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Megasquirt - I gave up

TR Conn

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Location
Long Beach, Ca
After a 4 plus year losing fight with Megasquirt I decided to try another tack.
I will admit that when I began the odyssey with Megasquirt I knew very little about after market fuel injection. It was a worthwhile and fairly expensive learning experience. But I never learned enough to get it right and consistent.
I pulled all of the Megasquirt equipment and wiring, except the fuel pump and surge tank.
Ordered a Holley Sniper TBI 2300, I think this is the answer. I mounted it to a Weber DGV manifold with a home made adapter, routed the fuel and wiring (2 hoses, 4 wires), it fired up on the first crank.
If you?re not familiar with the sniper it is basically a 2 bbl carb replacement that will self adjust to just about any engine up to 350hp. All of the necessary parts are built into the TBI body (TPS, IAT, MAP, IAC and the ECM). The kit also included the O2 sensor and ECT sensor. There are 4 bbl models for even bigger engines and single bbl for smaller engines which might have been adequate, but someone on the site says that overkill is always better, a philosophy I embrace.
The biggest obstacle I ran across was the throttle linkage (this is mounted in a ?58 Duett with a B20). I utilized the throttle cable linkage from a 144E.
I haven?t noticed any real power gains, but it starts right up, runs well, doesn?t bog down or lug and has a nice even idle.
There is customization possible within the software, but it runs well out of the box.

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those sorts of systems do ok as long as you don't look under the "hood". I'd leave the controller/dongle alone and just carry on.
 
Looks pretty nice; I here ya on megasquirt, I was blind to it and lost. But plenty of people on here helped me out. If I did it again would I go a different route? Probably not the others are to expensive. Im getting where I can adjust the tune with computer. If you told me 4 yrs. ago I would be doing that with computer. I would of said you are crazy. LOL. Anyways Im glad you have a setup that works for ya. How much did cost out of curiousity.
 
Holley is whoring that setup out to virtually every automotive channel on Youtube, it's insane.

The fact that they work 'so well' is a clear indicator that 99% of people's issues are related to bad wiring/grounds/install with other systems, IMO. Because MS was cheap, people thought it was easy...and it's not any easier than any other EFI system out there.

I've thought about picking up a Sniper system like above though, because it's a very novel and compact design.
 
Holley is whoring that setup out to virtually every automotive channel on Youtube, it's insane.

The fact that they work 'so well' is a clear indicator that 99% of people's issues are related to bad wiring/grounds/install with other systems, IMO. Because MS was cheap, people thought it was easy...and it's not any easier than any other EFI system out there.

I've thought about picking up a Sniper system like above though, because it's a very novel and compact design.

There is a lot of truth in the wiring comment.

they don't work that well though, you just don't "see" the problems most of the time until you try and do anything other than whatever it's basic setup is. I will say, the hardware isn't bad at all, the software and some of the implementation suffers greatly (and I've almost replaced the control unit on some with a microsquirt so that it would work consistently and tune out).

I get the allure, but honestly.. a decently setup carb would get you the same things just about all the time.
 
Holley has a system that works with tech support. I used MS but was always worried about troubleshooting the ecu.

yeah, this is not a bag on all things holley at all.. the term-x is a badass little unit, and their bigger offerings are just that much better
 
and to be fair as well, the older megasquirts are more prone to be finicky than the newer stuff.
 
There is a lot of truth in the wiring comment.

I get the allure, but honestly.. a decently setup carb would get you the same things just about all the time.

I definitely see the upside to the TBI carb conversions. Slightly better temp and altitude correction, and lambda feedback for mixture control.

I've been wanting to try the Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 EFI kit out, as it's solves a bunch of the power hurdles with a 5.slow efi system. 4bbl air throttle body with direct port injection. I'd just want to play around with the software before fully committing to it.

https://www.edelbrock.com/edelbrock-pro-flo-4-efi-kit-35930-for-ford-289w-302w-engines-35930.html
 
I’m in a similar boat. I’ve toyed with megasquirt on multiple projects over the years but could never get it quite right for a daily/weekend driver. I like the idea of the Holley kit as a replacement for a worn out carb. I’m about to swap out a pair of worn out SU’s on my Amazon for a brand new DGV (because it was free) but I really want to go the fuel injection route.

What’s your fuel pump/surge tank setup? The adapter plate looks pretty straight forward too! I might be copying this over the winter.

