Coyote Swappers, Let's talk ECM/ECU/ECC/PCM.........

sorscode

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Hello all,

Wanted to talk computers for Coyote swap. Not worried about what it is going in. I'm curious on what everyone is running and why they went the path they have gone. I know there is a good market out there like Ford Control Pack, Holley, MegaSquirt, etc. I want to hear why you went with what you did.

I have been using MegaSquirt since they came to the market. Countless hours of soldering which was a lot of fun for me. I run MegaSquirt in all my cars today. All the cars I've been doing Coyote swaps in have all been Control Pack cars. I have simplified those installs because I have created a custom harness for them that put the computer under the passenger seat. Think of it like the factory Computer Harness but for the Control Pack. My harness with the Control Pack Computer and you are basically done. No need for their body harness as all the stock relays are used and everything is wired up and the stock cluster just works (94/95 cars). I have a GEN2 Coyote sitting in a carriage waiting for it's time to shine. I originally was going to go MegaSquirt but would really like to see what everyone is doing.
 

lwarrior1016

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Here we go! Lol. I’ve got a gen 1 coyote swapped in my car and have gone down this same path of consideration that you are right now. I started with a 4.6 2v running on megasquirt 3. Then went to a megasquirt/micro squirt combo for trans control. Swapped to coyote and decided to keep the MS3. Obviously had to build a new harness, but one of the big turn offs is that you have to build a circuit with a dual VR conditioner to change the exhaust cam sensors over to square wave for the ecu to interpret the signal. You also have to build the circuit inside the ecu. Ashford has a really good write up on MSextra about it. It works, but the cam control is really twitchy. And if you do not put flyback diodes across the cam phaser solenoids, you will burn up the expansion card with current spikes.

I recently pulled the Ms out in favor of a Holley HP setup. It is infinitely easier to do with the coyote. They basically have it down to plug and play. I found the Holley software easier to tune with also. The one downside with coyote control (and I think I am figuring that out) is if you want to change commanded cam tables you have to assign an output and I’m thinking it takes a pwm- output position. With the HP, that is a problem because there are only 2 - and 2 + outputs. I need to call Holley tomorrow and confirm this though. Other than that, I installed the Holley and it fired right up, right away.

After using these two systems, I would hands down say to go Holley over Megasquirt.
 
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sorscode

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I waited a little while before responding because I was seeing if anyone else would, but guess not. So here are some questions.

With the Holley can you do Traction Control or at least use the ABS Rings as input sensors to monitor? I think the HP you can but double checking.
Building the circuits inside the ECU isn't something new to me, since I started with MS when all they sent you was a bag of parts.
From what I'm reading the Holley is run in MPFI not Direct Port, but still reading up. I run all my cars in Direct Port, with 8 Injector Drivers.
Holley looks to only use 1 x Wideband with no option to add a second on any of their lines. Do people see that as an issue? I'm running dual, one on each bank.
 

lwarrior1016

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I’m not too sure on the traction control stuff, I don’t have it and haven’t looked in to it. Nor do I have any experience with direct injection. The HP does use only 1 wideband but I’m pretty sure the dominator can put a second one. I run a separate wideband with an external gauge and when I want to compare banks, I just look at the gauge vs the laptop. That doesn’t help me on datalogs though.

I feel like the Ms would be better suited to you because you run it a lot and it does, in fact, have more available features at a much lower price point.

The Holley seems to be more geared toward the average guy that doesn’t have in depth experience with tuning and setting up files from scratch.

I do like the fact that the exhaust cam position sensors do not need a VR conditioner to work with Holley. I was always afraid of that failing.
 
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sorscode

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I use the ABS rings to see how the wheels are spinning (rear) in relation to the front when at the track. Helps me determine how things are doing. I run a face-plated T56 with a sequential shifter (Clutch-less 1st thru 4th). I still might buy one or two of their systems this fall/winter to do some comparison. I'll probably pick up a Terminator X and a Dominator for testing.
 

lwarrior1016

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I use the ABS rings to see how the wheels are spinning (rear) in relation to the front when at the track. Helps me determine how things are doing. I run a face-plated T56 with a sequential shifter (Clutch-less 1st thru 4th). I still might buy one or two of their systems this fall/winter to do some comparison. I'll probably pick up a Terminator X and a Dominator for testing.
The one thing that puts me off the terminator system is that you cannot control the position of the cams. There is a pre-loaded table internal to the cam controller and that’s what it uses.
 
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sorscode

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The one thing that puts me off the terminator system is that you cannot control the position of the cams. There is a pre-loaded table internal to the cam controller and that’s what it uses.
I noticed that as well. I'm mainly thinking of using these systems (Terminator) for customer cars that are looking for another option than the Ford Control Pack. I would have to run either a Dominator, MegaSquirt or something else.
 

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