mobythevan Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 thread moved out of sticky Moby, I always thought the ECU had to be protected from overheating, which was why the OEMs always mounted their ECUs in the drivers compartment. I've noted a number of the installations which have the unit on the firewall adjacent to the motor, such as Sims (nice installation by the way). Is this a concern wth the MS? Thanks I wouldn't mount the ECU anywhere that turbo heat would get to it. Everything gets ruined from the heat off the turbo. I can't see that mounting it away from the turbo would be an issue as long as it doesn't get rained in. I prefer to mount mine in the passenger compartment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 FWIW, just about every GM vehicle from 90s on had their PCMs mounted in the engine bay....from F-Bodies to trucks.....Don't think it's an issues as longs as (like Mob says above), it is not directly next to a major heat source.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sims76 Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 A quick note on my setup....I have the relay board (heat friendly) in the engine bay and the MS ECU (not heat friendly) in the cockpit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 The Z ECM's are mounted in the cockpit down at the drivers feet to keep it away from engine heat. I followed that rule with my LS1 ECM - also left more room in the engine bay for other things - and it is mounted above the passengers feet. I have a couple photos of the location in my album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 The TEC2 Electromotive units sold through "Direct Connection" for offroad use in Competition Trucks were designed to bolt on the side of the engine block! Such extreme engineering was hallmark of their efforts early on. Such is NOT the case with the MS. The components are mostly consumer grade, meaning no heat over what you normally would expose your laptop computer. I recall my laptop getting plugged with fuzz in the fan port, and the ECU blanking on me when the surface temperature reached 140, so goes it with the Motorola Processor used in the MS. Currently mine is mounted where the radio should be, simply for ease of hookup to the 9-pin. The relay box is out where the underhood dataplate normally is mounted (perfect mounting place sizewise!) Were I to do it again, I would do like I have seen on some of the aftermarket assembled MS units out there: Made my own endplates out of a piece of "L" bent aluminium so there was a built-in mounting point, and used some little rubber shock mounts up behind the glovebox. My RHD car has SCADS of room up there, even more than on the LHD model, and it allows an easy place to run a short pigtail from the 9-pin so you can just open up the glovebox and hook up whatever you want to the thing for datalogging and programming. Megaview also mounts nicely with velcro to the top of the glovebox, and there is plenty of coiled cord storage room available in there! Electronics like COOL, and my old GM Van (Moby, he he he!) actually had an A/C duct connected to the air ventilation pickup of the blower fan motor. I thought this would be a nice thought for an ECU if you were out in the desert like me, as long as you could duct it for cooling only, and not when the heat is on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecp48 Posted April 20, 2005 Share Posted April 20, 2005 Thanks Guys, That answers the question. Moby, I'll post accordingly. Sorry Sims, it looked like your relay board was mounted to the top of the ECU. Thanks again, Ed Palmer/ecp48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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