How Necessary is an ECU with heads and cams?

[evil_weevil]

Hey guys,
Silly question from me again!

I know to get maximum results an ECU is always best - however for whatever reason you cant get one (whether its budget, time, money, cant be arsed etc etc)
would the motor still perform better and have slightly more power from just some head work and cams rather than a stockie motor?

Cheers,
Chris

[StanTheMan]

yes it will


but you are kind of strangeling it by not putting in an ECU.

If you go to the trouble of cams head work, exhaust wider intake....don't stop by not putting in the ECU.

but you will definately get gain by going more agressive cams. Just depends on how aggressive you choose to go.

[broady]

It depends how aggressive the cams are as well, mild cams like the tomei poncam are designed to be able to run on the stock ECU. Other more aggressive ones won't run on the stock ECU at all.

The other thing to consider is a piggyback ECU. Less engineering hassle but obviously not as sophisticated as a standalone.

[tbro]

Hey Chris,
Depending on your cam selection you may get away without an aftermarket ecu, but put it in your future plans. Remember to pick your tuner before picking your ECU.
The std 1.8 ecu does run rich at WOT more as a protection than performance gain, so on the track it may work ok.
One thing I will suggest,despite what some seem to think,is to dial in your cams, much can be gained or lost by not doing this. By degreeing the cams you can increase or decrease the overlap, moving your torque/hp band to different rpms. On Scooter by moving the exhaust cam only the torque could be widened and thus making more useable power at a better rev range, from 4500 to6500 to 5500 to 8000 rpm ( remembering this is a 1.6 )
It also depends on what head work has been done and the compression ratio. It will basically be a trial and error on the dyno to achieve
what works for you. Remember the more head work done the more efficient the flow will be so you may end up with a very noisy exhaust system, ask me how I know this!!!

Terry

[93_Clubman]

Chris, worth keeping in mind that some piggybacks won't give you the head room for future mods due to the lack of sophistication which Broady mentions.

[greenMachine]

Take a long view.

If you can't afford an ECU (or piggyback) immediately or in the near future, maybe you need to think about your goals vis-a-vis your budget. Horsepower is expensive. First you buy the bits, then perhaps you pay to have them installed, you pay to have the car dyno tuned, then you buy something else, and the cycle starts again.

On the assumption that you are intending to use the car for motorsport, have you thought of competing as a standard car? There are a number of people who are competing at the club track days, up to State championship level Supersprints in standard cars. This does not limit the amount of fun they get out of their sport, or the skills that they develop, but it certainly limits the amount of money they spend. If you do want to go on and compete in a modified car, this will give you a breathing space to save some money, and develop your skills to use your new horsepower to best effect.

There is another factor. I am assuming that this is a road car. Leaving aside the question of the legality of what you have in mind, highly modified cars can be uncomfortable drives. Especially if they are a daily driver. After a while, the fun factor can be overtaken by the reality that the compromises between comfort, drivability and performance of the standard car has been shifted away from comfort, drivability ...

I hope this helps Chris.

[sweep77]

I spoke to the guy who builds alot of 2f cars in brissy and he says that if you go bigger cams and port work u need not only an aftermarket computer but also need to up compression otherwise you won't see a huge gain.