Drive By Wire DBW Haltech Elite Series ECU
 

I am very interested in the new DBW capabilities of the Elite Series ECU. I am not sure how many people out there have much experience with these yet as they have just recently become available but I am gonna throw some questions out there anyway.

1. For the 13B, which electric throttle bodies might fit and what modifications will/may be required? Is an adapter of some kind a certainty or might something bolt right up?

2. Same questions for electric throttle pedals?

3. I am not familiar with the RX8, are they DBW? Will RX8 hardware swap over more easily than other brands of hardware?

If you watch a video from Haltech's YouTube Channel titled "Haltech Elite on Mighty Car Mods "Gramps" Liberty" ( ) you'll see that the pedal and the throttle body don't necessarily need to be from the same model of vehicle. Meaning, I think, that they don't have to be a "pair," we can mix and match. They show the calibration steps and it seems pretty simple.

In some of the documentation on Haltech's website (Downloads > ECU Guides & Wiring), in the "Quick Start Guide" it talks about looking in the "Elite Sortware Programmer" for more compatibility info. I haven't done that yet. Also, the wiring diagram says that the throttle body has to be:
12V, 5A Peak, 1A continuous, 100kHz max.
I have no idea if these will limit our possibilities or not, hopefully some of you may know.

Do you think this is worth it? I think it would be pretty awesome!
Thank you in advance.

Elite not setup for a rotary. Don't even know why people are mentioning this ecu on this forum.

1 - Full Function Engineering has an adapter that allows the use of a GM 90mm DBW throttle body with the FD and 20B upper intakes. We worked with them to develop this for use with a couple Syvecs systems we've installed. The total throttle area is very close to that of a stock FD throttle. It's a bolt-in install while allowing all the benefits of DBW. If you desire a larger throttle, the adapter could be easily hand ported to match a 102mm GM throttle. If enough people wanted them, I'm sure we could get FFE to do a run of them.

2 - No pedals that will just bolt up. However, pretty much any pedal can be used. They all work pretty much the same way. You'll just need a pedal with two full range sensors. GM has some pedals that work a little differently. But everything I've seen from Ford, Mazda, ans Subaru will work.

3 - RX-8 is DBW but nothing from it is a bolt-on swap.

Is it worth it? Hard to say. The advantages are mostly in the OE world for emissions and nanny purposes. However, there are some performance advantages. Idle control without a separate idle control valve, automatic throttle blip on gear changes, air bypass with anti-lag activation without a separate bypass valve, cruise control without a separate cruise motor. I've done some GM stuff where guys just wanted a cleaner engine bay so removing the throttle cable was a bonus.

In the high end systems you can program the throttle angle curve to match engine torque. So that, for example, 50% throttle equals 50% torque output at that particular rpm. This is a huge benefit for circuit racers and allows a better "feel" for the driver. Haltech doesn't have this particular ability at this point but it's also very early in the development of the ECU.

To the point of the Elite not being rotary compatible, it will be soon enough. We've been promised trailing spark in the first firmware update. That will hopefully just be a few weeks away. The rotary market is very important to Haltech and they're not going to abandon it.

So does this mean we could setup a rotary with out trailing spark?

you could always twin fire like older motec units

seriously,, just be patient.

it is only a firmware revision away from being enabled

its not like the new ecu cant handle 4 outputs

however, big boot up the arse is required to someone in management who did not ensure enough funding or beta testing was avail to ensure that the rotary trailing spark feature was ready for initial release

it has cost customers.. the comeback ones with consumer loyalty that you should be putting up front
( and ensuring the rotary release was a first and foremost consideration )

I can assure you the rotary isn't very important at haltech. You only need to go their and ask one of the staff and you will get an idea.
We just don't buy enough units apparently.
Oh well. I'm sure it will come soon enough.

Awesome thank you C. Ludwig for the info, very helpful. I see that FFE is still selling that adapter here > LINK
They mention in the product description that it will not work with the OEM oil filler neck.
- Is this just a 3rd gen issue?

I have been looking for throttle bodies and it seems that Amazon has the best deal at $126 for an AC-Delco 217-3153 that is a GM #12605109 > -Is this what I need? Price good?

I haven't tested the adapter on a 20B or RE engine. So I can't say if the assembly will clear their oil fill tube. I would go into it with the mindset that you may need to modify the oil fill to work.

That is the TB. Price seems pretty good. I like new and clean but, if you're looking for a deal, they're available used very cheap.

We're an FFE dealer. So, if you need anything, let me know.