Well, I figured might as well start a post about (general) ecu tuning. Not that I’m terribly knowledgeable on it, but hopefully it’ll draw some interest- and maybe people who have experience could share some do’s and don’ts, good guidelines, tips, etc…
Granted my experience has been almost entirely with Honda ecu’s/PGMFI-related systems (a little bit of toying with the newer Subaru ecus), but nonetheless… I’ve been slowly working toward getting a ITB setup together for my crx- it’s running a D16A6 motor, a D16Z6 intake w/ a B16A throttle body. Other than that, it’s got the usual bolt-ons. But I’m planning on using my new-to-me P28 ecu and running Crome (for its developed ITB tools) on a CBR1000 intake setup and hopefully getting something decent as far as a rough-in tune goes.
I’ve been running turboedit on my current PM6 ecu and picked up a datalogging header and cable, a Moates’ Ostrich eprom emulator, a pile of eeproms, a burner, and an Innovative LC-1 wideband O2 sensor- and have been toying with it now and then for the past couple of years, but nothing terribly involved as of yet. The hardware’s really quite simple to mod, and all the parts are readily available via many different retailers. Software is the fun part- I’ve chosen to stick with primarily open source stuff (via PGMFI.org and related sites). You get to use software and learn as much as you want to about it at the same time (lots of documentation) or even modify programs to fit your purpose and/or liking- not bad at all.
I have found how much of a pain some things are though, such as using a USB hub on a laptop with one USB port, when every time you go to connect everything up, it assigns all new COM ports, so datalogging and connecting the Ostrich were never a quick, plug-n-play situation. I’m still glad I’ve stuck with it as I’ve definitely been forced to do a good amount research on stuff, in general.
yea the only time I really messed with anything, was when my car was running last. I sold the turbo kit and used the money to build the new engine. It was a 81.5mm sleeved ls/vtec buildup. I was running the Hondata stage 3b with data logging. Granted now its pretty ancient technology, but it still educated me as to some of the do’s and dont’s.
I ended up bringing the car to a complete scumbag, whom I though had previous knowledge and was a trustworthy guy, only to find out he was instead an excellent bullshitter. The car came back in horrible shape, had to basically go steal my car back from the garage he didn’t pay rent on, and drove from Poughkeepsie to Plattsburgh in limp mode.
Anyone done much with any of the Subaru or Mitsu ecu’s yet? OpenECU/Enginuity seem to be really nice to work with…
Celtic1982citleC does. He has tuned my evo along with many many others and subarus as well.
Yep, he also tuned Cosseys Legacy and might have tinkered with Travis’ STi.
<-Mitsubishi/Subaru open source guru of sorts. I use Enginunity, ECUFlash, EvoScan, ect… Lots of fun to be had w/ the oem ecu’s. If you ever have any questions, just ask. Happy to help.
You are talking about tuning devices not actually tuning the ECU. Any real tuner should be able to TUNE. Knowing how to use the software is different.
Justin > your turbo :tong
I don’t have much experience tuning, per se, but have spent more time learning more about the software/hardware involved. But - depending on the platform- it would be considered tuning the ecu.
For example, when Justin tuned Cossey’s Legacy, you modify values in the existing binary image, using the existing hardware/ecu- no hardware modifications are necessary at all. Plug in a tactrix cable, and away you go. In this case, I’d call that ‘tuning the ecu’.
In many cases people use piggyback/external/etc. devices to modify the signals going to/from the ecu to effectively tune the fuel/ignition/etc. In some cases, this is fine, but can introduce other problems when you try to modify values outside of their ‘expected’ ranges.
In either case, a general ‘tuning’ knowledge is required- which is what I believe you’re referring to- as far as changing any values on the ecu or piggyback device. You would have to have some idea of what you’re actually doing by changing injector scaling to compensate for your new injectors with that tank of a turbo you might have just put on… then how you’d compensate with ignition timing, etc. and so on, so forth.
This is all opinion-based, just to be clear- mainly what I’ve found just reading up on as many things as I found to be ‘helpful’… any input is greatly appreciated.