Supaman7

Hi all, I've got the opportunity to buy an unmapped ecutek ecu fairly cheap but was wondering if it's worth getting one or just getting a remap on the standard ecu?
I have an 03 wrx and will be going down the 280bhp upgrade route decat, panel filter etc... And have never mapped a car before so wondered whether it was beneficial to get the ecutek over standard remap?

Cheers

Tidgy

it will need maping for your car no mater what, but can save you the license fee so realy depend son how much they are asking for it

Supaman7

Ok thanks I just wondered if there was any big difference in the ecu or the maps that they can do or anything

taylor85

iTrader: (5)

each is custom to the car its on,

my mate got stung buying one off ebay for 110 quid, and when it went to the mapper, shock.. No License! beings the license is only 150 anyway

Tidgy

Its actualy a bit more than that, i cant remember exactly how much though off the top of my head

Supaman7

Ok cheers gents think I'll stick to a map with Duncan or someone similar

joshnosh

iTrader: (1)

there's no real difference. a good tuner will make a a good map using any tools.
a bad tuner will be bad with ether tools. ECU tek are more of a brand and its supposed to give you a guaranteed level of service but they can still be poor.
if your going to a recommended mapper then the software makes no difference really
just the price

bludgod

iTrader: (3)

or buy an openport cable and map it yourself - stage 2 wrx has plenty of base maps over on the romraider forum.

Tidgy

I know a company that was doing that, they were 7 for 20,

blew up 7 of the 20 cars they 'mapped'

Supaman7

I'm totally new to scoobys and never mapped a car before either mostly been into bmws or n/a Jap cars before so all this is very new to me. Appreciate all the advice guys... Definately not brave enough to map the car myself though will leave that to the experts!

bludgod

iTrader: (3)

sounds like a pretty **** company to be fair, but are you saying that because they didn't know what they were doing - all opensource mapped cars will end in failure?

I've also seen some "pro tunes" that involved setting target boost to 23psi across the board - some guys will take money for anything they can get away with but no point in tarring everyone with the same brush.

There are two sides to the coin - plenty of cars running about that have been opensource mapped and managed not to explode and there is plenty of help and assistance out there for anyone who asks for it.

ossett2k2

iTrader: (9)

Each car should have its own individual map I would have thought? I'm pretty sure open source mapping is good but to stick a map from one car onto another will probably end in engine failure,hence 7 out of 20 going pop

Tidgy

you were talking about downloading a map, aka flash mapping,

nothing to do with open source software to map it properly

bludgod

iTrader: (3)

OK so we agree opensource and ECUtek are tools to do the job. If a company wanted to sell base maps without checking them over to make sure things were safe then that's probably how they ended up wrecking so many peoples cars.

But I don't think it's fair to say that all base maps are created poorly based on one companies lack of ability - look at the PPP map used on any number of WRX's without wrecking them.

Northernnick

Best one i've heard all day.

Pay for a good map from a replutable mapper/company and youll only pay for what's needed. a 'cheap' map often ends up in a lot more tears.

Supaman7

I believe Duncan at race dynamix is reputable? Have read lots if good things.... Anyone else you guys recommend near London or Essex?

toneh

iTrader: (1)

You still going on about that tidge
we both know this never happened
Give it up and quit your scare monging

toneh

iTrader: (1)

And I've sorted one of his customers cars out , which he should have done , given he's payed to do a job

Supaman7

Who would you recommend guys? As said before totally new to all this and just going off the info I've looked at so far

joshnosh

iTrader: (1)

i was also considering getting duncan to do mine could you (mabey via PM intead) shed some more light on the situations you have encountered?

Dibbles00

I'm sure Duncan is great at what he does and has plenty of happy customers to boot.
If you really are that worried, go to ZEN or Scoobyclinic. ZEN gets my vote as I've had two maps off Paul now and they are great! Actually the second map was more a check and tweak after fitting an Aeromotive fuel pump on Saturday.

He really is a wizzard when it comes to mapping and even explains what he is doing (no secrets etc. He shows you the laptop and encourages you to ask questions while he is uploading the various tweaked maps). My map is super smooth and I would continue to go to him if he wasn't moving to actually work for ECUTek! My next vote locally would have to be Bob Rawle.

From my research there's nothing wrong with Opensource mappers, but with ECUTek you get better support should something not work. To be honest for the cost of a license for your ECU -it is cheaper than a rebuild should anything go wrong.

I read somewhere it's a bit like the Windows/Linux debate. With Windows Microsoft produce a proprietary OS and provide decent levels of support; should something need fixing and tweaking they will do it in the first instance. However, Linux is supported by a community of developers and as such may be late doing the same (or earlier depending on what it is).

I'm new to this, but went with ECUTek as I wasn't sure about types of OS software. However, on the flip side, although ECUTek are still supporting their software for the Impreza, they are not heavily investing in it by adding new functions etc as it is old stuff now. Also remember that you have to go back to the person who mapped your car as they will have the original map on their laptop and the ECU is locked should it need adjusting/tweaking.

Tidgy

eh? are you for real? yes it did happen.

why on earth would i need to make it up?

toneh

iTrader: (1)

Like before tidge , names ,faces and places
you tell us who's cars blew up and who did then i will believe it
but all the we've established both back then and now is its hearsay and a man's friend of a guinea pigs hamster

Tidgy

It was all over mids scoobies and clinic had some of the cars in to repair or they were sold as rolling she'll.

I don't get why you try to deny it, or did you have some involvement? Failing that pop up to clinic and ask them.

toneh

iTrader: (1)

Tidge you know I've been to sc , you where there once as well u turnip
I chatted with kev for some time about the woes of mapping and some of the names involved and not once was your 8 out of 10 cats story mentioned
As for my involvement, no , the last time I got involved with mapping or mapping related issues was sorting one of Duncans customers out because he was too busy on holiday which he had the decency to text
pity he couldn't text with a solution or suggestion to his customers problem instead
Given his vast knowledge and experience
Which is what I did , only I was at work and don't really have the time to solve other people's problems and certainly don't charge or get paid in any way , I do it for the satisfaction, nothing else
So you can all carry on in your own little world blowing smoke up whoever you chose
while i,ll crawl back in my hole until the next time I read some snet bull****

won't be long I'm sure
bye

Tidgy

Ask him about direct you clown, do you really expect him and recite ever single bad story from the past ten years?

when you have asked him come back on and apologise to me for being a tosser