Deep Singh

Just wondering if anybody has had any issues with this product.Positive comments also welcomed.Cheers,Deep.

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

my first one (tek2 off the shelf) went downhill (loss of performance) after a week, tried all sorts to cure it, no avail, so sent it back and got another one, this one worked much better.

If you get one i would strongly recommend you get it done specifically for YOUR car, not an off the shelf one.

Steven

nom

Had an 'off the shelf' one (a number 2 ).

Worked fine; coped well with endless playing with exhausts (including the manifold), induction kits (except the APS one ). No hiccups, the odd spot of det (every time whilest in Norfolk - do they send all the dodgy fuel up there or something? ), but it was always the 'transient' type rather than persistent. I'd put it as more reliable/stable than the standard ECU (better when cold, for example), and a significantly better drive

No, not as good as one specific for the car, but considerably better than the oem one (which is far fussier about the cat being there - boost can go all over the place with that one if you're unlucky )

Incidently, ahem, there's one for sale if anyone's interested (I've "moved on" rather than there being anything wrong with the thing! )

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

LOL thats just what i did

Deep Singh

Thanks,keep them coming.

Fat Boy

Happy with mine, tek3 P1

Deep Singh

Fatboy tell me more ie where did you notice the difference and how much?

Scott W

I've had my MY00 Tek3'd initially by Mervyn and Stephen, but then again by Bob Rawle. I've got various mods on the car, such as hybrid turbo, FMIC, headers, etc.... and I've got no complaints whatsoever.

The cars got dyno runs for over 300bhp and over 300lbs/ft on a couple of occassions (ie since the mods/remap were fitted/performed) and now I'm just waiting to install a new d/pipe, Hiper and bigger injectors. This will be followed by another trip to Swindon to see Bob.

I'd speak to Bob about getting him to map your car as he certainly knows his stuff! Also ask him about his STI aswell that he's mapped with the Ecutek product!

mega_stream

I had a JB 2.5 map on MY99 UK car, I was running it on Delta Dash and with a Dawes set to 1.25 held boost. Everything was running well within safety limits with virtually no knock detected.

Certainly made the car pull stronger right to the redline, I would recommend this upgrade to anyone not wanting to go the whole hog with a Link or similar.

Also has the benefit of insurance/servicing

EvilBevel

Deep []

FWIW, I had my car remapped with EcuTek by Mark EMS.

I would now agree (and could argue) that it is a better solution than the Unichip I had before, both for the mapper and the mappee Boost control is a tad easier with EcuTek, because you have the "feedback" system, as basic as it is.

But I'm under no illusion that the MY99 JECS can be compared one to one to the STi7 ECU (Denso ?), so no guarantees there.

Your best bet would be to talk to Bob perhaps ?

Suresh

Deep,

Also had a custom Tek3 remap done by Mark at EMS here (+ Supersprint decat downpipe) at the end of September. Car was a standard MY99 turbo until then.

Overall impression - Fantastic modification. Well worth the wonga.

Flexibility - Great. Engine pulls much more strongly from under 2,000 rpm all the way to 6500+ rpm. In comparison, the standard ecu map was hesitant under 2500rpm and ran out of puff at about 5500 rpm.

Performance - Target boost is set at 16.7psi and accordingly, performance is excellent. A real "rocket ship". The car now pulls almost as strongly in 3rd gear as it did before in 2nd. Same goes for 4th and 5th. Needless to say, 1st gear is awesome. Mark also raised the Ecu speed limiter by 10km/h, but I haven't had a chance to test this out, yet

Fuel economy - is the only fly in the ointment. Average mpg was around the 25/26 level but has now dropped to now 20/22. Using the increased performance surely comes at a cost, but driven "normally" i.e. by the wife on a longish run, it seems no worse than before.


No regrets here!


Suresh

Deep Singh

Thanks guys.

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

I've been running a JB 2.5 for around 4 months now. Had a little tweak on the boost for my car by John when it was fitted but apart from that it's the standard 2.5 map.

I had Dawes before (along with the increase in insurance) but now just run the Tek without the Dawes and no other mods. Boost is peaking and holding at 17.5 PSI and running very smoothly. I do mostly motorway miles and get around 28/29 mpg.

Excellent mod - and is saving me £110 a year on insurance (as you don't have to declare the 10% increase the Dawes gave).

Might put the Dawes on as well when the spring arrives (as the boost drops to around 16/16.5 PSI in the warm weather).

Richard.

