So I'm about to buy a boosted miata and the guy says that all it needs is a tune. He says it has a megasquirt ecu. The problem is that there's no local tuners and I was wondering if there's anywhere I can ship the ecu out to so they can tune it for me. I don't know everything about boosted miatas so any tips or info would be appreciated. Thanks again.

 

 

Yeah don't buy the car.

 

Any specific reason? I know him personally and the car starts but it won't drive.

 

Where is local?
Has he driven it further than out of the driveway?

And yeah, you shouldn't buy your friends cars.

 

Where is the car located? How do you know it needs a tune? How many miles are on it since the megasquirt has been installed? Does it have an 02 sensor? Details on the build? Pictures of the engine bay?

We are not here to snipe your sale, but based on the information we don't have much to go on.

In general, buying a project unless you know the platform (miata + turbo + megasuirt) well enough to evaluate the quality of the package and fix problems is bad idea.

 

you can ship the ms to anyone who knows ms. just be sure to leave the car on it.

or spend a half day learning how to tune them and DIY.

 

 

Yeah. You're buying a car that you aren't able to work on, and you can't find anyone in your area willing to work on it. Nobody will "tune the ECU for you" if you mail it out, because that's not even remotely how tuning works.

You have three options:

1. Do not purchase the car.
2. Purchase the car and teach yourself how to tune. Nobody here will teach you. This forum contains all the resources and information necessary to teach yourself how to tune, but nobody here will spoon-feed you that information.
3. Purchase the car and drive it without a tune (or better yet, slap someone else's random ragged-edge tune on it), blow it up, then sell it for 30% of what you paid.

 

I'll tune the ECU. But the process can occasionally be destructive, and you won't get the ECU back if that happens.

 

How much is your friend asking for his basket case?
Where are you located?
No tune is universal when it comes to a turbo project, so mailing it out isn't an option.
The bottom line is that your "friend" got in over his head on a project and is trying to pawn it off on you.

 

Approach the idea of buying the car as a pile of used parts with some questions about conditions. If you know what you're doing or are willing and able to learn, you can often get it for vastly cheaper than you would separately. OTOH, the fact that it's already bolted together should not be considered a win -- for all you know he did it wrong, so you'll have to take it apart and do it over again.

--Ian