Megasquirt and LS swap.

[hopefulbull]

I have been cruising around for a few days searching the board, but I can't seem to fund any info. I'm planning LS swap into an 86 k20. I *** thinking of going with Megasquirt for the ECU. It seems like everyone is using the stock ECU, but they are also using the tranny that can from the donor. That will not work because we're like manuals in our family. The plan is also to keep the SM465 that is in the truck now. There is my ideas but not much of a plan.

Will the donor ECU from an auto tranny work in my manual swap?

If the donor ECU is a no go what are options that others have had success with?

If you have some megasquirt info (wiring diagram, basic tune, ect.) Please feel free to share.

 

[CalSgt]

I have been cruising around for a few days searching the board, but I can't seem to fund any info. I'm planning LS swap into an 86 k20. I *** thinking of going with Megasquirt for the ECU. It seems like everyone is using the stock ECU, but they are also using the tranny that can from the donor. That will not work because we're like manuals in our family. The plan is also to keep the SM465 that is in the truck now. There is my ideas but not much of a plan.

Will the donor ECU from an auto tranny work in my manual swap?

If the donor ECU is a no go what are options that others have had success with?

If you have some megasquirt info (wiring diagram, basic tune, ect.) Please feel free to share.

Not what you are asking but I'm gonna say it anyway...

Megasquirt is for hotrodders that are either going to pay for someone else to do it or guys who are all in dedicated to educating themselves about the tuning and build of EFI setups. However many guys download their tunes through "tune studio" which is on the MS tuning forum, i suspect a stock tune for an LS is probably easy to find on there.

My understanding with factory ECM's is having them hacked to disable VATS is a possible requirement and if it is designed for an "E-needs" tranny it will want an "E" tranny hooked up for it to to run.

The Holley ECU & harness kits are ridiculously simple albeit expensive but are worth every penny.

My dad built a mega squirt setup for his '56 with TPI and dedicated months on end researching programming, what sensors to run, tuning, AFR values and gauges, input values to trigger functions etc. The car ran and sounded great but no person other than him could have ever figured out what he had done to get it to that point.

He decided to get a holley terminator and harness to make it simple, hooked it up in an afternoon and the thing fired instantly. Matter of fact he was using a remote to bump the motor over with a plug out making sure his timing was on, well he forgot to disconnect the coil and that sucker took off the instant he hit the button before he had ever attempted to start it.

 

[Camar068]

I have been cruising around for a few days searching the board, but I can't seem to fund any info. I'm planning LS swap into an 86 k20. I *** thinking of going with Megasquirt for the ECU. It seems like everyone is using the stock ECU, but they are also using the tranny that can from the donor. That will not work because we're like manuals in our family. The plan is also to keep the SM465 that is in the truck now. There is my ideas but not much of a plan.

Will the donor ECU from an auto tranny work in my manual swap?

If the donor ECU is a no go what are options that others have had success with?

If you have some megasquirt info (wiring diagram, basic tune, ect.) Please feel free to share.

keep searching the web. I believe with you having a manual it will actually be a bit easier than with an auto. Don't hold me to it, but I think it's only a switch here and there.

 

[dusterdude]

Look on youtube,there are boatloads of videos on how to hack the 0411 ecm

 

[yevgenievich]

No problem with running a manual on stock ecu

 

[hopefulbull]

So even if the donor is an auto I can still use the stock ECU with no codes? That would be great. We're are not looking to do performance stuff, but we're wanting it to work correctly. So far the only LS swaps I could fund that were done using a manual they also changed the ECU to something like a holly dominator.

Thanks for the numbers on the ECU that should help me dig up more options using the stock ECU. If anybody has links to info in this direction feel free to post.

 

[Bextreme04]

So even if the donor is an auto I can still use the stock ECU with no codes? That would be great. We're are not looking to do performance stuff, but we're wanting it to work correctly. So far the only LS swaps I could fund that were done using a manual they also changed the ECU to something like a holly dominator.

Thanks for the numbers on the ECU that should help me dig up more options using the stock ECU. If anybody has links to info in this direction feel free to post.

Lots and lots of guys that do it with a manual. You can actually just do a manual trans segment swap from a corvette or F-body OS. Or even just run an entire 5.3/manual OS from an F-body.

You can get an OBDXPro VT tool for $60 and then do all of your programming and tuning using TunerPro and PCMHammer/PCMLogger or LSDroid(which are all free software).

Loading your desired OS into TunerPro and removing VATS and shutting off the rear O2 sensor codes is super easy. Modifying the tune for VE's and timing is a bit more involved, but not too bad.

 

[hopefulbull]

So I have been watching a ton of videos on how to use ls droid, and different tuner software packages. Really ls droid and a stock manual trans file will do everything we want to do. Thanks for the info on the ECU numbers. That *** the key that unlocked my searches.

 

[wlwarnke]

VATS is the only thing that will stop the engine from running.

If you don’t have the Tranny it’s programmed for, it will set codes.

When you get VATS disabled, just have them (or you) disable any codes you don’t need, such as auto trans, rear O2, AC pressure, etc.

I wasn’t aware that there were free option when it comes to making changes to the PCM nowadays. I personally use HPTuners. Wasn’t free but wasn’t horrible either. I’ve made my initial investment back by setting up and tuning friends and friends of friends engine/Tranny/ Gears/ and cam swaps.

 

[wlwarnke]

Wow. Just realized it’s an old thread.