EVO8 ECU now for 1G DSM > whos doing this?

[enash99]

Reading on evolutionm.net i found a thread where they have rewired a connector to migrate an EVO 8 ECU into a 1G DSM. Now its in the 2G and i know some of the 1G guys on here have to be involved in this. Is this considered to be sucessfully completed for us meaning we can dump DSMlink or any other chip type mod for tuning our applications. I know you all are up to speed on the tuning ability of the EVO's and the WRX/STi's. Where you can reflash the EPROM that is on their native ECU. No need to replace the ECU with a stand alone or run a piggy back system. You can simply connect directly to the ECU pull off your ROM with ECUflash, then import your .BIN file into Enginuity and then adjust your map. I know all this info is a few months old now. I have used these programs for years tuning subies and a few EVO's. I will do a backflip off my roof if this truly comes to fruition. Has anyone on here been involved with this? Seems its a company out of Texas that is creating the interconnect from our wiring harness to the EVO ECU. If I can get the necessary plugs for both ends. I will get an EVO ECU and build the interconnect. I will donate my ECU to get this working. I want this bad!

Here is a link to the thread. Sry mods, not trying to publish another site here just linking to a resource of information.

Evo8 ECU in a 1G DSM in the works! - Page 12 - evolutionm.net

 

[the_mork]

Or instead of a 2.0 cable for a ridiculous sum you can get the evoscan cable and software for $100.

I've also seen new evo knock sensors for as low as ~$45 and I can't imagine that anyone would spend any more than $20 for a 2g TPS. Hell I consider $30 a fair price for the whole TB including ISC and TPS.

The savings exist so if you're looking for a bargain especially if you already have flashing experience or an evo then it is a great way to go, but if not then I'll say again that I certainly have no prejudice against ECMlink so if you can't get the parts for cheap then go that way.

 

[danl]

I've used 90 throttle bodies and 91-94 throttle bodies. Not sure why you have to swap to a 2g sensor. Also while we are nitpicking lets compare the processor speeds of the 1g ecu to that of the evo. When we get bored of that we can compare how much memory each one has.

 

[jeffo]

And why won't the 1G TPS work??? I don't see how something as simple as a potentiometer wouldn't be compatible, unless the resistance is way off. That's the first I've heard of any issue with the TPS.

 

[Sam@RRE]

I've used 90 throttle bodies and 91-94 throttle bodies. Not sure why you have to swap to a 2g sensor. Also while we are nitpicking lets compare the processor speeds of the 1g ecu to that of the evo. When we get bored of that we can compare how much memory each one has.

Touche' on the processing speed. But ROM memory is upped to 2MB in the V3 chips. I've got to say, that the evo ECU does keep a flatter AFR curve.
But real world gains? AEM EMS has tremendous processing power, compaired to an ECU from 95. The one reason I still run Link over the EMS, simplicity. As far as power difference? None what so ever. I made the same power on the EMS on 91 octane compaired to the 95ecu. There is a point in which a Pentium I7 and 8GB of ram, Raid0 Raptors, is pointless to run MS Paint and Solitare. But you definitely don't want to be playing COD:MWF2 on an old E-machines CyrixMII 333mhz, 32mb Ram, and a 5200RPM 4GB harddrive, all on onboard 4mb PCI GPU.
Haven't noticed any drawbacks of the processing power of the 1G ECU, but then again I haven't Tested one back to back in real world vs an EVO8 ECU or EMS.

 

[TSimage]

the why is simple.... people would rather be able to flash their computer than to have to right to a chip and pull their computer every time to change a chip. or to have a bunch of extra hardware to do it with......

This is an unintelligent comment.. One coming from someone obviously not versed in any of it.

Answer me this...

What is the difference between running Jackal to tune a chip or to load on your ostrich emulator vs tuning with link and a lap top.. Absolutely nothing.

What is the difference than using either one opposed to flashing an ECU? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Bottom line is they all require a seperate tunign device normally in the form of a PC tethered to your ECU.. Again, how can you say anything about them is different? Its all the same process pretty much.

