ECU talk (MegaSquirt vs. VEMS)

[Ben Fenner]

Raymond A. Kawski wrote:

> Okay here is my last and final say on this.  Having built a turbo car, 
> owned one for the last 6 years and helping others go turbo with SR20's 
> and others, I would recommend a JWT to start with.  Goes along with the 
> philosophy I like to follow: KISS.

I'm a subscriber to the KISS concept as well. It's why I've changed my 
plans from the crazy set-up I had previously in my head, to just 
dropping in a DET.



> When you turbo you have many things that you are changing and have to 
> make sure are working.  

I understand this. Hopefully, I'll mitigate this by being familiar with 
the stand-alone before going turbo.


>If you are new to the turbo world that makes it 
> even worse.  

I also understand this, and I'd be giving the same advice to almost 
anyone who asked. I'm not new to the turbo world though...


> Owning a turbo car is not liking owning an NA car.  NA cars 
> rarely have problems and when they do they are easy to troubleshoot.
> 
> Turbo cars you increase your trouble factor exponentially.  

I'm well aware of this. I've taken it into consideration.


> Slap a JWT 
> ECU in and know that's one less thing to worry about.  

<snip>

> If you decide to change later sell your JWT ECU 
> and recoup most if not all your money.

That's not a bad idea... I would do that if I had that sort of 
time/money available. I know I'll be spending $500+ on an ECU. I figure 
I'll just get the VEMS now, and learn it sooner, as that's my final plan 
anyway.


> Don't forget to add into this your dyno tuning time.  Easily $75/hr. 

As of now, I plan to tune "on the street". I realize this is one of the 
stupedist ideas I've had, but this has worked successfully for me in the 
past, and I'm too poor/stupid to do aynthing differently right now.


> I'm also a firm believer in you get what you pay for.  So don't go cheap 
> here.  AEM may be more expensive but you will have more support with it 
> then some of your other suggestions.

I respect your opinion Ray, and I agree with you on this point as well, 
but have you taken a serious look at VEMS? It does, literally, 
everything the other ECUs do just as well, for much less money. It has 
radiator fan control. Now I don't know if that's a common thing to have 
in an stand-alone ECU, as it would seem to me that would be something 
standard, but as far as I can tell, the others don't have it. That's 
just the icing on the cake. I'm not worried about the support. They have 
active support on their wiki, I have you guys, and I have others who've 
  tuned turbo cars, and know what they are doing.
I want to say again Ray, that I take your opinion seriously, and I'd 
probably be giving similar advice in your situation. I just have this 
desire to learn right now that I can't shake. I'll be ordering a VEMS 
very soon, and I don't want you to be dissapointed that I didn't take 
your advice. Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy the ride a little, as I 
keep the list updated in the comming months.

-Ben Fenner
1994 Black SE-R (going turbo)
1994 Black SE-R (with sunroof)