Which Ecu

[bobob 0]

Which ecu would you choose from DTA s40 or Emerald K3 ECU or Omex 600? Which would be more 'future' proof, in terms of engine upgrade, i.e. changing to GTi6 engine, turbocharging, etc...

[Baz 421]

K3, seems more broadly known and certainly future-safe & is capable of alot of things. Pricewise makes most sense and would presume from previous models that it'll be forward compatible/upgradeable when the time comes.

[marksorrento205 80]

I can vouch for the omex 600. But the feeling towards them from many is although they are very good they are more expensive and harder to set up. I have one on my MI16 with throttle bodies and omex have advised its a straight swap over and a remap to a gti6. As Baz said the one above is cheaper etc and are know to get very good results

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

if i had the cash i would have gone for the emerald, but the initial cost and the fact that ideally you would want it mapped at dave w's (long way away from me) meant i went for a megasquirt kit built by someone to my spec (gti6 running tb's).

 

not had any dealings with the others so cant really comment.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Find a mapper close by with a good reputation and then find out what ECU they prefer. Any ECU is really only as good as the guy who maps it, certainly all the ones you mention can do all that you will probably need them to.

I have now bought two Emerald K3's so that tells you my preference.

[pee vee 1]

ive got K3... but think i would go for Omex next time round.. ONLY because of the laptop software!

 

in real world terms the ECUs are very very similar..

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

I agree that the Emerald is very good, but I took the advice to go to a mapper who knew their stuff (the ECU and engine tuning) and Emerald was 30miles away.

 

Sandy stands by DTA, and we all know he's a bright spark. Sandy said to me a very capable DTA is quite a bit cheaper than the Emerald (can't comment on Omex I'm afraid), but for staged injectors you need to go up to a model which is similarly priced.

 

So really what I think you should buy is the combination of the ECU and the mapper, so location and convenience of getting there, and then subsequently maintaining the relationship is how you should consider making your choice

 

£1,000 sounds a safe budget to get the box, initial map and first tuning session.

 

It also strikes me that a damn good mapping which returns a good performance/economy combination will help pay you back your investment by way of saved fuel costs.

Edited March 9, 2009 by DrSarty

[Sandy 191]

The Omex 600 is the most basic of those three and not the cheapest. The DTA S40 has all the functionality I need for my race engines (twin staged injectors and traditional VTEC for example), has proper boost control and is frankly brilliant for the money (IMO) with the most intuitive software. The K3 is the most expensive (list price anyway), but if you need cam phase control, six cylinders or sequential injection, it the cheapest proper ECU to offer those.

 

But as has been said, who's going to map it and what they prefer is much more important to the quality of your end result than spec/features.

[Hilgie 16 2 Cars]

other choice might be KMS

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

There is a good mapper in Portsmouth, Just had dreamweavers old car done there, They like the Emerald system or there's a place in Dartford which does a spot on job with Omex,

All will do Turbo's, the Emerald has 4 igintion drivers to suit the S16 Gti 6 etc unlike the Omex where you need the 700 ECU, DTA again are great but I'm not sure who maps them around here.

[Sandy 191]

I vote for junking the 4 coils and using a wasted spark coilpack with Corsa 16v leads, whichever ECU you go for.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I must say I also favour coilpack and wasted spark- less fussy to install, seemingly more reliable than the individual COP, and certainly produces the goods.

[marksorrento205 80]

Im currently using a ford st170 coil pack with some custom leads on my mi16 with omex. What wasted spark coil park do you use to fit the corsa 16v leads? Just thinking when I put my gti6 engine in it would be nice to have off the shelf leads. Cheers

[danpug 1]

Normally a pug coilpack off cars like 106's and 306's iirc.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I;ve got a 306/406 XU10J4R one on mine, Same idea as the external pack but no leads and much neater

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Or individual coil+ignitor combos like GM LS1s or LS2s, but still running wasted spark. They seem to work too, only at 10 times the cost.

[DRTDVL 4 1 Cars]

How would something like the Haltex E6x compare to the ones mentioned in the thread?

[petert 591]

The E6X is quite old now but still great value. Haltech have a new model called a Platinum 1000. It's a huge leap forward, with more advanced features (like Autronic SMC) for only a few hundred more. I've only just taken delivery of one, but looks very impressive for the $$$.

 

I've triggered XU10J4R coil packs via a twin channel CDI. Very impressive results. So smooooth. You also can pull a plug adaptor off and fit a lead to cyl. #4 in order to check the base timing.

 

Notice in the fuel map below I've added a 4250 RPM row. You can add/subtract rows & columns as required. Another nice feature is the ability to map the fuel via TPS and the ignition vai MAP. A great feature for big cams and TB's.

Edited March 10, 2009 by petert

[bobob 0]

Thanks for all the input guys

 

I think I have settled on the Emerald, as there is a good mapper close by, and seems have the features that I need