When I made that comment, it was rhetorical. There is no benefit. In the same breath you can say that it isn't worth the effort to do the rewire for the EVO8 ECU running a lightly supported tuning system with so many variants it'll be a headache just to get started. Price wise, its cheaper than going with Link, but not Jackal. So again, for those of you who really know wtf you are talking about, what would be the benefit of using the EVO 8 ECU over Jackal? *crickets*

I'd like to hear something better than "Its a newer ECU" cause that doesn't fly when people have been running single digits on our ECUs faultlessly.

As mentioned before, running the E8 ECU is more for the guys who want to tinker with their setups and dabble in something new. And to that I give them thumbs up and offer my support, but for those of you hoping in here thinking of it as an equal or even superior alternate to what we have available to us is almost laughable.

A lot of you guys should do a bit more research before you go hopping on just any bandwagon that comes along.

 

[TurboTiger]

Or, if you already have a evo with a tactrix cable and evoscan, and a dsm, then getting a used evo 8 ecu and knock sensor is way cheaper than even the jackal, especially if your dsm ecu is a non eeprom ecu. I'm actually going to ditch my fully built and running megasquirt 2 setup for this, mostly due to the lack of knock sensing available for the megasquirt. I expect the evo 8 ecu to run much better than the megasquirt.

 

[the_mork]

I'd like to hear something better than "Its a newer ECU" cause that doesn't fly when people have been running single digits on our ECUs faultlessly.

Part of it is the community. When Jackal was still fairly new (at least in the public eye) I was very interested in it because it was another group of people discussing SD implementation and I was pleased with what I saw. As it matured even though the software appeared to become much more mature, useable, and feature-rich, the user base and development team became more and more hostile toward anything that wasn't theirs and the whole thing turned into a link bashing orgy that really turned me off from the project.

I still definitely do think of it as a great project but from what I've seen of your community so far I would definitely make certain sacrifices to run something else just to avoid what I see as distasteful if I ever picked up a 1g. Meritorious argument and comparison are one thing, but what I saw was something else completely.

Besides all that gear and airflow dependent boost control is really neat.

 

[TurboTiger]

So again, for those of you who really know wtf you are talking about, what would be the benefit of using the EVO 8 ECU over Jackal? *crickets*

I'm not too familiar with all the features of the latest Jackal release.
How big are the maps? evo8 ecu with tephramod v7 is now at 30x25.
Can Jackal control boost? Gear dependent boost? Adjust the knock sensitivity? Is there map switching to alternate maps?

 

[danl]

Tsimage,

I have previously used a eprom 1990 ecu in my car and switched over to the Evo 8. I'm sorry but the evo ecu is a much simplier, cleaner, and easier to use setup. By the sounds of it you have not used both, like I have. I have 1 usb cable exiting by the passangers left foot area. It is very clean and I never have to get access to the ecu for any reason whatsoever.

Sam@RRE,

Price an eprom ecu lately? How about an eprom 1990? I already have a ecuflash cable, evoscan, a dead 1g ecu, and a 2g wiring harness. I bought a $75 evo 8 ecu and went to town. After selling off my 1g eprom stuff I'm about $200 in the black.

How about performance? The evo ecu is light years ahead of the 1g in driveability. The ecu is faster and it shows. One problem that I had on my old 1g ecu was the knock board on that ecu is analog, and over time the componets age and knock sensitivity is reduced or enhanced causing either a deaf ear to knock or phantom knock. The evo ecu is DSP and you can edit the settings in ecuflash. What this means is that I can tune the ecu to listen to knock on a stock 2L, built 2L, 2.3L stroker, 2.4L stroker, 2.1L longrod etc. That is physically impossible with the 1g ecu and DSMLink. On top of that this is real DSP, not a voltage threshold and timing pull chart like AEM or many other standalones. The ecu listens for a rate of change in knock voltage around the crank angles for each cylinder! Think about what I'm saying and how important processing speed is. A few other things I like is ECU based boost curves (not a set level) for each gear. Using this feature I dropped a little over 1 tenth of a second on my 60' times my third pass. I can use spare inputs to log stuff (like wideband sent to the rear O2 input, IAT pre intercooler, oil pressure). I have AFR saftey set up so that if the AFR goes leaner than my setpoint above a certian load threshold for x amount of time the ecu will pull all the boost out. It will also do the same if knock counts go too high.

