Anyone running the MegaSquirt PNP?

Has anyone installed and run the new MegaSquirt plug and play ECU? Any thoughts or reviews on your experience?

I'm looking to finally jump into the deep end and go standalone, realizing that it's probably much easier (and cheaper) to get a new ECU than to build/integrate modules to work with the stock one. The megasquirt one looks remarkably attractive, given the minimal wiring and dash support. But I haven't messed with megasquirt since the MS1 days.

Everyone locally advocates for the Holley system instead, and that's what seems to be more supported, as least around here. I don't think I've ever heard a bad word about it either. The problem is that the Terminator X system doesn't have near the I/O that I'd want, and the Dominator seems like overkill for my needs.

https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/megasquirt-ms3-pro-users.1186651/

Although since that thread I've managed to get the flex fuel, VSS2, and the knock sensor working. They just reached out to me this week saying they should have a fix for the speedo bounce. But I won't be doing that until mid November.

01yellercobra said:

https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/megasquirt-ms3-pro-users.1186651/

Although since that thread I've managed to get the flex fuel, VSS2, and the knock sensor working. They just reached out to me this week saying they should have a fix for the speedo bounce. But I won't be doing that until mid November.

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Can I ask how you were able to get those working? I’ve been wondering if there have been any hiccups or updates since their initial release


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03DSGMach1 said:

Can I ask how you were able to get those working? I’ve been wondering if there have been any hiccups or updates since their initial release


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

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Really aside from the speedo any hiccup I've dealt with has been self induced. Dumb things like selecting the wrong input in the software will mess you up. But there's little things like not knowing where the second setting for the high speed fan was. Stuff like that I had to ask about on the forum.

The knock sensor was the biggest pain for me as I had to add the wiring and the pins to the main harness. You wouldn't have to deal with that. The flex fuel sensor is plumbed into the return line. For the VSS2 sensor I picked up a hall effect sensor and welded a bracket to the dust shield on the passenger front tire. It uses the wheel stud heads as a trigger wheel.

I'd piggyback a holley HP rig.

My experience with megasquirt on my 95 was terrible, but it was MS2. The MSPNP may have come a long way...

The holley HP just plain works and there's legit pro support for it. If you ever need it, you can always switch to the dominator system by using the harnesses you have and adding the I/O harnesses you need later.


Edit: scratch that. Apparently piggybacking a holley is a pita.

Haltech has a setup that piggybacks the stock ecu. I'm looking into the ups & downs on it.

Hmmm, I don't know why the Holley is PITA to piggyback. Lost of people are doing that.
I know that Holley at some point will have an expansion I/O module to allow more inputs and outputs with the Terminator X or HP ECU's

There are a few people who are working on jumper modules to allow the Holley to plug into the stock harness and work with the Dash, ABS, EPAS on the S`197 cars. Should be possible for the others at some point.

Robin

All the info I found said it was challenging.

If its not, then the info I found is wrong.

Either way, I'd go with a setup that offers pro support.

Can't say I've had any real issue with support. Anytime I've emailed the company I've had a response within a day. Maybe two. Or I can jump on the main forum as ask my question. Most of my questions have been vehicle specific and that could be a head scratcher for any pro.

FWIW, I've been running this set up since last October/November. I've put a ton of miles on it and I have another long trip coming up next week. It works for me. No piggy backing needed.

Instead of just posting a bunch of hearsay, can we actually provide links?

Corbic said:

Instead of just posting a bunch of hearsay, can we actually provide links?

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Nothing I've said is hearsay. I'm running the MS3 and I'm going by my experience. GodStang is running it as well. We've bounced a lot of ideas/questions off each other.

Nope, wasn't referring to you. Even seen your thread.

01yellercobra said:

Nothing I've said is hearsay. I'm running the MS3 and I'm going by my experience. GodStang is running it as well. We've bounced a lot of ideas/questions off each other.

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I used a megasquirt and it sucked. It was MS2, so not exactly the same.

Holley hp was killer.

No hearsay involved there.

