Tuning options with aftermarket ECU’s

[wckdvnm]

I have been kicking this idea around as I am going to start finally tearing into my car after it has been sitting for years(CA smog hell). Now that I am in a part of AZ with no emissions testing I am going to most likely go aftermarket ECU as moates is out of business.

The plan is to get reacclimatized to the cars power before throwing a new blower on it. However the tune the car has is okay in the sense it is safe at WOT but has some less than desirable drivability.

The plan was to go with an MS3 PNP because I still want factory cluster functionality. My worry with this choice is who is able to tune for it while I learn my way around tuning? Can it take my existing tune from the car and have it tweaked for changes like headers, injectors, MAF, fuel pump changes, etc.?

I am confident I can learn the tuning over time I just want to have the car ready to go so I can learn on something that is already squared away tune wise and I am not just guessing at and risking popping this motor before a new one is built.

Any advice and or direction is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

 

[03cobra#2]

MS3 Pro PNP is a great choice. What's really nice is there are plenty of guys online that can remote tune. Remote tunning with the MS3 is a bit different then remote tunning with SCT. Your tuner will actually remote into your laptop and actively tune the car while you are driving it. The best part is you can pick up on most of the tuning and learn while they are tunning the car. My expierence has been really positive with the MS3. Between their forums, Facebook, and DIY Autotune all my questions got answered. It's remarkable how well my car runs.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

MS3 Pro PNP is a great choice. What's really nice is there are plenty of guys online that can remote tune. Remote tunning with the MS3 is a bit different then remote tunning with SCT. Your tuner will actually remote into your laptop and actively tune the car while you are driving it. The best part is you can pick up on most of the tuning and learn while they are tunning the car. My expierence has been really positive with the MS3. Between their forums, Facebook, and DIY Autotune all my questions got answered. It's remarkable how well my car runs.

I’ve considered buying a cheap GT and the ms3 to cut my teeth on before trying it on the Mach then just sell the GT to get my money back. Stock gauges, traction control and flex fuel would be awesome

 

[03cobra#2]

I’ve considered buying a cheap GT and the ms3 to cut my teeth on before trying it on the Mach then just sell the GT to get my money back. Stock gauges, traction control and flex fuel would be awesome

Yes, it all woks as advertised. Also having 2 widebands (one for each bank) ensures everything is running the way it should. Such as a injector or coil that is not operating correctly.

 

[Blkkbgt]

I have been kicking this idea around as I am going to start finally tearing into my car after it has been sitting for years(CA smog hell). Now that I am in a part of AZ with no emissions testing I am going to most likely go aftermarket ECU as moates is out of business.

The plan is to get reacclimatized to the cars power before throwing a new blower on it. However the tune the car has is okay in the sense it is safe at WOT but has some less than desirable drivability.

The plan was to go with an MS3 PNP because I still want factory cluster functionality. My worry with this choice is who is able to tune for it while I learn my way around tuning? Can it take my existing tune from the car and have it tweaked for changes like headers, injectors, MAF, fuel pump changes, etc.?

I am confident I can learn the tuning over time I just want to have the car ready to go so I can learn on something that is already squared away tune wise and I am not just guessing at and risking popping this motor before a new one is built.

Any advice and or direction is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

What type of smog issues were you dealing with that you couldn't get around?

 

[01yellercobra]

I’ve considered buying a cheap GT and the ms3 to cut my teeth on before trying it on the Mach then just sell the GT to get my money back. Stock gauges, traction control and flex fuel would be awesome

I wouldn't even bother getting the GT. Just set up the Mach. Start conservative and build up.

OP, as mentioned there are plenty of people online that can help. You can't use the tune in your current ECU as they're both way different. But working on the MS3 is a lot easier. You're in Kingman right? I can always meet you in Havasu to help.

 

[badcobra]

You can use the stock cluster with Holley too. I know a guy who modifies the harness so it's a plug n play deal, his name is Nate Hensley.

Lethal Nate Automotive Performance & Wiring

Lethal Nate Automotive Performance & Wiring. 3,130 likes. Just trying to make your swap easier and cleaner.

www.facebook.com

 

[2003RedfireVert]

You can use the stock cluster with Holley too. I know a guy who modifies the harness so it's a plug n play deal, his name is Nate Hensley.

