has any one a reliable standalone set up
 

has any one a reliable standaloe set up...im in the market for one

i have a bnr stage 2 ..fmic and a walboro

im just looking for reliability 300+ hp

a daily driver

if you have a reliable set up
give me some insight in what you have done for a simple setup

We have adapted the FD AEM for use in the FC and it works perfectly. The FD Power FC can also be adapted, I would talk to Banzai Racing about this.
Obviously there are other standalones but the AEM would be my weapon of choice.

i would not use AEM.

i would pick a haltech, or... if you are adept enough at electronics, go to megasquirt. if you have a huge budget that is largely unlimited, go with a motec.

Look into the rtek ecu upgrade if you plan on running no more then 1bar of boost. It retains the stock ecu and functions while having tuning capabilities.

now how easy were each of your install...
my capabilitodd is rebuilding my s4 motor

The AEM requires only moving a few pins in the ECU plug and wiring in a single ECU connector (available new, not expensive, like three/four wires total to install) and MAP and IAT sensors. It then plugs into the existing OEM harness with no extension harness etc. needed. Uses Factory harness just fine. the POWER FC can also run the car with some pin movement, but again contact Banzai racing regarding this.


I personally do not care for Haltech, Megasquirt, etc. as they seem to need constant tweeking and fiddling to gain reliability. For insight on this just check the ECU section of this forum and see how busy the Haltech and MS sections are. The AEM just runs the car.

so the haltech is problomatic in what areas

Rtek, I wouldn't waste the money on anything more if my plans for the car were just that. Think ahead though, will you be planning on modding the car even further in the future (bigger ports and/or turbo, higher numbers, etc)? If so then you may as well go and get a good standalone. Haltech seems to be the weapon of choice though from what I've seen mostly.
But like mentioned previously, Rtek is the most practical for your needs stated.

Its not...

false

Yeah?

Well my experience is that I stuck an FD EMS 1800 box in a 91 vert and it lit right off after I moved a few pins around in the harness. IIRC I did not even have the fourth connector the FD uses hooked in at that time. we used it to diagnos a bad Haltech box.

I then put the same ECU in the Hillclimb FC turbo, loaded a basemap, started the car on E-85 and drove it onto the trailer. One hour of dynotime later, we had 366whp and excellemt throttle response and boost transistion so we loaded it back in the trailer and ran the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. the car went out due to lack of fuel. The car started perfectly during all temperatures, which included 100deg temps one day, and rain and snow on raceday. I have customers who do not even own laptops and have no idea or even the desire to hook up to the AEM, it just runs the car and thats that.

The Haltech is much better than it used to be, but with their legendary customer service- its always your fault, not thier wiring harness or ecu, unless of course you send them proof the wiring harness was wired wrong, then it is a "bad batch" that just never happens, reliability issues (too many dead boxes for my tastes) and IMO (MY OPINION) the user interface sucks.

I will say the platinum series is better, but I wont put one in anything unless I absolutely have to.

Also, I should note that I am speaking of the S5 FC, not the S4 FC. You can still put an AEM EMS in one, but you will need an adaptor harness from autosport wiring (Rich is a great guy, very helpful) or you can just have an engine harness built.

its not the ecu, its the person behind the computer. some ecu's have more or less features, but in the end, it all depends on how well the tune is.

i would never EVER trust the stock wiring or the stock connectors or the stock electronics.

I have been running Haltech E6K for 5 years on GT35R turbo setup, i hooked up laptop when i installed it and tuned it and that was it.....have not touched it ever again and now i sold it just because i needed better ECU for 20B

it usually IS your fault why the car is not reliable or functioning correctly.

You have received plenty of answers, my advise would be to first research WHO is going to tune your car and if they are capable of tuning the computer you have in mind, if you end up with a set up no one around you knows how to tune it will be terrible. You will outgrow your 300hp set up, trust everyone on that, so consider going with something that will grow with you

If you rely on emailing others for their maps it will be terrible

If you do not know how to tune leave it to a pro, DO NOT rely on others over a forum for the tuning of your car.

I would also like to throw WOLF out there, if you have someone who can tune it they offer a plugin patch so that you can leave your stock wiring, I doubt you will go with Wolf but if you do I happen to have a S4 plugin should you decide to go with them.

I'm running a Haltech e11v2, and it's never missed a beat, even driving back and forth to work when it was 50 miles each way. Hell, the only problem it ever had was because of a 20 year old, 225,000 mile charging system.

