ECU of Choice Nowadays
 

Hey Guys,

Need some advice.

I am finishing up my car and I've been running PowerFC DJetro for years.... Its ok, but I would like my ecu to have a few more safety parameters...

I know Link ECUs are upcoming and Haltechs / AEM have been around for a long time.... I don't really want to bother with trigger wheels and stuff

I was hoping something good that is plug and play...

Car setup is LS2 Coils, built top and bottom end, GT2871R Ext Wastegated.... all the support mods, etc....

Looking to down around 4-450 whp....

What do you guys think?

I did a full infinity setup 2-3 years ago and ended up parting that car out, at the time a lot of people were having issues with their infinity ecu's but i've heard it "might" be better now.

Looking at doing a standalone again nowadays and it seems a lot of people are liking the Link EMS even some that were hardcore AEM people.

TLDR Probably going to go with a LINK setup myself as they seem to be very user and tuner friendly and can do Flex Fuel even with the plug n play ecu.

I’m using link ecu on both my vehicles, one LS and one Beams. Extremely easy platform to be working on.

Haltech can read your factory CAS. It was built and designed around Nissan sensors years ago.

But the link can too?

I never said it couldn?t?

To be honest, I haven?t looked at ECU?s in years except to trouble shoot items on my PS2000, which has never been an issue with the ECU itself. I was mostly referring to your comment where you looped in Haltech and AEM together and dealing with trigger wheels.

Might want to take a look at ECU Masters EMU Black. Don't have any first hand with one, but it has a pretty impressive spec list for a nice price.

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Link PnP for me. Similar story -- PFC for years and finally bought a real ecu. It's great, no complaints at all. Software is easy to use, as well.

Link just updated the plug-in line to their G4X processors. It's what I'll be running on the new car.

Another +1 for LINK G4 I was previously running a power fc djetro and made the switch when upgrading to bigger turbo cams etc. and I couldn't be happier. Im also running their CAN Lambda and wideband. I def have a lot more confidence in the tune over the pfc and the added convenience of your tuner being able to remote in and make adjustments/checks if needed is great.

Did you end up going with their plug-n-play G4 ECU? Are you looking into a CAN gauge cluster(i.e. AIM/AEM CDx) or are looking to stay stock Zenki cluster?

Yeah mine is their plug and play ecu. I have thought about it and while their cluster is very cool and tempting to get I think it will look out of place in my interior. Pretty sure if you are already running the ecu the dash display is super easy to install like 4 wires maybe?

I run one of these: https://gaugeart.com/product/gaugeart-can-gauge/

I wanted to keep stock dash but I like having all the sensor readouts.

I use the Link Altezza PnP on my GXE10 and am using all my factory gauges with no issues.

oh nice! I feel the same about the stock dash and went a similar route;

https://perfecttuning.net/en/22-gauge

They've got an OBD2 version and CANbus as well. I'm running their CANbus variant with my Megasquirt 2 but it's nice to know there are others out there. That gaugeart one looks very subtle, I like it! I'll be tracking my car and wanted the benefit of the LEDs and maybe adding a speaker for custom alarms I've programmed for oil pressure and oil temperature. The LEDs on the perfecttuning gauge get VERY bright when not dimmed.


OP;
I'm happy with my MS2 based ECU and I know diyautotune makes a plug-and-play variant for the SR20s as well as the KAs. I honestly wish I would have just bought an MS3 kit and wired it in though. Boost by gear and some of the other functionality would be nice, as the limitations of MS2 are starting to show in its age. It's a great ecu for the pricepoint and I have a lot of safety features like IAT based timing retard and CLT based rev-limit (chevy is touting this on the C7/C8 Corvettes like it's bleeding edge tech.) among others. Buddy is running an MS3 pnp setup on his Miata and I'm jealous of all of the extra functionality he has over me. To add to second-hand experience, friend running a Haltech on his CA18 S14 likes it a lot. Another friend running my legacy AEM EMS on his KA-T setup is switching to Megasquirt. He's been having issues with his ECU (we think) and AEM offers ZERO support for it. Something else to think about long-term.

Lots of good choices for your power goals. I'd think about other functionality too like FLEX-fuel/blending maps (If you ever think you're going to do this down the road,) some of the ECUs really set themselves apart here, moreseo the Haltech than the Megasquirt.