Probably the most important thing to me however is that I can set up a car in a matter of minutes because I am extremely comfortable with the software and have a lot of notes from my past 4 years using it on evo's.

 

[logic]

(How did this topic end up in the Newbie section, just out of curiosity? It really ought to be in Tuning & Engine Management, as this is definitely not something a newbie should be trying just yet.)

The reasons I'm working on installing an IX ECU in my wife's 1g are both out of practicality and personal amusement. On the practical side, I know the SH2 hardware pretty intimately at this point, can find my way around a given chunk of Evo code pretty easily, and have a solid working toolchain and workflow already. On the amusement side, I get a kick out of doing something different.

For a hacker/tweaker, the SH2 platform is a solid generation ahead of the HC11s. I don't mean that in a derogatory tone; it's just a basic fact. 1MB of ROM, 40kb of RAM, and a significantly faster processor and bus can make a noticeable difference if you're a geek playing with this stuff. We can get sample rates out of a stock Evo ECU that would make most of you blush and avert your eyes.

(Now that I have the start of a bench testing setup, I should actually compare my DSMLink'd ECU throughput to what we've been doing on the Evos; I'll bet Tom and Dave come very close, but I'm sure they put an solid amount of work into it. We got lucky with one of those "generation ahead" things: an unused DMA controller.)

But, I'm a hacker/tweaker, and recognize that I'm not a typical end-user. Average folks who just want to tune their 1g would be better served by other products right now, frankly. Both Jackal and ECMLink provide a compelling choice, IMHO, depending on what your needs are.

And everyone needs to push themselves away from the keyboard a bit, because some of you are starting to sound like children.

 

[danl]

What is the difference between running Jackal to tune a chip or to load on your ostrich emulator vs tuning with link and a lap top.. Absolutely nothing.

What is the difference than using either one opposed to flashing an ECU? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Bottom line is they all require a seperate tunign device normally in the form of a PC tethered to your ECU.. Again, how can you say anything about them is different? Its all the same process pretty much.

$85 for a burn1 or $85 for my 1.3 flash cable. With the 1g ecu and burn1 I had to shut the car off, wait for the MPI relay to turn off, pull the center console cover off, pull the chip out of the ecu, plug in the burn1, mess around with the com port settings, load up the chip, make changes to my rom, save the file, open up the burn1 software, load the file, set the buffers, burn the chip, read the chip, compare with the file you burned to it, make sure its not corrupt, take the chip out of the burn1, load it into the ecu, put the center console back together, start the car. Every now and again you are bound to bend a pin on the chip or some chips just flat out went bad so make sure you have some spares or you are stranded!

On the evo ecu I minimize evoscan, open up my file with ecuflash. Make edits (notice car is still running) and flash the car (car shuts off). Restart the car after the flash is done and you are good to go.

Did I mention how much faster the evo ecu logs over the 1g ecu? During fast logging it is something like 64,000 baud and the fastest I could get from my 1g ecu is about 1,300 baud. I don't have the fast logging speed code in the evo ecu at the moment because 15,625 is fast enough for what I am doing.

How many spare inputs does the 1g ecu have? I need to be able to log an extra GM air temp sensor, the wideband analog output, and an oil pressure sensor. I'd also like to control my cooling fan with a rpm vs coolant temp duty cycle table, do you have an extra output and enough processing power and memory left to accomplish this?

Oh yeah, and I want it all for $75 because that is what an evo ecu costs me. Can you find me a socketed 1990 eprom for $75? By the way I have a loose motor can you edit the knock filter settings in the ecu for me? I sure as heck hope I can have boost curves for 6 forward gears and neutral. I'll also need antilag launch maps with user definable speed and TPS settings.

 

[TSimage]

Or, if you already have a evo with a tactrix cable and evoscan, and a dsm, then getting a used evo 8 ecu and knock sensor is way cheaper than even the jackal, especially if your dsm ecu is a non eeprom ecu. I'm actually going to ditch my fully built and running megasquirt 2 setup for this, mostly due to the lack of knock sensing available for the megasquirt. I expect the evo 8 ecu to run much better than the megasquirt.