+1

The tune is highly important. But don't pretend that Haltechs and Megasquirts aren't more sensitive/less forgiving of wiring and electrical noise--at least, the older ones. I can't speak for MS3 and the Platinum Sport boxes.

A decent 20+ year old OEM harness will run your car all day long with zero electrical issues if your plug-and-play ECU has good noise filtering. I've had a Power FC on my car with a factory harness for a few years now. The Power FC has its limitations but random motor-blowing CAS noise just doesn't occur, even with an old harness and a factory crank angle sensorr.

Microtech shouldn't even be in this discussion because they won't let you save maps. Even my NES Zelda cartridge lets you save your game.

true, but how many times do you really need to change your map once it's tuned correctly? I personally went with a microtech becasue I got a used one for cheap. bought a $90 laptop adapter, and i'm just over $500 for a proven standalone. my only real complaint for daily driving is the lack of resolution, but for the price you can't shake a stick at it. lol.

that being said if I were to buy a new unit it' be the new haltech sprint RE more than likely.

Agreed on all points.
FWIW I have a car in right now with a Platinum box and it had timing issues of one sort or the other. Once the engine is back together I will try and report what the root cause was.

Teeheehee No "out of car" editing right? Oddly enough that must be the trade off as I've read they are the only computers "immune" to this electrical noise. I have a tried an true haltech E6k and I found it very easy to use. I'm no expert though and I am always fucking (up) with things, but it's working despite me. It's very frustrating though as I do "see" the electrical interference despite my using some high quality stainless steel woven wiring wrap and routing the harness properly. I guess some of us just have to deal with the CAS being right next to the alternator more than others.

Been daily driving my Microtech for 4 years no problem. Tune gives me 18mpg city, 10psi on the stock turbo.

I wouldn't recommend it though - not enough features.

why is the MS better than a haltech? MS might be harder to assemble

Been running Haltech E6X in my car for 5 years and I only had some issues in the first year, sent it out to be repaired and it has run super ever since!

Car:
Ported 4-Port Turbo Motor being run NA
RB Header to straight pipe no emissions

i never said it was better.

wait a minute the rtec is a piggy back or am i wrong

They replace a chip on the stock ecu with one of their own connected to a "daughter board" enclosed in the stock enclosure. It retains stock ecu functions, but is programmable.

yes, this is true, but i would still consider it a piggy back.

or kinda like a brain slug.

does it compare to a standalones reliability

rtech is a piggy back.

reliablility is in the install and tune. therefore I suggest, see what standalone your local tuner uses and get that, I would also get one with a new wiring harness 20yr+ harness is a no no....

All units mention in this thread are capable, some more features than others, rtech does not count its a piggy back.

well i have tnr racing in queens any other recomodations

Keep in mind "Piggy back" is sort of a dirty word in engine management circles, so when someone refers to a system as a "piggy back" they often mean to put it down or otherwise sleight it.

What the Rtek does is reprogram your factory ECU, in part by doing hardware modifications. This is like a Hondata for OBD 1 Hondas, a Moates Quarterhorse for older 5.0 Fords, a Calum ECU for 90s Nissans, or DSM Link for Eclipse/Talon/Laser. It's in the same category as these systems. I suppose you could call it a "piggy back" if you really want to, but the Rtek doesn't intercept and manipulate ECU inputs and outputs in the way that an SAFC or Greddy Emanage would. Don't think it is automatically an inferior system compared to a standalone. Many of the sensor and wiring issues you may have to overcome when installing and running a standalone are not an issue at all with an Rtek. This adds a measure of reliability to it in comparison. The Rtek directly changes the fuel and timing calculation inside the computer rather than just trying to "trick" the computer by manipulating its inputs and outputs. In many ways it's no different than reprogramming/reflashing the factory computer on a modern Corvette, Evo, or STi.

The chief advantage of the Rtek besides cost is the driveability and reliability of an OEM computer. It works right out of the box and as long as you have clean grounds electrical noise will not be a problem. The car will drive fine as long as you have the proper injector combination. The chief limitation of the Rtek is that it is limited by the factory AFM. If you are using a bolt-on turbo like a BNR it will most likely fit your needs without the amount of time and money required for a standalone. If you are going for a bigger power build, like a GT35 or larger turbo then this system won't work well for you.

