victorjr24 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I recently purchased a 77 280 that already had a L28et dropped in it already but not wired up. Also it is missing the ecu. I have read through tons of forums about different wiring and stuff, but those are from the stock ecu's. My question is, what is the best ECU to get from scratch since i am in the market for buying one anyways? I am planning on upgrading the engine internals and turbo, so i want a ecu that isn's to crazy to get working with my upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Assuming money is no object since you've left it open, this option looks pretty good. Take it to a shop and have it professionally installed. That would be close to the "best" you can do. http://www.electromotive-inc.com/product/total-engine-control/ http://www.electromotivestore.com/engine-management/electromotive-tecgt-ecu.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 If money WERE an object, I'd go with VEMS. I have done a couple VEMS setups and a couple Megasquirt setups in the past (one of each in cars that are my own) and have been much happier with VEMS in terms of quality and ease of use. IIRC, the price difference between VEMS and MS at this point is negligible if you go for similar features between the two, but the difference is the VEMS base model is more expensive and more fully featured than is MS. They are so similar that BG (the folks who built MS) sued VEMS, and the MS forums automatically filter out the word "VEMS" from any post and replace it with "Another EMS Product" or something. Potential copyright infringement notwithstanding, VEMS is building a higher quality product IMO. At any rate, both MS and VEMS are amazing units to work with once you get them up and running, and depending on how much you want to do with them later, you'll enjoy either of them immensely. Having wired the stuff up yourself, you will have a deeper understanding of how the the system actually works and (if you have any sort of brain in your head) that should make you more comfortable when tuning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 (edited) A new player. Had not heard of them. Not much on the web site, not even the typical "About" page. it looks like a Hungarian guy (customer service in two languages) named Jason is selling kits. Looks like there's a guy named Rob in the UK also. Anyway, back to choosing, for the OP.... Edited April 2, 2014 by NewZed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victorjr24 Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 If money WERE an object, I'd go with VEMS. I have done a couple VEMS setups and a couple Megasquirt setups in the past (one of each in cars that are my own) and have been much happier with VEMS in terms of quality and ease of use. IIRC, the price difference between VEMS and MS at this point is negligible if you go for similar features between the two, but the difference is the VEMS base model is more expensive and more fully featured than is MS. They are so similar that BG (the folks who built MS) sued VEMS, and the MS forums automatically filter out the word "VEMS" from any post and replace it with "Another EMS Product" or something. Potential copyright infringement notwithstanding, VEMS is building a higher quality product IMO. At any rate, both MS and VEMS are amazing units to work with once you get them up and running, and depending on how much you want to do with them later, you'll enjoy either of them immensely. Having wired the stuff up yourself, you will have a deeper understanding of how the the system actually works and (if you have any sort of brain in your head) that should make you more comfortable when tuning. Yea i have read a little bit about MS but never heard of VEMS. now since i done have a stock ECU at all would either one of those take place of the stock ecu and run it like it suppose too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 What year is the L28ET from? I had an '81 and we wound up not being able to use the optical crank angle sensor. This has about 90% of what you need to know about VEMS: http://www.vems.us/v3userguide For about $1k you could be running VEMS or MS on your L28ET, if you're willing to wire it yourself. If you want ultimate flexibility, those are your best bets. I could take my VEMS box out of my car, plug it into my motorcycle and ride to the marina, plug it into my boat, go fishing for the day, then plug it into a halibut and ride that home. That last part was an exaggeration, and I don't own a boat or a motorcycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victorjr24 Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 What year is the L28ET from? I had an '81 and we wound up not being able to use the optical crank angle sensor. This has about 90% of what you need to know about VEMS: http://www.vems.us/v3userguide For about $1k you could be running VEMS or MS on your L28ET, if you're willing to wire it yourself. If you want ultimate flexibility, those are your best bets. I could take my VEMS box out of my car, plug it into my motorcycle and ride to the marina, plug it into my boat, go fishing for the day, then plug it into a halibut and ride that home. That last part was an exaggeration, and I don't own a boat or a motorcycle. its from an 81 also,and it is swapped into a 77 280z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victorjr24 Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 I just got the car Simone whose dad just passed and the engine was swapped but not wired and I am just trying to fix his mess. What engine harness are you using, the turbo or something else? And year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 There is no "Best" -- only you can determine that in your situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Tony's right (again, damnit). What we ended up doing with my '81 l28et was drilling\gluing magnets into the crank pulley and using a hall effect sensor to sense RPM. This is enough signal for fuel injection because you can run (2) banks of (3) injectors with no performance loss, so the ECU pretty much just needs to know how much fuel to dump in. I used the stock distributor and an HEI unit for ignition, because we couldn't get MS to trigger the stock ignition coil. The '81 was a bitch to deal with. If I had to do it again on an '81 I would just skip the BS and go straight to a 36-1 wheel bolted to the crank pulley for triggering (so the ECM knows what RPM the engine is spinning at and also knows where top dead center is), and get a set of individual coil packs or a three pack of double coil packs and run wasted spark for ignition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemicalblue Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I'd go with a Haltech, it works well, easy to install, very well supported and documented on the l28. It cost a bit more than ms but you get what you pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victorjr24 Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 yea,i was reading write up about the whole 36-1 and it seemed pretty straight forward. the guy who started wiring and taping things on the old harness made everything go everywhere and it just is a rats nest. What is everyones opinion on getting another turbo harness or getting something like the MS wire harness and do it all from scratch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I'd look into Haltech also since it's a popular system with your motor. I'm also not a huge fan of making stuff work with stock components. I like just ripping all the wire out of a car and starting from scratch, but then I grew up in a family of electricians and am pretty comfortable with wiring harnesses. At any rate, you're dealing with 30 year old wiring, just replace that crap. Nothing as frustrating in a car as electrical problems, and if you're going through the PITA of installing a custom EMS, just go the extra 15% and rewire it. You will not regret it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Edit: You MIGHT regret it. If you don't, you WILL regret not doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victorjr24 Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 ha i was thinking that, and my job deals with wiring, crimping and shielding anyways so i think it will be worth it. and it will also give me the peace of mind that i know what goes where. I havent researched Haltech yet, only MS, Vems, and a couple other random companies.. I want to keep it under 1k with a standalone ecu since the stock one is no where to be found. I appreciate all the help, now i just need to find some missing sensors that the other guy lost and start over. ( AFM, TPS, Throttle body) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattb3562 Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 It will pay off more than anything to do ALL of your research before making any purchases. If you do go standalone, an AFM wouldn't be nessecary for speed density tuning. Also, I'm not sure about others, but for MS, you'll want a 0-5v tips signal. That won't come from a stock sensor. Most of us here run a 240sx throttle body and tips as it bolts up to the manifold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan95i4 Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 +1 vote for haltech and all new engine harness. All the systems mentioned are great options though. I just preferred the Haltech software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Many will tell you to run a q45 throttle body, which will work, but the price difference between a 240sx TB and a Q45 TB is not going to be worth it for you, so don't go Q45 unless you have spare coin laying around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernardd Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 If you're going to bring the car to a shop for tuning go with what they recommend or at least ask their opinion on what you're thinking about using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zack_280 Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 If you are going to install a programmable ECU, you will have some more money in sensors, wiring, etc than just the ECU. It'll probably end up costing over $1k (unless you find a complete or mostly complete used system). If you don't want to spend a bit of time on this, your best bet is to find a stock ECU (assuming you now have the sensors you need to make it work). If necessary, you could buy a wiring harness kit from MS. It is definitely worth every penny. If you do not have the sensors you need and you are planning to tinker with the boost, I would probably go the aftermarked route just for the flexibility of the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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