I'm holding back the laughs...

Your scenario is very unlikely and in the hands of a competent tuner it will not run better than your current MS setup..

Part of it is the community. When Jackal was still fairly new (at least in the public eye) I was very interested in it because it was another group of people discussing SD implementation and I was pleased with what I saw. As it matured even though the software appeared to become much more mature, useable, and feature-rich, the user base and development team became more and more hostile toward anything that wasn't theirs and the whole thing turned into a link bashing orgy that really turned me off from the project.

I still definitely do think of it as a great project but from what I've seen of your community so far I would definitely make certain sacrifices to run something else just to avoid what I see as distasteful if I ever picked up a 1g. Meritorious argument and comparison are one thing, but what I saw was something else completely.

Besides all that gear and airflow dependent boost control is really neat.

I wouldn't call it "my" community as I am an AEM EMS user. I did/do have plans on maybe getting into the Jackal setup more and after reading it and being a link user, it pretty much did everything the link did, only cheaper and sooner. TunerPro had SD before V3 even came out, and when V3 came out after all these years of them telling us to wait it STILL didn't have it. That is what turned me off from link. Not enough progress. With such a large user base you'd expect a bit more. Being apart of the DSM ECU mailer list you can see what many of these guys are capable of doing and they are simply weekend warriors. I just feel the Link could be and should be much farther along than it is. Between the Link and Jackal they both have the potential to be close enough to AEM to argue is performance in comparison to its price. With Jackal being that much cheaper than link as well and not only that, having a user interface that is constantly being upgraded from a logical stand point, why look anywhere else?

Similar to your response, the only responses as to why someone picked something else is either personal reasons or they just didn't know better. Again, that's coming from a previous Link user and a current AEM guy.

Tsimage,

I have previously used a eprom 1990 ecu in my car and switched over to the Evo 8. I'm sorry but the evo ecu is a much simplier, cleaner, and easier to use setup. By the sounds of it you have not used both, like I have. I have 1 usb cable exiting by the passangers left foot area. It is very clean and I never have to get access to the ecu for any reason whatsoever.

What? Do you have any idea how the tuning process works with Jackal? With your ostrich installed it is the same scenario as you described. You never have to physically access the ECU either, just plug it in to your computer and tune it, then do so.

Again, my comment was rhetorical. There is no reason other than the want to try something new or simply due to a lack of research. No need to do a full wire harness, none of that. Our ECUs are more than capable for getting the job done and have done so in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. New technology is great, huray-hurah, but when it isn't necessary then it becomes mute. The E8 ecu does nothing extra that is NEEDED to build these cars to run well, get great gas mileage and run uber fast times. Sounds like someone is reaching a little bit too far to justify a purchase. All you needed to say is "Because I have used Evo tuning software and am more familiar with it than native DSM tuning software" And I would have just simply said, "Ok, that is most certainly respectable." but the rest of it is hog wash.

$85 for a burn1 or $85 for my 1.3 flash cable. With the 1g ecu and burn1 I had to shut the car off, wait for the MPI relay to turn off, pull the center console cover off, pull the chip out of the ecu, plug in the burn1, mess around with the com port settings, load up the chip, make changes to my rom, save the file, open up the burn1 software, load the file, set the buffers, burn the chip, read the chip, compare with the file you burned to it, make sure its not corrupt, take the chip out of the burn1, load it into the ecu, put the center console back together, start the car. Every now and again you are bound to bend a pin on the chip or some chips just flat out went bad so make sure you have some spares or you are stranded!

On the evo ecu I minimize evoscan, open up my file with ecuflash. Make edits (notice car is still running) and flash the car (car shuts off). Restart the car after the flash is done and you are good to go.

Did I mention how much faster the evo ecu logs over the 1g ecu? During fast logging it is something like 64,000 baud and the fastest I could get from my 1g ecu is about 1,300 baud. I don't have the fast logging speed code in the evo ecu at the moment because 15,625 is fast enough for what I am doing.

How many spare inputs does the 1g ecu have? I need to be able to log an extra GM air temp sensor, the wideband analog output, and an oil pressure sensor. I'd also like to control my cooling fan with a rpm vs coolant temp duty cycle table, do you have an extra output and enough processing power and memory left to accomplish this?

