used 8 BIP373 mounted them to two of Glen's Garage driver boards and then mounted them in a box. When I built my spark box DIY Autotune hadn't yet developed the quadspark ignition module.

Total cost for my spark box was about a hundred dollars. It hasn't been tested yet, but I am 99% sure it will work without a problem.

As far as fuel system goes. You can use a fuel Chevy LS filter/regulator combination that is available for 33.00 from Amazon, plus a electric fuel pump from DIY for 110.00. You'll need to add some lines and other items. Personally I am going to buy a brand new tank. The point I'm making is that you can do this for way less than $800.00. Of course you'll need to do some fabrication including the addition of some return lines.
 

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Joe Dokes said:
As far as fuel system goes. You can use a fuel Chevy LS filter/regulator combination that is available for 33.00 from Amazon, plus a electric fuel pump from DIY for 110.00. You'll need to add some lines and other items. Personally I am going to buy a brand new tank. The point I'm making is that you can do this for way less than $800.00. Of course you'll need to do some fabrication including the addition of some return lines.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree you can do it cheaper, I forgot about that LS setup. I guess my point is more that it's something you need to factor in because it can add up if you don't plan for it. I'd think you'd be several hundred into a capable system at the minimum ($150 for a pump and filter/reg combo and maybe $200ish for lines). I forgot that I had to add a bunch of extra fittings because I made my own rails. I've heard the external pumps don't last all that long which was one of the reasons I went with an in-tank pump. I've seen some people mod stock tanks to put in pumps, but my tank sloshes so bad that I'd worry about it running dry.
 
I've heard two reasons for in-tank pump installation. 1. To cool the pump to increase pump life. 2. To quiet the pump as consumers didn't like the rattle of an electric pump. Personally, I give more credence to number two than number one. I'd love to simply call one of the custom tank mfgs and order a custom tank, but I simply can't pull the trigger on an 800.00 tank. :(

I think long pump life can be encouraged by the following. Making sure that you keep the tank full so the pump never sucks air and cavitates. Placing the pump as close to the rear of the car as possible so it doesn't have to pull the fuel. Using the correct or even oversized wire to the pump so that it doesn't have to draw more current over hot wires.

Map63Vett, you're definitely right about the lines. I always forget the little stuff and it can add up FAST. Twenty dollars here, twenty there, and pretty soon any semblance of a budget is out the window.

Regards,

Joe Dokes
 
I can offer some advice for the in tank pumps. Get yourself a new tank, call tanksinc.com and order their intank pump kit (around 250 bucks), cut a hole in your new tank and put the pump in.

I did mine this way, and it worked perfectly. You will need to figure out how to seal up the hole where the stock sending unit goes (I made a plug from aluminum and thats where my feed and return line go) then just wire it up.
 
Joe Dokes said:
I've heard two reasons for in-tank pump installation. 1. To cool the pump to increase pump life. 2. To quiet the pump as consumers didn't like the rattle of an electric pump. Personally, I give more credence to number two than number one. I'd love to simply call one of the custom tank mfgs and order a custom tank, but I simply can't pull the trigger on an 800.00 tank. :(
Click to expand...

Yeah, if it wasn't for the fact that I got my computer dirt cheap I don't think I would have even gone the FI route for some time. All the money I saved on the computer I ended spending on the fuel system, lol. I looked into several different FI options and was really heavily considering the FAST EZ-EFI setup. You can get one that's set up for multi-port (basically just a computer and harness, no throttle body or anything), for around $800-900. If you can come up with a throttle body for a reasonable price it puts you in the same ballpark as an MS setup. You have to swap out the stock sensors for GM ones that the computer is preprogrammed for I believe though. If you want their all-in-one throttle body injection kit it's closer to $1500.
 
The dust-ya duster from pure vision had efi and they used the stock fuel pick -up and added a corvette fuel pump . You could rig up a baffle like the second picture to the pick up to prevent starvation.
 

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That pic with the sump tray is exactly how I did mine.
 
I also bought the tanksinc fuel pump. It seems Like a cool setup.
 
Yes, I agree with 5.7 Hemi. We spent the $800 from Modern Muscle and its an inexpensive stock tank, then they lowered the mounting surface, so it would set flush and dropped in a $275 dollar EFI pump assembly and shipped it to us, and got dented too. I felt bad for the owner spending that money, I should have done it myself and save $500 plus bucks.
 
You can save a lot of money on the fuel system by using what chrysler uses, plastic tubing.
I had to purchase a couple adapters to go from AN to the push on, I bought a repair kit off of Fleabay with every fitting + the tool to install them for about $80, then 20' of 10mm line, total of less than $200. Add in the Corvette filter/regulator from Rock Auto about $35, and your done..
 
Yeah, the tanksinc. set up works really nice. I've done some hard cornering and launches and no starvation of fuel. The only down side was cutting the hole in a new tank, I was nervous as could be and my bddy was almost to the point of laughing at me when I started the cutting, lol!!
 
Yeah, my fuel system just got expensive because of the custom fuel rails and the way I decided to run the lines. I forgot that the stock fuel rail is just a single inlet no outlet setup, so you only need the one quick-connect fitting and a return line added to your car with a regulator to make it work. I got a full brand new aluminum tank with pump and sender and got two fittings for each end of the fuel rail. I'm running a single -8 push-on feed line from the tank to a Y block that splits into two -6 lines, one for each rail. The rails are tapped for NPT fittings, so I have an NPT to AN adapter on each end of the rails and then an AN swivel hose end so I could rotate them whatever direction I needed (as opposed to just getting an NPT to AN elbow and hoping I could clock it right and have it tight). Then from the other end of the rails through to a regular I got with my computer package and down the stock original hard line as a return line. The fittings are only a few bucks apiece, but when you need two at each connection and you have 6 connections they add up pretty quick.

One the plus side at least the tank is really pretty to look at, lol.
 
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