I'm on the fence about getting the mspnp2 or PiMP. I've looked at all the other plug and play stand alone systems out there, and everything is pointing me towards the mspnp2. I'm ready to pull the trigger, but I'm still hesitant.
1) Remember, I know nothing, nada, zero, so please bear with me. I understand the basic install procedure... Yank the stock A9L ECU, install the mspnp2 in it's place, and run the vacuum line from the nipple to the intake manifold. Ok. Now, get the timing light out, connect laptop and launch tuner studio, start the car, make sure timing is set and matching in tunerstudio. Ok, now what?
2) I understand there is a base tune for my car ('91 Mustang 5.0), is this preloaded, or something I have to setup? Will this base tune basically act like the stock A9L ECU, and run the engine as such, just like nothing ever changed?
3) I see something about the auto tune feature, is this something I can run to get a simple tune setup that will work with my current modifications to get me in the ball park?
4) Please, explain as if you're talking to your grandma. I'll get it all eventually, but literally knowing nothing about this stuff, and not having any friends that know about it makes it difficult to comprehend.
Thanks in advance...
I've numbered your questions so it's easier for me to answer them. So there is no confusion, I'm a Stinger PiMPx/PiMPxs tech so the answers will be for that ECU, not the pnp2, though some of it will apply to both.
1) We provide a 20 page startup guide that outlines every single step from removing the stock ECU to firing the engine for the first time. It's go pictures, diagrams, and of course the actual text that outlines when to do every step of the way. If you follow these directions exactly as written, and don't do anything it doesn't say to do, you don't need to know anything about EFI, tuning, MS products, etc to be successful. Our typical customer has no EFI tuning experience prior to buying our ECU.
2) Our base tune comes from a real car with similar mods to yours. With that said, it doesn't come pre-loaded because there are some steps in the setup process that require you to crank the engine before it's capable of starting so we pre-load a tune that won't fire the injectors to prevent you from pushing a bunch of fuel into your oil during this process. With that said, loading the base tune takes about 5 seconds and how to do so is outlined in the startup guide. The base tune isn't set up like an A9L because it 1) is based on your mods so only a stock 5.0 would want an "a9l" like tune, and 2) the ECU's share no components, use different strategies (MAF vs Speed Density), and therefore there is no real way to make one just like an a9l. As far as things being set up for you, for the most part yes. All of the "technical" stuff is pre-set and you'll never touch it. The warmup/startup tables are populated, fuel and spark tables are set to as close to your mods as we can do without having datalogs from your vehicle, etc. There are some things you have to input because they aren't saved in the tune but rather are saved in the ECU so they don't get reset when you load a new tune (coolant/air temp calibrations, TPS calibration, wideband o2 calibration) and also the required fuel value (engine size, injector size, fuel type). We "could" set the required fuel value for you but it's a very simple thing for you to do, we say where/how to do it, and we have a good reason to have you fill it out that is explained in the guide. The intended end result is for your engine to start/run on the base tune. It is not intended to not need any additional tuning is this isn't really possible with any ECU. Nobody can nail a perfect tune out of the box with no feedback.
3) You can use it. It doesn't get you in the ballpark, it gets you exactly where you (or the base tune) tells it to be. This is a VERY powerful tool that works very well when it's getting accurate info from the sensors (bad info into the ECU = bad tune coming out). It is as good or better (and certainly faster) than a "human" tuner 95% of the time. Keep in mind though that it only tunes the fuel, it doesn't tune timing (this needs to be done on a dyno, if you feel you can do better than the timing table we provide).
4) I tried, hope I was helpful. Our startup guide does go through multiple changes as we get feedback from customers so we try to make it as "easy" as possible to understand. If something doesn't understand something and we explain it to them in a different way and they get it, we edit the startup guide with this new wording in hopes of others not having the same issue. This way it's as "easy" as possible to understand. Also keep in mind that for the PiMPx/PiMPxs, it's MS3 based which is the newest MS version, not MS2 based like the other PNP options so it's got a lot more bells and whistles. It also comes with all options "built in" so there is no need to send it back for upgrading. It's all baked into the base price. We also have a dedicated support forum just for our ECU's that focuses entirely on Ford engines of this era and all of our ECU's are identical so there is no worry about finding info that doesn't apply to you. The forum has paid tech individuals who check it about 20 hours a day and are ready to answer any questions that may arise, or help you tune your setup, or answer questions about settings or steps you don't fully understand.