Oh yeah, and I want it all for $75 because that is what an evo ecu costs me. Can you find me a socketed 1990 eprom for $75? By the way I have a loose motor can you edit the knock filter settings in the ecu for me? I sure as heck hope I can have boost curves for 6 forward gears and neutral. I'll also need antilag launch maps with user definable speed and TPS settings.

This post alone shows me the ignorance you have for the topic at hand. Your familiarity with what Jackal is capable of doing or how it is operated is in obviously nil. For me to continue further would be pointless until you have properly educated yourself on the platform.

Your arguments are also irrelevant and fickle. Why would someone be worried about adjusting a knock sensor due to having a "loose" motor. At that point, I think wasting time modifying a knock table is the least of your worries. I am honestly trying to take you serious in this discussion but you make it far too difficult. Laughable too is ones need to control SIX forward gears in a car that comes only in FOUR and FIVE geared transmissions. It is a known fact that little is gained tuning beyond 1:1. Overdrive gears are not for racing... The rest of that barnyard babble you spewed forth are basic features that are available to users one either the Link or Jackal platform.

And on the topic of the Eprom.. Every DSM I have ever owned came with an Eprom ECU and it took me lest time/effort/ and money to socket them than it would for you to modify a jumper harness for an E8 ECU. Again, before I devote any more time in formulating a rebuttal to one of your responses, I ask that you be a little more versed in the subject matter.

 

[danl]

My evo 8 ecu setup cost me $75 and a couple hours of my time. How much has your setup cost you?

You are very good at avoiding some of my points.

1. Can you edit the knock sensor filtering in a 1g ecu?
2. What is the logging rate of the 1g ecu.
3. What kind of safeties are built in (AFR and Overboost safeties etc..)
4. Can you switch maps on the fly?
5. What kind of launch settings are available (antilag, low speed maps and high speed maps, 3 step).
6. Can you edit the startup IPW tables
7. Can you edit the coil charging tables
8. Does the code control idle speed with ISC steps or (more preferable) ignition timing adjustments.
9. Do you have boost curves for all your forward gears.
10. How much does an eprom 90 ecu cost?
11. How much does the ostrich and all the stuff to hook up to the 1g ecu cost?


Those are just the things that matter to me. You may not see the value in some of the features but I do. I will drive on gas then fill up on E85 so I need to be able to flip a switch or tap the gas peddle to switch maps on the fly with different fuel/timing/boost maps. When you run a real knock control system you need to tune it to the engine, again this is important for street cars that see varying weather conditions. I don't run an ISC motor so controlling idle speed with ecu timing adjustments is a plus to me. Lastly, a 90 eprom is about 200 bucks already socketed. I spend $75 for evo ecu's and they are easy to find.

 

[TurboTiger]

I'm holding back the laughs...

Your scenario is very unlikely and in the hands of a competent tuner it will not run better than your current MS setup..

And on the topic of the Eprom.. Every DSM I have ever owned came with an Eprom ECU and it took me lest time/effort/ and money to socket them than it would for you to modify a jumper harness for an E8 ECU. Again, before I devote any more time in formulating a rebuttal to one of your responses, I ask that you be a little more versed in the subject matter.

Not every DSM came with a EEPROM ecu. In fact, a large percentage of ECU's were not EEPROM. If every DSM you had had a EEPROM ECU, then you were lucky. And just how much is a 1g EEPROM ecu going for right now? Around $200. Evo 8 ECU's are going for much less, around the $100 range. Enough to buy a tactrix cable and evo scan to come out even. Add the cost of a ostrich, or DSMLINK, and it's much more expensive. Or have your non EEPROM modified for an extra $100 by DSMLINK, and it's still pricey.

Try getting some sort of decent knock filtering for a megasquirt, and you're looking at a total cost approaching the AEM EMS. Boost control is very simplistic in a megasquirt, provided you can get it to work well enough to call it control. Sorry the evo 8 ecu will run much better than the megasquirt, due to one little thing called Sequential Fuel injection. Although MS2/Extra came out with sequential injection just recently, it's still quite early in it's stage.

