This is for those of you that have it, Ive been stuggling with my stock ecm for a while now, and ive just about had it, so from what i read the 950 is a good cost efective way to gain more control over whats going on under the hood. I have a D-1 on top of my 355 and the stealthram with AFR 195's to give you some insight. How easy/difficult are these things to tune (im reading the manual online now) How do they do with boosted applications? Will i be able to get rid of the FMU ? How easy is the program to use ? And what is this i read about a wideband vs. a narrow band oxy sensor, im really not knowledgeable about that at all.... Basically just tell me some good and bad expierences youve had with it, stories of others ect. Im excited to get it but scared to " tune" car if i dont know what im doing....maybe some more reading is in order eh.....

Thanks guys

 

Since your doing your own chips???
Just swap to the $58 code and loose the FMU and run up to 60lb injectors if you have enough motor.
To loose the FMU you will have to upgrade the injectors regardless of ECM used.

 

Im not doing my own chips, ive been sending mine away to try get it right.... But there are far too many variables that somone from a distance cant tune for.....Couldnt i use the 32# injectors with the 950 and lose the fmu ? plus have an ecu that senses boost?

 

Provided your 32's are big enough to support the HP you make.
Plenty of injector calculators around to check.
Do a search on C950 on here. Should be plenty of info to help you decide.

 

Yea ive done some searching, i was just hoping to get some folks opinions and maybe some success stories with blowers and modified engines....

 

I converted my Edelbrock Pro-Flo 383 to the Holley C950 EMS. I love it, and it is very user friendly.

I have no experience with boosted applications, but there a few guys over at Chevytalk.org who are using it for boosted applications.

One guy's handle is "Street_Sweeper" and here is his recent thread proclaiming some good success: http://www.chevytalk.org/threads/sho...page=0#1395392
Here is his personal website: http://home.mindspring.com/~jim_fisk/id1.html

Another guy is "64duece" who has a turbo 380 SBC with the C950 and wide-band: http://www.geocities.com/64duece/info.html

"RickWi" can give you good advice regarding a boosted C950 application for he has built and tuned many. He prefers the FAST system as can be seen here: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/afte...efi-74310.html Rick can be reached at either chevytalk.org or hotrodders.com

The moderator of the EFI forum at chevytalk.org is an engineer at Holley, so needless to say you get good help there.

Best of luck, Ed www.edgesz28.com

 

I'm using the c950 w/ my n2o HSR, 355 and love it. I also struggled w/ the stock ECU for a while, but since I've changed to the C950, it's sooo much easier to figure out. I tune my own car now.

 

ive played with the commander950 some..
very easy to tune, and it works great.

i have not used it in a boosted application, however there isnt any real diff between how the NA tuning is done compared to how the forced induction tuning is done.

obviously the goals and base mapping would be slightly diffrent with a FI car, but the basic method of tuning remains teh same, and its very user friendly.

as long as you get a wideband with it, you'll love the control you get by tuning your own car with the C950.

if you try to do it without a wideband, its a bit harder and more risky, but still not out of the abilitys of anyone willing to learn.

 

Thanks, trust me guys this is helping, i appreciate your responses...

 

I have tuned w/ the 950. I like it. As others have said, its easy to use and is a good system. - on another note, have you looked into the Megasquirt system? It's just as good, if not better, and its cheap...it also is able to tune w/ a 4 bar MAP, which can do wonders for a boost motor.

 

OKAY.....

Ive been reading for about two hours about the "megasquirt" system, it seems to have the same function/capabilities as the 950 and a helluva lot cheaper, does anyone have any expierence with this little gem ? I figure im going to have to learn how to tune either way, maybe it would be easier going this route....suggestions ?????

 

I was doing mail order for my 350 TBI engine. After the 9th chip, I quit. I bought the holley commander 950 a TPI manifold and got some 24# injectors from my brothers LT1 and it ran great after I learned how to use it. The only problem I've had was the ecu fuse corrodes realy fast even though its inside a weatherpack. One time, before I knew about the fuse issue I was left stranded at work and got my dad to tow me home. It was cranking and sparking, getting a tach signal, and the fuel pump was running. Fro some reason, I cleaned the fuse (3 days later) and it fired right up. The problem was that the corrosion was not allowing enough current to open the injectors!
Other than that fuse, I love it. It probably won't pass emissions testing, but its really fast and the innovate wideband O2 is really easy to hook up to it. I twin turboed it last summer and ran 13.2's @ 109 with dry rot tires and a slipping stock 700r4. The tranny blew up a month later in the rain.

 

Yep, I use a Megasquirt-II in my Chevelle. I never ran a C950 or stock ECM to compare against, but I will say that I'll never run a carb again. I'm using it with an Innovate LC-1 wideband O2 sensor. I'm running Megasquirt-II and on v2.2 PCB. The stock MAP sensor in Megasquirt is good to 2.5 bar (20-21 psi) -- it works very well for boosted applications.

Megasquirt just plain works. The documentation is great, and the support on www.msefi.com is awesome. But it's a DIY project. Be prepared to do some learning if you choose this route.

As for injector size on a blown 355, I doubt 32s are going to be enough, unless it was a bone-stock 350. Ford Motorsports 30 lb/hr units weren't enough for my N/A 406 -- I upgraded to 42 lb/hr.

-Dave

 

Hey ChevelleFan,

Does it bug you that the MS doesn't have a knock sensor control over the ignition? Are you running the ignition advance tables with it? And what kind of mileage are you getting?

 

Thats what i was afraid of, i also think thats part of the problem my car wont run for **** right now, and the fact it needs some major tuning...... Im still not sure weather the MS II or the 950 is the best choice, both seem like good units.

