I am building my megasquirt
 

Hey Guys,

I have been reading over all the stuff on megasquirt and i finally ordered the kit today following the instructions in the archives. Are there any considerations to take into account or certain things people miss/mess up?

I have read through most of the threads on MS but just hoping I didn't miss anything.

I ordered MS 1 version 3 with the IAT mod to eliminate the AFM and also with the EBC mod for when I turbo soon.

Any good base maps to get the car running nice other than what was mentioned in the archives?

Thanks, Adam

Get the DIY mspnp map for your car and use that as a base. Pay attention when you solder, and follow all the instructions.

Did you get a stim?

I say goodluck. My little tip of advice is getting a good soldering iron. I used a shitty 15watt radio shack one and it sucked balls. Now because of work I have used a good one and it is worht spending a little bit of money on a soldering iron.

I am going to use a friends stim. Is that DIY mspnp map available online on the forums?

I am also using a 35 watt iron.

35 watt is too hot.

that "crappy 15W iron" is actually recommended for use. It has grounding so you wont charge up the iron with static electricity, and it is also a perfect size for working with the MS. another plus side is its cheaper, and more affordable for people just doing a simple project. If youre going to be soldering things for a long time, sure, go for one with a nice adjustable wattage and base station.

what you might have a little trouble with is the diodes with larger leads as they take a bit longer to heat up. let the iron heat up for at least 5 minutes, and constantly coat it with solder. otherwise, the 15W iron is perfect. using a 35W could damage components because of the increased heat, and you may notice the solder burning up quicker than using a 15W iron. practice soldering before you tackle the MS yourself. it took me a good month to get the soldering technique down, but now i feel confident with my skills on it.

i attempted to mod my Wii i had to play backups. The installation was simple, no problems on running backup games. you should see how amazingly small the solder pads were.

I use the 25w Radio shack iron and have built 6 MS's and something like 10 harnesses with it. It's essentially perfect and relatively cheap. You can get nice under $20 soldering station off ebay but don't expect to have tips readily available.
Follow the FAQ but compare it to the manual, there might be mistakes along the way.
The MSQ for the MSPNP can be downloaded at mspnp.com or w/e the reroute is. Some thing will need to be modified but for the mostpart it should work.

The #1 rule with MS is: It is your own car and your own megasquirt so do your own research and take care of everything in the beginning. The minute you think you're set and know everything you have another 20 pages to read because you slacked off in the beginning.
Do it right the first time, burned coils aren't cheap, RTFM.

thanks for the advice guys. I cant wait to start squirting =P

if i had 15watt iron it's doubtful I'd be able to build any MSs.

+1 on what Chad said.

i built mine with one :dunno: