What exactly do I need?
 

Hello all,

I have been planning a build for my MSM ever since I bought the car last September. I am finally at the point that I am comfortable starting to actually mod the car but want to get and EMS up and running first so I can tune as I go and learn little by little.

I have sifted through multiple forums for hours upon hours the past few weeks just searching for the right ECU and finally settled on building my own MS3. However, I am completely new to building chips and working with circuitry. After attempting to compile as much knowledge on my own over the past few days investing well over 15 hours of reading posts on this forum and DIYautotune I am exhausted. I have learned a tremendous amount about MS but still feel as though I have just scratched the surface.

I really just want a list of parts I need to buy without getting extra to start the process with everything I need all at once and then I can do more research on how to build my MS and use the software and such.

Given that I have a currently stock MSM that I daily drive and am looking to create a MS3 with functionality either identical or extremely similar to Reverant's last group buy What exactly do I need to order.

I know I'll need: a soldering iron, solder
tuning cable for the MS3
MS3 Daughter Board
MS3X expansion board(i think)
A case
And then some assortment of resistors
and sensors(this is where I start to have
no idea what I need exactly)

Please feel free to correct me where I am wrong and offer any helpful suggestions. I know I am a noob with this and will take any criticism and try to learn from it all I can. Please keep it constructive though.

I know just what you mean, I have been reading and researching for the past few weeks and I'm still confused.

I can't offer advice on the technical aspects of your build (I just built a DIYPNP for my car over the past two days, the MS3 is a whole different animal) but I can recommend buying "helping hands" to hold your circuit boards while you solder and a good strong desk light to help you see. I bought a cheap set of helping hands from Fry's for less than five bucks that also included a magnifying glass.

I also found the red triangular lead bending tool extremely helpful. No-brainer tool and saves a lot of time. Bending all the leads by hand with pliers would get old quick.

Don't forget to have a beer and your favorite soothing music handy.

Thanks for the tips. I knew about the helping hands from videos I watched on how to properly solder but I didn't think about the bending tool

The MS3 kit comes with a case.

You'd want to add a GM IAT sensor and use the MAP sensor inside the MS3 (or upgrade to a MapDaddy if you're going over 20 psi of boost). And a wideband O2 sensor setup is good for tuning. Other than that, stock sensors are fine. And the MS3 isn't going to need much in the way of mod kits; the MS3X takes care of most of that.

Thanks a lot. I would have forgot the GM IAT sensor. I did find a good build thread though. probably not gonna go over 20psi with the build I am planning so the MAP sensor in the MS3 should be fine. If I am understanding this right with the kit and other components you just listed I should be able to build the MS3 and then install the software to set it up, make a base map, and then install it along with the wideband guage and be able to start my car up with it for further tuning? And should I do a parallel install to let the factory ecu handle idle and such or is the MS3 easy enough to tune so that the AC and idle will be fine running soley on it?

Forgot to mention, you'll want a JimStim.

I would not leave the stock ECU handling idle - as I believe it partially uses spark control for that function, you'll probably get a better idle with MS3.