Audiofight

Does an ECU upgrade do anything really for a Fuel Injected model? I know it helps the turbos out, but what about us poor folk that can only afford the fuellies?

What upgrade would you recommend for maximum performance gain from my N/A? What components would optimize this upgrade and what else do I need to replace to make this ECU effective in my nearly bone stock 88 SE?

I am looking at a new exhaust system, port and polished manifold, larger injectors, & upgrading the intake and piping in some sort of cold air induction for it as well. Any other major drivetrain upgrades that I missed, please let me know.

Evil Aviator

A friend of mine has a car very similar to your current setup, but it is lightened and has a Wolf 3D EMS. His car is dead even with my TII in the straights.

What kind of performance are you looking for? (street, drag race, road race, etc.)

Audiofight

I am looking for overall good performance while not sacrificing my daily driver to the gas gods

This car is my daily driver, as said before, and I occasionally road race it against some friends. Unfortunately, they are driving Turbo Conquests or Porsches

I need to beef my car up just so I can show how much an RX-7 can do.

So, from your story, the ECU will help out.

Evil Aviator

Yes, an ECU will help out a lot, especially if you get one that allows you to ditch the restrictive stock AFM. Most ECU's allow you to change between economy and performance maps fairly easily. IMO the Wolf's "Playstation-type" cartridges are the easiest, but the others can be updated with a laptop rather quickly, too.

It sounds like you are installing the right mods, but you may not need larger injectors like you would with a turbocharged car. Most every aftermarket ECU will give you some type of AFR readout which will tell you if you need to upgrade the fuel system. Most ECU's will also give you other good info like EGT, inlet air temp, etc. Personally, I would install the ECU before the other engine mods for this reason.

IMO your best bet for an intake would be to use trumpets (velocity stacks) fed by an air box with a ram air inlet. For exhaust, you may want to try an uncollected header with either dual exhaust or long primaries leading to a single muffler. A little more performance will be gained if you gradually increase the diameter of the pipes as they lead from the engine.

Audiofight

I thank you for the wonderful advise. I didn't realize that such sophisto ECUs were available. I would love to have a module mounted inside to tell me what is going on under the hood and tell me to upgrade this and that because it is being unruly and restrictive to my wonderful RX.

Not to mention I have one small blemish next to the radio on the passenger side of the dash pad. Unfortunately, it is part of the whole pad and not something quickly fixed with a new part.

I will just mount the module there and aim it at me in the seat.

ECU will be first on my list then. Exhaust will probalbly be second due to the plugged passenger side muffler I have. Barely sputters any pressure out compared to the driver's side.

Manolis_D

iTrader: (2)

You had mentioned that your friend's N/A was almost as fast as your TII, partially due to the fact that he "lightened" it. My car needs to go on a diet (2850 lbs... yuck), and it is also N/A (for the time being) -- do you know what people usually do to remove weight from the car?

This is the (short) list i've come up w/ so far:

1. A/C
2. Spare Tire
3. Power Steering
4. Carbon Hood
5. Racing Seats
6. Popup headlights --> fixed array


Anything else?

Thanks!,
Manolis

Evil Aviator

The carbon hood will only save you about 1 lb vs. an aluminum hood, so you may want to save your money on this mod unless you want a particular style of CF hood. Everything else sounds good. BTW, if you are looking for low-price FIA-approved racing seats, I think that the Momo Rookie is your best bet.

Here are my friend's stats from one of his posts on the Florida forum, which may give you some ideas. You can see the post in its entirety here if you are a member of the group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mrccfl/message/3864

Audiofight

That is where I am a failure as an RX owner

I can't live without the creature comforts of a supreme stereo system (subs and multiple amps), A/C. I could live w/o P.S. but don't have the funds to fix it properly. I have begun to save money for my first two mods.

1. The ECU upgrade, staring at a Wolf 3d I think. Unless someone has something better to suggest.

2. Forgot to mention this before, Electric fan upgrade and remove the air pump and plug it up properly. I didn't have time to do this and then totally forgot about it! I am a failure.

I am truly trying to make up for it by giving my baby a long winters nap and plenty of upgrades and alot of cosmetic work to make her go from Sexy Red B!tch to Super-Duper Sexy Red B!tch