General Which route to go?

[djseclipse]

I currently run a stage 3 keydiver chipped ecu, but have added a magnus smim and ets fmic. My question is would it be better to run ecmlink or use my original 99 ecu and run flash software to further tune my car? Is the ecu I got from keydiver already socketed?

I'm leaning toward reinstalling the 99 ecu and buy the flash software since I can't get my "signals ready" for emissions testing on my stage 3 chipped ecu. But I'm not experienced in tuning and feel ecmlink would be more noon friendly. Someone steer me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

 

[Lou98GSX]

i live in NY and have no trouble passing emissions with my 98 gsx with dsmlink 2.5 v .

 

[djseclipse]

My problem with emissions is that too many monitors "not ready" and since mine is a 99 it is not on the exempt list.

 

[BoostedBeaver]

The biggest thing to look at (especially when starting out) is the support base for the product. It doesn’t matter which one you go with if you can’t get it to do what you want it to.

I have personally been a fan of DSMlink. The amount of help and support that is out there for link is phenomenal. Not to mention great customer service from a company who caters to our platform. With that being said, my experience with the black box ECU is minimal because of my experience with DSMlink.

 

[rydereclipse]

Dsmlink, from what I have read, has a higher initial cost...but a better knowledge base and it is much more user friendly

The black box ecu can do the same thing with a somewhat lower initial cash outlay, but has a steep learning curve to get things set up properly and the knowledge base is smaller on the dsm platform (there are other sites that use the same type of programming software, and swear by it...but alas their solutions typically aren't tailored for us)

I'd go with dsmlink if I was in your situation

 

[djseclipse]

So my ecu from keydiver is already socketed? And I would lose the tune from the burned chip?

 

[BoostedBeaver]

To check for a socket:
https://www.ecmtuning.com/wiki/socketid

If you replace that chip with the ECMtuning chipset then yes, that information is gone. However, you will have the freedom to change many things within the ECU at that point.

 

[Lou98GSX]

i also had a chip from keydiver but because of the rough idle with cams i would every once in awhile get a check engine light for a misfire . when i switched to dsmlink i never had an issue with the check engine light and it passed emissions . i actually have a NYS license to do inspections and every time i plug my car into the inspection machine it passes .

 

[Lou98GSX]

the info that is in the keydiver chip is always going to be there . your just replacing it with a ecm tuning or dsmlink chip.

 

[jimsgsx]

If you decide to go with your black box i am selling my tactrix 2.0 openport setup for flashing, logging.

 

[djseclipse]

Thanks for the info. I want to go with ecmlink, but cannot get enough signals "ready" to pass the obd2 emissions test. Too bad they didn't include the 99's on the exempt list.