[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by RotaryProphet

I'll agree, there's some stuff there that the MS doesn't do; OMP control, for instance. I'm not saying it's impossible with the MS (one of the bonuses of a DIY setup is you can pretty much -do- anything, with enough effort). But some of the other stuff is pretty easy on the MS. The base table it generates, given your RPM limits, expected torque, number of cylinders/injectors, peak HP and TQ RPM points, max boost, etc... it's always been a good enough map for me to drive on.

From there, to get a pretty good road tune, just punch in your desired AF ratios (assuming you have a wideband hooked up), turn on auto-tune, and drive around; it'll read the AF from the wideband, look up the desired AF ratio, and recalculate the VE table based on it.

The MS, at least the Extra code also does secondary injector staging properly, bringing the secondary injectors online at a given % pulsewidth on the primaries.

Also, the logging works very similarly to the haltech, exporting in an excel spreadsheet; but there are seperate programs designed just to open the MS log files and give you a much nicer interface; personally, I dump all of mine into a database so I can run a series of scripts across the data looking for specific triggers.

In reality, just use what you like; if you can afford it, and you're happy with it, go for it. As nice as it is, I can't justify spending that kind of money on an EMS to accomplish what I can do almost as easily for much much less. Actually, I sell a megasquirt installed and fully tuned for less than the cost of the MoTeC box. And for curious parties, yes, I warranty and service it.

For those same people who couldn't install an EMS to begin with, having one professional installed and tuned for ~$2000-$2600 is very attractive; and those are the same people who don't need to learn the software, because they never intend to touch it.

Ya know, that's a VERY good point to make. If somone just wants to pick a car up completed and never touch the software, than by all means, it really doesn't matter what the hell is controling it as long as it works. For those people that are planning on playing around with the software it makes total sense to get a software package that you yourself can easily use. The V3 is like second nature to me now. The only problem I have is finding certain things because there is just so damn much of it. IE-running through the logs we found out that she went a little rich when the secondaries came on. Great, lets lean out the 2ndary enrichment. Great, where the hell is it?

I have no doubt that I would be able to build and install an MS. However, that's just insert pin A into slot B and add a dab of solder and then build a wiring harness. I have no problems with that. The be concern for me personally, would be any type of code writing. That I would fail at miserably.

To each thier own though. Like you said though, for the cost of the unit installed and tuned, as long as it's completed and the owner never needs to touch the software, who cares what's under there.