[Edited by Scotsman - 11/19/2002 10:15:49 PM]

Fat Boy

Deep

The car has a full decat, HKS filter and runs always on optimax plus NF (well almost always see below). I was getting worried about the leaning out of the fuel mix after reading posts like Mike Woods , and then when the car was running lumpily in the 2K to 3.5K rev range, I thought that I had better do something about it. Even the wife complained that it was kind of stuttering even at high revs

After Bob and Branko at BRD did the instal together with one of the Lamco boost gauges the difference was very noticeable. Previously max boost was only around 0.9 bar, but now was 1 bar by 3k revs and held a peak of 1.3 bar. the car is much smoother, no lumpiness in the middle, and it just goes on and on now. Bob also remapped the throttle response to a smoother take up eg previously half the pedal travel equalled 75 % WOT or something like that , now half pedal travel equates to 50% WOT. Not exactly sure what he did but it means that it's easier to bumble through London traffic jams in as its not constantly leaping forward every time you hit a pothole etc The power is still there when the pedal is fully depressed it's just as if you have a longer travel pedal.
Overall very pleased although as I have run out of NF and am waiting for my next delivery (Chris??) I did manage to light the red bulb on the knock link ( they installed as well) a couple of times on the weekend running on SUL plus proboost. Hopefully that will dissapear when it returns to its preferred diet or I'll be heading back to Bob pretty pronto, and in the meantime I'm treating the car gently.

Deep Singh

Thanks for that Fatboy.I've got a boxful of NF in the garage if you are desperate drop me a line.I bought it in bulk so will charge what it cost me ie £10.30p per bottle.I'm in SE London aswell

ozzy

Deep,

It's difficult not to be happy with the Tek remaps. Afterall, you're getting extra boost, it's a standard ECU so all the built in safety features are still there and (I can only speak on my experiences with John Banks) everything is kept within a very safe level.

John did mention some people being disappointed after a remap as the car didn't seem to run well. This was diagnosed as a problem when the ECU was flashed with the new map. A simple reflash of the new map cured any problems.

The only other possible disappointed maybe if you came from having a Dawes to replacing that with the Tek. The boost may only run slightly higher and it'll be a much smoother delivery.

Personally, I like lots of smooth power and not a kick in the @rse everytime I touch the loud pedal; so I was happy with mine when John let me play with it.

If people then move onto a Link or other replacement ECU, it's usually down to having lots of major mods and needing the extra flexability of these types of ECU.

Stefan

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

well said ozzy

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

I went from a Dawes running 16.5 PSI to the Tek and during the summer months the boost was the same - BUT the car just felt so much better to drive. Now the winter is here the boost is at the target of 17.5 so I'm running more boost than the Dawes anyway (since the tek can raise the full cut).

Richard.

T-uk

If people then move onto a Link or other replacement ECU, it's usually down to having lots of major mods and needing the extra flexability of these types of ECU.

imoh I think people underestimate the ecutek stuff,with it still being fairly new.john banks is running a md304 turbo,550's,fmic and aps wing filter all which are know to have mapping difficulties.fair enough,this his is own car and his map is the result of many hours,but I am sure any mapper will take longer with the first few cars trying a new system.

I think the strongest argument for link must be loosing the maf and the self tweak option.is the ecutek not more accurate with more zones,better start/idle and safety?,although I do know that john was not too happy with knock control when he had the manifold and up-pipe fitted.

do not want to start an argument of which is best,but am genuinly interested to why my99+ owners choose link over ecutek as I am thinking of a few mods myself.

nom

Link over EcuTek - lots of things for & against, I'd say.
The advantage of the Link is it doesn't use the MAF, and as such removes a weak point. The advantage of the EcuTek is it uses the MAF, and so is more flexible with minor mods (the change in airflow created, for example, by changing a mid/back section will likely not cause any trouble if a MAF is used as it will be compensated for; without a MAF, the change in VE is unknown by the ECU map & so will run lean/rich too advanced, etc.). Hence a 'general' map such as the Tek2 is possible - it could never be with a Link.
Or that's my thinking of it anyway.
There is the 'home-mapping' capability of the Link, although I'm not sure everyone goes in for that anyway but it seems to me that the Link is easier to map more thoroughly more quickly 'from scratch' because of the current software (don't know if this is going to always be the case with the Tek stuff - if it's a limitation of the ECU or Steve's time!).
But, basically, the important 'thing' is the mapper, not the ECU. Unless gadgetry is needed. Or serious mods are. That limits the choice quite a bit!

ozzy

Hang on tight here's a corner

Sorry, should have worded that slightly better. I don't know enough about the specs of either the standard JECS ECU's and the Link to really compare the pros/cons of either.

It was more of an observation. Probably 90% of cars that I've seen with decent mods had been running Link ECU's. A good amount of them were Jap cars, so that may explain the high percentage. Also, as T-UK rightly points out, the potential of the Tek remaps are still very new so there just wouldn't have been the option before.

Stefan

[Edited by ozzy - 11/20/2002 7:20:50 PM]

mutant_matt

Deep,

I think you need to hear from people who have had their >MY01 WRX's mapped as they use the same new generation of ECU (Denso)which of course, most Tek'd cars do not (Jecs).

