Motec vs. All?
 

So recently Motec has just released a Rotary package for their new M1 series ECU. Has anybody on the forum have experience with this yet? Is it worth the extra money to go with a Motec than say a Haltech, Link, or Adaptronic?

It really depends on your goals with the car... there isn't much you cant do with a Haltech Elite 1500 or 2500. I personally have a Haltech 1500, and I could have sprung for the 2500 to add some extra features in later but the 1500 is plenty for the average enthusiast build.

From what I read on the Motec system, it's more geared towards 4 rotor usage, anything for a 2 or 3 rotor would easily be handled by a Haltech.


But as with any ECU....to get the optimal result .... go with what your trusted tuner is comfortable, familiar and proficient with.

Also helps when you have some community support behind it. At this point the Motec isn't used much if at all in the enthusiast community, which means if you have trouble or questions you're on your own.

I don't know if it's still the case but Motec ECU's have been traditionally VERY expensive. They are top quality, for sure, but you have to look at what you get for the cost.

Dale

​​​​I originally wanted the 2500 but the more I researched motec and saw how many people use the new M1 series in professional racing circuits it seems like their the best option

But, and this can't be stated enough, you need to be sure that there is a tuner that you will be working with that can tune the system. Not just "sure, we'll figure it out" but "I've tuned plenty of those and know them inside and out, and know tuning rotary engines".

Also, as stated, you really have to compare costs to other ECU's and realistically look at what you want from the car. There are tons of people running the PowerFC (which is very reasonable) and making impressive power with good drivability.

Big thing here is don't spend all the money on an ECU when it could go to other aspects of the car that you would get more benefit from - better tires, suspension, brakes, etc. Put the money where you get the most out of it.

Dale

I'll always suggest Motec builds on race vehicles due to their ruggedness, flexibility and support. Generally not so much for a street vehicle as I think there are far more bang for your buck sinkholes to put your money :P

As far as the comment RE: more power and smoother running I'd have to respectfully disagree and say that has more to do with the tuners ability than limitations of current gen. 'lesser' ECUs. In the past Motec's 40x21 load site gear was being compared to hardware restricted to 16x16 sites, now comparable (on paper at least, not as far as support + QC) and more affordable units are running 32x32 load site maps etc. This is in reference to Mxxx ECUs only, I haven't gotten my hands on an M1 to put on the engine dyno yet.

I specifically praised it for its flexibility in the first sentence of my post and am looking forward to being able to delve into an M1 with the dev upgrade in the future :). Also don't take my response as trying to mislead people or say that the Mxxx series of ECUs is a bad choice, I just feel that on a properly built street vehicle there is a better use for the extra 5k +/- than to go with a full Motec install and that 95% of tuners (both home brew and 'professional') will not use even half of the flexibility of a Motec. If you've got the scratch, go for it, but it usually wont benefit you much.

That said, I will never suggest anything but a Motec on the cars we build for competition so I'm not quite sure I understand the static?

the other thing we should mention is accuracy. the stock ecu, PFC, and the motec are accurate. the older haltechs are not.

personally i would rather not run a haltech on a rotary, they have too many issues, we even have trouble with it on the miata. the only difference is that the miata doesn't make enough power to damage itself.

the big haltech bug seems to be/have been (haven't tried the elite), if you use a lot of outputs, like on a 3 rotor, the ecu overheats (or something), and the output side shuts down. we've also learned that the data log occurs in the software, so the output side of the ecu can completely shut down but it doesn't show on the datalog!

Yeah, the E units and platinum sports were shitty. Where the older units were pretty spotty the Elites are lightyears beyond what they used to put out (in my opinion and experience) and haven't posed any problems in customer cars so far. We'll see.

Shane T has done a TON of MoTec Rotaries, including the 20B from Lucky7Racing and this MONSTER (I hope the video shows up... This is exactly how I'd do an FD)

Anyone want to comment on the adaptronic ECU that has one? Was thinking of this ecu for my next single setup. E85, 6 injectors.

I just wish Link made a ECU that did everything all there other ECU's did all in one. Instead they have a huge product where every ecu has one or two features that the other one doesn't. It's kind of annoying. Just make one box that does everything.

Motec will give you endless support directly. I tune with motec all the time. It's a lot better to talk to a Motec engineer than searching through or posting on forums in my experience!

Having used MANY other systems including LIFE racing and Bosch motorsports ecus I'd pick Motec EVERY time.