History

The history of DIY engine management technology
DIY is defined as constructing the hardware yourself, not just modifying or hacking an OEM or commercial ECU. Installation of a pre-built unit is not DIY in our books.

Key :

  1. These are fully built in a factory using SMD components. They are NOT DIY and are much the same as purchasing any other EMS, i.e. you just install, configure and tune like any other EMS. They are however included in this list for completeness.
  2. Although the MS2/MS3 card is SMD, it is essentially just a processor. As such, you still build the bulk of a MS2/MS3 based v2.2/v3.0 board yourself.
  3. The politics behind this are still somewhat unknown, but many/most people involved did not like it.
  4. This was a big step in MS development because it allowed total electronic control of the engine.
  5. This was an even bigger step for a lot of people because the advanced features made MS useful to a MUCH broader range of people and engine setups.
  6. Another very important moment in its own special way. This made MS2 usable by a MUCH larger range of people and engine setups through a highly accurate and advanced "wheel decoder".
  7. The timing of the MS3 forum release was no coincidence. Bruce Bowling was pre-warned of the existence of this site a few days before its release.
  8. The withholding of MS3 schematics AND source code prevents it from being considred DIY.
  9. This is the release that corresponds to the first engine run by FreeEMS!

As you can see, hardware progress was slow and sporadic. Hopefully an open source environment can change that for the better.

Corrections are welcome and encouraged. If you see an error or omission please let us know! Particularly where the month field is N/A (not available), as we would like to fill those in. See the contact page for details.

References :

Notes :

  1. diy-efi.org had significant success because it was the pioneer and because of the friendly sharing attitude present on the list.
  2. efi332 mostly failed because of a number of factors including, but not limited to, overly complex hardware design, broken hardware design, lack of documentation and a steep learning curve.
  3. aems555 was a university project that Peter Siebold was kind enough to freely publish and distribute. It is available under GPL for download from this site now.
  4. MegaSquirt board 1.01 was a success because it was 100% DIY including sharing of board designs, etc. It was cheap, documented and easy to build, install and tune.
  5. MegaSquirt board 2.2 was also a success for the same reasons. In addition, the documentation was improved and so was the board layout, eliminating some early issues.
  6. MegaSquirt board 2.2 is still available today, and it is still preferred over the later 3.0 board by a significant number of users, due to its simplicity and low cost.
  7. VEMS has had some success, but it has been severely limited by several things including, but not limited to, closed design, high price and extremely poor documentation.
  8. MegaSquirt board 3.0 is the latest (last?) true DIY board from Al Grippo and Bruce Bowling. It has also been a success because it further improved upon the stability of the system, while at the same time increasing the feature set and, importantly, offering a prototyping area for future modifications. This is the board that we prefer and recommend at the present time for a DIY EMS, if you need one now. The V3 board can be used with either a 68HC908 processor or a MS2 daughter card. We recommend the MS2 daughter card for high output applications because of its much finer fuel control resolution and advanced code features, particularly when running MS2Extra code. If you choose MS2, we recommend you exclusively use MS2Extra code for a number of reasons including, but not limited to, A) The level of precision in the code is superior to that of the base code, B) The number of different types of vehicles supported is MUCH greater and C) The level of support on msextra.com is unrivalled by that on msefi.com and your posts will not be deleted without warning by the administration. Finally, we fully recommend purchasing your MegaSquirt hardware from www.diyautotune.com as you will not find better service anywhere. Jerry and the guys really know their stuff.
  9. Innovate LC-1 has been a phenomenal success throughout DIY tuning circles due to its very reasonable price and very good accuracy (from their patented digital sampling techniques).
  10. MegaSquirt board 3.57 has had success in a different part of the "market". The type of people that typically purchase 3.57 boards are looking for a cheap, ready-to-go solution, and generally aren't interested in the DIY side of things at all. The 3.57 loses the prototyping area which was key to the success of the 3.0 board in DIY circles. One reason given for this was "it was eliminated because the contract manufacturing cost associated with leaving the area on was increased because it would require someone applying a solder resist by hand (wave solder operation would fill in all of the holes otherwise)". Our response to that is, what does it matter if the holes are full of solder? If you don't use them, it doesn't matter, and if you do, it's not a big job to suck them out. Another reason given was that there wasn't enough space on the board. This we also can't help but disagree with. Surely with the elimination of through hole components, there must have been much more space than the previous board, given that essentially the same circuitry is present on the board.
  11. JAW DIY wideband controller puts wideband technology within easy reach of virtually any self-tuning EFI enthusiast.