Author Topic: Megasquirt on a m42 (Read 35497 times)

cristimm · « **Reply #15 on:** June 19, 2010, 02:24:35 AM »

Quote from: Avtovaz;82354

Hmm, my last car was this

I like very much the strut-bar. Any ideea who's making it and if they have one available for E36 M42s?

DesktopDave · « **Reply #16 on:** June 19, 2010, 08:05:25 AM »

I always had a soft spot for the e36 compact. Nice little car...essentially an e30 with a few e36 goodies tossed in. Does anyone know how much heavier the e36/5 is than the facelift e30 318i?

**edit**

A '95 e36/5 is 77 pounds heavier than my e30 M42 sedan and only 132 more than a 318iS.

M42 e30 curb weights here: 2657 lbs (318i) 2602 lbs (318is). This Motor Trend review quotes the 318ti as having a 2734 pound curb weight. I wonder how much (removable) insulation those Compacts have? The only real issue I had looking for one was scarcity...and cost. They're a cult favorite, especially the Club Sports, and their prices are fairly high. Interior parts might be problematic too.

Anyone on the board have one? Just curious about driving impressions, etc.

jscribble · « **Reply #17 on:** June 20, 2010, 12:35:25 AM »

I passed up a ti, as we're trying to buy a house, but for 2k, and with the (mini) mighty m4x, I wish I hadn't. That car is an extension of the reason our engines are great. It's light, nimble, etc.

+1 for suspension. Bimmers are razors in the twistys and it's easy to forget how badly mileage beats on suspension. Refresh, rebuild, CHIP IT and enjoy. If you still need more - go boost or stroker. Properly done, 30-40% more power is easily achievable. Plenty of info here, and in a pdf from metric mechanics.

Metric Mechanics PDF

If you've got about $9000, they have exactly what you want...

Look at some of the turbo build threads. Lots of them use MS. It could be tuned for NA, but the motronic does a damn good job, and getting better than that would be tricky. Member Tglaze used to build plug-n-play megasquirt setups, but you need a lot of leg work to get results from any aftermarket ecu.

Good luck with your project, I hope you enjoy the road ahead, it's really rewarding. (especially if it has some curves)

jscribble · « **Reply #18 on:** June 20, 2010, 12:38:53 AM »

DesktopDave, I was just digging through some BF.c threads, and found one that mentioned the ti derogatorily. One member had one, and loved the handling in particular. Nimble, but also gets sideways if you want it to. The one complaint was the dash. Apparently they are somewhat spartan by comparison to other e36 cars? The closest I came to one was wishful thinking about timing, and a craigslist bookmark...

DesktopDave · « **Reply #19 on:** June 20, 2010, 09:18:49 AM »

The Ti isn't for everyone...it was typically sold as the budget BMW, and it's a bit bastardized as well. That's what I admire most about it.

I don't think an e36 dash would be difficult to transplant into the Ti. The HVAC is different too - manual with single heat in the Ti - auto with dual heat in the rest of the line. But the e36 carries a 500 pound weight penalty along with that nice dash. I'll pass.

zmannz803 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 30, 2010, 01:47:59 PM »

Well, to answer the original question, I have a ms2 system on my m42 and as of yesterday it runs as well as I can get it to with no more upgrades and only egt and a wideband to tune with. I went to a map sensor setup but I have a mustang maf sensor to go in with it for dual metering after I turbo my car. The install took about 45 minutes to get it running the car with the auto learn mode, but please remember this was about the 5th car I did myself. The harness of the stock car can be left in place if you want, but I ran a spare megasquirt harness over my unplugged stock harness because this is a car being used for me to learn about modding bmw e30's. I had to change some variables in the program to get the correct readings from some BMW sensors because the MS code is programmed to handle GM sensors from the manufacturer. The best thing about the install is the ability to use the factory sensors for timing pickup off the crank. This keeps you from needing EDIS4 off a ford for ignition which frankly sort of sucks because you can't tune it per se. I come from Nissan land, where the skyline rb20, 25, and 26 are hard as crap to hook up because of their Cam Angle Sensor not working with MS.

