erevos

Greetings from Greece. I own an S5 turbo convertible 91 model and I used to have installed on the car an AP Engineering Power FC ECU that worked great. Unfortunately the car was flooded in rainwater during the recent storms in Greece and now I am looking for an alternative ECU since I can't find anywhere to buy another AP Engineering Power FC ECU (btw if anyone knows where to buy one just send me a PM). There are some good builds here in Greece that use an Adaptronic but I was wondering if there is something newer or better than an Adaptronic that could work well with my car. The engine and the turbo are stock and the car has an upgraded 80mm downpipe, HKS intake and front mount intercooler. I am not looking for anything wild regarding the horsepower...I just want to max out the performance of the stock turbine. Any thoughts and recommendations?

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i looked a couple of years ago, and the Link ECU's look really good, its the price performer too.
next would be the MoTeC's they are proven motorsport ECU's.
its possible to just get an FD Power FC, and there would probably be a couple things that needed to be done, but its doable
the Haltech is really popular right now, but its expensive, last time i checked the Motec was actually less.

there are plenty of other ecu's too,

Pete_89T2

iTrader: (4)

I would 2nd the recommendation for the Link. Top notch customer technical & product/warranty support from the company, and the their tuning software package is very intuitive and super easy to learn/use. Probably also the most cost effective platform out there today - lots of features & capability for the money.

estevan62274

iTrader: (32)

My vote would be Haltech. I learned to tune my own car on it. Tons of great info(videos, write-ups and such) out there about Haltech.
It has treated me great for the past 6 yrs.
RUN AWAY from Adaptronic!! Been there done that... never again!!

Steve

dguy

iTrader: (8)

It completely depends on who is available to tune and, more importantly, support it.

erevos

Thank you all for your answers. I would definitely check and search for a Link ECU. Haltechs MOTECs are really expensive for my budget since the car would also need a lot of money for other repairs.
Any thoughts about the Microtech ECU?

erevos

Thank you for your answer. May I ask why should I run away from Adaptronic?

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

its so old i'm not sure they are even using a computer.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

they got bought by haltech, and have been phased out.

erevos

I see...
A friend also suggested the Max Ecu. Any opinions about Max?
https://www.maxxecu.com/

Skeese

iTrader: (11)

It is a dead platform. They sold out to haltech, who all but dissolved it I think. All of the adaptronic ECUs were prone to hardware failure and I don't think they ever fully got the software right. There is literally next to zero support available for these ECUs anymore, and if you do end up with one that fails (likely) there may or may not be anything that can even be done about it anymore, and if there is it will be extremely time consuming and expensive. It is a dumpster product, and the trash truck has already left with it.

Skeese

dguy

iTrader: (8)

It's what I use on every street setup I put together these days - unless someone wants something different. Price to performance alongside support from Maxx - in my opinion - is superior to everything else I've used.

That said, I stand by my earlier comment since you're in a different part of the world you're best off finding out who will be supporting you locally (or relatively locally) and lean towards whatever they suggest. If you're actually interested in learning to tune and will be diligent with learning to wire things properly and are mechanically inclined all bets are off really.

estevan62274

iTrader: (32)

This 1000% !!!!!!

erevos

There is very good tuner in Athens (Rotary Secret) that can install all ECUs for RX7s so he will handle the whole process.

I was wondering though if I could use a regular Apexi Power FC for FD3S with the AP Engineering harness that I already have and then do the trailing coil trick as the banzai "How to" page describes here: FC Coil Installation How To
Here is a photo of my AP Engineering harness

dguy

iTrader: (8)

If this is the case, you should be asking him not us. Full stop.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (2)

been looking at MaxxECU since there’s a DCT trans in my future

honestly though if you have a Haltech and are happy then bravo, but after watching them over the past 15 years, including buying out Adaptronic and then leaving everyone in a lurch (an intentional douche move imo), I don’t plan to ever own one.

MoTeC might seem reasonable, until you have to start paying extra for feature access, then it starts adding up. But it basically being like a PLC that you can program it to do exactly what you need, is a top of the line choice for those who need it.
.

