ECU Question

[Seminole81]

50 minutes ago, Jay762 said:

Some great roads between the NE and Edinburgh and then they get even better further North you go 

So I've heard 😈 Gotta convince the Mrs. to go out in it first haha she doesn't approve 😂 Had to take the Qashqai out today as I got the death stare when I suggested taking the Scoobie out for a change

[Tidgy]

Syvecs will be around 2-2.5k. If i was talking about a stand alone ecu would have been alcatek at £1500. Decat and Ecutek map will be around £1500.

Problem is its a bit of a no mans land between the two. Ecutek is roughly £550+ vat and once you go beyond basic decat and map isn't ideal, you then get to syvecs at 2k which is mega expensive. In between you have alcatek, but tech support on it sucks and you could be waiting weeks for a code to map the ecu.

I would say what are your plans long term? if going engine build, bigger turbo etc then syvecs it rather than pay to have it mapped then junk the ecu and map later.

Other thing to note is the syvecs will have a much higher resale value, yet to see one go for below £1k second hand, so cost is only £1k -£1.5k.

 

[Seminole81]

2 hours ago, Tidgy said:

I would say what are your plans long term? if going engine build, bigger turbo etc then syvecs it rather than pay to have it mapped then junk the ecu and map later.

Other thing to note is the syvecs will have a much higher resale value, yet to see one go for below £1k second hand, so cost is only £1k -£1.5k.

 

Long long term I would love to do a full on full scale rebuild...I'll have a look about. Probably would buy a second hand Syvecs...in saying that just saw someone post a second hand ECUTek for fairly cheap. Could pick up one of those and get it mapped to my car and then change over when needed.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Seminole81

[Tidgy]

On Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 5:06 PM, Seminole81 said:

Long long term I would love to do a full on full scale rebuild...I'll have a look about. Probably would buy a second hand Syvecs...in saying that just saw someone post a second hand ECUTek for fairly cheap. Could pick up one of those and get it mapped to my car and then change over when needed.

Not gonna save much money over just buying a license for your current one. And you know your current ecu works fine ;)

[Jay762]

yup stick with what you know works

[Seminole81]

3 hours ago, Jay762 said:

yup stick with what you know works

4 hours ago, Tidgy said:

Not gonna save much money over just buying a license for your current one. And you know your current ecu works fine ;)

Is a certain spec ECU not a certain spec ECU? Like in Honda's a P30 ECU is a P30 ECU and will work with any car that needs a P30 ECU? So all hawkeye Type UK STI ECU would be created equal? So say I buy the same exact ECU that's in my car, but with ECUTek already on (if I can find one)? It's getting flashed anyways? Sorry for the questions haha Subaru stuff is new to me still 🤔

[Jay762]

It will fit but no guarantees of it working - if you have an existing ECU that is known good to you and works fine for the money you are spending, cost of second hand ECU with ECUtek onboard plus map to your car Vs cost of license and map for your car, why take the risk of the unknown for a relatively small amount of money.

 

IMO it would be better to spend the money getting your existing ECU mapped to your motor, working with known components - Against the possibility, however remote, of trashing your engine by connecting an unknown ECU with an unknown map - but I have made some expensive mistakes in the past so am more risk averse.

[Tidgy]

15 hours ago, Seminole81 said:

Is a certain spec ECU not a certain spec ECU? Like in Honda's a P30 ECU is a P30 ECU and will work with any car that needs a P30 ECU? So all hawkeye Type UK STI ECU would be created equal? So say I buy the same exact ECU that's in my car, but with ECUTek already on (if I can find one)? It's getting flashed anyways? Sorry for the questions haha Subaru stuff is new to me still 🤔

I'm not 100% sure what the USDM ecu is. it may well be different. But that your buying a second hand ecu, you don't know its condition and you don't know the seller meaning you could end up being scammed to try to save £50.

O and as said it will need a remap anyway, so all your saving is a bit on the license fee. 

[savage bulldogs]

I'd say ecutek would be the best option for a remap on a standard engine . As you use your standard ecu and just pay for a ecutek software licence to let the mapper adjust the standard map on it .

If you decide to go down the bigger turbo ,injectors ect route at a later date ,then maybe consider a stand alone ecu .

