Tune Your Engine With MegaSquirt (or MicroSquirt) ECU on Your Motorcycle (or Car)
For Megasquirt engine management solutions, check out DIYAutoTune: bit.ly/3BII1Yl
You like to modify your vehicles. But modifying the engine means re-tuning your fuel and spark which can get expensive. If you want the most control over your fuel and ignition tuning while spending as little as possible, you probably want a MegaSquirt. Or a MicroSquirt.
I'm installing a Megasquirt MS3 Pro on my CBR1000RR motorcycle engine. I've also put a MicroSquirt on my CBR250R engine. I'm going to talk about both of these setups, how to wire everything up, and some of the challenges. This will be especially helpful if you're trying to aftermarket ECU your motorcycle but will be helpful on car installs as well.
For wiring specific solutions: How To Re-wire Your Car: • Re-Wire Your Whole Dam...
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This man is out here providing an entire lecture AND a comedy show FOR FREE.
honestly my favourite channel on here!
College is a waste of money
😂 I love this guy. I think I'm actually having fun learning.
Right?!?!
I just watched the whole video without: - a motorcycle - any understanding of what is actually going on - a desire, need, skillset or time to do any of the things described in the video that's what I call entertainment
I watched the whole video even though I have a complete understanding of all of it, far deeper than what he claims to have or says here.
+++
You will love my carbonator video
"Then wire them up in the order they fire in. This was very easy on the 250 single." You absolutely had me 🤣
Sometimes I think Matt's testing to see if we're really paying attention. :)
11:39 for those who missed it
Hey man, what the firing order on the 250. Asking for a Friend. Thanks
@@tyronewashington2933 The firing order goes like this: 1
@@douglassmalls6934 so... "A"
I wish more people were creating content this good. Really clear, really concise, and the easy-to-mistake details clarified.
Thank you for the kind words!
@@SuperfastMatt Thank *you* for taking the trouble to document your projects! Keep up the great work.
Car shows are VERY hard to do. Nerdy Engineering shows are hard to do. Some nerd talking to a camera is hard to do. I have watched this man talk about brake lines.
"you only have to read 7 pages... I'm just kidding you have to read all 300" 😂
No one could come up with the geeking out over mosfet designs on a saturday night unless they had done exactly that lol
I felt personally attacked by that comment lmao.
I've been modifying motorcycles for the past 51 years. This is one of the clearest video's I've ever had the pleasure to watch. Complicating a carb to injection modification.
Have you finished converting a bike to fuel injection? I have a 2012 Ural Gear Up (twin boxer) with twin keihin carbs and I hate them. I'm wondering if it would be reasonable to set up a rudimentary open loop fuel injection system to replace them.
I remember seeing megasquirt when I was building my car around 2003-2005. Back then they were very basic DIY schematics . Great to see how far they've come.
What was your build?
God I'm thankful I found this video, I really needed some help on getting my ECU to turn on a little red light on Wednesday afternoon at 4 PM 🙏
The time it took to watch this, I rebuilt a carby and started the bike.
I went with a speeduino ecu. $160.00 for a miata na. Good programable ecu with tons of support and an alternative to mega squirt.
Where did you buy it?
Just came across your video.. I must say,,,, absolutely beautiful explanation. I'm a licensed mechanic for over 40 years and I started to cry of happiness.. Great humor, and moderate detail..as you well know, you could go for days on just showing measurements of thousands of sensors.. my son and I are pondering on installing a megasquirt 3pro on his V-12 jag.. I'm trying to figure out a pulse ring both for the crank and cam so I can install DIS and full sequential on all 12.. Great job 👏 👍.
Hey Matt. Thanks for producing such great content. I’m tossing up spending $$$ on a software solution to retune a stock Ford ECU but the adoption of a MegaSquirt system just sits better with me-even though it will be marginally more expensive initially. Bugger access and licensing costs, I want to be able to do what I want, as often as I want. Your awesome walk through this process makes me feel way more confident. Love your delivery too-I remember watching Jay Leno struggle to keep up with your dry wit back when he checked out your S600.