And what DSM came with only 4 forward gears?

And yes, I do have a DSM and a Evo. Not a very unlikely situation as several of my friends also do the same. Although everybody's DSM kinda just languishes next to the evo.

 

[danl]

I've bought 4 DSM's in my life and none of them came with an Eprom ecu. Out of all my friends none of them had an eprom stock. We all had to buy them and they are NOT cheap!

Tsimage lets play a game. I'm going to add this up to justify my decision.

Evo Ecu (for me)
-1.3 cable (free, already have it to support my evo)
-Ecuflash (free)
-Evoscan (free, already have it to support my evo)
-Evo 8 knock sensor $75
-Evo 8 ecu $75
-bad 1g ecu for connector (free)
-2g ecu plugs (free already had bad harness)
-OBD2 plugs ($5 from junkyard)

TOTAL : $155


For my old Eprom ecu:
-$250 for 1990 eprom ecu/socketed
-$85 for burn1 from moated
-$6 per chip at 5 chips = $30
-palm M100 $100
-pocketlogger cable w/software $180

TOTAL : $645

$490 cheaper and I don't have to learn new software!

Evo ecu setup from scratch:
-1.3 cable $85
-Ecuflash free
-Evoscan $25
-Evo 8 knock sensor $75
-Evo 8 ecu $75
-bad 1g ecu for connector (free)
-2g ecu plugs ($10 from junkyard for just connectors)
-OBD2 plugs ($5 from junkyard)

TOTAL: $275

1g ECU setup with Ostrich
1990 Eprom $250
Ostrich 2.0 $175
Eprom chips $6 (I need more than 1 but I'm already over budget)

TOTAL : $425

That's $150 bucks cheaper and it works the same!

 

[mike96]

This is an unintelligent comment.. One coming from someone obviously not versed in any of it.

Answer me this...

What is the difference between running Jackal to tune a chip or to load on your ostrich emulator vs tuning with link and a lap top.. Absolutely nothing.

What is the difference than using either one opposed to flashing an ECU? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Bottom line is they all require a separate tuning device normally in the form of a PC tethered to your ECU.. Again, how can you say anything about them is different? Its all the same process pretty much.

An unintelligent comment... Perhaps you are correct on part of that. I did not fully think about what I said before posting that. And I do apologize as sometime it can be difficult to pick up on things like rhetorical questions and sarcasm when you cannot hear the sound of someones voice, so let me say this.... One reason that someone would do the EVO8 ecu install to their 1G would be for long term simplicity.......

What is the difference between running Jackal to tune a chip or to load on your ostrich emulator vs tuning with link and a lap top??? Huge differance...You cannot have a "Tunable ECU" without something attached to it to make it tunable. With link and ECU flash both for the EVO and 98-99 H8 ECU's all you need is a cable/adapter. Period. What do you need with with an eprom ecu???? First off to do it cheaply you need a eprom burner, and some chips. If you want to burn more than just a couple of chips you either need a lot of chips or you need an eprom eraser. That can get you started but for every time you want to make a change to your setup you would need to pull your console apart to get your ECU out and take it apart to get to your chip.

Now lets add in the ostrich to make it live tunable (wait thats another piece of equipment that needs to be added to the glove box of tuning tools). So now you have your laptop connected to a box pretending to be an eprom that connects to your ecu, directly. Cool now I can tune on the fly while I have someone drive my car for me (which I hope everyone has someone driving their car for them while they tune their cars). But wait after its all said and done I still have to burn those settings to an eprom and physical install it in the ECU to make it perminent.....

There is no benefit. In the same breath you can say that it isn't worth the effort to do the rewire for the EVO8 ECU running a lightly supported tuning system with so many variants it'll be a headache just to get started.

I wouldn't exactly call it lightly supported.... While there is no one company devoted to progressing the programing and devoting time to finding out what can be done with the EVO8 ecu there certainly isn't a lack of people doing amazing things with it. Yes there is definitely a large selection of options available to anyone who wants to venture into tuning an EVO8 ecu but once you commit to it you find that it isn't nearly as difficult as you make it out to be. All you have to do is read and you will find the answers you are looking for to make this work.