Lethal Nate Automotive Performance & Wiring

Lethal Nate Automotive Performance & Wiring. 3,130 likes. Just trying to make your swap easier and cleaner.

www.facebook.com

I miss my Holley I had on my fox body. I really want to go to Holley on my Cobra but this has been the main reason why MS3 is what I’ve assumed I would get. Thanks for posting.

 

[badcobra]

I miss my Holley I had on my fox body. I really want to go to Holley on my Cobra but this has been the main reason why MS3 is what I’ve assumed I would get. Thanks for posting.

I don't know what the fascination with the stock cluster is personally. It's really just a bunch of dumb gauges. The only things of value are RPM, Speed and gas level. But you can do all that with a Holley dash and step into modern times. To each their own though!

 

[2003RedfireVert]

I don't know what the fascination with the stock cluster is personally. It's really just a bunch of dumb gauges. The only things of value are RPM, Speed and gas level. But you can do all that with a Holley dash and step into modern times. To each their own though!

For me, it’s because it’s a street car. Being able to run a flex fuel tune is what I need.

I get it though.

 

[DCguy]

If you already know generally how to set up a tune, your idle, fuel tables, spark etc you'll be fine.

But if you're talking about literally learning how to tune without any background, you may be better off getting a remote tune from the guys that work with MS3 on the regular as a baseline and go from there.

The fuel tables you can figure out more or less but the spark/timing table(s) is where you can get into trouble real quick if you get it wrong and it doesn't take much.

Not a bad idea to start on something cheap if you're learning from scratch.

 

[03cobra#2]

The approach I took with SCT Pro Racer and now with MS3 is to pony up the dough to pay someone for a tune. That way I can enjoy the car while I dissect every aspect of the tune / software by doing tons of research. No tune done by a tuner is really perfect. After driving the car for a while usually something comes up. By the time that happens I know the software so well I can make my own adjustments to make drivability on point. It's so much fun this way. Totally takes the stress out of learning how to tune.

 

[wckdvnm]

What type of smog issues were you dealing with that you couldn't get around?

Car was caught up in the whole retroactive state refs that got handed out in 2019. The paper stated the car had been to a smog shop that was caught passing car illegally or something like that. The car had passed smog years before as I still had a passable exhaust system and it had no tune at the time.
Got the car tuned in 2019 and received that letter before my registration was due. So no cats, smaller pulley, intake all equaled a failed state ref. Tried to get the car taken to a ref that would pass me or a work around and hit dead end after dead end. Just chose to park the car and focus fully on leaving that dumpster fire of a state. Hence why I live in a smog free county in AZ now with all the same amenities as the area of cali I lived in sans the beach (which I disliked anyway)

 

[wckdvnm]

If you already know generally how to set up a tune, your idle, fuel tables, spark etc you'll be fine.

But if you're talking about literally learning how to tune without any background, you may be better off getting a remote tune from the guys that work with MS3 on the regular as a baseline and go from there.

The fuel tables you can figure out more or less but the spark/timing table(s) is where you can get into trouble real quick if you get it wrong and it doesn't take much.

Not a bad idea to start on something cheap if you're learning from scratch.

The plan was to get a tune set up and learn from what they change. My wonder is who if any of the known good tuners for these cars has made the switch to using the MS3? My plan was to do a quaterhorse but as it took too long to get the ball rolling with the car moates has closed up shop. I have heard mixed info on SCT allowing certain tuning aspects to be removed such as EGR’s being deactivated but was unsure how much that was true.

The MS3 intrigues me as it allows additions of PWM based fan settings for the older mark 8 fans, dual widebands into the unit for active tuning, flex fuel capabilities, just overall improvements of the stock ECU limitations, etc.

 

[wckdvnm]

I don't know what the fascination with the stock cluster is personally. It's really just a bunch of dumb gauges. The only things of value are RPM, Speed and gas level. But you can do all that with a Holley dash and step into modern times. To each their own though!

