[All] [Generic] Which ECU would you choose from the list below and why?

[steve b]

These are the choices and the sites link to the product and represent's who would be fitting and mapping the ECU

1. Emerald3d
http://www.emeraldm3d.com/em_m3dk.html

£1000

2. Autronics
http://www.autronic.com/page_files/smc_kit.htm
http://www.madevelopments.com/

£2000

3. Motec M4
http://www.owendevelopments.co.uk/produ ... ?prodId=11

£2500

4. LinkG3
http://www.thorracing.co.uk/

£1300

for my mazda, not MR2 but thats irrelevant, pointless asking the MX5 people as they are all brainwashed into the miata link thats basically the old basic linkG1 thats had the software altered by fly'in miata in the USA then the uk mx5 tuners want to charge £1200 for fitting and sort of rough mapped, go away and fiddle..

My wallet says go for the emerald3d as its great value for money, only thing I don't like about it is a crank trigger wheel needs to be installed.

The Autronic's many people say is better than the motec, but again needs a trigger wheel

The motec well really at £2.5K its just too expensive

The link G3, very tempting,.. I'll have to ask thor to check the cam angle sensor can be used, if so no trigger wheel needed,.. spec looks very good... ? is it worth £300 more than the emerald??

What do you guys think? What would you do? Any experience with these ecus?

[greglebon]

IMHO, the Megasquirt2 overall beats the lot....!

You buy the unit, loom etc, for around £300, and if you have a wiring diagram for your engine, you can fit it yourself over a weekend quite easily.

Then you can tune it with a laptop yourself over the next X weeks.... free!

Theres loads of info on the net about it: you can be sure that whatever you have in mind for your car, someone, somewhere in the world will have done it, and have info to pass on to you..

The benefit of going this route is that you learn what each and every sensor actually does, what signals it sends, etc, and you can data
log it all, so if there is a problem it is easy to track down.

The Motecs, etc, all require you to give your car to someone to do for you: all costs dosh, and you're never REALLY sure what they're doing to your pride and joy...

Seriously, look into it..... its not everyones cup of tea, but you dont need a PhD to do it!

[michael]

I'd pick the one that my chosen mapper was happiest with.

[EarL]

I'd pick the one that my chosen mapper was happiest with.

Dave Rowe and Andi Martin told me to get a MoTeC M400. I didn't argue with them.

[EarL]

IMHO, the Megasquirt2 overall beats the lot....!

If you believe that, you need help.

The Motecs, etc, all require you to give your car to someone to do for you: all costs dosh, and you're never REALLY sure what they're doing to your pride and joy...

Mate if they can map a MoTeC, then they know what thier doing. Seeing as Alistair McRay gives his car to Dave Rowe, I think I'm in safe hands.

EarL.

[steve b]

How is Dave with mapping peoples cars though? I doubt he's after lots of people bothering him? If he'd map the M4 for me for a couple of hundred it would be no question and i'd get on with working out the wiring loom. If he's not keen i'm off to admittedly one of many local motorsport companies but they all charge the best part of more than £1000. At which point the motec becomes to expensive. I'm waiting for an exact Link G3 cost from Thor, but it's the one thats most appealing at present.

[Mikejc]

IMHO, the Megasquirt2 overall beats the lot....!

You buy the unit, loom etc, for around £300, and if you have a wiring diagram for your engine, you can fit it yourself over a weekend quite easily.

Then you can tune it with a laptop yourself over the next X weeks.... free!

Theres loads of info on the net about it: you can be sure that whatever you have in mind for your car, someone, somewhere in the world will have done it, and have info to pass on to you..

The benefit of going this route is that you learn what each and every sensor actually does, what signals it sends, etc, and you can data
log it all, so if there is a problem it is easy to track down.

The Motecs, etc, all require you to give your car to someone to do for you: all costs dosh, and you're never REALLY sure what they're doing to your pride and joy...

Seriously, look into it..... its not everyones cup of tea, but you dont need a PhD to do it!

What a nugget of wisdom!

Ignore just about everything within this post and you wont go too far wrong...

I believe that you should measure an ecu by those that are available to tune it. I run Motec because it has the very best mappers and offers everything I could ask for from an ecu. Expensive...yes, but it really is in another league along with Dave Rowe from Motec Europe

My 2p worth

Mikejc

[Andy F]

The Motec is so easy to wire up, i can't understand why people would pay someone!
BTW i would get the power FC ...there sooo cheap!

[steve b]

The Motec is so easy to wire up, i can't understand why people would pay someone!
BTW i would get the power FC ...there sooo cheap!

They don't look hard from the wiring diagrams on the motec site, question is why do all the companies charge so much? Do they see you coming with an expensive ECU so ramp up the charges?

Power FC isn't an option, besides its defunct now.

[Andy F]

The Motec is so easy to wire up, i can't understand why people would pay someone!
BTW i would get the power FC ...there sooo cheap!

They don't look hard from the wiring diagrams on the motec site, question is why do all the companies charge so much? Do they see you coming with an expensive ECU so ramp up the charges?

Power FC isn't an option, besides its defunct now.

They are not hard, infact if you dig about on the Motec web site there maybe a wiring diagram for your car, your existing sensors will probley be compatable too.

