MS pnp vs a kit
 

guys, i'm considering selling my current ECU and going for a MS setup. im an EE so am not concerned with soldering/assembly and would like to save money. Is there any other advantage to buying the pnp over the kit? are they identical once assembled? or is the pnp hardware actually different. i have already read the must reads at the top of the forum. thanks!.

As far as I know, no. Hardware is the same as well as all the features.

I say build it yourself.

The PNP hardware is a bit different.

The PNP comes in a nice housing with OEM miata connectors on it. you unplug your stock ECU, plug in the PNP and run the vac. line, and thats it as far as your installation goes. you dont have to worry about splicing/soldering wires or doing a lot of work to get a clean install... you just plug it in.

Sounds like your not going to build one... so you could buy a prebuilt kit with whatever mods you want to save money over the PNP, but as far as the wiring goes, your on your own. A kit would be easier to modify if you want features that do not come on the PNP

the PNP uses the 3.57 board and has a few extra mods/circuits built in. It wins for ease of install. The DIY approach is nearly the same thing and half the cost, plus, I can build a harness and MS from scratch within 2 hours :)

One of the big differences is that the PNP can control the air conditioning whereas the kit version doesn't, without serious modding anyway. And yeah the PNP comes in a nice case and you don't have to build a wiring harness. But those features, to me at least, weren't worth double the price. I'm planning to run parallel with the stock ECU controlling the A/C and idle. Actually I finished building the MS a while ago but I'm going to wait on the install until after I get back from an HPDE I have planned soon, since there's other stuff the car needs more urgently. The build itself is pretty easy if you've ever soldered anything, so no problem for an EE. But there's nothing wrong with buying the PNP if you have the money and just don't want to bother building a kit.

eh, I read that wrong if you're an EE by all means build it yourself.

Gee, a newb who didn't even glance at the sticky thread entitled "SUPER Important Megasquirt Threads"

Imagine that...

Here: How to make your A/C work with a Standalone MS

I don't consider one jumper wire to be "serious modding."


Anyway compuatic, welcome aboard.

As Brainey said, the MSPNP consists of the Rev 3.57 Megasquirt PCA, plus a daughterboard which contains the factory connectors. The 3.57 board is more or less identical, schematic-wise, to the Rev 3.0 board that is used in the DIY kit. The primary difference is that 3.57 is surface-mount whereas 3.0 is through-hole. Additionally, 3.0 contains a small prototyping area (just a little section of perfboard, basically) whereas the 3.57 does not.

Here is some info on the 3.57, relative to the 3.0: http://www.megamanual.com/357/

Either board requires modifications to work in the Miata, as the base schematic has only one crankshaft trigger input and one ignition output. On the MSPNP these are done for you, whereas on the 3.0 you'll need to tack a few resistors on the back. It's pretty well documented here: http://diyautotune.com/tech_articles...azda_miata.htm

Functionally, they are identical.

Good information, looks like i'm going with the kit. any advantage going with the MS-II? its about $60 more. i've read it has a faster processor and allows for higher resolution tuning, anything else? is it a good idea to shell out the extra valuable cash for the II or not really? thanks for the help.

Hey Mo. The MSII is much more powerful, but there's also much less support for it. If I had the skill to do it, I'd do an MSI right now and then build an MSII later when there is more support.

Brain, you still building MS's?
 

Are you still building kits or harnesses?

Jim