Fake "Brain Built" MS boxes FS
 

Just a warning, buyer beware.

I just installed a MSI unit over the weekend that the owner bought used. It was advertised as being built be Braineack when it obviously was not. (maybe Brain has been soldering with a hot nail lately, but I doubt it)

Not only were the solder joints on the board poor at best (some with no solder at all), but the Miata mods were sloppy and incorrect.

It seems that some people have figured out that saying Brain built their box increases its value.

If you are going to be buying a used MS unit, demand photos of the board and internal wiring before you buy. We've all seen the pics of the boards that Brain's built, that's what they should look like regardless of the builder. Clean joints and neat mod wiring. If its sloppy and globby, of seller won't offer pics, run away. You can always post pics if your not sure, but this one in particular was quite obvious.

I'm not going to go into the details about who or where this box came from, that's up to the owner. Just want to let people know that boxes are being falsely advertised, so care is needed before purchase.

--Alex

I have a list of everyone I've built MSes for since Jan 2009 (I did about 10 in Nov-Dec 08, but dunno where those records are), so in doubt just ask me. I can always tell from pictures how it's built as well. I have a very standard way in which I do the mods, and while I don't solder with a hot nail, I do use a $7 radio shack iron :giggle: I also tend to only use good black or red solid copper wire...not threaded 16awg speaker cable, as I've seen some built with.

actually, it bite the dust on me last night so I bought a Weller station this morning.


PS. It'll be really lol if it turns out I did build this one.

Thanks for the support.

I wish I had questioned it sooner. I went into the build thinking it'd be a breeze, and the box would be no issue. Ended up stripping and redoing all the mod circuits and retouching a lot of solder joints.

If I hadn't built a few MSs myself, we'd have been stuck. Just want to help anyone else avoid that situation.
--Alex

I bought a secondhand Braineak MS (that had never been installed). I bought mine from RHarris19, so I know it is legit. I just never would have suspected that someone would make that up. That's not cool.

I haven't done anything with mine yet. I may have to send it to Brain for a modification or two if it isn't set up for air conditioning, etc.

I hope there was a little compensation by the PO for the misrepresentation and your trouble.

It's pretty ill that I'm being chinacharged.

Thats what you get. Buy their stuff and they copy yours :p

China charged megasquirts:

Attachment 198746

Yeah, stay away from the red boards. :facepalm:

wow, green resistors....what tolerance are they?


I like the remote LED.

That thing looks totally legit.

OP can you post pics of what your board looked like so we can actually see if it was built by :brain: or not.

I don't have pics of the board, but I can assure you that Brain didn't build it. I the current owner wants to show pics, that's up to him. I did strip all the external wiring, but the board is not pretty.

Among other nastiness, the tach jumpers were bridged with solder globs instead of resistor lead clippings and the spark out circuits were built improperly.

I was installing in a friends car, so I have no idea where the board came from. It was bought under the same circumstances as above. "Brain built it, I bought it, never installed it" Dunno how many hands it went through as I've seen a lot of parts sold like that. For all I know it was owned by 6 people, but we were the first ones to try it.

I'm not hear to blame anyone for building / botching the board, just to warn that it is happening.
--Alex

then that wasn't mine. I've never jumped the tach input circuit that way, I always use leftover leads. On occasion ill use solder glob to bridge two components in the proto area, but not typically.

It was me. Advertising off brand stuff as name brand helps the sale go faster ;)

Incidentally people locally get very confused when I sell them a "brain built ms" lol.

Edit: /sarcasm

Why? It is very nice. I like the heatsink particularly!

Jim

Dude that's awesome. How much for a chinese MS?!

I'm kinda curious about the Chinese shit. For real. Where I can find dums. I'm cheap right now.

lol if there was ever one thing I wouldn't want to cheap out on it would be this!