stand alone management

[poloeatonm45]

hi im looking at getting a standalone managment system for my g40 but have never used anything like that before can anyone tell me if they are hard to set up ? i am ok at using spanners and hammers but not to good with electrics are they hard to fit? and are they hard to progarm to get the car up and running

steven

[Tommo]

Ive looked into it myself, it seems that megasquirt is over documented, and I get the impression its made as a semi educational thing rather than just making it as straightforward as possible and to give the best results.

If I was going to spaff the cash on it I would use emerald or VEMS, although there isnt much documented on the latter. Both much better systems IMHO.

[Andy]

If you're methodical about things you shouldn't find installing an aftermarket EMS too difficult, as long as you think things through properly and pay close attention to fusing and current ratings of components/harnessing. With the G40 already being fuel injection though it makes a lot of things much easier!

As for programming it, there's a fair bit of tinkering required to get something up and running - the time-consuming part is getting it properly setup. It's one thing re-mapping Digifant where you're really just tinkering with the main fuel and ignition maps and leaving the rest as VW intended - but with a standalone system you've got all the coolant and air temp correction curves etc. to do as well, and getting it done nicely can take ages and ages - so I'd recommend that you budget for some rolling road time to at least get a base map sorted.

Megasquirt's a budget system, and it really shows. Most of the systems (if you buy pre-bought, or a kit) don't use sealed cases or proper automotive connectors, which means you need to install it inside the car if you want it to work in the rain and last... I believe that Microsquirt might address this, now - but when I was looking it was still in development.

We used MSII on Yoof's car when it was running ITBs on a GT engine, and it took a while to get it running. There's lots of documentation, but back then it didn't all agree - and was hit and miss as to whether chunks of the software had been designed by someone who understood automotive engine management properly or not. It was educational (up to a point...), but equally intensely frustrating if you hit issues due to a software bug or poor documentation.

In the end Yoof bought some dyno time at Northants Motorsport to get a decent base map done, and by the time he'd done that and totted up the cost of the extra bits to bring MS up to scratch it'd have almost bought him an Emerald system.

So when it came to wanting a standalone system on mine I bought an Emerald (it was cheaper for a one-off than buying all the kit to remap Digifant myself). The Emerald's not perfect (case isn't properly sealed, though the connector is) and I've had a few software bugs - e.g. Dave Walker telling me I had an ignition problem as the revs kept randomly dropping, 'til Karl Paton @ Emerald released a software update to fix the bug causing the issue, or the closed-loop boost control not working 'til I was emailed yet another software update.

At least with a commercially available product you get some after-sales support, with MS your support is the MS online community - who may, or may not, be able to help. And in the case of Emerald you can get a map done for £300ish on their dyno, though mine pinked its arse off when I drove it away, so ended up re-doing a lot of the ignition map! 

Realistically, there's not all that much to choose between the sub-£1k systems like Emerald/VEMS/DTA/Omex etc. - and you'll find fans and critics of all those systems. I'd say choose one that you local tuner/rolling road is familiar with, on the basis that you stand the best chance of decent results.

What's your main reason for switching to standalone management?

[lance]

depending on how much money you want to spend will depend on how easy it is to fit. DTA e48 exp is a cheap ecu you can get for around 250 pound but id go for the s40 because its eaiser to map. you can also buy a full plug and play loom from dta but you'd still have to fit a trigger wheel and crank pos sensor. to be honest though if your sticking with a charger and same inlet and things then id just stick with standard ecu just see PPP about a remap and spend your money on a lsd or subframe.