Best ECU for NB8A

[pley3r]

Hi people.

I've read through a ton of threads but still trying to figure it out. As a lot of the threads are old its either dead links or parts no longer sold.

I've got all the turbo parts (every nut and bolt) out of a wrecked SE and im sticking them on my NB8A. I'm putting the bigger purple injectors in as well. What would be the best ECU/ piggy back to run stock boost on the setup? Im not looking at adding boost or anything later just want reliable setup once its done.

Is something like the Adaptronic going to be my best bet? Even though i dont need most of its features. Or I have a jdm ecu on its way. Does anyone know if chiptorque figured out a workable flash for this sort of setup?

Thanks people.

[bartmanftw]

The purple injectors are 10cc bigger so not worth the effort of swapping them. Talk to whoever is going to be tuning it and see what ECU they recommend using.

[ManiacLachy]

If you're going to be doing a bunch of tuning yourself, then go with a Megasquirt. Either get a PNP unit from DIYAutotune, or hit up one of the vendors on miataturbo.net, they'll be able to set you up with one that best matches your configuration. I say Megasquirt because there is a massive amount of documentation and support online, many MX-5/Miatas use them, and in almost every configuration. As long as you can use Google, you'll be golden.

If you don't want to touch the tuning at all, then you'd best find a tuner and use what he prefers.

Injector wise, don't cheap out too much. I'd suggest looking at Flow Force Injectors, they're a cheap, high flowing EV14 injector, that come plug and play for the MX-5. As long as you aren't planning an E85 setup in the future, they'll be all you'll ever need. Otherwise, just go big guns and get Injector Dynamics ID1000s.

Don't forget to pick up Wideband O2 sensor! This is another area you don't want to cheap out on. Innovate's LC-2 is a solid choice.

All said and done, you should end up 220-230whp with your SE setup, and it's a good amount of fun!

[Ned Loh]

at the risk of getting repetitive...Get the ECU that YOUR tuner is most comfortable with.

Some places will not tune a Megasquirt.

Haltech do a plug n play which would be supported by many in Aus.

[Ned Loh]

Link to Haltech. http://www.haltech.com/sport-1000-patch-harnesses/

Ps. I have no association with Haltech, but I like that they do a plug and play for Mx5 which is not that common.

[rascal]

Adaptronic have also had plug n play for at least 7 years.. (mine was plug n play 420c back in 2009)

[NitroDann]

The adaptronic has too few not too many features.

But a PnP ms2 or ms3 or put up with a haltech ps1000.

But if you want to hand over the tuning find a guy who will GUARANTEE the power, economy, delivery, behaviour and reliability.

If he won't, don't use him.

Dann

[Ned Loh]

The adaptronic has too few not too many features.

But a PnP ms2 or ms3 or put up with a haltech ps1000.

But if you want to hand over the tuning find a guy who will GUARANTEE the power, economy, delivery, behaviour and reliability.

If he won't, don't use him.

Dann

Hi Dann,

Which would be your pick out of MS3 Pnp Pro or Haltech Pnp? & Why?

Cheers

[Lokiel]

:
Hi Dann,

Which would be your pick out of MS3 Pnp Pro or Haltech Pnp? & Why?

Cheers

Hmmm, I wonder

I used to have an Adaptronic Select ECU which is a decent ECU if you just want to hand it to a tuner and let them tune it and be done with it.
You can tinker with it using Adaptronic software.

If you want to tinker with it yourself and do "all sorts of crazy sh*t" then it's not the right ECU.

One night I phoned Dann about something and threw in a quick question about his preference between Adaptronic, Haltech and MegaSquirt since he's one of the few guys that's actually tuned all 3 and isn't professionally committed to any of them so has an educated, unbiased opinion about them (ie. Don't bother asking this question to a Haltech guy).
About 40 minutes later I was convinced that for me, the MS3-Pro was the way to go and bought one that night.
Dann said that the MS TunerStudio software was lightyears ahead of Haltech and Adaptronic.
Adaptronic has now updated their software from WARI to Eugene but it's new so it's nowhere near as developed as MS's TunerStudio.

There's a lot more online support for MS too and users that do "all sorts of crazy sh*t" with it so that suits me.