Matt

john banks

The MAF issue is an interesting one, I am creating a conversion to a speed-density based system for JECS, which may or may not see completion depending on if I get bored with it.

In saying the following I am NOT Link bashing (it is the right decision for many and if I could not map my car myself I would probably go for one)... It is my opinion that for a speed-density system to work accurately it needs to have a temperature compensation. The Link ECUs on many models do not have this AFAIK, perhaps I will be corrected if wrong. Since the UK sees a temperature swing of 27C at least in most areas between the seasons, I make that a 10% change in mass air flow with no way of the system knowing it (it just knows MAP and RPM). This will result in 11:1 in summer becoming leaner than 12:1 in winter. Too much anyway IMHO. So if I wanted speed density I would want it done properly.

From the consumer's point of view, the Ecutek system is not user configurable. It also retains potential unreliability from the MAF sensor so you have to choose your intake carefully. The knock correction is not perfect, but this is an area that is even worse on many aftermarket ECUs.

Any other issues are likely to be due to the maps or faults on cars. I have had some customers unhappy with the performance, but there was a hole in their intercooler. Others had overboost, but had fitted funky intercoolers and not told me. One car stalled as soon as the throttle was pressed (reflashing that ECU sorted it). Occasionally for the classic cars an ECU is lost during programming but this should not affect the customer (I have destroyed 4, 1 I would consider my fault, the others power supply problems or bad luck). One customer found that the Tek 2.5 was not performing as well as a Tek 2. However, the best explanation for this is that his car was already boosting quite high on Tek 2 and was overboosting on 2.5. This combined with less ignition timing gave him a slower car, so I just gave him his Tek 2 back and he was happy. Other than that, a few cars have had dodgy lambda sensors which have later been sorted, and one (still to be finished as the owner has been busy) had an offset in the MAF signal.

So in terms of a system, the Ecutek works well, but there are always issues in one way or another with any system you could mention, just selecting the one that suits you best.

AlanG

John

Where on the UK car does the ECU take a temperature reading to allow for corrections?

I may be wide of the mark but i thought it was only the P1 and certain jap spec Sti's that had temp sensors for the ECU.

Alan

john banks

It doesn't, but you don't need one with a MAF sensor. That is my whole point Alan as to why speed-density without it is inaccurate - you don't know the density, you only know the pressure.

On the STi and P1 the JECS ECU doesn't use it anyway as far as anyone can tell - it is there as an input to a boost compensation map which is empty.

If you did measure it, the only sensible place would be post intercooler/inlet manifold - that is where the new generation cars have it as part of the MAP sensor (combined IAT/MAP sensor). So if an ECU on the newer cars uses this then all is fine and dandy.

If you measured it in the inlet tract before the turbo it would be better than nothing but it wouldn't tell you about heatsoak, so the fuelling and timing for the first WOT run at X bar at Y RPM at say 25C charge temperature with a TMIC would use the same amount of fuel as a five laps later at 55C charge temperature. Not a bad thing to be approx 1 AFR point richer at the higher charge temperature with heatsoak, and it would also be more retarded? Possibly, but it is by accident not by design, and leaner than expected would occur in winter. There will be other compensations using coolant temperature to the maps, but all things being equal you could have wildly different AFRs at different charge temperatures unless the system knows it.

john banks

Alan, since you have measured temperatures post intercooler and in the inlet manifold, have you noticed a relatively fixed offset between them? I was thinking they would be affected by heatsoak as well, so it will be variable, so best to measure it in the inlet manifold? The idea would be to use a fairly robust thermocouple since it will be in there permanently (or cheaper slower acting probe to keep costs and circuit complexity down) to feed into a map with RPM, MAP and charge temperature and chuck out a simulated MAF voltage. Just need a suitable microcontroller with a DAC. The Atmel 90S4433 I used for the EBC has all except the DAC. The other nice feature that could be included would be a deliberate but measured combined richening/retard for higher charge temperatures - ie make the temperature compensation linear up to 40 C charge temperature and after that artificially ramp it up to give an artificially higher simulated MAF reading. This would allow you to use more ignition timing more of the time a la GEMS

Fat Boy

Deep

You have mail

JamesS

John,

Spot on with regard to MAP based systems and temp.

You have no idea how hard it is to accurately calibrate a MAP based system, and I`m talking automotive OEM calibrations on vehicles designed for MAP from the outset......

john banks

James, more info appreciated, email or new thread if you prefer, saves dragging this off topic. I like reading and have ADSL so don't be inhibited by size

Deep Singh

Thanks for all the input.I have run a Link(very happily) on a previous vehicle and so d'ont d'ont want to start another Link vs Godzilla type debate.As Matt said though as I have a STi7 would be very keen to hear from MY01 WRX owners who have had a TEK3