The chief limitations of the Rtek are the sensing capacity of the factory AFM and injector staging limitations. When you try to draw a lot of air through the factory AFM the airflow reading "maxes out" on the Rtek which makes proper fuel tuning more challenging. At some point the AFM becomes a physical restriction as well. As for the injectors, the Rtek is designed for as big as 720/720 but has been run with 720/1000 . If you go bigger than that in the secondary position you start to run into driveability headaches. The generally accepted power range for the Rtek 2.1 is mid 300s to the wheels if properly tuned.

if you are in queens you literally have your choice of tuners, look in the Northeast section for a sticky of respected tuners who tune different set ups
tuners: https://www.rx7club.com/ne-rx-7-forum-30/northeast-rx7-tuner-list-comprehensive-tried-true-733557/, or go ask the T&R guys, they may even have something used

You are in a good position!

Ive been working with tony for a few months now had him install and tune a platinum sport 1000 no issues awsome computer and awsome people there,
i have a pfc and adaptor harness for sale if u choose to go that route.
any questions shot me a pm ill be back to see tony next week

now with that platinum sport..how involve is it when it comes to adding coils and harnesses

because the rtec seems to be a nice add on with just a chip install
for a bnr stage 2 and still get over 300hp

the platinum sport you can wire it any way you want, with anything you want.


you can get a plug and play harness that will plug into the factory harness and you can use the haltech ecu.

for the sport do you need a lap top

i went to there site no info

yes it does need a laptop and will most likely need to be tuned by a professional

it seems the rtec is more user friendly may not be a standalone but it seems more relible ...i went to the rtec forum and one guy dynoed 300hp i weonder if it could handle my bnr stage 2 turbo..or will it max out

have a look in the dyno section here, the BNR stage 2 and rtek are kinda popular, i think the record is about 360hp. 280-300 should be no trouble

i've run a microtech in the FC since back in the day when there was a group buy on the forum for them, at least 5 years ago.

it's worked flawlessly every time i jump in the car. they are a bit archaic but they are definitely rock solid reliable.

I have never had an issue with my Microtech in the three years i have been running it. No save to disk sucks though.

what kind of problems with the micotech...so i can rule it out

Its reliable but its an antique. No save to disk (as i said), the tables are small, and i think the injector staging is a bit rough to get right. Im no pro but i love it though.

My old set-up 13bt hybrid turbo 320 RWHP microtech. 22 hghwy mpg.
Once it is installed should be a non issue you shouldnt need a retune unless you change mods. Problems that can occur will probably be in wiring or acc. i.e. inj, coil cas. The down side of microtech it dosent log o2 .
so when you decide on a ecu get a wideband just so you can monitor.

im trying to stay away from injector and coil issues....just install and tune...
it shouldnt be so complicated..that i have to spend all my time figuring it out
our cars are older so im looking for a straight forward install

Power FC. Plug and Play and completely tuneable

Rock solid injector staging, no CAS pick up issues, saveable maps with DL, tons of support both online and from any shop that tunes RX-7s. Eliminates the ECU, AFM and OEM boost sensor. Allows you to expand to more HP down the road. Not to mention it comes with a hand controller that allows you to monitor up to 8 different engine paramaters.

http://banzai-racing.com/store/S4_PFC_adapter.html

http://banzai-racing.com/store/S5_PFC_adapter.html

I use the AEM (first edition), which everyone says they had problems with. Mine is problem free. Its all in tuning. If your tuner doesn't have a clue, he will bad mouth any ecu. There are good points and bad for any stand alone, but don't take someones opionion on what ecu is bad or good unless they've used it. I've had 3 fd's and used the AEM, Tec3, Power FC, and Haltec. All do the job well. (FC won't matter, just a bit of wiring) Overall, out of all of them, the AEM is my favorite for ease of use and plug/play ability. I make a ton of power with it and have had zero problems thus far. Street or track, it has my vote. Your setup is 300hp so you can go with almost anything. Pwr FC, aem, haltech, they're all good.

PFC is Probly the best bang for the buck in terms of ease of install and monitoring. I was used to the commander showing me all my my readings and now that I went Haltech I no longer can watch all my engine vitals I do miss the commander, but there are pros and cons to everything.

If you do decide to go PFC, I have one for sale mounted to the stock ecu bracket and s4 banzai adaptor for cheap
James

very very true :icon_tup::nod: also microtech has been very reliable for me :)

hey JW...why did you switch from the PFC to the haltech?

Hybrid