I guess the TL;DR of my post is, count my vote as a -1 to MS. *edit* apparently the SR requires the optical trigger wheel swap. Doesn't on the KA, apologies.*/edit*. Also count me for a -1 on AEM for their legacy support, depending on how long you're going to have the car. +1 vote for Haltech based on second-hand testimony from the shop I worked with on my final tune and and friend's experience on his CA18.

I have an ms3 pnp in my miata. It's ..... fine.

It's about the same price as a Link and the Link is a lot better.

Megasquirt is built by engineers, for engineers. The Link is easier to use for sure.

I'm trying to figure out if I want to run a Link PnP on the stock engine harness, or get a Wiring Specialties harness. I think it's weird that they have a specific Link PnP check box on their harness options when it's supposed to work with the stock harness.

That is so weird. Also is the link like just a board that I swap out. I know they sell this plastic boxes for the link. Is the SR20DET pnp the G4+? I see like stuff about fury and atom editions, does that apply to SRs?

The PnPs are based on the G4+ extreme, iirc.

They do fit in a factory case, though for my car I just bought a stanza ecu on ebay for $12 instead of taking about a perfectly good stock ECU.

After that you can add expansion looms for extra inputs/outputs with the couple of expansions plugs on the main board.

This is what my ecu looks like at this point:
https://i.imgur.com/Hg8rST0l.png

Added in fuel pressure sensor, oil pressure sensor, CANgauge and wideband, and set up for DBW (so pedal and tb) and flex fuel.

=o


Link has grown a lot and is only get more support.

Like a lot of ecus, there are generic and application specific. My guess is the ws harness that says link is for a generic unit but you could also use the oem plug with an application specific one. I'd talk to ws and verify though

The link plugin for S-chassis SR20 (both 76 and 64 pin) have just been updated to G4X spec, with a faster processor and more memory.

https://dealers.linkecu.com/NS13X

https://dealers.linkecu.com/SSP%20Ap...00&resizew=600


They probably do this so they don't get e-mails asking if their harness will work with the plug-in.

I'm debating building myself a plug-in harness... hmmm.

im currently running a PFC DJetro and im curious... what does this Link ECM have over PFC as far as tuning? i know the PFC is ancient by todays standards. just curious what your find about the Link that you like over the PFC.

I don't know that I have enough time to type it all out. Any modern ECU does that stuff, not unique to Link at all.

Wideband o2 feedback
Programmable failsafes
Tons of 3d tables, adjustable inputs/outputs
CAN setup for better gauges/dash
Flex fuel
Knock control

Even things like idle control just work a ton better. My IACV has never been super happy and the Link dgaf. You can rescale the axes and do anything else.

I went from PFC to Link. PFC works fine, but it's ancient and doesn't have anything you can add to it.

edit: forgot one of the best parts: logging. 1+ hour of capacity for logging everything I want (more or less depending on how many things at what rate)

Can the Link PnP sr20 ecu run a wideband o2 feedback in place of the factory narrow band o2? Like I could just wire the wideband output signal to the narrowband wire.

whats with this link shit??


in my experience link has the worst customer service in the industry. bought a brand new plug in G4 for the sr20 engine and the unit did not work, would not connect to the PC for initial setup ( a brand new unit right out of the box). i worked with link to troubleshoot the issue and it was determined that the a new ECU was delivered to a customer fried. Link wanted me to send the ecu to their headquarters for repair all at my cost instead of replacing a brand new $1500 ecu that was defective from factory. (I bought this ecu from one of their authorized dealers )



I filled a credit card claim and got my money back, bought a haltech and havent had any issue at all. Link is a poor choice when looking to spend money on a ecu go with a company that is proven to make a quality product and will actually stand behind it such as haltech.

You should be able to. I just got done setting up my brothers G4+ in his turbo miata and we were told by the tuner he prefered it that way over the stock O2

It seems like Haltech likes to have a separate module for everything.


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There are probably a half a dozen shops in this area that are Link dealers, and my friend's shop is one which is the reason I bought one. Not because it's necessarily the end all, be all. Any of the modern ECUs have the same features.

Mostly it's a testament to go with the ecu that your tuner is familiar with.

ECU of Choice Nowadays
 

99.99% of anybody on this forum isn?t going for the top of the line stuff anyways (Pectel, Bosch, Life Racing, Emtron)


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