 

Nope, doesn't bother me a bit -- even if I was using the ignition control. (I'm not, but will try to get it working this winter).

My carb setup and HEI never had knock control.

I don't know my exact milege. I seem to remember calculating 10mpg with my carb. I made my basis of "uses less fuel" with EFI based on the fact that I get to the dragstrip on less than 1/4 tank of gas, where as before it took 1/4 tank. I don't have measured numbers with the EFI for mileage, though.

-Dave

 

Yep, I would probably agree. In all the posts I've read here, on chevytalk.com, and msefi.com, I've never heard anyone really complain about the C950. It really comes down to price and how much work you are willing to invest, with Megasquirt probably requiring a little more hands-on effort getting it built/wired.

42 lb/hr Ford injectors (green top) are $250 for a set of 8 from several vendors on eBay. I got mine from "stangstore" and can recommend doing business with them.

-Dave

 

**** !!! thats a good price for injectors, i think i paid just about 250 for the 32# accels which are garbage anyway IMHO... I would be buying the built kit, not because i couldnt build it, but just to have it out of the way and ready for install when it arrives, i dont mind wiring it up, from what i understand most of the wiring is near the stock ECU, and you just "tap" into pre-existing lines... Maybe instead of going with the 950 il get injectors sell the old ones and pick up the MS II and the wideband O2, although im not sure if i need the MS II or I ?

 

The MS II will have everything you'll ever need. For the dough I'm going w/ it. I'm doing my 1st one right now on my daily driver burban. I got to play w/ a buddies down here the other night and it really sold me(I already was, but...). - I'm also looking into going back to efi on my GTA. Probably use a custom hand made intake just to be different though... - as for the knock sensor and such, why would it be a problem? You shouldn't need it. On the turbo and NOS drag cars, we don't run knock or O2 sensors, that way it stays on our programing. w/ the turboed 10.5 tire cars, we need to leave on a less than ideal fuel mixture to get rid of power, but still have the boost, then let it ramp in as we go down the track. If the computer was trying to correct the a/f, we'd slow down.

 

if you fully understand the EFI system, and are capable of all the work required to build, install, and troubleshoot the MS system, its simply amazing...
if you lack the base knowledge needed to get it going or to troubleshoot it when something goes wrong, it can be a nightmare.

but if you are willing to learn, its not tooo much to get going.. and i haven't heard anyone using it have anything bad to say, other then when they dont know what they were getting into.... aka when they're in over their head.

 

One of my goals for the MS is to lean out my cruise mixture as much as possible so I can maximize my highway mileage. It'd be nice to know if I've gone too lean. I don't know if I would be able to tell on my own. 80mph is pretty loud in my car.

 

Not to rain on the Parade, MS works, but it is sorely lacking in many ways ie knock sensor, user outputs. One output for IAC motor and ignition and thats it.
Commander is OK for 1999, but this is 2006 look at getting a Like a Fast system or Autronic. More money, but in the end your money will go farther.

 

I read a little more, and it turns out MS-II will log the knock sensor data, which is all I need. After it's tuned, I'll put the laptop away.

I don't know what you mean about "won't take user inputs". It does control ignition advance and idle air control. It'll control your electric fans through the fast idle circuit (which you don't need if you have IAC). It'll even control your charcoal purge cannister. The only stock things it won't handle at this point are EGR and AIR, which I could care less about since I can pass the sniffer without them.

 

If you use the IAC then that uses the fast idle ckt. There is still a couple pins left for the coolant fan. Basically, you can run everything you need at a min. (fuel pump, IAC, distributor, EGR). If you don't add extra hardware, then you can run four more things (A/C, N2O, 2nd Cool Fan, etc).
You can run two WB02 and do cals, you can run a WB02 and NB02. One spare A/D input even when using the knock sensor option. Overall, a nice setup. No PROM burning equip to buy so you save right there. No adapters & chips to buy. 115k ALDL datastream. Stock TPI is 8K ALDL. If you blow a piece in the ECM, then you just buy another and pop it in. No core & new ECM.
Best of all.......everything is there to learn how it works & how an engine works.

 

look in HotRod. turbo'ed truck running 10.0's w/ the megasquirt system...of course F.A.S.T. gave him their newest set-up after he took 1st place in power-adder small block, but I guess you don't want the world seeing the current badest street driven(title given due to drag week) pa small block is running on a system that costs less than 1/4 your system now do you?

 

parish is running the megasquirt for fueling, and the stock PCM for spark control.
hes not using the FAST system they gave him... lol. besides the one they gave him isnt even the one for the genIII....


thats just one of many cars... although most of the guys keep the stock PCM on the LS1 cars... unless they're going over the limit of the 2bar map.

 

MrDude_1 - good info - pretty simple to run the MS to control the spark too, though, for anyone who wants to.

 

its simple for the megasquirt to control GM HEI ignition or ford eDIS coilpacks.
the MS cannot control the genIII/genIV coil pack system...

parish just retained the stock system, and added the MS ontop of it to control fueling better..



im just saying what he did.. if you can write either in C or assembler, and redid a couple of the circuts to have the proper outputs, im sure you could make a second MS control the coilpacks... but that would be alot of work for no gain... the stock GM PCM is fully hacked and custom OSs to handle 2 and now 3bar in speed density..
but at the time parish was doing his truck, we only had 2bar support working, and he wanted more then 15psi... i think hes around 23-25ish now... so he just kept his tuning software for the stock one, and put the MS in to handle the additional boost fueling.