R-R-Rx7

iTrader: (24)

I would be very careful who to trust when it comes to the tuning… local or remote.

i was debating between the haltech and the link ecu and i ended up going with the haltech elite. Link ecu is huge in europe, the haltech not so much. With either one you will be fine but get the one your tuner is actually more comfortable with…
A tuner who claims to be comfortable with all of them is probably not a very trustworthy one…
steer away from adaptronic and whoever recommends them…

erevos

So...I managed to find a used FD3S PFC that comes with the commander and a Greddy map sensor. It was taken out of a FC. I also have an old trailing coil so I can do the mod that Banzai Racing describes. Thank you all for your answers!

Skeese

iTrader: (11)

100000% this. I've seen horrible tunes from some of the "top" shops and "tuners" that are in the scene. I won't disclose names, but literally the biggest named folks out there who SHOULD know better. This is ultimately why I decided to learn myself, which became even more eye opening to what trash work is out there. In my own personal opinion, with the exception of 1 guy, those who actually know WTF they are doing are closet tuners who don't go around banging their tuning drum on social media or promoting themselves for tuning purposes where money is involved. I'd rather teach someone how to do it, than get paid to tune it myself for somebody. It really isn't rocket science, but the "pro" paid tuners often aim to it disguised as such to preserve the need for them to be paid for their voodoo.

Skeese

R_PROWESS

iTrader: (3)

I learned to tune on an a friends old Megasquirt 2 kit ECU. and then another friends Microtech(no thanks). I started out road tuning using Aaron Cakes conservative timing map and just focused on keeping AFR's what were considered safe for the boost we were running. Eventually I caught the bug and things became more thought out. I say this because prior to diving in head first I had it in my head that I'm not the mystical Steve Kahn and I have no dyno, so there's no way I could produce acceptable results as a college kid tuning on the street. That was BS and I realized like Skeese said, it's not rocket science. With that said on my personal car and a few friends I've moved to the MS3pro Evo and Ultimate ECUs. The quality is there, the features are there, I'm not sure about the price comparison, but it surprises me how overlooked these newer Megasquirts are. Tunerstudio and Megalog viewer are some of the most organized and nicest user interfaces that I've seen. Oh and I don't think there's a bigger community than (msextra) for support.

erevos

I don't know much about ECU tuning but I have to agree with both of you. My previous PFC was tuned perfectly by a great guy, "non-pro" who I had met online. The car was working so good after 2-3 years of various issues. That's why I bought another PFC. It's an old unit with only basic functions but it is plug n play and can be tuned easily. BTW the unit that I bought was actually an AP Engineering version so no coil mod is needed!

Skeese

iTrader: (11)

I don't know that I'd call MLV a nice interface, but maybe one of the most useful ones.

PFCs can be tuned to run well, however they do NOTHING in the case that anything else, anywhere else on the car, goes wrong at any time. In my opinion, they are a huge reason the rotary carries the "unreliable" badge. With zero engine protection features, you can tune an engine to run perfect at a very safe level...BUT if anything at all goes wrong elsewhere across the entire functional system of the car, the PFC will have NO idea and just keep on firing injectors and coils. Fuel pump starts to die, fuel filter gets clogged, fuel pressure drops out of band with boost, boost overrun, EGTs cooking manifold, AITs stupid high, knock knock knock...whatever....PFC just keeps on, then KABOOM. Half of those things just happen from the car getting older...

Piston engines can take alot more of a beating when these things go wrong than rotary engines can. If you don't have any protection between external things that can/will fail and engine failure, you are marching towards the inevitable. Spend the extra money, buy a modern ECU with engine protection features, set them up intelligently, and then go happily beat on your motor.

Skeese

newtgomez

Depending on your Input and Output needs, I would recommend a Haltech or Link for the lower end of the budget. Emtron above that due to their awesome torque model and dual processors. Motec or Bosch being top dogs, but they do cost an arm and a leg.

I learned on an Adaptronic Select and made the move to an Elite 1500 when I went big single and the Haltech really is a treat to use. They are constantly adding new features and everything just works. Software is easy to navigate too but the only con being no open CAN, really. Stay away from an Adaptronic unless you want a can of worms.

Any tuner should be able to tune on anything realistically. It's all just modeling and basic electronics.

Topolino

iTrader: (2)

I have a nearly brand new Syvecs S6+ ECU listed with a decent discount on the Marketplace forum if interested. I bought it pre-Covid but the pandemic and other life happenings put my planned build on hold.

My conversion goals have since changed. The unit is considered "new, old stock", and has only been used to perform a power & diagnostics check on a running FD; otherwise, never installed. Anyhow, something to consider if planning to go the path of a higher-end performance ECU.