I participated in an interesting "shootout" that a popular race engine builder put together this past weekend.
I always believed that if the tune was correct, that any EFI system would make the same power as any other - all else being equal.
I was wrong!!
This shop builds NHRA superstock engines and they were looking to partner up with a vendor to supply both their systems, and a calibration engineer (fancy word for "tuner") to provide their customers tuning support. Since I had tuned aa few different EFI systems (FAST XFI, Motec M800) for three of their existing customers, I got invited to bring a box of my own choice and see how it compared to the other guys. I've been working on a "plug & play" system based on Megasquirt-3x - same configuration as our Engine Masters Challenge engine - that is designed for the exact same engine used in the shootout. So I brought the MS3x PNP for new Hemi engines and set her up.
I was surprised at the results.
After 22 pulls and about 3 hours of tuning, throwing every single trick I know at this engine - the MS3 bested the other two finalists by 7hp. I arrived at the exact same ignition timing advance and AFRs as the other two tuners (who were there on Tuesday and Thursday - Friday was mine), but the MS3x made more across the board despite showing the same timing and AFRs.
How?
I'm 99% sure this is the result of more accurate ignition event placement at high RPMs. In reality, I can't take credit being a better tuner than the other guys, because we all arrived at the same results. I have to give credit to the Megasquirt designers and coders for simply having a better system (for this particular engine). The MS3X was very consistent and repeatable - always making 7 more hp than the other guys.
This is the first EFI shootout of this kind that I ever attended, now it makes me want to do more. I wonder if we could talk Chad and Brian into sponsoring an EFI shootout with more vendors?
-Scott
I always believed that if the tune was correct, that any EFI system would make the same power as any other - all else being equal.
I was wrong!!
This shop builds NHRA superstock engines and they were looking to partner up with a vendor to supply both their systems, and a calibration engineer (fancy word for "tuner") to provide their customers tuning support. Since I had tuned aa few different EFI systems (FAST XFI, Motec M800) for three of their existing customers, I got invited to bring a box of my own choice and see how it compared to the other guys. I've been working on a "plug & play" system based on Megasquirt-3x - same configuration as our Engine Masters Challenge engine - that is designed for the exact same engine used in the shootout. So I brought the MS3x PNP for new Hemi engines and set her up.
I was surprised at the results.
After 22 pulls and about 3 hours of tuning, throwing every single trick I know at this engine - the MS3 bested the other two finalists by 7hp. I arrived at the exact same ignition timing advance and AFRs as the other two tuners (who were there on Tuesday and Thursday - Friday was mine), but the MS3x made more across the board despite showing the same timing and AFRs.
How?
I'm 99% sure this is the result of more accurate ignition event placement at high RPMs. In reality, I can't take credit being a better tuner than the other guys, because we all arrived at the same results. I have to give credit to the Megasquirt designers and coders for simply having a better system (for this particular engine). The MS3X was very consistent and repeatable - always making 7 more hp than the other guys.
This is the first EFI shootout of this kind that I ever attended, now it makes me want to do more. I wonder if we could talk Chad and Brian into sponsoring an EFI shootout with more vendors?
-Scott
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