ECU advice

[leggysrx7]

Hey.

I\'ve got a mate due to hit the states in October,and he\'s gonna try and get me a new/used ECU..my question is which one??I know that most folk seem to use Apex\'i PFC, but how about Knightsport?? On another forum there\'s one for $200 (??).....

...how about mapping them??I assuming that as long as it\'s aftermarket then someone in Britain can re map it??

I\'m new to all the technical stuff, but my ears are open....advice sought!!

Cheers.

Marc

[Shark]

PFC would seem the safest bet as it seems to be the one most are familiar with.  Sure I read that Brian was thinking about a motech ECU though...

Probably worth getting in touch with a few people directly to see what they\'d recommend, or can map easily.

[sadgoth]

In the UK, most people run PFCs on the Gen 3, in terms of mapping, PFC or Microtech are good bets as both can be done by quite a few guys here (MoTeC is also a possibility)

[20B_boy]

Power FC if u r on a budget - its totally p\'n\'p compared to the others mentioned which all require installation and loom work...

[leggysrx7]

..its a knightsport ecu that\'s for sale...who should i speak to about mapping it????Name droppin required.....

Marc

[leggysrx7]

.......anyone??

Marc

[g11ary]

You cant map a knightsport, you buy the ecu with a pre-programmed chip. There are various stages of tune as well. Unless you know exactly what your mods are and which of there ecu\'s would suit best I would prob leave alone.

[leggysrx7]

..cheers!

Thanks for answerin\' my question...looks like i\'ll need to source an Apex\'i PFC....

Marc

[GaryS]

MoTeCs are the dog\'s danglies, and the wiring loom thing is actually probably a good thing as you get a complete new one with it (as opposed to using an existing X year old one), however, just how many people in the UK rotary world have used a MoTeC and had problems ? a number at least.  Got a feelign none of you were using a dog tooth crank pulely and sensor though.

PFC is an o.k. ECU, very popular in Japan, and comparatively cheap.  I\'ve gone that route because that is where most the tuning knowledge is in this country.  If I got single turbo I\'d probably consider somehting more flexible though.

[sadgoth]

You get the full replacement loom with the Microtech too. Mapping of MoTeC is a bit more of an issue in this country, but a few have them (Roundabout_now\'s pink panther has a MoTeC M800 I believe) PFCs are the most well used over here, but that doesn\'t necessarily mean they are the best.

[bill shurvinton]

If you are not tuning the car yourself then you are best to chose with the systems that you local tuner uses. Pip will tune anything, but I know other tuners are not so happy with different systems.

From a technical perspective the very very best is Pi Research (used to be pectel), but at 10 grand plus for just the ECU is really only for those planning to run at Le Mans.

Next down are motorsport ECUs from Bosch.

Top of the \'affordables\' is Motec. It can do more than most people are capable of comprehending, so rarely gets used to a tenth of its abilities

Close second is Autronic, who are a breakaway from Motec.

Then there are \'the rest\' which, from microtech, through Wolf, to perfect power are all much of a muchness give or take the flexibility in trailing ignition timing.


And last but not least there is the megasquirt, which although DIY has a fascinating roadmap which, in a couple of years will be running at motec capabilities, possibly beyond it.

[Fish]

Originally posted by bill shurvinton
From a technical perspective the very very best is Pi Research (used to be pectel), but at 10 grand plus for just the ECU is really only for those planning to run at Le Mans.

That\'s odd, I know people that are running Pectels and they didnt pay anywhere near the 10k that you quote. Think they paid something around 2k for the unit, which had more options enabled as default that the Motec M800.

Fish

[Brett]

Just to let you know TakaKaira.com are doing the PFC with the commander free at the mo\', works out at about £500+/-

[bill shurvinton]

Originally posted by Fish
That\'s odd, I know people that are running Pectels and they didnt pay anywhere near the 10k that you quote. Think they paid something around 2k for the unit, which had more options enabled as default that the Motec M800.

Fish

That\'s cos those are the cheapy ones. I was talking about their proper hairy chested real mens ecus. These have nice features like full DSP on the acoustic knock sensors and control for intelligent Diffs and the like.

They also have full electrical power management, which the focus WRC cars are using this year. Saved a silly amount of wire weight in the car and also power by having intelligence built in (e.g. I am on a special stage therefore the indicators are disabled).

I haven\'t done a blow by blow analysis of the low end pectels against the M800 mainly because the sort of people in the market for that level of performance have the experience to actually know what they need.

[Fish]

But you do not need something of this level to run a rotary.

Do you have an-alter ego? or are you related to a Chris Wilson?

Fish