Hey so I am completely new to tuning on my own and I am wondering what is the better choice Haltech or dsmlink. The only reason I’m leaning towards Haltech is because the tuners in my area only tune on standalone ecu and don’t want to work through ecmlink. But if anyone knows an ecmlink tuner in the Toronto Canada area that would also be helpful. Any information will be helpful thanks in advance.

Ecmlink has almost all of the capabilities of a full stand alone ECU. I wouldn't let someone who refuses to tune on ecmlink tune my car regardless of whether I have a haltech or ecmlink. If you plan on doing any tuning yourself then get ecmlink. If you are going to have your car 100% tuned by someone else than I would say it probably doesn't matter, although ecmlink will be easier to set up emissions controls if you are going to drive this car on the street. What is your long term plans with the car?

tstkl said:

Ecmlink has almost all of the capabilities of a full stand alone ECU. I wouldn't let someone who refuses to tune on ecmlink tune my car regardless of whether I have a haltech or ecmlink. If you plan on doing any tuning yourself then get ecmlink. If you are going to have your car 100% tuned by someone else than I would say it probably doesn't matter, although ecmlink will be easier to set up emissions controls if you are going to drive this car on the street. What is your long term plans with the car?

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Well I plan to have it as a street car. I bought it as someone’s old project so currently I’m just trying to get it running smoothly and it it’s in desperate need of a tune. I would love to learn to tune but currently I have no experience doing it that’s why I am looking to go to a shop. I currently have a dsmlink v2 chip in my ecu but with v2 I cannot access ecu config

Ecmlink is a great place to start because it's relatively cheap and easy to use. It's great for learning how to tune because it doesn't have as many features and what features it does have are tailored for a DSM whereas a Haltech has hundreds of features that you will never use. A Haltech will have a lot of awesome features that ecmlink just doesn't offer like, but it's so much more complicated to use that a noob would be completely beholden to the tuner. If you fall out of favor with the guy or he's just a dipshit then you could be left with a big mess tuning-wise. Get the ecmlink and have someone tune it remotely.

Vegas Smith said:

Ecmlink is a great place to start because it's relatively cheap and easy to use. It's great for learning how to tune because it doesn't have as many features and what features it does have are tailored for a DSM whereas a Haltech has hundreds of features that you will never use. A Haltech will have a lot of awesome features that ecmlink just doesn't offer like, but it's so much more complicated to use that a noob would be completely beholden to the tuner. If you fall out of favor with the guy or he's just a dipshit then you could be left with a big mess tuning-wise. Get the ecmlink and have someone tune it remotely.

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I currently have the ecmlink v2. And I can even lie I’m a tuning noob do you have any suggestions for remote tuners? And this make be a stupid question but does the eprom ecu have a fail safe (limp mode)

Kenny Kline, Kevin Jewer, Adam Stazak (?), Ricky Nichols are some names that come to mind.

Vegas Smith said:

Kenny Kline, Kevin Jewer, Adam Stazak (?), Ricky Nichols are some names that come to mind.

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thank you very much for your help

ThatSlow2g said:

And this may be a stupid question but does the eprom ecu have a fail safe (limp mode)

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Typically "limp home mode" is reserved for OEM engine controllers in order to decrease likelihood of irreparable damage that costs them in big warranty repairs. Most aftermarket solutions will not worry about supplying you with a default safe mode. If you want a failsafe you usually have to design it yourself for each system you want to protect. You can program some warnings and safety defaults into ecmlink yourself with a little thought and planning however.

I will go the other way and say Haltech or Link ecu or Aem or some type of standalone just for the fact that they are more powerful for future upgrades, they have resale value since they can be used on other platforms, and they arent running on an 80's era laggy processor architecture, as the others have said though, the Dsmlink is cheaper and tailored to Dsm only, that might appeal to you for whatever reason and if money is an object or something then you might lean that direction but for me, I plan for the future when I buy something, I hate to buy twice.