Cheapest option would be to get the avcr set up on a dyno . Then while gradually upping the boost you can monitor how well the ecu is compensates the fuelling map for a little extra boost [emoji6]

[Seminole81]

8 hours ago, Tidgy said:

I'm not 100% sure what the USDM ecu is. it may well be different. But that your buying a second hand ecu, you don't know its condition and you don't know the seller meaning you could end up being scammed to try to save £50.

O and as said it will need a remap anyway, so all your saving is a bit on the license fee. 

Nor am I if I'm honest. I was just curious as to if it could be done. 👍🏻

[Seminole81]

Yeah, I'll probably just ECUTek for time being and then switch to a stand alone at a later date if I ever make it that far haha. Hmm...that's an idea with he AVCR, but probably not the safest or best way haha.

 I've sent a message to my mate to see what he ran his on in the States, purely out of curiosity now haha. 

[Seminole81]

Hmm interesting. Most people across the pond don't seem to rate ECUTek, unless it's for a GTR. A lot say Cobb is hands down the best...My mate said he ran his own Open Source ECU Flash (FP Green turbo and supporting mods for around 400whp).

[Tidgy]

13 minutes ago, Seminole81 said:

Hmm interesting. Most people across the pond don't seem to rate ECUTek, unless it's for a GTR. A lot say Cobb is hands down the best...My mate said he ran his own Open Source ECU Flash (FP Green turbo and supporting mods for around 400whp).

Becasue most in america get a cobb access port and tweak the map themselves.

Open source software is typically ripped off ecutek software from america ironicly

[Seminole81]

1 minute ago, Tidgy said:

Becasue most in america get a cobb access port and tweak the map themselves.

Open source software is typically ripped off ecutek software from america ironicly

Seems to be the case. Why don't we do that here? Haha. Just curious. Funny to see the differences between the countries.

[Jay762]

Having looked at the Cobb accessport myself (As I may well be using this kit for my own business venture) you can buy the device and then flash load a map done by someone else, you cannot start tweaking the map itself unless you have the appropriate software, to get this you have to be approved etc

This brings us back to the original point of "why should I not plug a map from someone else's motor into my motor" - you can, but it carries risk with it. Allegedly there are places around that will do a £30 flash map for your motor which unless you are going to a tuner with appropriate software to tweak the generic map once loaded via the Cobb product and has the kit to ensure your motor is fuelling correctly and not melting its pistons that is what you are getting.

If you get the ODB2 / USB lead for your laptop you can download some OS software and do the flash yourself. If you do want to go this route I would recommend you invest in some det headphones and a wideband sensor at the very least.

[Seminole81]

2 hours ago, Jay762 said:

Having looked at the Cobb accessport myself (As I may well be using this kit for my own business venture) you can buy the device and then flash load a map done by someone else, you cannot start tweaking the map itself unless you have the appropriate software, to get this you have to be approved etc

If you get the ODB2 / USB lead for your laptop you can download some OS software and do the flash yourself. If you do want to go this route I would recommend you invest in some det headphones and a wideband sensor at the very least.

Yeah. I bet you could get someone to map it fairly easily though considering the way the internet it now. Just need data logging software. Was just curious as always.

I've looked into flashing myself actually. Tactrix cable or whatever it's called and then Open Source software. Save the stock map in a safe place and copy then adjust in very small incriminates on copied map. Wideband would be essential to correct A/F ratios. All in all though, were talking around the same price for everything if you purchase all the parts. Easiest is paying for someone else to do it on a dyno haha

[quit]

if its open source they are really simple mate! tactrix is what you need to read it they are about 200 quid, i think you can get the software for free, stuff like ROMraider etc 

 

ESL do a course on using there stuff

[Jay762]

The ESL course is excellent, very good foundation for tuning approaches / practices

[Seminole81]

1 hour ago, matt said:

if its open source they are really simple mate! tactrix is what you need to read it they are about 200 quid, i think you can get the software for free, stuff like ROMraider etc 

 

ESL do a course on using there stuff

Yeah it's Open Source I was looking at. Yep, the Tactrix is about £200 and the Wideband I was looking at was about £200. Software free like you said. I heard about the ESL course...be tempted to have a look into it a bit more.

[quit]

its held at a hotel near me 

[Tidgy]

23 hours ago, Seminole81 said:

Seems to be the case. Why don't we do that here? Haha. Just curious. Funny to see the differences between the countries.

US has a very different way of tuning for some reason, they seem to get away with alot more than we do.