I'd like to hear something better than "Its a newer ECU" cause that doesn't fly when people have been running single digits on our ECU's faultlessly.

As mentioned before, running the E8 ECU is more for the guys who want to tinker with their setups and dabble in something new. And to that I give them thumbs up and offer my support, but for those of you hoping in here thinking of it as an equal or even superior alternate to what we have available to us is almost laughable.

A lot of you guys should do a bit more research before you go hopping on just any bandwagon that comes along.

Something better than just "its a newer ECU" answer... I am not going to bother re-typing all of the many options and benefits that the other members have already posted about the EVO8 ecu. I think they have done a fine job of listing many of the benefits that the EVO8 ecu has to offer over the 1G ecu.

Yes you are probably correct... Most of us (yes I said us as in myself included) who are running an EVO8 ECU's in their cars whether it be a 1G or 2G more than likely do it for the "something new" or just like to "tinker" factor, cost factor was a major player in my decision. As for us thinking it is a superior alternative... In tuning options, It might be debatable, the 1G has definitely been around a bit longer and i know there are options available in tuning it that give it some of the same functions as the EVO8 ecu. But, as more options come available eventually there will be no comparison in with what the EVO8 ecu can do vs even ECMlink. Superior alternate in price however, the EVO8 ecu is by far the cheapest option you can get unless you already have much of the equipment lying around your garage or shop to burn chips for a 1G.

As far as I am concerned you sir need to take some of your own advice and do some homework on what is available on the market. Mister "A lot of you guys should do a bit more research before you go hopping on just any bandwagon that comes along"..... Before you start accusing everyone else of something take a look at the hand you are using to point fingers with.... Every time you point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you.....

As for everyone else here. I apologize. I didn't think that my comment toward his rhetorical remark would spark such a sour debate on this subject..... I will try to proof read a little better to make sure that what i am posting is a little more "user friendly"...

 

[warp9]

I've bought 4 DSM's in my life and none of them came with an Eprom ecu. Out of all my friends none of them had an eprom stock. We all had to buy them and they are NOT cheap!

Tsimage lets play a game. I'm going to add this up to justify my decision.

Evo Ecu (for me)
-1.3 cable (free, already have it to support my evo)
-Ecuflash (free)
-Evoscan (free, already have it to support my evo)
-Evo 8 knock sensor $75
-Evo 8 ecu $75
-bad 1g ecu for connector (free)
-2g ecu plugs (free already had bad harness)
-OBD2 plugs ($5 from junkyard)

TOTAL : $155


For my old Eprom ecu:
-$250 for 1990 eprom ecu/socketed
-$85 for burn1 from moated
-$6 per chip at 5 chips = $30
-palm M100 $100
-pocketlogger cable w/software $180

TOTAL : $645

$490 cheaper and I don't have to learn new software!

Evo ecu setup from scratch:
-1.3 cable $85
-Ecuflash free
-Evoscan $25
-Evo 8 knock sensor $75
-Evo 8 ecu $75
-bad 1g ecu for connector (free)
-2g ecu plugs ($10 from junkyard for just connectors)
-OBD2 plugs ($5 from junkyard)

TOTAL: $275

1g ECU setup with Ostrich
1990 Eprom $250
Ostrich 2.0 $175
Eprom chips $6 (I need more than 1 but I'm already over budget)

TOTAL : $425

That's $150 bucks cheaper and it works the same!

I like your thinking..I have an Evo I tune and have the cable, evoscan, and a spare 2003 evo ecu. Now all i need is a how to for dummies and a harness and im good.

 

[hereitcomes]

Not to bring anything up or start arguments, but what is the word on this E8 ECU? I am interested in finally having an ECU or tunable something and I am interested as hell in this option. Has this developed further or has it died off? Thanks to any members who can assist in my quest.

 

[killerwhale]

Just out of curiosity where are you guys getting these ECUs from? and what do you need to look for or will any evo 8 ecu work?

edit: after looking into it I'm thinking that we should be looking for 4 plug ecus?


Thanks

 

[trevor425]

I've bought 4 DSM's in my life and none of them came with an Eprom ecu. Out of all my friends none of them had an eprom stock. We all had to buy them and they are NOT cheap!