I believe you are buying into a false economy there. But so what, I sense you are aware of that. You don't have to justify it to yourself. You simply go ahead and get a Megasquirt to play around with. Go on, you know you want it ! 👍👍
@@thefreedomguyuk we will see. I’ve had a poor tune done by a large workshop who locked my ECU without telling me. It was cheaper to buy a new ECU than it was to have the original tuner remove the lock and revert it to stock tune. I then used RomRaider to tune the car myself and 2 years of club motorsport (time attack), 5 different turbos (was testing options for GTPumps) the stock EJ207 came out and is immaculate. It’s funny how brave you get with ignition timing and boost when you’ve got a built EJ257 sitting in the shed.😉 I’m a compulsive tinkerer and paying for a retune every time I change something gets very expensive.
Holy shit I have no idea what the hell you were talking about, but completely followed what you were saying!!
This is one of the best videos I have seen on KZhead. Thanks Matt! I love how Matt made this video for his previous self to answer all the questions and issues he had along the way.
Love this man’s engineeresque subtle humor 😂
Really glad I found your channel. You are really clear and concise and I've already learned a lot. Thanks so much, hope your channel blows up.
Working as a full time tuner, on Both Stock ecus and Aftermarket i can tell you this. You wont get "more out of" a after market ECU. Infact they are more primitive and use cheaper components in a lot of cases. They also have smaller CPUs and less flash and Eprom... it will suffice for a tune to go. But aftermarket ecus will seldomly do advanced map vectoring like the stock once do. Yes a after market ECU will be easier to read of datalogs, tune and input parameters/create maps. and will be a good building block to start with. But if you want to get alot of performance yet keep some of the DEV that went into the vehicles handeling and vectoring you should learn how to recode stock ecus in WINOLS. And when you really need that extra customizability you can learn how to create shadow maps and change the overall structure of the stock ecu maps. Customize IO ports, and change the sensor parameters to allow different signals, sensors etc. This will be out of the scope for most hobby based tuners and projects. but i would just like to add the fact that most people never think about all the DEV and testing that lives inside a stock ecu. and they can be read and modified with the right equipment. Give the stock ecus the credit they deserve as they are insanely complex compared to most aftermarket once
👍
Wow that's awesome. I thought that current ECU programming was locked. I'm not a tuner but years ago I remember ecu's were easier to reprogram.
@@marthamryglod291 More or less all ECUs to this day is readable some way, be it OBD, Bench Mode or Boot mode. and less commonly direct chip reading. Some do ECUs are abit harder to read due to them having an encrypted readout hash that needs to be cracked/unlocked before read. Some ECUs are easy to find the unlock key for. and some needs to be hacked by boot looping and power glitching the ecu until it loads the key hash in to ram. once glitched we can extract that info through a ram dump and extract the key hash to then unlock the ECU... Most ECU tools do this automatically and with variations to how they perform these different unlocks. but thats a basic version on how to acces most ecus these days.
@@TGLasers thank you for the response. It's like you pulled the curtain back on the mystery.
This is kind of rubbish... an aftermarket ECU is the right tool for the job for highly modified setups. Once you start making significant changes to the airpath, you've already ruined most of the strategy choices that the OEM made when they locked the software, let alone the calibration work. Very little time is spent by the OEM on performance, because it's basically an outcome of other constraints, other choices. Most work goes into resolving failures on the edge cases, and emissions. You aren't throwing out hard OEM performance work by going aftermarket because the SW isn't intended for your modifications. Don't mistake complexity for some kind of benefit - losing all the dependability, OBD & monitoring is not a bad thing for modified setups. Source: OEM cal/sw engineer using Bosch ECU :)
Fantastic material, Matt! Seriously. I'm really grateful. For some time I was wondering whether leave the carb or go for the stand alone ECU set. I watched the video with utmost pleasure and it helped me (finally!) to make the proper decision! I stick with the carb. All of a sudden this whole shebang with adjusting, jetting and rebuilding became so simple and straightforward! Not to mention hunting down a rebuilt kit for my ca. 30 years old car appeared simple and cheap! Thank you so much! I really love your content, approach and sense of humour.
Probably the best video explaining whats needed/how to go about wiring up an MS product, thank you for your help
You're giving me motivation to build my datalogger again, and also making me realise I don't have a firm grasp on how ECUs time, which I thought I did
I got the micro with IAC control for my v8 5.9 magnum a couple years ago and the new 1000cc injectors are still sitting on top of the engine in the corner of my garage. Yeah, Slacker, but I am now retired so maybe in the next year or so. 👍
LOVE all your videos. Great work. I was thinking about using one these to make an older car fuel injected, just for fun. Even with my background in electronics and industrial controls this sounds like a lot of details to sort out. And this why some people prefer to use the "almost correct for most situations" carburetor.
