Hey all. I have been lurking here for some time and have been playing around with my 92 5.0 tbi RS and my 87 5.7 tpi corvette. I am at the point on both where i have many bolt-ons and would like to dive into the world of tuning. I have read a lot and even used the on many different sites and have found this site to have the most information on this subject. In reading about the Megasquirt 2 I liked the idea of being able to change values on the fly and to "see what im doing" as I drive. I also like the simplic nature of the moates cable because if i want to pull it out i just unplug the cable and go.

I think basically what i am trying to ask is what are your opinions? I am sure there are users of both here and I am just wanting to get some feedback from someone who has used one or the other to help me decide which way to go. Thanks!!

 

Welcome to ThirdGen.org

i don't know much about the Megasquirt other than its a complete ECM & you would need one for each of the cars you want to tune. if something happens to it, the car its in is down till you get it fixed. with a GM ECM, you can find a rebuilt ECM at most parts houses & used ones at the wrecking yards.

depending on which piece of hardware you get from Moates, you can tune on the fly with the Ostrich & the AutoProm.
with the Ostrich if you want to put a chip back in your car once you have it tuned, you'll need a chip burner, you'll also need a cable to data log.
the AutoProm is pretty much a do it all setup, it comes with a chip burner built in & comes with a data cable.
once you upload a bin into the Ostrich, its in there till you clear it.
the AutoProm needs to be connected to a laptop to run the motor off of it.
of course if your tuning, you'll have a laptop hooked up anyway to data log.
for the Ostrich at 175.00, ALDU1 and CABL1 at 80.00, & BURN1 at 85.00 your at 340 plus some chips vs the AutoProm for 325.00. the AutoProm also comes with
3 chips.
for both you need chip adapters for the respective ECMs.

i have the AutoProm & i love it

 

I don't have a Megasquirt, but I've looked into it quite a bit.

The pros are:
-cheap for a standalone engine management system
it's "open source" and the community will continue to add functions/make improvements
-it's very flexible and can be used on a variety of applications (including boost)

The cons are:
-since it's generic, you have to adapt it to your car (wiring)
-it takes a lot of time to get the car dialed in and smooth running in all conditions (and a highly technical person)
-as pointed out already, when your car breaks down, no shop will touch it
-hardware reliability can be questionable - there are many vendors selling it from public schematics

Either route you choose, the tuning concepts are similar. My advice would be to start with chiptuning unless you plan on getting into some radical/boosted applications. The learning curve is less, and you maintain the factory-engineered reliability.