Cheapest tuning system?

[xoulin]

Hey guys. Its been forever since I've posted here. I have recently made the jump from completely stock 1g to a few mods. Installed a 31" X 11.75" X 3" full size FMIC, Greddy RS BOV, Hallman MBC (set to 14psi), ebay boost gauge. I have bought, but not installed PTE 880cc injectors and a supra 300lhp fuel pump. Before I install the fuel pump and injectors, what is the cheapest way to tune the upgraded fuel system?

 

[Insane20]

Safc is the cheapest ive seen but your injectors are too big for it. Max ive seen with the safc is 650cc. So if your using those injectors the next cheapest route is link.

 

[4Lurker4]

Although it's old tech, he could also get a chip burnt and have the SAFC for fine tuning. Old tech but it still works and it's cheap.

 

[Insane20]

True. But then hes still gona need a logger though. Soo youll have a logger, an afc and a chip. After the cost of all of that and the messing around I would think link would be more worth it, then you never need anything else. Just my 2 cents.

 

[bryanwheat]

Although it's old tech, he could also get a chip burnt and have the SAFC for fine tuning. Old tech but it still works and it's cheap.

If you buy a cheap 30 dollar chip burner and a 28c256 chip than you can do the fine tuning pretty easily with the chip burner. It is more time consuming than link, but eliminated the need for an safc. I still use evilscribe which is from way back in the day, but it works well for basic stuff. It has basic injector compensation, dead time, rev limit, maf compensation, idle speed, fuel tables, and timing tables. Kind of basic, but gets the job done every time. If you were to buy the moated ostrich, which is like an eprom chip that can be tuned on the fly like link than it is a lot easier. Get the tune down good with the ostrich, than take the .bin file from the ostrich and burn it to a chip. With the ostrich you can also run ds.map which is a freeware speed density program, tuner pro and a few others. There are options out there, just most people don't want to mess with it any more because link is so user friendly.

 

[bryanwheat]

True. But then hes still gona need a logger though. Soo youll have a logger, an afc and a chip. After the cost of all of that and the messing around I would think link would be more worth it, then you never need anything else. Just my 2 cents.

A logger is next to nothing. You can get a used palm for like 10 bucs these days. Build a cable for 5 bucks and run mmcd for free. 15 bucks for a logger, 30-50 bucks for a preprogrammed chip and 50 for an safc1 is quite a bit cheaper than link. It all depends on what you are looking to do, but you can make quite a bit of power like this. I can program up to 1000cc injectors with evilscribe.

 

[YanDsm]

yes logger, burned chip and safc is relatively cheap but is also not very good IMO. I went that route few years back and I finally switched to link so I paid twice for something I've should buy at first. Pay a little more and buy ecmlink, you won't need something else later. BUY ECMLINK .

 

[92AWDHX40]

I ran a logger for a while dirt cheap free software and cable, cheapest, I think.

 

[bryanwheat]

yes logger, burned chip and safc is relatively cheap but is also not very good IMO. I went that route few years back and I finally switched to link so I paid twice for something I've should buy at first. Pay a little more and buy ecmlink, you won't need something else later. BUY ECMLINK .

Why is custom chip burning not very good. I can fully adjust fuel and timing just like dsmlink with evilscribe or tunerpro. I have been doing it this way for like 10 years on quite a few different cars. I have had dsmlink also and tuned quite a few cars with it over the years. It just isn't tune on the fly. As i said earlier there is no need for the safc if you burn the chip right. You do not have the options right off the bat like with link such as stutter box, nltl, o2 sim, cel warning lights and so on, but the fuel and timing are fully tunable. All and all for the average person ecmlink is the best option if you can afford it. But the orginal poster was looking at different options. Telling him to just buy link when he asked his options isn't helpful in any way.

 

[4Lurker4]

He wants cheap, it's probably even cheaper to get the car fitted with an evo 8 ecu and tuning it that route than getting link.

For cheap, can't beat a chip.

You'll also need to buy a wideband in either case, so keep that in mind when thinking about budget (didn't see it in your list of things to go on soon).

 

[donniekak]

I run fic 2150's and every mod there is with a burnt chip. It's a pain burning a ton of chips to get the tune perfect, but once you have your tune it's fine.

 

[Arthris]

chip burning is fantastic and if you can swing to afford a Ostrich 2.0 To realtime tune ## car thats good also

 

[DsmDolney]

Why not just save up for link and get it done with so you dont have to worry about it then when you get more goodies!!

 

[dharrison]

^^i agree with this guy. by the time you set everything up you may as well go with something you can use like link or spring the money for aem you can usually find used for around 500.

