Link G3 vs Megasquirt II

[DeeCee]

I'm looking at aftermarket ECUs to put a v3 3sgte from a st205 into a st185.

I was about to commit to a Link G3 as it has the adaptalink for an easy installation, but some friends who are building a redline classic kit car are now talking about the megasquirt ECU as an alternative to the Link.

From what I've read thus far, the Megasquirt has more features than the Link and is scalable as its an open source project.

Then again, there is apparently a lot of faffing about as well with customising the ECU to the particular engine, which I can't be particularly bothered with.

Essentially I just want something I can chuck in, can make some changes down the track without too much trouble and just drive.

Its a street car, so I don't believe I will need to have the functionality of the motec as I wouldn't be looking at huge power.. i'd probably get another car instead of doing the GT4 if i wanted to do that lol.

I am aiming for a dual setup with a economical setup with a "boost" button to switch up when the need arises.

Anyone with experience with the megasquirt and the Link G3 that can give some experiences in setup/tuning or can advice?

I've done a search here and on numerous forums around the place but it seems that based on my requirements, a Link would do just fine but I'm open to suggestions/experiences

Oh - and I want to do it once, so no installing the current st205 ecu and chhucking on a piggy back

Cheers

Dave

[l1ttle_d3vil]

never had any experience with megasquirt but i recently installed my link g3 and got it running and to be honest it was simple as baking a cake. just follow the instructions in the manual to wire it in, connect it to the pc and work through the menus in the programme or load a basemap in.

definitely no stuffing around to get it running or anything, just got to get it dyno tuned now.

[ezy10s]

http://www.enginemanagement.com.au/prod ... cts_id=107


Ive run the version 3 of this model and it is soo bloody easy to install and tune(running a 1uzfe)- Im waiting for it to come back from EMS as they do upgrades to the latest software for free so will see how that goes, should be sweet.

[ChaosAD]

This page will give you an idea on the type of features/specs the megasquirt has.
http://www.msextra.com/ms2extra/MS2-Extra_general.htm#features
And theres a faq for it here.
http://www.megamanual.com/mtabcon.htm
These are the different available input/outputs http://www.msextra.com/ms2extra/MS2-Extra_Hardware.htm#ms2options
Here are the specs for the link g3
http://www.linkecu.com/products/engine-management/Wire-In/lemg3-specifications

They are both much the same looking at the specs but the megasquirt is less than half the price. However the Megasquirt is diy.

If you want something that is going to work out of the box and the dyno tuners are more familiar with, go with the link.
If your diy orientated and plan on tuning most of it yourself go for the megasquirt.

[Trls250s]

The old man and myself have just put all the 205 running gear into a 165 and we have opted for an apexi FC for a 3sgte (as the opportunity to buy one came up and they are fairly rare).

But if we hadnt gone down this road he was leaning towards getting a megasquirt and either him and myself building it.

If you want something that works straight out of the box though as you suggest in your post i think Link G3 maybe what you want as there are a lot more tuners are that have experiance with Link. Megasquirt is a bit fiddly and time consuming. So you have to be prepared to read a lot of information, and make sure you know what your doing and understand how it all works with megasquirt.

I am planning to megasquirt my 4age but im aiming more for home tuning and just dicking around then to have a crazy dyno tune.

[Py7h0n]

I vote for the Stinger / 8860 too ... Far better than the Link ( EMI shielding is 10000x better)

[RedMist]

I vote for the Stinger / 8860 too ... Far better than the Link ( EMI shielding is 10000x better)

EMI shielding? You saying the Link ECU fails when hit by engine EMI??
I looked at the 8860 some years ago. However thier support was very poor and the advertised features didnt appear for years. Is the 8860 even sequential yet? I know the drivers are there, the coding just wasnt released for years, if it has been now?
G3 has considerably more features for similar money, and support is considerably better in NZ.

[ChaosAD]

Do you mean sequential injection or ignition?
Cos the lemG3 only has 2 injector drivers (same as ms2).

[RedMist]

Do you mean sequential injection or ignition?
Cos the lemG3 only has 2 injector drivers (same as ms2).

I was talking about the 8860 sequential injection. I followed the forums pretaining to sequential and datalogging. I'm not an avid fan of sequential, but it did show up weaknesses in thier support. As such I stuck with the tried and tested Link G3 plus.
G3Plus has 8 injector and 8 ignitor drivers.

[Py7h0n]

8860 is more like an Autronic or Motec in the terms of adding features to an ECU that already exists. I mean adding via software to hardware which you have only purchased once, without additional cost!

Yes it released originally without sequential support but it has been fully supported for more than a year now.

As for support there are quite a few people that tune them (The best being Kent from SpeedSource).

On the EMI front - Yes I mean the link fails when hit by bad EMI (you can see this time and time again when people have spark issues). This is mainly showed when you use magnetic trigger sensors (like most Toyota engines do).

Hand to heart - I have not had one issue with my EMS 6860 (and I wired and tuned it myself). On the other hand I have installed a few Links, a Microtech, and a Wolf and all have had niggly issues in some area or another.

[RedMist]

8860 is more like an Autronic or Motec in the terms of adding features to an ECU that already exists. I mean adding via software to hardware which you have only purchased once, without additional cost!

Yes it released originally without sequential support but it has been fully supported for more than a year now.

On the EMI front - Yes I mean the link fails when hit by bad EMI (you can see this time and time again when people have spark issues). This is mainly showed when you use magnetic trigger sensors (like most Toyota engines do).

The 8860 was sold as a sequential ECU with datalogging. In fact that they pushed it as "8860 Sequential Motorsport",which of course it wasnt for quite some years after release.
Dont get me wrong I think the 8860 is a good platform and I considered buying one three years ago on its release. I trawled the forums on their website and noted the extremely poor tech support. It appeared that there was more support from other 8860 users than anyone else.
With the release of the G3, Link bought in similar IO and hardware with more features.

I've owned 3 LEM3's, 1 LEM4, 1 LEM5, EvoLink, LEM G3 and a LinkPlus G3. I have never had any EMI issues and furthermore I have never heard of anyone having issues with Link and EMI. I think you will find that ALL ECU's need a shielded trigger wire or issues will appear.
I've found support from Link to be exceptional. They wired my ST205 and custom trigger configured my VQ35DE twin turbo. In addition they have always been available via the phone or respond same business day for forum based issues.