There are kits to make the dummy gauges functional and are easy to install. I personally like the green lit gauges and always have. I understand how some don’t like them but racepak or holley style screens are cheesy to me and always look out of place irregardless of the build (sans full racecar builds)

 

[wckdvnm]

I wouldn't even bother getting the GT. Just set up the Mach. Start conservative and build up.

OP, as mentioned there are plenty of people online that can help. You can't use the tune in your current ECU as they're both way different. But working on the MS3 is a lot easier. You're in Kingman right? I can always meet you in Havasu to help.

Once I get finished tearing into the car to do some needed TLC from sitting for a few years I may take you up on that. The new job I took has me working a lot so this project may take some time as I plan to go through all the major systems on the car and make sure they function 100% as certain things like the
were starting to get funky when I decided to park the car such as the A/C. And I am bad with the “well since I am in there” syndrome.

I had already been kicking the idea around to paint the car but I have been told by many shops out here they simply won’t paint the car. It doesn’t even need a full repaint but I was deciding to just get it done as I needed to get all the rock chips fixed and my front bumper looked bad after the bad job ford did on my body work some years back.
I may just wrap it to see if I truly want a non-factory color for the time being.

 

[D-MANN]

If you like to keep the stock cluster like most street car guys do you can get a harness made Nate. Or you can get the harness made by race products. This is for the Holley ecu’s which seem to be what most tuner’s recommend. Its far more expensive to go the Holley route though. The gateway harness is basically the price of a ms3pro pnp. Myself im going ms3pro as its a street car and keeping it simple seems to always be the least amount of headaches.

Gate-Way for the 1999-2004 Mustang GT & Cobra.

Install Video Big 3 RacingThe new Gate-Way for the 1999-2004 Mustang GT & Cobra is your connection to all the great feature and tuneability of the Holley EFI ECUs without losing the major functions of the factory dash and accessories of the Mustang GT& Cobra.( Car must be equipped with a return...

raceproductsusa.com

Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

 

[03cobra#2]

If you like to keep the stock cluster like most street car guys do you can get a harness made Nate. Or you can get the harness made by race products. This is for the Holley ecu’s which seem to be what most tuner’s recommend. Its far more expensive to go the Holley route though. The gateway harness is basically the price of a ms3pro pnp. Myself im going ms3pro as its a street car and keeping it simple seems to always be the least amount of headaches.

Gate-Way for the 1999-2004 Mustang GT & Cobra.

Install Video Big 3 RacingThe new Gate-Way for the 1999-2004 Mustang GT & Cobra is your connection to all the great feature and tuneability of the Holley EFI ECUs without losing the major functions of the factory dash and accessories of the Mustang GT& Cobra.( Car must be equipped with a return...

raceproductsusa.com

Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

Big 3 racing right down the street from me offer a gateway adapter to make a Holley system plug and play. It's not cheap but it will enable true plug and play which keeps the stock cluster / wiring intact, without having to rewire / have a harness made.

Whats funny is I decided to go MS3 to keep the stock gauge intact, and wiring to a minimum, but now that everything is done and I'm enjoying the car I think to myself having a digital dash that you can tune from would be really nice.

 

[D-MANN]

Yes Big 3 Racing is one of the distributors I remember chatting with one of them. Rick Trunkett i believe his name was.
Aftermarket digital dashes don’t appeal to me. Definitely adds more to an already expensive ecu and harness. Once its tuned with the ms3pro though would you really be messing with the tune again enough to justify a digital dash?


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

 

[03cobra#2]

Yes Big 3 Racing is one of the distributors I remember chatting with one of them. Rick Trunkett i believe his name was.
Aftermarket digital dashes don’t appeal to me. Definitely adds more to an already expensive ecu and harness. Once its tuned with the ms3pro though would you really be messing with the tune again enough to justify a digital dash?


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

They didn't to me either at first, but you can see all the info you need right on the screen. Intake temps, wide bands, fuel, oil pressure, ect. I also noticed with my set up that the rpm needle can't really keep up with how the car excellerates .

What would be sweet is a digital dash that mimics the factory dash for normal driving, they switch layouts if you want to see more info.