dan91

I know its an auction. Its also just the ECU without adapter harness, which is $550 from Haltech purchased separately, or $300 in a kit with the ECU. The final bid would need to be pretty low to actually come out ahead vs last year's Black Friday deal that was mentioned when the harness is added in.

dan91

It sold for $951. That plus the $550 harness is $1500 - the BF price

dan91

I called a LOT of tuners in the Chicago area, although I'm sure I've missed plenty more. The first half dozen I called had never worked with Haltechs and were not interested in doing so, many did not work on Miatas, and the one I found that had tuned Miatas before did not work with Haltech. If anyone has a favorite Miata tuner in this area, I'm all ears - googling "Miata dyno tuner IL" only works so well. I finally found two different tuners that were familiar with Haltech, and both had very positive things to say about them. It seems that tuners that use them like them a lot, but most tuners have just never used them. I've now found two options within an hour's drive of me, so that eliminates one potential road block. If the Black Friday deals are as good as anticipated, I think that's the route I'm going to go. If I buy a Megasquirt, how will I ever regret not buying an MS? Where's the fun in that?

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

There's not really..... "Miata tuners" in most of the country. And that's fine.

There's nothing special about a Miata motor. At all. In any way. It's just lukewarm unremarkable trash in literally every way. Finding tuners that are familiar with Haltech is a win.

dan91

That was kind of my assumption. Engine tuning is engine tuning. The only benefit I could see to experience with Miatas is if there are drivability things unique to the car - doing X helps improve idle, or Y is really important for cold start, or the car is really sensitive to Z. But that kind of stuff I can mess with on my own without a dyno

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

It's a BP. It's like a Camry 4 cylinder, but smaller and less good. It's not picky.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Dozens and dozens of my miata customers would strongly disagree with both of you, having spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on "tuners" and then finally working with someone that knows all the little quirks a miata likes.
They come in with lazy starts, high idles, open loop control of basically everything, and on and on and on. And they are usually told "it's normal for a modified car running a standalone ecu". Their mind is blown when the car after a proper tune can do everything just like OEM, but then also make power, have sharper and more precise tip in, responsiveness, you name it. Like it's some sort of wizardry.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Yes, there are some things unique to a Miata, mainly that it's really shitty at a few things that other platforms are great at from the factory. Knock control comes to mind. Idles valves that react as fast as a teenager staring at their phone is another. Get it tuned on the dyno for WOT, fuel and ignition. Leave those 100kpa rows alone and do the rest either yourself or via a remote tuner.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like a function of a good tuner rather than a function of a motor that's "special."

Bet you could do the same thing on a not-BP. Bet the people who can't do it on a BP can't do it on any other motor, either.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Oh yeah, it's not special. It's a turd. But its my special little turd

Jesse99James

I might be in the same boat if Nemesis EMS fails to upgrade my 2.6 to 2.7. As posted a few weeks ago, there has been zero communication and come Monday they will have had it in their possession for SEVEN weeks. At the time it seemed the easiest, cheapest path to better software/ease of tuning. I'm watching these discussions closely in case I am forced to file a PayPal dispute as I doubt I'll get my Hydra 2.6 back if it comes down to disputing the charge.

What I just realized, and a large part of the reason I didn't just ditch it and switch to another computer is I didn't want to start over after having a bad experience with MS2 enhanced and a POS LC-1 back in 2012. BUT, I already have tuned, or semi-tuned Hydra 2.6 maps that I could use to help dial in any other brand computer's base map. I wouldn't be starting totally over and have gained a lot of knowledge since 2012 already having fixed the slow to fire when cranking, spitting rich idle, and stalling at the first stop sign or two from my house when headlights were on.

Dan, if you're having tuning difficulty or don't already have a fairly polished map for your engine then it'll be more work. As long as I get my PayPal payment back from Nemesis I'm not really losing much if they never return my Hydra 2.6 (MSM wire harness, still in the car). It doubt I could sell it easily if there was even any interest. Until I am forced to file the dispute I might as well install Tuner Studio. If anybody has a base map for MSM that I can start tweaking, even better!

Chiburbian

iTrader: (1)

Underground Autosports, and RCautoworks. RC doesn't have a steady state dyno though last I heard. I don't know the tuner personally at Underground, but I did rent dyno time with them when I dialed in boost on my car. It was reasonable if I recall.

dan91

I think those were both on the list that I called, I will give them another look. Thanks, a recommendation helps when just looking at a bunch of random websites with nothing else to go on.