Standalone ecus?

velardejose · Post by **velardejose** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:08 am

Hi
How would you rate those programable standalone ecus?
In terms of support, price and reliability
Microtech
Haltech
Megasquirt
Other you would suggest?
Asuming it is correctly tuned
Thanks a lot in advance

SashET · Post by **SashET** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:22 am

Wolf 3D V4, I'd like to hear about this from someone who's installed one.

Post by **shanec86** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:46 am

Microtech - Piss easy to install and tune ( as long as you know what you are actually doing) Lt8-s are around $1000

Wolf - never installed one on an E15 but they are easy to tune also

Ben Hewitson · Post by **Ben Hewitson** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:47 am

at the end of the day the same story will allways prevail. they will all do roughly the same thing provided the tuner is capable. for example if there is a tuner/workshop in your area that specialises with Microtech then you'd be mad to purchase one of the others. My advice to everyone has been to shop around for competant workshops and just purchase what they have. you will always hear someone say "microtech is better than Haltech, Haltech blew up my engine" well.. thats just not true. it all comesdown to tuning.

The information you'll gather from talking with people is things like How long to install the ECU and wiring and How much tuning time is required. Can i do it myself, etc..etc..

As far as the Wold3D v4 is concerned, i'd be interested in the setup preceedures and the results people have had with the system as i'm fond of that particular setup myself. but for me i cant go past EMS or Microtech because i can get it cheaper than Wolf and i know tuners that deal with those setups...

so like most people my descision may not come down to What system i like, or What ECU everyone suggests. it may come down to cost of the initial purchase and the fact that a microtech may cost me nothing for the install and then only 4 hours of dyno time, whereas the other brand may cost me 10 hours of a professional to install and tune for me...

if you duck over to nissanexa.com a guy names Paul Smith (user name) is installing a megasquirt setup on his E15ET exa.. he also is adding MSD and some other cool stuff like water injection into his car.

also direct your searches to www.n12turbo.com as there is a small section under the tech mods about aftermarket ECU's..

http://www.n12turbo.com/mods/ems.htm

SammyET · Post by **SammyET** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:27 am

Having helped get 3 different cars going on microtechs, 2 being E15s I would like to point out that they are in fact a little underfeatured compared to the current wolf v4 equivalent. Ive never actually set up a wolf myself, however I have driven them and they seem desirable, most especially in the details such as cold start stepper driver and mapping resolution etc. Of course, you'd need an experienced tuner but they're not hard to find at all for microtech OR wolf. Ideally, you want the power increase associated with programmable ecus, with as few sacrifices as possible. More expensive ecus can achieve better, but it can be offset by the complexity and cost of the tuning process. Hope this helps somewhat.

Sam

Post by **The Renegade** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:49 pm

Microtech - Basic machine, I've had 2 and both have been faultless and reliable. Also easy to tune via the handset.

Megasquirt - I WANT ONE! Going by all of the docos & the circuit diagram I stumbled accross, they should be a great little unit. I want to build one, maybe I'll sell my Microtech and get one of these instead.....

Ben Hewitson · Post by **Ben Hewitson** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:49 pm

Sam, have you had any experience with a Motec or one of the more expensive setups.? I'd love to know how much better a system like that is compared to Wolf or Microtech.?

Post by **The Renegade** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:53 pm

Ben Hewitson wrote:Sam, have you had any experience with a Motec or one of the more expensive setups.? I'd love to know how much better a system like that is compared to Wolf or Microtech.?

I reckon a MoTec would be overkill unless you are a serious circuit racer or something, or you can get one cheap etc etc.
Don't get me wrong, it'd be an awesome ECU, but like having a set of race tyres on your nan's barina that she drives to the shops every 2nd sunday.

raddavey · Post by **raddavey** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:35 pm

I have a wolf v4 which i wired in myself. Got dyno tuned but i have setup the cold start and tweaked it a bit myself. I'm looking at getting a wideband datalogger and some headphones to do some road tuning since i'm only on 12psi and would like to try 20psi. Any questions ask me and ill see if I can help.

Ben Hewitson · Post by **Ben Hewitson** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:49 pm

The Renegade wrote:Microtech - Basic machine, I've had 2 and both have been faultless and reliable. Also easy to tune via the handset.

Megasquirt - I WANT ONE! Going by all of the docos & the circuit diagram I stumbled accross, they should be a great little unit. I want to build one, maybe I'll sell my Microtech and get one of these instead.....

if so. Pm me and i'll grab yout microtech if its a full computer and harness. cheers.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:16 pm

The Renegade wrote:Microtech - Basic machine, I've had 2 and both have been faultless and reliable. Also easy to tune via the handset.

I'd love to have the guts to play with mine but I don't want to screw it up any more than it is. When you did those did that include cold start? That's my main problem at the moment, there are others

Post by **The Renegade** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:31 pm

Yep, my 1st one was on a turbo rotary, and it had no cold start either. I figured it out eventually. You just need time.
What you need to do is sit down and write out all of the parameters, it takes a while, but that way you've got it all to come back to.

Panda_ET · Post by **Panda_ET** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:34 pm

yeh i have mtech seem to be good i can play with it i have the latop dongle as well for 3d(matrix) tuning but i get confused easy lol so i just stick to handset tuning. i got no issues with cold start its teh keep it goin cold lol then again my car had other issues so we'll see with new engine and bigger injectors lol

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:53 pm

Panda_ET wrote:yeh i have mtech seem to be good i can play with it i have the latop dongle as well for 3d(matrix) tuning but i get confused easy lol so i just stick to handset tuning. i got no issues with cold start its teh keep it goin cold lol then again my car had other issues so we'll see with new engine and bigger injectors lol

So where should I start?

*EDIT* I might actually start my own thread rather than hijacking this one