scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

hey guys

Been a while since i've made any posts on here but I need some advice from peeps bigtime now lol!

My baby's in the garage at the mo having all sorts done to her and is due to come back in a few weeks with a nice shiney new 2.5ltr bottom end (i blew the 2ltr bottom end up being naughty lol!) targetting 500+ bhp and similar torque figures once i upgrade the injectors and turbo aswell. The idea currently is to get the brains done ahead of the injectors and turbo tho cos the budgets running low now so .....

The first plan was an Apexi Fc Pro but the guys in the garage reckon that having thought about it, they'd prefer to see me running something like an Autronic's ecu (think they meant the sm4) or an equivelent in order to provide better monitoring and engine safety features cos i do drive her hard lol! The only one i can think of as an alternative would be a gems but we're looking at a grand n a half's worth of ecu here so i thought i'd ask for peoples opinions here, particularly since my knowledge on ecu's is a little lacking n i hadn't even heard of Autronic's before! Anyways, comments/suggestions all welcome guys n gals - fire away!!!

cheers

p.s. my baby is an N reg classic shape, import, wrx sti type ra v-limited mcrae edition

megrac

I have an sm4 on my ver3 sti 2.5 hybrid. I love it to bits and but it dose far more than i would ever need but i like playing with it so it suits me(and i havn't stopped playing ever since i got it).
The pnp Autronic's will do the jod with out fault and be a bit cheaper, talk to pavlo he's got one.

ZEN Performance

My ears were burning!

Autronic is awesome piece of kit, ideal for 500hp buildup without the hassle of the MAF sensor. Has a few toys such as ALS on the plug in version, gives good driveability and manners around town. SM4 is a wire-in job for all but the new age subarus, most people are not going to need the extra functionality of the SM4, but it's nice all the same.

Paul

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

Paul - must be the Zen bit working for ya! lol!

Is the Autronic's able to support multiple maps? - i.e. a tame(ish lol) one for daily driving and a secondry one for those rwyb thrashes? I know i've heard people talking about multiple modes etc before but havn't got a clue what ecu they were talking about!

megrac

You would need to load "compleate" differant maps with a laptop. autronic seem to like doing thing with modifiers(trims). You would flick the switch and the ecu wiould aplly a fuel or timing mod map to your main fuel or timing maps, so trims as such to suit differant fuels at the flick of a switch.

I can't speck for the pnp model autronic as i havn't used one but with the sm4 there are many ignition and fuel trims that can be turned on by a switch or what ever you want really.
ANY map in the ecu can have its x or y axis changed to what ever you want so you can create anything you want. Or run any device outside the ecu you want like water injection ect.
For example i have my intercooler water spay setup on a map the has boost on one axis and inlet temp on the other so it will only turn on at x boost when the inlet temp is x value.
You really can do what ever you want with an sm4.

The only use i can see for differant fuel and timing maps would be for differant fuels.
Differant boost maps is also possible if your using the autronic as your boost controller.

Hope that didn't confuse you too much.

You can download all the software here, even the new sm4 software now.
sm4 and pnp have differant software.
http://www.autronic.com/

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

Megrac, think i follow what you're saying there n it sounds like the Autronic is the way to go then! thanks for your input here guys ..... looking forward to tweaking her a little lol! ...... gonna phone the dude building my engine in a bit and say "the man from delmonte say yes!!!" lol!

cheers guys!

GrantyBoy

just to mix things up why is the Autronic being perfered over the PFC for this build. I would have thought a PFC would be more be up to the task??

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

The main reasons told to me where .....

1. The Autronics sm4 was a more advanced ecu and had far more 'safety' and monitoring features than the pfc which considering i drive her hard is a good thing! lol!

2. It was suggested that the pfc was excellent for engines upto 500bhp but wasn't really man enough for more particularly when you get to running the higher voltage injectors etc (mines due to have 5x740cc ones going in eventually)

3. That the pfc's were also becoming hard to get hold of


Whether any of these reasons are accurate or purely speculative opinions i don't know hense i posted on here ...... i know my way round an engine within basic understandings and can follow what he's suggested all the way along with that (and am perfectly happy with it) but ecu's i know little about having not really had the experience or opportunity to play with them until now! My only concern is having spent far more money than i'd care to confess to on this engine lol, if this bits wrong (or i mess with the mappings and screw them!) then its a lot of money wasted!

Looks like the ***** back on the pitch for this topic then lol! - glad i didn't get a chance to make that call yet lol!!! ...... Any more for any more?! - its all appreciated guys!!!!

ZEN Performance

For 500hp I would go with the Autronic over the PFC every time. The PFC WILL DO IT though, but just not as nicely. My main reasoning is the loss of the MAF sensor, which if retained with a 500hp turbo can cause driveability issues. However the PFC is fine for controlling injectors, and whoever said 740s were "high voltage" needs to check their information. The PFC has plenty of safety features, and although the Autronic can do better you will need an SM4 with the as yet unreleased knock module (an extra cost option).

If you already had a PFC and AVCR then I might suggest contacting Andy to have it converted and mapped for no MAF sensor. However if you're planning all this from the start I would seriously consider Autronic option, and who you get it mapped by.

Paul

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

Paul - thnx dude Think the bit about the 740's is probably a misunderstanding on my part to be honest! A lot was talked about on saturday when i checked in on it and spoke to the guy building the engine. I do remeber him saying the same as you have about the MAF sensor though so i reckon he's probably thinking along the same lines as yourself here. Like i said in one of my previous posts, I'm learning this bit at the moment - its a steep learning curve lol! I checked out the Autronic's site and all their ecu's certainly seem to be more than capable of doing the jobs they've been built for but i'm definately relying heavily on other peoples opinions aswell as the engine builders on where to go with this ..... i certainly feel more comfortable going to the Autronics having read your posts and megrac's - it's hard to make a choice when you don't know all the options or much about them though! lol!

thnx again guys