t3hGone

iTrader: (1)

Hey all,

I'm new to tuning although I have assisted others doing it, mostly AEMs with Hondas. I have an AE 13B TII, and I am looking to getting a PS2K. The reason for it is I would like to build a 20B up in 3 years or so and save my self some funding for the future. I have one awaiting me whenever I want it and figure I'll start building it up next year. I will be using this car as a track drifter.

I just installed the engine back into the car with a PLX DM6, LSU4.2 wideband, and AC/emissions removed aside from thermowax and am ready to start working on the electronics. Power steering still exists. I planned on getting a PS2K due to the support I see around here for them and for the good documentation provided by Haltech. Although, recently, I have been looking into the Elite series that was announced due to the ETC, supposed knock controller, and switchable map pages allowing hot-swaps into various cars easily. I wanted to get some opinions on whether it would be better suited for the 13B, 20Bs and my purpose.

I will be designing my own harness and spending a day to make it at a friend's harness shop.

Some questions I had with the PS2K and/or Elite (if you have more information than I do on it) are
1) Is the air flow meter necessary? If so, how is this implemented?
2) How about knock controller? If so, how is this implemented?
3) Is it capable of still driving the twin-scroll turbo valve; it seems so since the valve requires Vbatt from the ECU?
4) Is the stock intake air temp sensor compatible?
5) Has anyone found out the cost of the Elite series?
6) Is it generally a good idea to jump on the bandwagon buying a newly released ECU? I am cautious about buying any product within the first year of release since problem have a tendency to arise during this phase with the first operators.
7) Last of all, who is a good vendor on this forum for Haltech?

Just for curiosity sake, are there any aftermarket ECUs that are programmable via MATLAB models that are reputable?

I apologize if any of these statements/questions seem ignorant or misguided. This is somewhat new to me still. After reading a bunch of books on rotaries, I feel I am ready to get my hands into this now. Any input will be appreciated .

C. Ludwig

iTrader: (27)

Neither the Elite or Sport will be "better suited" to a rotary application. They'll both run the rotor engine equally well. The real difference is going to come down to the Elite having a much faster processor with much more potential. When the Elite is released, it's going to have some nice new features but Haltech is only scratching the surface. As they've done with the Sport series over the years, they'll continue to expand on the potential of the Elite. The spec sheet you see now will grow. The Sport at this point is simply tapped out on the hardware side and there just isn't much they can do with it in terms of feature growth. That's one of the reasons you've never seen knock control in the Sport range.

1) Both ECUs operate using speed density method of determining airflow. So the AFM will not be used. I believe the Elite will support mass air as most of the Pro currently do. But the 2nd gen AFM isn't a true mass air meter and you'll want to bin it at the first opportunity anyway.
2) The Elite will have knock control.
3) The Sport and Elite will drive the twin-scroll valve. It's a simple window switch.
4) The stock air temp sensor is compatible. We always recommend swapping in a GM sensor to ensure proper scaling of the sensor. Same with the coolant temp sensor. We have direct-fit coolant temp sensors so there is no drilling or tapping of the water pump required.
5) The Elite will be more expensive than the Sport but shouldn't be a huge step up. Current minimum advertised price on the Sport 2000 long flying lead kit is $2068. Street price is obviously lower. The Elite, with harness, should come in around $2500 minimum advertised price. Street price being lower.
6) Haltech has a pretty good record with their Platinum lineup with ensuring quality on introduction. The current ownership took over the bag of bugs that was the E-series, tried to fix them, and then ended up going an all new direction with the Platinums. Since then, the quality has been excellent.

We're supposed to be getting a beta Elite sometime in the next month or so. It's going in a 20B car. Stay tuned for the results.

No idea on the MATLAB question. IMO, the time invested in modeling the engine is wasted energy. A good tuner with a good dyno can scratch tune a car and have it running perfectly in a few hours. The Haltech software, with the Quicktune feature, makes this easy indeed. The new Elite, which will have VE tuning for the rotary, makes this even easier to produce a startup tune and smooth secondary injector transitions.

As a side note regarding VE tuning, let me be clear and say the end result tuneup with VE is never going to be able to produce more power, economy, or a smoother running engine than injection time mode would, as some have said regarding other systems VE capability. The end result, when properly tuned, is always going to be the same. VE tuning does allow for a much easier time getting a startup tune on an engine than injection time would. Secondary injector transitions will also be easier with VE than it was with injection time. But a quality injection time tune is never going to be inferior to a VE tune.

t3hGone

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the info Ludwig. It looks like I should probably wait for the Elite to be released. Can't wait to see it on a 20B!

Will this work well with the OMP?

t3hGone

iTrader: (1)

Nevermind that. Being dumb :p. When will the pin assignments be released?

C. Ludwig

iTrader: (27)

Pin assignments will be the same as the Sport, with the exception of the extra ignition and injection outputs. Not sure those has been finalized.