As others have wisely said, if you don't want to tune it yourself, find a good tuner who's familiar with MX5s and use whatever ECU they're familiar with to get the best results.
Most tuners can figure out the basics of any aftermarket ECU but you wont get optimal results if they're not familiar with MX5 nuances or with an unknown ECU.

Some Haltech tuners (eg. Bob Romano) will lock their tunes so avoid these guys, otherwise you're locked into only using them or finding another tuner who will need to map your car from scratch so upu'll need to pay for a complete tune again.

PS: I can confirm that MS's TunerStudio is lightyears ahead of Adaptronic's WARI software.
I'm quite familiar with WARI but it didn't take long to find my way around TunerStudio, it's much more logically laid out, has help icons and what I really like is that you can annotate your tune (eg. if you find that your car needs a non-standard value for something, you can attach a comment to it - very helpful 6 months later when you've forgotten why it's different to everyone else's).

[16bit]

speaking from experience the chiptorque stuff is often too restricted.

i would go with something that can control factory ecu functions like idle control, air con etc etc but also has the features that you will be able to work with should you want to upgrade later on. things like built engine, running more boost, bigger turbo, bigger injectors, E85 (flex fuel too) etc etc.

but as above get something that a tuner close to you is going to be able to work with.

[Cus]

+1 for find a tuner and use their recommendation.

+0.5 for completely ignore that advice and get a megasquirt.

[KevGoat]

Having gone Chiptorque myself (as I'm not going extreme with my performance upgrades and I had no intention of ever doing any tuning myself) there are some misconceptions regarding their work. Firstly I agree they are often working remote and the tune is going to be a guestimate ... but it is a pretty damned good guestimate!! When I had my chip tuned I had done most of my upgrades and knew what other upgrades I had left to do and asked them to allow for those which they did and it has worked out very well. In fact way better than I ever expected! In my view even a stock SE would benefit just from a Chiptorque upgrade and nothing else! This avenue should not be quite so negatively construed as in my view it is a great way to achieve a very positive result at a much lower cost than any aftermarket ecu plus tuning. It may not be as "perfect" as some see it, but for many it will be enough, and should you do any further upgrades not originally tuned for, the chip can be retuned at reasonable cost.

I mentioned in my own thread that the cost of the chip and the tune was only the same as my CAI, so in the scheme of things not that radical, and should I ever decide to go aftermarket ecu anytime in the future would not be a big deal or loss. As it has turned out I'm more than happy now with the tune and power and doubt I'll ever go that road now. So all I'm saying is there's different ways to meet individual targets and the simple road is not always a bad road to take .....

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[NitroDann]

Here is how I rate them:

Cost: Approx cost to purchase a unit that plugs straight in
Features: Not just will the car start and will it idle, but does closed loop fuel actually give you better than stock economy, will it do boost control, what safety mechanisms, will it use the CEL? etc
Plug and play-ness: Will it actually clip straight in and work?
Support: Can I call someone, can I google all of my problems?
Usability: Does the software suck? What about the manuals? Is it so easy it doesnt even need a manual?
Availability of pro tuners: Can you get Joe Blo down the road to actually do a good job on it?
Sophistication: Does it start the car and make power, or can it run like an OEM car despite your cams, light flywheel, bigger fans. Some plug and plays cant even do what the stock ecu can !


Haltech E8
Cost: Used, $200 plus wire up, likely hundreds and hundres
Features: 3/10
Plug and play-ness: 0/10
Support: 0/10
Usability: 0/10
Availability of pro tuners: 4/10
Sophistication: 0/10

Pros: Only 200 dollars
Cons: The thousand in savings will be spent twice again trying to get someone to get installed and get it working properly. Its an expensive difficult to use unsupported electronic carburetor. Avoid.

Haltech PS1000
Cost: $1600 odd
Features: 8/10
Plug and play-ness: 7/10
Support: 10/10
Usability: 8/10
Availability of pro tuners: 10/10
Sophistication: 5/10

Pros: You can call the guys who wrote the software on the phone and they will help diagnose issues using remote desktop. You can get parts next day and they will swap faulty products every time without question. The software is nice and many tuners will tune it.
Cons: It nearly ten years old and wasnt close to cutting edge when it came out, and its STILL 1600 dollars or so. It has the hardware of an MS2, but the software sophistication of less than an MS1 in many areas.
Plug and play means a wire in ecu and paying a few hundred for an MX5 loom. They dont have the looms down pat, some models specifically SE dont work out of the box, excuses about there being so many MX5 looms are used.

