ECU talk (MegaSquirt vs. VEMS)
Ben Fenner
fenfam at sc.rr.com
Thu Jul 5 02:49:22 CDT 2007
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)
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