Rob
 
Thanks for not ripping me apart on this. As far as originality, I just can't leave things alone. As for appearance, I think a single downdraft looks more at home on a 1958 car than the dual SUs. 95% of people have no idea what they are looking at anyway.

Do the spark plugs have same color?
Very close, #4 “seems” to be a bit lighter. This has always been an issue with the DGV manifolds. There is no charge stealing because all of the intake air has atomized fuel.

I'd leave the controller/dongle alone and just carry on
There are a couple of settings that need tweaking. For example, for a 4 cyl. the priming pulse as it comes is metered for a V8 and it is quite a gush of fuel.

What’s your fuel pump/surge tank setup?
The surge tank is pictured in the last photo above. It is fed by the mechanical fuel pump and uses a Bosch 044 fuel pump (Overkill for sure). The pump feeds the injectors after a fuel filter then to the built -in fuel pressure regulator, back to the surge tank then there is an overflow back to the main fuel tank.
 
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There is a lot of truth in the wiring comment.

they don't work that well though, you just don't "see" the problems most of the time until you try and do anything other than whatever it's basic setup is. I will say, the hardware isn't bad at all, the software and some of the implementation suffers greatly (and I've almost replaced the control unit on some with a microsquirt so that it would work consistently and tune out).

I get the allure, but honestly.. a decently setup carb would get you the same things just about all the time.
Yep. I was looking at Patches recently, the last time that 2TC ran it was on a modified 2gc rochester, and I looked at the 2gc TBI. But I'll probably fire it up on a carb because it works, mostly.

wiring...sigh... as good as I can sometimes be at wiring (I've been teaching it for way too long), sometimes I get stung by overlooking the stupid stuff. A harness that has been beat on, or corroded grounds. It all has to be right, no breaks. So much attention is paid to the fused side, but it's all a loop. One weak link and you're toast.

I have a 1.1 -- the only one I ever bough -- somewhere in a box
partout? partout? partout? /seagull
 
I definitely see the upside to the TBI carb conversions. Slightly better temp and altitude correction, and lambda feedback for mixture control.

And one other big thing: it is not metering the fuel by sucking all the air through a small hole.

That thing looks pretty cool, and well executed by the op.

Edit: I don't see any pics of an ecu, but I see wires. There is one, somewhere...? Or is it self-contained
 
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Thanks for not ripping me apart on this. As far as originality, I just can't leave things alone. As for appearance, I think a single downdraft looks more at home on a 1958 car than the dual SUs. 95% of people have no idea what they are looking at anyway.

I mean.. at the end of the day it's your car, your project, and your time. You have to live with it, might as well get it how you want it.
*points at alternator* "It's supercharged!"

Do the spark plugs have same color?
Very close, #4 ?seems? to be a bit lighter. This has always been an issue with the DGV manifolds. There is no charge stealing because all of the intake air has atomized fuel.

cool re: the plugs. pretty good burn pattern on them?


I'd leave the controller/dongle alone and just carry on
There are a couple of settings that need tweaking. For example, for a 4 cyl. the priming pulse as it comes is metered for a V8 and it is quite a gush of fuel.

I can imagine so haha. some of the other systems have a very specific cranking regiment.. you turn the key on, wait some period of time (like 5 or 7 seconds, maybe even 10) or it flat out won't start and will just flood the engine. if you wait too long, same thing--this was not on a holley though, this was a fitech private label. Had the same issue on a bigger fitech unit on another car, and have heard from a number of good tuners that the fitech stuff (not to be confused with FUEL tech) is pretty roundly garbage. On the upside, their ecus are not mounted in the 'carb', so replacing the part that sucks isn't a very big deal. Have heard mixed reviews regarding the snipers, similar tunability issues though not as bad. The package/sensors/concept is solid, the implementation is what tends to suffer.
 
I've built 2 MS units. One for my TBird, probably 15 years ago (Old MS1 V2.2 running the "Extra" code) and another MS1 V3.0 that was in my '80 240. Had decent luck with both (The TBird unit was my first major electronics project...ever), learned a lot. The TBird is still running on that ECU (driven it 3 times in the past week) and the 240 is still running on it, but I sold it a couple years ago.

Have a MaxxECU for my next 240 project and have been dabbling in Motronic M4.4 tuning/flashing for our 850's.

If I wanted something "discrete", these Sniper kits look like a decent option.
 
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