Robin Lawrence said:

Hmmm, I don't know why the Holley is PITA to piggyback. Lost of people are doing that.
I know that Holley at some point will have an expansion I/O module to allow more inputs and outputs with the Terminator X or HP ECU's

There are a few people who are working on jumper modules to allow the Holley to plug into the stock harness and work with the Dash, ABS, EPAS on the S`197 cars. Should be possible for the others at some point.

Robin

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Tuner at a local shop feels that a Holly plug and play option for the 03/04 Cobra is a possibility and being worked on. That would be amazing.

03cobra#2 said:

Tuner at a local shop feels that a Holly plug and play option for the 03/04 Cobra is a possibility and being worked on. That would be amazing.

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Could be, but I haven't heard that yet. most use the 550-617 Kit which is a 99 to 04 Ford 4 Valve setup. The kit is designed to be as close to plug and play on the 4 Valve Modular as possible. There are a bunch o different setups that Ford made in the 4 Valves The issue is that many want to use if for the dash as well. Without some sort of CAN converter the Holley doesn't have that feature.
The guys at MS3 Pro have a good reputation for support and offering various applications. I don't know if they have released a 4 Valve Modular harness.
They are US based as is Holley so getting in touch with them or a dealer should not be a problem.

I work at Holley on the Motorsports side so I have seen a few things LOL.

Robin

Robin Lawrence said:

Could be, but I haven't heard that yet. most use the 550-617 Kit which is a 99 to 04 Ford 4 Valve setup. The kit is designed to be as close to plug and play on the 4 Valve Modular as possible. There are a bunch o different setups that Ford made in the 4 Valves The issue is that many want to use if for the dash as well. Without some sort of CAN converter the Holley doesn't have that feature.
The guys at MS3 Pro have a good reputation for support and offering various applications. I don't know if they have released a 4 Valve Modular harness.
They are US based as is Holley so getting in touch with them or a dealer should not be a problem.

I work at Holley on the Motorsports side so I have seen a few things LOL.

Robin

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I would assume that the reason the 550-617 kit is used for the 99-04 4v is due to that engine running COPs or does it have something to do with how the instrument cluster is utilized? I am asking because I converted my 98 years ago to run on COPs and if I could run the 550-617 kit that would be awesome.

That is correct, at one point they listed it for the 96 and up. We were like whoa whoa the 96 to 98 used the 4 post coils on the front of the cam covers on each bank. they corrected the application listing.
The stock instrument cluster is not supported.

Robin

Robin Lawrence said:

The stock instrument cluster is not supported.

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That reason and the price point is why I went MS3. I'm sure the Holley is awesome, but I wanted to keep my stock dash. I wasn't looking forward to having to run both ECU's.

Robin Lawrence said:

That is correct, at one point they listed it for the 96 and up. We were like whoa whoa the 96 to 98 used the 4 post coils on the front of the cam covers on each bank. they corrected the application listing.
The stock instrument cluster is not supported.

Robin

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Is the stock cluster supported on the 99-04 cars or is it required to be upgraded?

Holley does not run the stock cluster.

The options are to buy a digital dash ($$$$$) or piggyback the holley ecu with the oem. The oem ecu needs a few sensor inputs to run the cluster correctly.

zredfire04 said:

All the info I found said it was challenging.

If its not, then the info I found is wrong.

Either way, I'd go with a setup that offers pro support.

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zredfire04 said:

I used a megasquirt and it sucked. It was MS2, so not exactly the same.

Holley hp was killer.

No hearsay involved there.

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Care to elaborate on that at all? What was it that sucked about it?

The MS forums are pretty great for support and the DIYAutotune guys are great for hardware support.

I don't have any experience with Holley support but everyone seems to be running it.

I think for the most part I'm looking for any reasons not to run the MS system. It's just got everything you could ask for in a nice, neat package.

Holley is awesome, but the Terminator X just has so few I/O it isn't worth it, especially for Ford cars. They have 4 I/O- two are earmarked for fans, and on Ford cars one is required for the IAC, so really you just have 1. That doesn't leave me much better off than my stock ECU. If you want more you need to go to the Dominator, which costs twice as much. And with either you still need to run a conspicuous digital dash.