I love this channel. You do everything I want to do and not make it so scary. I'm a little late but better than never.
I have been wanting to dive into MicroSquirt, but wasn't confident, since most videos say they are going to show you how to do the complete setup, only to end with getting an expert to finish the tune. Your video actually explains both types of controllers. You seem like a great guy to hang with. I love your dry sense of humor.
Loving your content, dude! Your demeanor is awesome and intriguing. Would love to have some like you in my arsenal to call when I cant figure shit out.
Got my ms3 with the expansion card already built in and the harnesses few months ago all for under $1000, far cheaper than others I looked at by a long shot, and the tech support through the company, community forums, are outstanding.
Awesome content brother. Makes me want to tackle wiring up my mapecu on my tacoma.
Carbs does not suck ! The engine does. It the engine sucking air through the carb. The carb does not in itself suck ! Love your style, glad I stumbled upon you today. Duly subscribed !
Awesome job on explaining MegaSquirt
This hits right in the intersection of my gearhead and electronics nerd tendencies and I can't wait to try it.
your vids are great. thanks for putting these out
Found your channel while researching diy roof racks and promptly sub'd. Decided to check out your other vids and saw this one about products I'd never heard of. Well, my head started to hurt six minutes in and had to stop and pop a couple Advil. The roof rack I can handle, wiring one of these into my car however, well there isn't enough Advil.... Enjoyable none the less. I dig your groove! Keep up the good work.
Thanks and welcome!
"Plug them in and graph that sh*t" - Matt is both education and subtle comedy gold.
Thank you so much for making this video! You gave me the confidence so i can start my own project.
i love the fact that he used the picture of an ecu from an manufacturer that's is famously known for carburetors.
Best video ever explaining this ecu.
I hate carburetors but their so nice to work on😂
@El Cactuar thank you for your helpful comment.
Excellent video. Trying to rewire a Mercedes-Benz and this was invaluable to decide what to use.
I am going to take on this project as soon as I get comfortable riding.
I needed this so bad, god bless you bro! Liked and subbed!
I'm doing the same on my Honda...so it was a very good tip about the cam sensor wheel! So simple, just cut the teeth of...nice and thanks!
You’re a wiz Matt. Im setting up a waterwheel to drive my grindstone and need a physical (analog that is) speed control so things don’t fly apart during flood. Logs can be a problem too. Clearly I am living in the past, but I like it here. Good luck with your land speed project. Ill be watching through this portal that happened somehow.
I like this video because I didn't retain all of this right away but it did let me know I need to read the manual. Also when I hit these problems that have already been mentioned here I might remember and fix it without needing to research it.
I built a twin turbo 5.0 (Windsor) using a MS2 about 12 years ago. I haven’t been into the mega squirt scene since then and when I looked up current prices my jaw hit the floor! I think I paid $400 for the assembled unit with a 12’ pigtail. Still have it for another project at some point...
damm this has got to be the best explanation for this system wow nice job subbed want more videos on this lol
"This was dead easy on the 250cc" I'm ded
If you sous vide your temp sensor then you're sealing in more of the flavour. Good thinking, Matt.
Excellent stuff, thank you!
im am interested in this system and thank you for explaining it. this is an awesome video.
I absolutely love your narrative!!! GG thx
I'm built an FZR/YZF/Thunderace hybrid. I was on the fence about taking this step. I ended up fully building the head and using an Ignitech TCIP4 with 40 flatslides. I used CFD. First step was a NASA WP on static backflow headers which are effectively variable turbulence. I also determined the optimal airbox, ram, and required operating temperatures. I ended up in a pickle where I couldn't figure out rough idle and how to lower temps with the radiator configuration I chose. I decided on updating the valvetrain. I upgraded the coils, stator, and electrics to have the option of 60k+ volts so I could wildly boost octane. I used the fuel as coolant and so that it can vaporize on the cylinder walls. When I finally actually pulled the throttle with intent, I knew I needed to detune. I reached 230 HP at 360 pounds wet at peak. I could only reach those numbers by ducting into the rams. Now I'm in limbo, and realize I could have just opted for fuel injection..