I was being sarcky about the PFC......sorry
Oh and the M4 is about £800 +vat, knock your self out!!

[Mark Edwards]

Motec all the way. Mine is now going on the starlet when i get it.

Even our own Mikejc here eventually came round and realized it was the only logical step forward.

As for Dave Rowe, he is the nicest guy you could ever want to meet and will map anything if you're nice to him, he's already agreed to map the starlet and see what he can get from it. He maps most of the WRC cars and a few of the le mans cars too, he also did the map for the evo fq400 for your information.

[steve b]

Motec all the way. Mine is now going on the starlet when i get it.

Even our own Mikejc here eventually came round and realized it was the only logical step forward.

As for Dave Rowe, he is the nicest guy you could ever want to meet and will map anything if you're nice to him, he's already agreed to map the starlet and see what he can get from it. He maps most of the WRC cars and a few of the le mans cars too, he also did the map for the evo fq400 for your information.

I may drop him an email and see what he says, I meet him last saturday at the seminar. This is what got me thinking about not going for the emerald but possibly an M4 in the first place. Knowing the price of the unit I thought i was going to be putting an M4 in end of story, its just the install + mapping quotes have been a joke, so put bit of a downer on it.

p.s. cool first mod on the starlet

[steve b]

The Motec is so easy to wire up, i can't understand why people would pay someone!
BTW i would get the power FC ...there sooo cheap!

They don't look hard from the wiring diagrams on the motec site, question is why do all the companies charge so much? Do they see you coming with an expensive ECU so ramp up the charges?

Power FC isn't an option, besides its defunct now.

They are not hard, infact if you dig about on the Motec web site there maybe a wiring diagram for your car, your existing sensors will probley be compatable too.

I was being sarcky about the PFC......sorry
Oh and the M4 is about £800 +vat, knock your self out!!

yep I downloaded the M4, 4 pot loom diagram, i'm not 100% about the ignition diagram as they have one listed mazda 2 DFI and my mazda has twin coil pack, but DFI ? I wasn't so sure about I thought DFI was direct fuel injection..

i was being polite about the Apexi

[Century Motorsport]

I honestly dont understand why you guys are so hell bent on paying the price of a motec - i fully appreciate the capabilities of this beast, but c'mon guys, they run these ECU's in GT1 LeMans cars, porsche 997 GT3 cars, they realise the full capabilities of this ECU - a road going MR2 never will, and even if it does driving it on the road certainly wont.

An emerald for road/light track & 1/4 mile use would be equal to that of the motec and hey you still get £1500 back.

And Sure Dave Rowe is a legend, but he is not the only legend out there - i have a friend who mapped all the MG touring car motors when the atomic kitten team was running - that was on Pectel, arguably the best ECU made (bar Magnetti Marelli) and if i started spurting his name about you guys wouldn't have a clue who he is but im sure he is an equal to Dave Rowe.

My point isnt to put to Motec or Dave Rowe down, if money is no object then sure go for it but i cant see the point in spending an extra £1,500 on a name when you get something and someone to do the job just as good for a fration of the price - everyone is a winner then, surely???

Just my 2p

Nathan

[Andy F]

I have already said how much the motec is, whats with the 1.5k back crap??
Go on then what do you use???

BTW its not just a performance thing you know, you need them to drive "nice" on the road or you soon get fed up if your jerking around all the time and the turbo is an "on off" switch

[steve b]

I have already said how much the motec is, whats with the 1.5k back crap??
Go on then what do you use???

Where have you seen the m4 for £800+VAT I can only find £899+VAT £99's a good start in price reduction.

I think the £1500 saving is what you'd actually save if you were compairing paying the average tuning company to fit and map the motec, (so far I've had 2 similar quotes,.. £1500 fitting + mapping excluding ECU), with the emerald3d,.. £1000 for fitting and mapping and the ECU. It does pee me off this aspect of the motec, i mean Emerald ECU £600 but can be had all in for £1000, Link G3 £700 or all in £1200 then Motec only £300 more for the ECU but £1000 more to map???

[Andy F]

Im pretty sure Fraser Makeller was selling them at £800 +,could be wrong though!!
Whats the point anyway, no one listerns on here

[steve b]

Im pretty sure Fraser Makeller was selling them at £800 +,could be wrong though!!
Whats the point anyway, no one listerns on here

Just sent them an email, asked about fitting & mapping too,.. be interesting to see what they quote.

[Chris]

Got my Motec M4 off ebay for about £600ish, paid £30 to Mr Rowe for the connector and wired it up in Andy F's garage. Took about 2 hours ish including about 10 coffee and ciggy breaks Borrowed Andy's map and fired the old girl up Dave started mapping it for me but the wastegate decided it wanted to fall off A real nice bloke Dave with balls of steel!! I was shatting myself during mapping

[steve b]

Do you just make an adapter loom? I'm thinking a full loom may actually be easier for my car as i don't know any of the pin outs. I imagine quite alot of wire in the engine bay is going to be redundant anyway as I've ditched air con, charcoal canister, stock AFM & combinded temp sensor.

Need wires to injectors, alternator, fuel pump, cam position sensor, coils, battery, air temp sensor, map sensor, ignition, radiator fan thats about it?