General SD or MAF

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

I have thus far (though fingers are still crossed) been unable to obtain a SD BIN/XDF so am weighing my options. Should I keep the SD setup or convert to MAF?

 

[GST-Pablo]

SD is a lot better in the long run but i guess it also depends on your plans with the car

 

[steve]

You have a EPROM ECU, just save your pennies and get DSMLink for it. Then you can do either MAF or SD and not have to learn how to write code for our ECU's yourself.

 

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

I don't recall where I saw the link to purchase DSMLink, but it indicated that I need to send my ECU in and then they send it back to me - I am not interested in that approach.

 

[steve]

Assuming your ECU is already socketed, that's not the case. You install the EPROM replacement board and load up the client software on your laptop to control it.

 

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

That sounds better.
Mine "should" be socketed since it has a ribbon cable going into the ECU that then goes to the Moates.
I had the ECU pulled a couple summers ago but didn't take pics, I'll have to pull it again one of these weekends.
I'm hoping to keep the Moates and find a SD BIN/XDF - another member here is hopefully able to find them.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

That would be the first time I, myself, see a ribbon cable on a socket soldered to the ecu but it sure as hell makes swapping chips easy or is the Moates a different unit/chip (not familiar with it)
ECMLINK all the way and go SD in my opinion.
I run all my DSMs on SD or am in the conversion process now and I have 3 and all 3 on ECMLINK. Even the mostly stock car, that was the first upgrade to her.

 

[steve]

That would be the first time I, myself, see a ribbon cable on a socket soldered to the ecu but it sure as hell makes swapping chips easy or is the Moates a different unit/chip (not familiar with it)

That's the way it's typically done with a Moates Ostrich. Sometimes I'd see somebody solder the ribbon directly to the PCB and that would have be undone when they finally upgraded to DSMLink.

The Ostrich is a EPROM emulator to download images into over USB. The version 2 added the ability to trace accesses (Memory Addresses) so you can do things like see which map entries your using.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

As aways, I love that you expalin it Steve. It helps everyone, not just old guys like me.

 

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

I'm actually HIGHLY satisfied with the Moates (once I finally started digging in).
The learning curve seems to be steeper than ECMLINK.

But I'm hitting a brick wall trying to find an SD BIN/XDF and you can't do anything with Moates without the BIN/XDF
I'm actually leaning towards keeping my Moates and reverting to MAF just so that I can keep the Moates.
I may just back-burner the Talon for another year or so and focus on other projects.

I wish I would have started learning this stuff in the late 90s when my brother first started dropping in "performance chips".
I'm a bit late to the punch bowl and the ice has all melted... Or something like that...

 

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

Happy New Year fellow DSMtuners.
My project on the '90 Talon has been delayed until spring/summer when I plan on replacing Moates with DSMLink.

 

[steve]

Happy New Year Back at you.

 

[Justin DuBois]

For much too long I had been running a S-AFC, with MAF. Even with a wide-band to monitor, the results were less that optimal. I could never be "done" with the setup.

After switching to ECMLink v3, I was finally able to make big strides, and ran a MAF setup for a while. I still run MAF for SMOG checks in California. Still dealing with some tune issues, I added an IAT sensor, and MAP sensor and finally switched to SD.

After figuring out how to tune SD, I would never go back. Every boost level at every RPM can be dialed in to a point where you can actually "finish" tuning the setup.

Switching back to MAF is not difficult for those time when you need it.

If you have nothing but time to kill, I blogged the entire journey on MAF, and eventually SD on the ECMLink tuning forum (which is basically inactive but still live)

<http://www.ecmtuning.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90387&page=18>

 

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

Hello. I'm back after a much longer than expected absence.

I would still actually kind of prefer to find speed density BIN/XDF files for my Moates emulator.

Any suggestions?

 

[steve]

There were only two (really one and a closed source branch from it you have to pay for) SD binaries, DSMAP and Jackal/Werewolf. Neither is actively supported anymore. It would take quite a bit of effort to brush off the old bits to get something reliable and you'll need a good understanding for both how various SD models work but a solid understanding of the DSM ECU code. People that have both typically don't ask for XDF files, they just make them.

Last time I saw either was about 15 years ago and it's a bit of work to verify that anything isn't a random pile of bits at this point.

 

[90_Talon_TSi_AWD]

So just what kind of work is ahead of me as far as converting from Moates to ECMLink?
My fear is that "existing wiring" would need changed "somehow".
That fear is why I've set this aside for so long.
The wiring / re-wire is well within my level of experience.
Just a ton of "unknowns".

 

[Justin DuBois]

I was curious what Moates is - never seen one: https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/tuning-solutions-and-you.406033/

If you swap out the Moates - for ECM Link v3, it looks like you have the ECU socketed and ready. IMO if you have not run this ECU for a long time, maybe consider sending it to ECM Link to do diagnostics and the chip install.