Thank you very much for this I’m planning on putting a turbo Volvo four cylinder in my truck with a micro squirt computer and this was super helpful. Also this might be weird but the way you talk was incredibly engaging and super helpful in keeping me focused and listening
As I did understand it the micro squirt is only for single cylinder engines?
@@a64738 No
Microsquirt LSX swap gang chiming in! I love the mega/micro family. Excellent video.
Very good video matt pretty easy to follow you !
You have a gifted way of making something complicated sound complicated….Love it! I understand what you are saying and I had to laugh when I showed this video to my neighbour…..his stunned silence was ended when he asked, “What is an output curve?” LOL
Fantastic, thanks so much for this video!
quality content as always!
You are a god dam genius my man !! Great vid
Congrats, you have set a record for saying "wire" for the most time of anyone, ever.
SFMatt is indeed the OG of gearhead-techie fusion!
I put a gsxr motor in a crosskart I'm building. I'm just about to the wiring part of the build and have thought about going this route, great video, I may just bite the bullet and do it.
Excellent. This guy is a star
I own a tesla. Dont do car anything. Write code for a living. I love your videos. Thank you for making these!
So much valuable information
I already liked the style of your presentation and the way you think. But then, then you said Dodge dart! That was my dad's first race car and mine was a 73 charger. I have a Honda VTX 1300 motorcycle that I'm dying to throw fi on. Maybe a megasquirt but probably speeduino.... It would already have happened if there was an easy way to add an electric fuel pump. I already have microcontrollers simulating the speedometer output (esp8266) via GPS and some creature comfort things like signal cancellation and Bluetooth control of the aftermarket radio via ESP 32. It's great to know there are some other weirdos that think like me out there! Your motorcycle engine video into the car is great. I was thinking of doing something like that for a dragster and how the inline transmission could be easily automatic for drag racing. I wanted to say thank you for the video and inspiration!
I need a nap after this one....a lot of information for the brain in a short time.
YOU’RE THE MAN MATT! Thanky thanky
Thanks Yamonda. YOU DA MAN!
I’m a big fan of the megasquirt great systems and cheap and the manual is basically A free electronic education
Ive done a bunch of EFI conversions on old carbd porsches with mega squirt, I only build and drive older Audis myself. their Me7.5 ECU is insanely tunable and flexible, you can do virtually everything a standalone can except dual port injections for the biiiig builds. We even got one to control a monstrous VVG turbo, which isnt even an option on Audis for 20 years. Best part, they come with the car for FREE! Kind of a roundabout way of tuning, you have to do some format swapping and filling with data and maps to Checksum them to make sure you dont brick one. Ive done quite a few with much higher end AEM infiniti standalone systems. Those are pretty slick. But alotta bucks
Injectora in the intake also have advantages during warmup as well as reduction of carbon deposits in the intake section of the valve train.
Hi, friend! Please help with advice! When you connect the idle valve to the ECU, it starts to make a quiet whistle, what could be the problem?
Shielding wrap can be left open at both ends - not wired or it's best to terminate at both ends of the shielding, it shunts to ground , however if only one end becomes open from ground, it will act as an antenna, inducing all kinds of noise into the enclosed wiring.
Hey Matt, really excellent content with hysterical delivery. Enjoying it very much. What was your total cost for MegaSquirt including sensors, wiring blah blah blah..under $1300?
I have a older version of the Mega Squirt factory soildered. Nobody in my area wanted to figure out how to install it on a 1995 LT1. Matt do you have a use for it ?
For motorcycle engines ALWAYS use the stock/OEM Ecu and wiring, thats much easier and cheaper than aftermarket ECUs
After owning bomb cars in my 20s and spending too many hours and too much money on repairs I opted for bicycles. That lasted 30 years. Then my back went and other things and so a motorvehicle came into my life. And I have not got a clue about what developments happened in the intervening years. All the cars of my youth now have "Historic Vehicle" number plates on them and I have no idea what to do with a fob key when I go surfing. Thanks to Matt modern motor vehicles still make no sense but the fear is no longer palpable. PS I found this channel because someone I know had an S600.