Go with ECMlink, jump on the forums and learn your car YOURSELF. There are many many people who have done this and succeeded. All these "remote ecmlink tuners" also did just that. Learned to tune their own cars, did the research, and now make money off others for not wanting to do the work themselves. ECMLINK does have its minor drawbacks (especially for drag racing) but a street car, it has plenty of potential.

You want to be engaged with your car and actually understand what the car is telling you, tuning the car yourself is invaluable. You can pay someone $1000 to give you a "custom" dyno tune on your car, but then what? You still won't know anything. They got your money, you ride around on a tune you "hope" is healthy for your car, and it feels good right? Wrong ...You still have no idea. So the research it takes for you to understand your new standalone custom tune logs, can be the same research that let's you control the wheel yourself with ECMlink.

Ecmlink does a LOT of the work for you and there is plenty of support out there. Upgrade that V2 chip, get a Speed Density package, install it with the instructions found on the forums, load the base map In your car, grab a beer and fire the car up. It will fire up if you configure everything correctly. "Tuning" is 90% configuration and 10% actual tuning. You will be really pleased with the outcome. You will be able to tell that you have a crack in your intercooler pipe, that your injectors are not firing correctly, that your timing high in areas it shouldn't be and low in others. That the changes you make, you feel in your butt. Each pull. Your work. Your research. You get out what you put in....

FYI...I stretched ECMlink a little further than most and used it in my drag car. It was comfortable for me. It supported over 1100hp at the crank and it kept rewarding me. The drawbacks like failsafes ultimately cost me a engine but I knew that going in. Its not meant to stretch the boundaries. Some just choose to stretch them.
A year from now you can pull that chip and sell it for damn near what you bought it for. My guess is you won't. You'll be happy with saving hundreds of dollars and cracking your laptop yourself from now on.

Do it. You'll thank me later.

two-step'n said:

Go with ECMlink, jump on the forums and learn your car YOURSELF. There are many many people who have done this and succeeded. All these "remote ecmlink tuners" also did just that. Learned to tune their own cars, did the research, and now make money off others for not wanting to do the work themselves. ECMLINK does have its minor drawbacks (especially for drag racing) but a street car, it has plenty of potential.

You want to be engaged with your car and actually understand what the car is telling you, tuning the car yourself is invaluable. You can pay someone $1000 to give you a "custom" dyno tune on your car, but then what? You still won't know anything. They got your money, you ride around on a tune you "hope" is healthy for your car, and it feels good right? Wrong ...You still have no idea. So the research it takes for you to understand your new standalone custom tune logs, can be the same research that let's you control the wheel yourself with ECMlink.

Ecmlink does a LOT of the work for you and there is plenty of support out there. Upgrade that V2 chip, get a Speed Density package, install it with the instructions found on the forums, load the base map In your car, grab a beer and fire the car up. It will fire up if you configure everything correctly. "Tuning" is 90% configuration and 10% actual tuning. You will be really pleased with the outcome. You will be able to tell that you have a crack in your intercooler pipe, that your injectors are not firing correctly, that your timing high in areas it shouldn't be and low in others. That the changes you make, you feel in your butt. Each pull. Your work. Your research. You get out what you put in....

FYI...I stretched ECMlink a little further than most and used it in my drag car. It was comfortable for me. It supported over 1100hp at the crank and it kept rewarding me. The drawbacks like failsafes ultimately cost me a engine but I knew that going in. Its not meant to stretch the boundaries. Some just choose to stretch them.
A year from now you can pull that chip and sell it for damn near what you bought it for. My guess is you won't. You'll be happy with saving hundreds of dollars and cracking your laptop yourself from now on.

Do it. You'll thank me later.

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I thought the same thing then I realized if I am going to learn something why not haltech its not going no where no time soon also I can tune more than dsm plus you have a skill that will help you into the future. so kinda took your advice.