Anyway, to sum it up the MS is super easy to install and tune with only a wideband O2 sensor for knowing your AFR's. It can give you immediate increases in performance and reliability but merely installing it and from there it is very easy to take the upgrades and options even further. I ordered megasquirt 3 today and I am putting it on this car to get my turbo swap powered up.

jscribble · « **Reply #21 on:** June 30, 2010, 01:58:00 PM »

I knew if we all chatted about the weather and such long enough, someone would come along with a proper answer. Good info.

DesktopDave · « **Reply #22 on:** June 30, 2010, 03:29:13 PM »

LOL!

I'd do it myself but I'm a really lazy SOB. I have an MS 2.2 sitting in my basement waiting for me to figure out a crank sensor for my Honda Sabre. This makes me think I'd like to put it on the M42 instead...

Can anyone post their maps? What are they, msq files?

jscribble · « **Reply #23 on:** June 30, 2010, 03:53:25 PM »

That's a really good point. Some rough tunes from similar builds would make the learning curve much less challenging. Perhaps we could have a post your maps thread?

zmannz803 · « **Reply #24 on:** June 30, 2010, 11:10:06 PM »

I can do that in a couple of days. I have a decent map of a running factory tune somewhere, but this car isn't quite stock. I have a map sensor running it right now, a diifferent intake to the tb and I have a maf in there to program in when ms3 arrives. I am gonna be making it back nearly stock friday if I have time so I can drive it to charleston for the holiday this weekend; I can reflash ms2 on the board and get a base tune then if I can find a working afm. Mine works okay at idle and WOT, thats about all. Doesn't seem to bother the stock motronic too much but my ms2extra attempt didn't like it.

On a different note, I would recommend reading just about all of the mega-squirt 1,2, and 3 documentation, some info regarding types of timing and ignition systems and sensors, and do a bunch of studying on the forums dedicated to these systems before even thinking about buying and installing one. For some people, having a standalone engine management system is simply way too much stuff in a car for daily need. I have found myself stranded on the side of the road miles from cell phone signal multiple times in cars with a lot of mods because of issues I could never foresee happening. Sometimes, I have spent hours just trying things to get my car running right again because of both mega-squirt and other standalones causing the strangest problems. It can be a blessing and a nightmare, but a well maintained car with certain accessories to help cool and lubricate better along with a nice ecu system can be way better in every way than the oem setup.

zmannz803 · « **Reply #25 on:** June 30, 2010, 11:29:42 PM »

Oh the files are msq and vex files. I found a program to use for making vex files by way of existing bin files from factory ecus, but it isn't reliable. I learned enough about calculating spark events and stoichiometry of gas in like 4 hours to know enough about how to set up the system for my application. EGT sensor with O2 reading is the best tools to "butt-tune" with. It's very nice if you know enough about your engine's volumetric properties to do some math.

I use megatune and will soon be switching to tunerstudio for mega-squirt 3 for tuning purposes.

zmannz803 · « **Reply #26 on:** August 04, 2010, 04:52:02 PM »

I am FINALLY starting to assemble ms3. I need a ms3x board and I missed buying one of the first batch, so I have been lazy. I have only driven my car once since I got the ms2 in it and I had an expired tag.

bmwconnect · « **Reply #27 on:** August 04, 2010, 05:51:24 PM »

If anybody need's the stock maps from the m42 I don't mind sharing... cheers!

Warsteiner · « **Reply #28 on:** August 04, 2010, 06:58:42 PM »

I will also have my MS up and running shortly. Jordan on the list was nice enough to share his file with me and I'm willing to do the same. I will also tune and then dyno the stroker with cams and Alpha-N to get some real numbers. Everyone is welcome to that tune as well.

Cheers,
~Ralph

fabe · « **Reply #29 on:** August 21, 2010, 09:27:26 PM »

I'm also considering to go for MS....
My engine is currently running the M42 from the E36 318ti, with automatic transmission and EWS. And it has to have the autobox DME plugged in to run.... And getting the chip for the engine DME is not so easy...

Now running on SMT6 piggyback but not so ideal as I wanted to raise the revcut from the current 6,700rpm to maybe 7,400rpm...

It'll be good to hear from those who have installed MS standalone in an NA M42...

Author Topic: Megasquirt on a m42 (Read 35497 times)

zmannz803

zmannz803

zmannz803

zmannz803