Keyword potentiometer brought me here again. Thanks bro
At least 2 afternoons made me laugh so much 😂😂😂
Hi Matt, ok I did read the manual otherweise you would have been too fast for me covering all possible problems in 3 videos but 1 thing I could not solve is the ITB mode. I am converting my Jaguar E-Type V12 to EFI and also to ITBs now Andy has a great video on how to find the transition curve from Speed Density to Alpha-N mode but I still could not figure out if they use one or two tables for that and how to set them up. I read that part in the manual several times with the percentage of one to the other mode but somehow they are loosing me there. Thanks Bernhard
Hi Matt, First, let me say in all seriousness that you should be using your talents to build a flying car, grab that DARPA prize money! Second, loved this video, why? I have been on the fence regarding Mega/Microsquirt for some time and you and this video are an inspiration. I have an uber-rare Euro/grey market 1984 Mercedes wagon 5sp that came with Bosch K-Jectronic mechanical FI on a twin-cam six-cylinder hemi-head gasoline engine (only two-valves per cylinder) that produces 185hp. Hoping to use Megasquirt to drive fuel and spark.
About to put my second microsquirt on a Datsun 510 with an L18. The last one was a ACVW beetle with turbo/intercooler. Microsquirt is the best bang for buck on the market. Small, powerful, efficient and easy to use. P.s. you can run a 2 wire IAC off the plastic case micro.
That's good to know! My turbo xr650r has one and I have micro ordered
2 wire Iac?
what are your settings on the 250? trying to run a polaris 500 single. techs at diy told me to set 2 cylinder 2 squirts per. after i got error msg’s after trying to set for 1 cylinder. thanks for the helpful videos!
Great contents!
What do you think of using this to control a Holley Sniper throttle body single injector installed in a 1970 Mercedes 220 gas engine?
Friggin brilliant
This video saved me
as a carb fanboy i dont agree with your disliking of carburetors but i do understand why you dont like them. This video will def help when i start my ITB project on my volvo 240
Carbs are fine, particularly the old SU carbs, one jet, one needle, once set up they never go out of tune.
Nice! Thanks!
I already knew how to work with a mega/microsquirt, but you broke it down in a way that I think is easy for most people to understand. I will say that carburetors can work well for certain applications. I run EFI on most of my projects, but I also love carburetors. I like to build and tune my own carbs, but I know they're not for most people. One of my vehicles that I feel just wouldn't be the same without a carburetor is my little buggeye MG Midget, which I think is ironic considering what this video is about. Carbureted engines have a personality about them (usually the biggest drawback for people) and the feeling of being connected to the engine just feels right for my MG. The biggest reason for this preference is because I built my MG to resemble the British roadsters that were racing in the mid-to-late 1960s, but also to pay homage to the original Shelby 289ci AC Cobra. The engine is an 8.2" deck 302 Windsor based V8, and at first glance it looks like it's a 289w from the late 1960s with a modern single plane intake and single 4bbl carburetor, but it's actually an aluminum Dart block with aluminum heads that are textured and painted to look like cast iron. Revs to 7,400rpm and makes a peak of 520hp NA. It's backed by a 5spd and I drive it all the time, despite being carbureted. I should mention that I live in an area that's warm most of the year, and I only have to make adjustments for winter. I also use modern tech along with carburetors, to monitor the engine and keep my air-fuel ratio in check.
A cbr600rr is set up similarly to the 1000. I was wondering if the specific tooth on the cam is important.
Fantastic videos! I subbed and I've been binge watching. I personally run carburetors on all my vehicles(newest vehicle I own is 1978), but I like the serviceability of a carb. I've had issues whilst being in the middle of nowhere and would've been screwed if it was FI. A car like your Honda where you don't get to far from home or a racetrack I think FI is an excellent choice. Thanks for all the info.
Can you elaborate on what sensor you used for your clutch pressure? I'm looking at doing the same thing on my car and wanted to get an idea of the pressure range and am also trying to make sure I find a sensor that's automotive rated as far as temperatures and general environment it will be in.
I am very interested in trying a speeduino setup.
Just found your channel. I'm loving your content and style. Thanks for making such great videos!
Glad you enjoy it!
Fantastic videos
Dang, I love this stuff. Trying to get a foot in this business...
Where did you get your reverse gearbox? Loved your spot on Hoonigans! They need a nerdy guy like you.
Straight dope!