 

[bryanwheat]

I think you guys are forgetting that the original poster asked about other tuning systems, he didn't ask for you to just tell him to use link. I also think that some of you guys have no idea what chip burning is. It actually programs the factory ecu and you end with the same result as link with just less options. Not in any saying that link isn't an awesome system, but there are other options that work just fine.

 

[donniekak]

You can get a chip burner, and some chips for $50. What you can easily get with definition files floating around the internet, and free tuner pro software is speed density, if you want, injector compensation, 1g, 2g, or evo maf support, full fuel, and timing maps, launch control, no lift to shift, etc. There are some features that link has that are hard, or impossible to setup with a modified stock image.

But, don't expect to pop a question on tuners and get answers about modifying stock Ecu code. It's a steep learning curve, with little support.

 

[bryanwheat]

You can get a chip burner, and some chips for $50. What you can easily get with definition files floating around the internet, and free tuner pro software is speed density, if you want, injector compensation, 1g, 2g, or evo maf support, full fuel, and timing maps, launch control, no lift to shift, etc. There are some features that link has that are hard, or impossible to setup with a modified stock image.

But, don't expect to pop a question on tuners and get answers about modifying stock Ecu code. It's a steep learning curve, with little support.

Do you ever use the 28c256 chips? They are a little more but they are erasable and can be used as many times as you want. I have in the past experimented with the 28c512 and dual maps in the past, but as you said the hex code stuff is kind of a pain. Back 8 years or so ago i used some of the custom code stuff that i found and was able to add a few extra things like nlts and launch control by just opening the .bin file and modifying it. If you are real good with the hex stuff than you can do just about anything you want with these stock ecu's. The software that i use for tunes is very simple, just tell it what size and brand of injectors, which maf, idle speed, rev limit and it is pretty much a stock tune with the larger injectors. From there there is a a/f ratio table and timing table for fine tuning. Very easy to use. It also has a custom maf scaling tab so you can use a few different maf sensors with it. I think some people are skeptical of this because it is so much cheaper than everything else, but as you said, it is a little time consuming, but it works extremely well. Also do you have a good definition file of a stock 1g ecu? I Had a lot of issues trying to use tunerpro in the past because i could never find quite the right file. Most were close, but it never worked quite right. I'd like to give that a go when i get another dsm.

 

[1qkfwd]

Link is just a more advanced user friendly version of chip burning. The stuff you tune in the DA tables are the same thing you change while chip tuning.

You can also find gm translator setups fairly cheap.

 

[motomattx]

Link is just a more advanced user friendly version of chip burning. The stuff you tune in the DA tables are the same thing you change while chip tuning. You can also find gm translator setups fairly cheap.

Exactly!

 

[rydereclipse]

Surprised no one has mentioned Blackbox ECU's.

pick up a used BB ECU and a TacTrix cable..download ECUFlash and there you go..steeper curve than DSMLink though

 

[Insane20]

Surprised no one has mentioned Blackbox ECU's.

pick up a used BB ECU and a TacTrix cable..download ECUFlash and there you go..steeper curve than DSMLink though

I think that's because t he OP has a 1g.

 

[lancerfwd]

If you're up for it...swap in an evo8 ecu and use Evoflash to tune it ...cost about 200$ for the ecu then 120$ for the cable.

 

[dsmvenge]

Is this for your 92 car

 

[1G Eclipse94928]

If you're up for it...swap in an evo8 ecu and use Evoflash to tune it ...cost about 200$ for the ecu then 120$ for the cable.

Yea I plus 1 the blackbox with evoscan, cheapest most efficient route. Data loggers are slow not to mention you get minimal function with a safc you can only scale up to 660 injectiors. And if you go that route I found Bosch injectors to work best with the safc. Still though your gonna have to tune with a wideband and a slow ass data logger. Have no way to measure knock. There are way to many downs to get an safc over a blackbox. Or even having a chip burned would be safer

He has a 1g... I dont think that will work.

 

[YanDsm]

Why is custom chip burning not very good. I can fully adjust fuel and timing just like dsmlink with evilscribe or tunerpro. I have been doing it this way for like 10 years on quite a few different cars. I have had dsmlink also and tuned quite a few cars with it over the years. It just isn't tune on the fly. As i said earlier there is no need for the safc if you burn the chip right. You do not have the options right off the bat like with link such as stutter box, nltl, o2 sim, cel warning lights and so on, but the fuel and timing are fully tunable. All and all for the average person ecmlink is the best option if you can afford it. But the orginal poster was looking at different options. Telling him to just buy link when he asked his options isn't helpful in any way.

Ok, link isn't the cheapest but from personnal experience, a burned chip didn't worked well for me. My car never ran great with a keydiver chip, it always stalled on decel and bogged when I was snapping throttle to WOT from idle. So, I bought link and my car ran way better just at first startup but it's just my experience.