Megasquirt mounting location, where? Options

[yarin]

For you MS guys using a relax box where did you mount the brain?

I bought the 12' unterminated relay cable from DIYautotune. I'd like to mount the box under the dash, but 12' isn't enough to reach. I mounted my relay box next to the stock relay box. I'll measure again tomorrow, but i'm pretty sure it wont make it.

Where did you guys mount your MS box? I thought about mounting it in the middle of the firewall between the two seats, but I don't want to expose it to direct sunlight. I know the compnents on MS II are OK to higher temps, but I see no reason to expose it to high temps. My next idea was to mount it inbetween the seats on top of the tunnel. But I know that the when someone releases a 5 pt harness one of the belt is going to smack the unit.

Any other ideas?

[Mueller]

QUOTE (yarin @ Mar 12 2006, 08:45 PM)

For you MS guys using a relax box where did you mount the brain? I bought the 12' unterminated relay cable from DIYautotune. I'd like to mount the box under the dash, but 12' isn't enough to reach. I mounted my relay box next to the stock relay box. I'll measure again tomorrow, but i'm pretty sure it wont make it. Where did you guys mount your MS box? I thought about mounting it in the middle of the firewall between the two seats, but I don't want to expose it to direct sunlight. I know the compnents on MS II are OK to higher temps, but I see no reason to expose it to high temps. My next idea was to mount it inbetween the seats on top of the tunnel. But I know that the when someone releases a 5 pt harness one of the belt is going to smack the unit. Any other ideas?

I mounted my 1st Megasquirt in the rear trunk...bad place..way too hot....

Fiid mounted his in the stock ECU location near the battery.

My Link FI is mounted in between the seats up on the firewall....currently it's exposed but I will be covering it up with a custom backpad cover so chances of it getting stolen are less (some idiot might think it's an amp)

[yarin]

Is the stock location OK given the mechanical and electrical noise, vibration and heat?

I would have liked to mount it in a location where I can see the LEDs, but that isn't necessary. I guess i'll mount it behind the drivers seat.

Mueller - you mentioned a known concern with the 2.0 intake plenum being prone to leaking. My question is, aside from the issue of unfiltered air, on a MAP system with closed loop O2 is a small leak really a concern? Won't the feedback from the O2 compensate for this? I layed the powder on pretty thick, if there was a leak hopefully its sealed.

Thanks

[mightyohm]

I'm planning to put mine in between the seats. The stock ECU location is not a good idea (I think Fiid agrees) because of the heat and moisture.

[TimT]

mount the brain inside the cockpit...

[DNHunt]

Mine is in the center console. I can't believe a 12' cable is not longe enough. It's dry, cool and quiet. I made my own cable. Incidentally, I sheilded the tach signal all the way to the ECU.

Dave

[yarin]

QUOTE (DNHunt @ Mar 13 2006, 05:56 AM)

Mine is in the center console. I can't believe a 12' cable is not longe enough. It's dry, cool and quiet. I made my own cable. Incidentally, I sheilded the tach signal all the way to the ECU. Dave

I have no center console (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/huh.gif)

The relay cable I bought has a shieled tach wire. I laid the cable out, i just don't think it will reach with the brain mounted under the dash, routed to the front, down through the tunnel to the back, out the factory harness in the middle, to the left of the engine shelf and up next to the stock relay box. i'll measure it out again though. behind the seat sounds good though.

[lapuwali]

I have a partially assembled MSv2.2 on my workbench that has no output drivers. I was planning on using it for data acquisition, since it will talk to MT and sensors right now (and I'm buying a v3.0 board). I'm going to use a few thermistors and measure: the rear trunk, inside the stock ECU box, and the relay board area while driving around with carbs on the car. Unfortunately, I'll be unlikely to see air temps above 25dC while I do this, since it rarely gets hotter than that here until after I hope to start my MS conversion.

Mark Henry is running his SDS ECU insided the stock ECU housing, with good results. I am, right now, leaning towards doing the same thing with MS. The stock box can be adequately sealed from the weather, and it's already been shown that the front of the engine bay doensn't get anything like as hot as the rear of the engine bay or the rear trunk. Mark has also logged inlet air temps of 50dC on a hot day (high 30s C), so my guess is the temps inside the stock ECU box won't rise above that, which is well below the 70-85dC limit for MS1, and way below the 125dC limit for MS2.

A few minutes with a $2 thermistor and a multimeter should give you some idea of how hot the front of the engine bay gets while your car is running. My 914 doesn't run right now, or I'd do this myself.

[DNHunt]

One thing to consider. Take the DB9 serial port off of the board and run wiring to the dash and relocate it there if your ECU is not handy to the passenger compartment. It only uses 4 or 5 of the pins so it is really easy. You want your laptop handy. You can also run the LEDs off the board but, given enough time they will get reassigned anyway as you look for more outputs. The end result for me is that they became useless. In my opinion they are just bling anyway. Either you have the laptop connected and it will tell the same thing or you get so used to the thing working you don't look at them anyway.

Dave

[yarin]

Thanks guys. I think I've decided to mount it behind the drivers seats.

I can easily run a DB-9 cable from back there to my laptop. It would be nice to see the LEDs, but a laptop or palm would cover that. Plus once the system is running on its own the LEDs aren't needed on a daily basis. The do help for diagnosis though.

I'm really curious to see the results from the temp tests.