Is Bitz kit too outdated?

LUFTKUL · 05-20-2019, 10:46 AM

I've purchased an unused kit from a fellow Pelican and researching past experiences. I understand Bitz as a relatively simple, affordable, plug-and-play kit that has been successfully installed on hundreds of Porsches.

Megasquirt currently states:
The processor used within the Megasquirt-1 is now obsolete and will become unavailable once supplies are exhausted.

It is strongly recommended that you consider Megasquirt-2, Microsquirt or Megasquirt-3 products instead of the ten year old Megasquirt-1.

Is there any real concern about longevity here? If your Megasquirt board dies, for whatever reason, can you reuse your existing Bitz harness with Megasquirt 2 and beyond?

In 2019, should the MS1 processor/board be upgraded from the start?

Going in an '82 3.0 Targa.

rwest · rwest's Garage

It appears that the harness and wiring is the same for the MS1,2 and 3, although there are more wires used to get more features.

I believe Tony does a couple mods to the boards to make them work with the fuel pump circuit in our cars, maybe the safety shut off?

The Bitz kit is just a basic replacement for the CIS which does a great job, according to many people and my 5 mile drive on mine! Hope to get my engine back in so
I can get a better feel for it.

timmy2 · timmy2's Garage

For fuel only the MS1 technology and programming works well.
Tony modifies his boxes for the reverse fuel relay logic our cars use at start up.
Good support from Bitz racing and the yahoo group for it.
Been running mine for 7-8 years now.
It works.

scottrx7tt · 05-20-2019, 06:00 PM

It works for a basic conversion to EFI. I started with the bitz ecu, but quickly realized it was not adequate for my needs. I upgraded to microsquirt v3 which has even more capabilities than I need. It’s cheaper than Tony’s MS1 basic ecu. The fuel pump circuitry is simple to change. Just swap 2wires at the relay socket.

wreckah · wreckah's Garage

the bitz kit simply works. so in that way, it is not outdated. It works, there is support to this day, etc...cars run great on the bitz kit. It's not expensive. Great instructions. Almost plug and play. All good.

The problem is that once you had a smell of the whole EFI conversion stuff, many DIY people want more. Like Scott, i 'upgraded' to microsquirt to include ignition in the mix, so basically the engine is now fully electronically controlled. Not a single CIS component is left. (smiles and applause all around!

) You have much finer control over warm up, VE tables have more resolution, etc etc, so it is 'better' but as said, the car will run good with the bitz kit.

LUFTKUL · 05-21-2019, 10:37 AM

I appreciate everyone's perspective. My thoughts drifted to what does Tony do when the MS1 board supply dries up? Which iteration does he choose going forward?

If the harness is basically the same from MS1-3 then there isn't an obsolescence concern.

I'm going to KISS and learn the basics as Tony intended with the kit as is.

Tippy · 10:55 AM

If I'm not mistaken, you can put the 2 and 3 processors on the same board.

If the board were to die, all the components as far as I know are off the shelf.

tbitz · 06-04-2019, 06:08 AM

Hi Folks,

Tony here from BitzRacing. The philosophy of the kit is to provide something that works well, gives a significant boost in performance, while keeping the upgrade cost down. There is still plenty of inventory of the MS1 CPU (just talked to MS designers a couple of weeks ago about this) and MS1 is very reliable so I will continue to supply the kit with MS1 CPU. However if it should ever dry out you can simply remove the MS1 CPU and install a MS2 CPU on the same board so there is an upgrade path.

I still use the MS1 CPU because it works, is reliable, and costs less. My 911 is still running after 17 years with same MS1 CPU. Later versions like MS3 have more knobs to turn in the tuning software, and my experience is not everyone that does an EFI conversion is a computer wizard or wants/needs all the bells and whistles.

Most people want to get rid of problematic CIS at a reasonable cost, get a boost in performance and be driving their 911 with minimum fuss using a proven solution. The BitzRacing kit does just that.

Tony