Do i have to buy dsm link?

[fmars62]

Do i need to have dsm link for tuning my car? Or can I just go get tuned at a shop?

 

[mike96]

The short answer. No.

The long answer. All depends on what you have. Your profile shows a Subaru...
What year DSM do yo have?

If it is a 98 or 99 then no you dont need link and you need to talk to a couple of tuning shops it your area. They might tune your car with ECUflash all depends on them.

 

[fmars62]

The short answer. No.

The long answer. All depends on what you have. Your profile shows a Subaru...
What year DSM do yo have?

I am about to buy a 95 tsi awd tomorrow, ive always wondered this but never asked the question.

 

[99ECLIPSEGSXDSM]

You can get a 98-99 ecu and flash it

 

[ZenkaiRacerDsM]

You can't just take it to a shop to get tuned without anything to tune it with. Unless you have a 98-99 ecu as was already said.

 

[fmars62]

Okay, thanks now what would be better the 98-99 ecu or i see some people running an evo 8 ecu.

 

[Dsmj89]

If you're getting a 95, chances are most likely it will already come with an eprom ecu, so all you will have to do is have it sent out to Ecmlink to have them socket the ecu and install link on it.
If you want to go a cheaper route, you can always look for a 98-99 black box, buy yourself the required tactrix cable, and go that route. Mind you, the tactrix cable is like $200. Come to see, link is a relatively better buy in the long run, and it has a lot more support.

 

[fmars62]

i bought a 98 gsx and it has a 6 bolt swap, i want to order link now but idk what to select, do i need the socketing service for eprom or whatever?

 

[ShadowTalon]

Since you got a 98 it probably has a flashable Ecu which means you can just get a tactrix cable and flash it with ecuflash with ceddy mods as was mentioned above. You can use evoscan to log ($25 well spent). This will be a whole lot cheaper than finding an eprom ecu and getting it setup for link ($500+ if you include ECMlink). ECMlink has a lot more support though.

However, the learning curve for using ecuflash to tune is pretty steep. I've spent days researching and messing with it and I've only scratched the surface of what that program can do. I am running an Evo 8 ecu though so it was a bit more work to scale the settings for a DSM from an Evo.

 

[99ECLIPSEGSXDSM]

If you have a EPROM ecu the open it up and look. If it's already socketed it will have a black socket in-between the chip and the rest of the ecu

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