Hey Iam about to get my hands on a M2 stage 3 ECU hopefully if the rotary gods love me. I have a dp, cat back, and boost controller only for performance mods. With the ECu I will have an apexi intake. OK...... Iam I expected to get any gains other than more fuel from this ECU. I know it effects timing curve and therefore should push out a few more ponies. Will it? Has anybody dropped it in and felt an improvement on this ECU alone? I searched and its a bunch of should I get it or not.

Thanx,
Jonas

 

I asked this same Q six months ago when I bought my M2 Stage III ECU used for $415.

IMO you don't feel any more HP from just installing the ECU. It just makes your fuel mixture richer so that you a can add more mods and not pop your motor. M2 ECU's are supposed to be conservativley tuned, meaning richer by sacrificing a few HP for safety.

For the last six months I have been adding mods and getting mad boost spikes (15+). I just got my compression checked yesterday and my Aperx seals are fine! So I think the ECU is doing it's job perfectly. Now I just need to control the boost.

 

I have the M2 Stage 3 ECU and agree with jpandes. I tend to like the conservative approach with a richer mixture. I usually get strong 12's with boost and an occasional 13psi. See my sig for mods.

 

I had this ecu as well. However I've never run it at stock boost levels, I was running it at around 14 psi. (I know it's only mapped for 13 psi I think, but I am a risk taker) But of course my car felt fast a crap.

 

I had this ECU as well, adn an ECU is the best upgrade next to an intercooler IMHO. My car f*cking flew when I installed my old M2 ECU. But like I said, I'm not sure if the gain was as noticeable as my Apexi' intake/intercooler mod.

 

OK will I run really REALLY rich if i just have a dp, catback, and intake, and not the IC with this ECU?

 

You will be fine. I ran mine the same way for awhile. In fact I still have the stock IC. If UPS would just get that new IC here today!

One big difference though, mine has a street port.

 

You'll be running rich, but not too rich. The only thing you might notice is your gas mileage going down a little bit.