Hydra or Megasquirt?
 

I have a 99 and it's time to upgrade from my current voo-doo setup. Should I be patient and wait maybe 5 years till DIY releases the MSPNP for my car? Or should I spend 2 grand and buy a Hydra Nemesis from FM? I appears that the hydra is not compatible with my Innovate LC-1 while the Megasquirt is...Voice your opinions and let me know!

best option is to research megasquirt like crazy enough to where you are comfortable building one. Another option is to have some1 like braineak make you one for your setup.

Quite a few folks running parallel MS-I, and a couple running full replacement MS-II. The Hydra is a good ecu if you shit gold.

go megasquirt in parallel. if you dont have VVT, you can do just about all you want.

No need to wait. I have a 99 and I am running a MS-I in parallel. Works great. I drive it to work everyday and it has been reliable so far.

I just had to add a 94-97 CAS which is easy. CJernigan is running one too. In fact he built my MS and my adapter harness.

Go megasquirt, follow the FAQ, ask questions when you get stuck, then do a massive burnout on the voodoo box. (Or sell it off like I did.)

Megasquirt FTW.

Indeed. I'm sure the Hydra is a wonderful ECU, but I've owned cars that cost less than that thing.

No need to wait for DIY to build a PNP for your year, there are quite a few folks now running MS on their NBs, mostly parallel, though I know at least one fellow running full standalone.

word

So parallel, like a piggy back kinda like my voo-doo, except it has full control over EVERYTHING (Timing, fuel, etc.) when in boost? I might be interested in this, but if it works only in boost, how do bigger injectors work out of boost?

It works all the time, not just when in boost. You cut the injector wires from the stock ecu and never look back. MS has control all the time. Same for spark. It's basically a super genius that is lazy and lets the stock ECU do the elementary things it's good at like idle and A/C to make it feel better.

We use the term parallel, as opposed to piggyback, do denote that the MS is in full control of all fuel and ignition functions all the time, whereas the stock ECU is running other functions such as the alternator, instrument cluster, A/C, idle...

The idea is to give the MS only the critical tasks, the ones that the ECU is incapable of, while letting the ECU continue to do the things that it can.

This differs from a piggyback situation (such as with an EMU) where the stock ECU is in fact still doing fuel and ignition, with the piggyback device modifying or influencing these signals.