What ECU are you running?

[GS]

Ive been keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced Haltech E8 for a while now but no luck. Some go on Ebay for stupid money. For example, there was a second hand one last month where the seller wasnt sure of its history and where it came from, and it still sold for over $1500.

[RG.net]

Ive been keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced Haltech E8 for a while now but no luck. Some go on Ebay for stupid money. For example, there was a second hand one last month where the seller wasnt sure of its history and where it came from, and it still sold for over $1500.

i was watching that too allwell i'm sure will pop up sooner or later

[greenMachine]

Should be a few E8s around, now that the new one is out some people will be upgrading whether they need it or not. (Wanna make me an offer I can't refuse? )

Yes, I am one of CT's 'about 30' cars running an E8, it was in the GM as a road/race car, now in the new racecar.

Obviously, I am happy with my choice, but make sure you have someone lined up who knows your ECU well. They all have their preferences, and if he prefers to work on 'brand x', better either buy 'brand x', or find another tuner. Ask around, but unless you buy an orphan, any major city should have a tuner who is skilled with your choice. Just line up all your ducks before you pull the trigger.

[ampz]

Megasquirt here.
Different air temp sensor and map sensor.
It helped me add knock control too.

Not the kind of ecu many are familiar with and a little different from tuning other ecus (gui interface throws a few curveballs).

Have used microtech on previous cars (screwdriver on a turbo EH back in 95)

Tuned a motec D4 or 8 (can't remember now) on a supercharged v8 maloo. Bastard of a thing to tune as i wasn't familiar with how some of the parameters worked.

Check out some cars the tuner has tuned as ask for a passenger ride to get a feel for the tune (if they are up to it).

[corners]

Haltech E8 with wideband
(one of about 30 race cars in QLD and NSW running an E8 - just a brilliant ECU for turbo or NA cars.)

Apparently the E8 is now obsolete and has been replaced by the Platinum Sports 1000

[bark]

I use the MSPNP (mega squirt plug n play) with Intake Air Temp Sensor (to replace AFM) and boost solenoid on my NA6.

[CapitalF]

As of 48hrs ago I too run the MSPNP with:

Intake Air Temp sensor (no more AFM), plus
GM Electronic Boost Control solenoid and
LC1 O2 Wideband sensor

on my NA6 Roadster.

The Base Map was remarkably stable / easy and has even added a low oil pressure buzzer I never had before. Go figure. Also the seat belt light stays on on the dash now - nothing we cant fix. :-)

Dash (the car) will be visiting TAS in Toowoomba tomorrow for a professional tune & bigger injectors, etc.

Then on to heat management...


Peter

[Benny]

I'm running the MX5 Mania piggyback for my modified SP.
Stand alone units, I'm sure, can be tuned up to give a good result, but they often require many, many hours (read $$$$) to get them right.
A piggyback unit allows the standard computer to run the basics (like the seatbelt light etc) and the piggyback take over from the main computer when required.
A piggyback should be a lot cheaper and easier to tune in, as the dyno operator only has to worry about the engnie side of things, rather than playing around with the warning lights and the myriad of other things the standard computer looks after for you.
The guy who re-built my engine and tuned it is very comfortable with the Mania piggback, so that's why I went for it.

My car runs far smoother now than it ever did when standard and has far more power too.
Even Mrs Benny reckons the car is very smooth to drive, so it must be good!

[BOYRCR]

Wolf V500 Stand alone. Plug and play with no AFM. Have had good results whilst in tunning I maxed a set of injectors at 350hp so the tuners backed it of so I didnt have any lean out issues running 100% cycle on the injectors to 315hp and I am still getting over 400km per tank on freeway driving. As stated by others I think it comes down to the tune.

[greenMachine]

I'm running the MX5 Mania piggyback for my modified SP.
...

A piggyback unit allows the standard computer to run the basics (like the seatbelt light etc) and the piggyback take over from the main computer when required.

...!

Benny, that sounds more like a parallel setup, not a piggy. A parallell does all the engine stuff instead of the stockie, a piggy takes certain sensor inputs (eg TPS, inlet temps, revs, MAP), and uses these to give modified instructions to the stock computer. For example, it might 'trick' the stock computer give more fuel than the stock computer would normally give, by telling the stock computer the inlet air temp is very low, and the stock computer responds by richening the mixture to maintain what it believes is the correct AFR. That way your boosted engine gets the fuel it needs when your foot goes down.

I have used a stand alone replacement computer, if I was doing it again on a road (or road/race) car I would go parallel (at least for fuel and ignition). Frankly, the piggy route sounds dodgy to me, and yes there are complications with the replacement route that parallel avoids, without the fudging involved in the piggy.

My 2c.

YMMV.



PS - anyone remember Vishnu on the big board?

[Phil @ P5]

We run the Adaptronic e420c. IMO, it's a great ECU. It's very easy to use and powerful too and I like the way you can plug a selection of WBs straight into the serial port. You can run standalone on NA models and parallel on NB/NBB.

Phil

[Russellb]

Just fitting an Auronic SM4 to my 94 Clubman
Tunned it on the road and then went to Sydney and got 7.5l/100 on that tune
Both race car have SM4 s and he new rally car will have the same

[Sean]

My turbo MX5 ran a Microtech LT.

Despite the constant bagging of microtech, the car was fully engineer certified and emissions compliant and made good power in full street trim on regular fuel.

Drove like a stocker down low and provided lots of fun up the top.

As others have said, correctly installed and tuned, any ECU will give good results.