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Old 04-19-2017, 11:32 AM
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Default Remote tuning

Hey guys my miata runs and drives and starts up for the most part. I would like to fix some things and most of this stuff is way over my head. I paid for the installer who is a megasquirt dealer and a friend to install the turbo and tune the car. He admitted that he only knew so much and kicked some money back to me. Would a pro here want to just remote into my laptop while i'm driving and tune my car?

I could follow direction but, a lot of this stuff requires you to conceptually understand what your doing and why to make the car really sing.

Some of my problems are:
Hot starts take about 5 or 6 tires.
Lean stumble off idle (spent hours in enrichment tab)
Idle itself could use some improvement.
Dead time might be off.

Payment via Paypal. Just give me a price and I'm sure we can work something out.
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Old 04-19-2017, 11:56 AM
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Here to hear responses.

Otherwise, if there is a chance of this happening, you might want to include your location, info about your car, what MS you have, whom we should not buy a MS from.
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:28 PM
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Ya... Wasn't the sure what kind of response this would get lol. I got it for a very highly respected race team in the area. They just didn't have time to really get it 100%. I'm in northeast pa aka Scranton.

I have a 1.8 on a tod04 15g turbo. I'm running rx8 injectors and a mspnp2. The car is definitely derivable just the wife is scared to give it a go. She wants it to be tuned to the point where she won't stall at a refd light and struggle to turn it back over.
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Old 04-19-2017, 01:56 PM
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Originally Posted by ads5053
Ya... Wasn't the sure what kind of response this would get lol. I got it for a very highly respected race team in the area. They just didn't have time to really get it 100%. I'm in northeast pa aka Scranton.

I have a 1.8 on a tod04 15g turbo. I'm running rx8 injectors and a mspnp2. The car is definitely derivable just the wife is scared to give it a go. She wants it to be tuned to the point where she won't stall at a refd light and struggle to turn it back over.
Update your profile to reflect your location etc. And as everyone says to do: post your tune and a log of the issue marked. Maybe you'll be able to get enough help to have it working a bit better, finding someone locally who can help, and/or someone who can help tune remotely. I think 18PSI used to do that, but I'm not certain.
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Old 04-19-2017, 01:59 PM
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I believe Ken Hill is up in PA and very good at tuning from what I have heard.
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Old 04-19-2017, 02:08 PM
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These guys deal with Ken Hill: APT Tuning

Not sure if this is a current email address or not but: ken@oracletuning.net

Hope it helps.
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Old 04-19-2017, 03:01 PM
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I've remote tuned a handful of Miata's by now if you can't find anyone more "pro" lol
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Old 04-19-2017, 08:04 PM
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that's tragic. all those issues you mentioned are just a google away.
hope you find someone soon.

good luck
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Old 04-20-2017, 10:37 AM
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I have been able to help a few folks remotely too, I would bet that a remote tune from 18psi would be pretty darn good.

Bear in mind that you will need to send him your TS project and logs as he specifies. Then input new tunes, log, rinse and repeat.

Yes, you are a few searches away from solving your issues.
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Old 04-20-2017, 11:05 AM
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Wow so many guys are willing to help out! I'm just too busy working to really get this thing going. Plus when I read the explaintions on how to fix these issues I don't know what the hell people are talking about. Send most of my time googling the acronyms they're re using.
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Old 04-20-2017, 11:16 AM
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Originally Posted by bahurd
These guys deal with Ken Hill: APT Tuning

Not sure if this is a current email address or not but: ken@oracletuning.net

Hope it helps.
i called him last year. The answer I got was he doesn't do megasquirt.
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Old 04-20-2017, 01:44 PM
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Re: going cross eyes with terms and having to google things and read the manual a bunch... Yup. That's how it starts. I'm there right now too haha.

