WellThatsSurprising Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Alright, little bit of backstory first. I've recently finished restoring my 260z body and suspension wise and am currently building up an RB30 on a stand. I'm not on a very high budget though so the build is slow and it's going to be a bit under a year before I can afford all the parts. What I wanted to do was throw in a L28 temporarily just so I could scoot around to car shows and such. So, what I did was bought a $400 280ZX off craigslist and yanked the motor/trans. Now here comes the reason I'm posting in the MS forum. Everything wiring wise on this car is screwed. Every plastic connector was cracked, every grommet was gone and insulation with it. The twist and electrical tape splices everywhere doesn't help either. So at this point I'm deeming the original harness JUNK. That puts me in a bit of a problem because I was going to just transplant everything. So now two options, either I go carbed or I go MS. I am a fan of fuel injection so MS seemed right for me, though I'm on my second read through of the megamanual and things are still fuzzy. What I've gotten so far is that a MS1 is going to be best fit, considering I'm only going for fuel control and just want the damned thing to move. Also by searching through threads it seems there's a difference in distributors? What I've got is that I'll have to throw the l28 trigger disk and sensor from diyautotune in my 81 dizzy or switch over to an 83 that's compatible OOB. I know these questions have been asked and answered many times before probably so if you could point me to some threads or just give me some general info that would be awesome. Oooooorrrrrrr if somebody would be so kind as to donate some SU's and related parts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 (edited) The original Megasquirt was fuel only. Injections were triggered by the negative side of the coil. You should be be able to use a plain old stand-alone ZX distributor for spark, with intact vacuum and centrifugal advance mechanisms, and MS for injection. The details will be in the other MS inputs, used to determine fuel quantity per injection cycle. Edit - forgot to say, you'll still have to fix all of those crappy connections and wires to use MS. Plus you'll need to tune it, using a computer. The simplest way to get on the road if you have the stock ZX computer is to just fix the wires and run it as a stock ZX engine. The EFI harness is essentially independent of the body harness. You can even get it all done on the garage floor and start and run the engine with a battery to test. Then package it up to fit in the car, supply power, and drive, Edited January 15, 2015 by NewZed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osirus9 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Or... Since you're going to need a Megasquirt in the future to run that RB30 you might want to just get an MS3X and go full sequential injection and COP. That way when you do switch to the new engine the engine is the unknown and not the engine AND the EMS. That's what I'm doing and so far I'm glad I am. There are a ton of little things I wouldn't want to have to sort out while second guessing the hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellThatsSurprising Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 No trigger wheel, just a signal off the coil? I can deal with that. So that leaves me with needing a TPS, IAT and what else? I'm assuming the temp sensors already in the block can be used? Actually I was planing on going with a Haltech Elite when the time for the RB30 comes, but to do that I'm gonna have to follow the thread title and be a cheapskate for now Though things like the wideband and gauges that will transfer over in between the two setups I will splurge on soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xnke Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Uh, you aren't being cheap by purchasing TWO ECU solutions and wiring the car TWICE. Buy the product you need, the first time, and be done with it. Or, spend triple the money to do it twice. I can see which one is cheaper... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellThatsSurprising Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Uh, you aren't being cheap by purchasing TWO ECU solutions and wiring the car TWICE. Buy the product you need, the first time, and be done with it. Or, spend triple the money to do it twice. I can see which one is cheaper... Triple the money? The additional cost is going to be $250 max and for that I'm going to be able to enjoy my car much sooner so I'm really not seeing what you're on about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winstonusmc Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 (edited) Or you could just use the MS3 to run both and only spend $450 total on ECUs. My MS3/3X has run an RB25/26 and my L28 Edited January 27, 2015 by winstonusmc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xnke Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 You probably have heard about the "Horrors Of Megasquirt" elsewhere on the internet...how it's so noise prone and junk and no tuner will touch it. It is entirely due to the quality of the installer and the level of care they are willing to take to install it. The ECU is NOT the most costly part of the job. The quality and completeness of the wiring harness is what will make or break an ECU install. It's NOT cheap to do it properly, and by using MS, you are NOT saving any money over buying a drop-in harness/ecu combo. Might look like that, might FEEL like that because the ECU is so inexpensive, but it is NOT the truth. If you want a quality install with no trouble and no tuning issues, do NOT expect a "cheap" job to work. You need to go into it willing to spend the cash it takes to do the job right or you will never stop chasing gremlins and you will never stop spending money until you do. Been there, done that, fixed it. And fixed plenty of others that people just gave up on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winstonusmc Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Also, a Megasquirt is a hobby ECU. It was meant for someone to have to be totally involved with their car. If you want to pay someone else to setup your car, then go with something else. The whole idea with plug in ECUs is that you can go with OEM reliability in the wiring. Unfortunately if you dont have the skills and patience to mess with wiring and learning the ins and outs of Megasquirt, then go with something else. The issues with drop in ECUs though is they are not flexible. Example is in my setup. I really dont have to worry about what engine is in the car, the MS3/3X can run almost anything I would want to throw in my Z, but I have the skill and experience to wire up anything and can set up the ECU. Just do yourself a favor and save and wait. Not talking down on Megasquirt, but it takes a lot of time, and in a hobby, time is fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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