Tsimage lets play a game. I'm going to add this up to justify my decision.

Evo Ecu (for me)
-1.3 cable (free, already have it to support my evo)
-Ecuflash (free)
-Evoscan (free, already have it to support my evo)
-Evo 8 knock sensor $75
-Evo 8 ecu $75
-bad 1g ecu for connector (free)
-2g ecu plugs (free already had bad harness)
-OBD2 plugs ($5 from junkyard)

TOTAL : $155


For my old Eprom ecu:
-$250 for 1990 eprom ecu/socketed
-$85 for burn1 from moated
-$6 per chip at 5 chips = $30
-palm M100 $100
-pocketlogger cable w/software $180

TOTAL : $645

$490 cheaper and I don't have to learn new software!

Evo ecu setup from scratch:
-1.3 cable $85
-Ecuflash free
-Evoscan $25
-Evo 8 knock sensor $75
-Evo 8 ecu $75
-bad 1g ecu for connector (free)
-2g ecu plugs ($10 from junkyard for just connectors)
-OBD2 plugs ($5 from junkyard)

TOTAL: $275

1g ECU setup with Ostrich
1990 Eprom $250
Ostrich 2.0 $175
Eprom chips $6 (I need more than 1 but I'm already over budget)

TOTAL : $425

That's $150 bucks cheaper and it works the same!

dude, were can i get an E8 ecu for 75$?!! ill take one

 

[logic]

Just out of curiosity where are you guys getting these ECUs from? and what do you need to look for or will any evo 8 ecu work?

Any USDM VIII ECU will work; good places to look are either local junkyards, car-part.com, eBay, and evolutionm.net (or really, any Evo forum). For the archives: 2003-2005 are your target USDM model years (2006 was the IX), and car-part.com refers to the ECU as "COMPUTER BOX ENGINE". Note that junkyards/car-part.com are probably not going to be your low-cost option.

edit: after looking into it I'm thinking that we should be looking for 4 plug ecus?

If it's a three-plug connector, it's either a non-USDM model, or an Evo IX ECU. The four-plug connectors are typically USDM ECUs (and mostly pinout-compatible with 2g DSMs, with a few caveats).

If it's a 3-plug Evo VIII ECU, it should still work, but you'll have to figure out the pinout translation yourself. A good place to look for these ECUs would probably be lancerregister.com.

If it's a 3-plug Evo IX ECU, you're on your own, at least for now; that one is on my round-tuit list.

 

[logic]

dude, were can i get an E8 ecu for 75$?!! ill take one

I won an IX ECU on eBay a few months ago for around $50. You just have to search around a bit, and more importantly, be patient.

 

[the_mork]

There is also some swappability involved. There are a few ecus running around that are hardware compatible with the evo8 ecu that come from other cars that are generally cheaper but you'll have to do some research to find out which ones. IIRC some 3g Eclipse ecus are the same and with just a few different pins a 2gb ecu could also be used.

 

[killerwhale]

Any USDM VIII ECU will work; good places to look are either local junkyards, car-part.com, eBay, and evolutionm.net (or really, any Evo forum). For the archives: 2003-2005 are your target USDM model years (2006 was the IX), and car-part.com refers to the ECU as "COMPUTER BOX ENGINE". Note that junkyards/car-part.com are probably not going to be your low-cost option.

If it's a three-plug connector, it's either a non-USDM model, or an Evo IX ECU. The four-plug connectors are typically USDM ECUs (and mostly pinout-compatible with 2g DSMs, with a few caveats).

If it's a 3-plug Evo VIII ECU, it should still work, but you'll have to figure out the pinout translation yourself. A good place to look for these ECUs would probably be lancerregister.com.

If it's a 3-plug Evo IX ECU, you're on your own, at least for now; that one is on my round-tuit list.

Thanks for the tip - lots of awesome deals at car-part.com (and it looks like "Engine Computer" yields the same results).

also, the 2.0L or 2.4L model?

Looks like the 2003 ecs are going for around $50-250 where as the '04/'05 go for $100-$400.

 

[Animals Garage]

Yes! Looks like my newly acquired POS is going to cost me even less to get back on the road!