Originally Posted by ads5053
i called him last year. The answer I got was he doesn't do megasquirt.
That surprises me.
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Old 04-20-2017, 02:00 PM
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Originally Posted by ads5053
i called him last year. The answer I got was he doesn't do megasquirt.
Unfortunately, most shops won't touch Megasquirt due to the DIY nature of the hardware (and subsequent QC issues); the vast multitude of hardware, firmware and software configurations available that each have their own little quirks and system integration issues; and the fact that Megasquirt is inherently a hobby level ECU. The constant development is both a pro and a con depending on your tolerance for software bugs. At $100+ an hour for shop labor rates, no one wants to troubleshoot or be responsible when things go wrong that are outside their control. This is why most professional shops either specialize in one platform (like Subaru/COBB) or master the factory ECU (like VW/ Bosch/ Unitronic, BMW/ Bosch/ Burger) or go with an aftermarket standalone that offers manufacturer support (like Motec).
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Old 04-20-2017, 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by freedomgli
Unfortunately, most shops won't touch Megasquirt due to the DIY nature of the hardware (and subsequent QC issues); the vast multitude of hardware, firmware and software configurations available that each have their own little quirks and system integration issues; and the fact that Megasquirt is inherently a hobby level ECU. The constant development is both a pro and a con depending on your tolerance for software bugs. At $100+ an hour for shop labor rates, no one wants to troubleshoot or be responsible when things go wrong that are outside their control. This is why most professional shops either specialize in one platform (like Subaru/COBB) or master the factory ECU (like VW/ Bosch/ Unitronic, BMW/ Bosch/ Burger) or go with an aftermarket standalone that offers manufacturer support (like Motec).
ya tuning my BMW was so hard lol. Plug in Cobb come back in 20 mins and done. Now that's my kinda tuning.
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Old 04-20-2017, 04:36 PM
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So you just flashed a canned map on your car, is what you're saying?
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Old 04-20-2017, 04:43 PM
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.

Last edited by Art; 06-11-2018 at 08:03 PM.
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Old 04-20-2017, 05:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Art
Maybe this is partially an MS thing? I'm not simply trying to stir the pot here, but MS is almost $1k for the good ones and you seem to hear quite a bit about trouble starting, idling, etc. They keep releasing firmware with bug fixes. Like others have said, there is a huge variance when you're selling electronics kits that different people are soldering components onto. I think the difficulty level and potential for errors/issues is quite high with something like that. This is probably a bad comparison, but with Linux I know everything's going to be a headache, but at least it's free and powerful.

Search the forums here for a tuner in your area. The best way would probably be to schedule a visit with a shop/tuner that people know to be good with MS via word of mouth. I'm not sure if this site has a tuner directory, but this site is probably your best bet. Check MS forums too. If one of the pros here is willing to take a few values from your setup and help you with a good base map, I'd wager that is going to be at least as good as what 1/2 of so called "tuners" out there will give you. Maybe the race team you speak of has an MS expert, but them giving you some of your money back for an unfinished job is kind of a weird sign. Good luck.
As someone that had trouble with the 'MS starting' due to user error, I can state that this is what happens when someone new to tuning comes into this side of things. You won't just magically be able to get the car running right on MS. It requires time and effort to get things to work properly.

If you want someone else to handle everything else for you, either buy an ECU that has local tuner support from whichever tuner you'd like to work with and/or just go about things the flying miata way and get their kit and ECU. Your issues with the MS seem to stem from things that are related either to the user or to the builder, not to the MS itself. Sure the software has had issues at times, but you can always go back to a previous tune and downgrade your firmware to a previous version that was stable if you're having issues.

There's a reason that braineack has published his build for the MS... because that helps keep things standardized and makes issues easy to trouble shoot. He came up with a good way of doing things for the miata and shared them because it makes it much easier for this community to help troubleshoot issues and figure out what's going on if something is up. Rev does things his own way and I think it might be getting to a point where Savington can fix a few of the basic issues or determine what does/doesn't need to be sent back to Greece to make things easier for the end user that buys through them.

Bytevenom, who is a user on here, is a frosh in college and built his DIY unit himself with limited experience and had his car up and running in a few hours with it. Forrest is graduating high school this summer and he has built a few units and is still running his car through an MS1 by learning how things work. I've driven his car and it's totally fine.

The DIY stuff requires effort. If someone isn't willing to put the time into troubleshooting things and don't have a local tuner that they can pay to do things for them... then maybe megasquirt isn't the best option for them? There's legitimately so much written about how to troubleshoot, log, and analyze things, and so many people willing to help you learn if you can show that you're willing to learn... I would never have bought a megasquirt if the information here didn't exist.

(/steps off soapbox...)
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Old 04-20-2017, 05:16 PM
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time or money

pick one
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Old 04-20-2017, 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted by 18psi
time or money

pick one
always money. Time is irreplaceable.
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Old 04-20-2017, 05:35 PM
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.

Last edited by Art; 06-11-2018 at 08:02 PM.
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