Haltech Elite
Cost: 2200 ish
Features: 10/10
Plug and play-ness: Apparently they have a harness now, but its going to be no better than the PS1000 so 7/10
Support: 10/10
Usability: 8/10
Availability of pro tuners: 9/10
Sophistication: 10/10

Pros: Everything good about the PS1000 (haltech as a company basically, including their support and pro tuners support). Almost as sophisticated as MS3. Will make a late model MX5 actually run properly like OEM.
Cons: Expensive, still not true PnP. Still not supported my the MX5 community overall. Youll be stuck paying 4000+ for ecu, loom, wideband, injectors, install and OEM quality tune.

Adaptronic PnP models
Cost: $1100
Features: 5/10
Plug and play-ness: 5/10
Support: 3/10
Usability: 2/10
Availability of pro tuners: 8/10
Sophistication: 8/10

Pros: Its cheap. MX5 community uses a fair few of these so tuners are available. Dead stock non turbo models run ok on the basemap usually.
Cons: Not good enough for late model MX5s. Actually has less outputs than a stock ecu, this results in things like when the fans come on the car stalls. Not true plug and play on many models due to this, modifying OEM loom is often necessary. Manual is out of date. Much of it is wrong. No phone support. Cant google issues. WARI Software is confusing, out of date and has many features which are now broken. Andy is well known for travelling to workshops to fix issues and giving refunds for whole ECUs and paying workshops for wasted time, because everything is so confusing and theres no direct support.

MS1 PnP
Cost: 500 used
Features: 3/10
Plug and play-ness: 10/10
Support: 7/10
Usability: 10/10
Availability of pro tuners: 1/10
Sophistication: 5/10

Pros: Cheap. Clips straight in. Software is awesome. Can google any issue. Works like it should do, easy as it should be.
Cons: Few tuners will tune it. Pretty old and unsophisticated but not much different to PS1000.

MS2 PnP
Cost: 1400
Features: 8/10
Plug and play-ness: 10/10
Support: 7/10
Usability: 10/10
Availability of pro tuners: 2/10
Sophistication: 9/10

Pros: Clips straight in and runs pretty good out of the box on standard cars. Software is awesome. Can google any issue. Works like it should do, easy as it should be. Way more sophisticated than PS1000. Will absolutely run your car like a stock one. Has every feature 95% of people want, has every feature 99% of people need. Dont underestimate this, other PnPs like adaptronic cant even turn the fans on one at a time to avoid stalling.
Cons: Not many tuners want to tune it.

MS3 pnp (MS PnP Pro)
Cost: 1800
Features: 11/10
Plug and play-ness: 10/10
Support: 7/10
Usability: 10/10
Availability of pro tuners: 2/10
Sophistication: 11/10

Pros: Its an elite but better. Imagine an Elite 2500 that costs less, clips right in, has more inputs and outputs, has more functions and despite this is easier to use, it has huge worldwide MX5 support. You buy it, clip it in, do whatever you want, run your car better than OEM, and it costs you less.

Cons: 1800 dollars, MS2 will suit most people and is 1400. Not many pro tuners know it.

Chiptorque flash
Cost: 300-500
Features: OEM
Plug and play-ness: OEM
Support: 10/10 if youre local
Usability: 0/10
Availability of pro tuners: Just a few but they stand by their product
Sophistication: OEM

Pros: Cheap and it works as good as stock.
Cons: As good as stock but no better. Have fun with your bigger injectors, tuning an ecu which doesnt know boost exists, using external boost control and trying to run your modified car on a tricked stock ecu.
It works but for anything more than basic bolt ons its unpleasant and inconsistant. Suitable to half unfuck an SE, but only half. Good idea for cammed up late model MX5.

[Nevyn72]

Nice summary there Dann!

[pley3r]

Big thanks to everyone for the info. Just what i was after

I'll let the old girl rest for a few days after the big drive back from Melbourne :p. Then its time to bolt new bits on and chase down a good tuner