NICO ECU Owners Check In!

[qsiguy]

I posted this in another thread but decided to start a new one for new ecu owner experiences and thoughts of those that now own one. Here's my story...

O momma! I got a perpetual grin on my face! Mail man just came with my new ECU. 10 minutes later it's in the car and I'm racing to 7400 RPM! Yee Haw! I can definitely tell the difference. Well the new redline is a no brainer and quite obvious, above 4-4.5K RPM is where I can tell the biggest difference in power. I love rolling in 2nd gear at around 4K and nailing the throttle, that's what I'm talking about! And if you start in first and let it go to 7250 then shift to 2nd.....O yes, it'sa very nice! Can you say "whiplash". Plus with the higher RPM when it shifts it only drops to around 4750 when you go to 2nd gear so it's still pullin hard.

Robert and Wes are my hero's

P.S. In case there is any doubt after reading above.....I love my new ECU!

[CrimsonQ]

Awesome. I wanty

[qsiguy]

Doesn't anyone else have their new ECU installed yet?

[chinaonnitrous]

I have mine!

The ECU is a great peice of work. Definatly performes up to its hype. It pulls very hard, and the performance is solid, compared to the factory one.

I dont push the car much, and have only hit the REV limiter once, I dont feel entirely safe pushing the car. Aside from the new wheels, the suspension needs alot of help, as do the rear subframe bushings. Needs new struts/coilovers also.

Great work!

[elwesso]

Wow, thats amazing... I drove your car like 3 times and I already have more time at the redline than you......

[qsiguy]

7400 sure feels different than the old redline. I won't likely hit it very often but it sure is fun occasionaly to get the old blood pumping! Quite a howl (or should I say growl) from under the hood. Passed a guy on the freeway that was poking along in the fast lane this morning...good way to get your blood flowing early in the morning.

[Q_SHIP]

Yea, sometimes I miss my 93. The car was quick in stock trim. Y33 is not that bad but it's no G50 for all out balls.

[rsiwicki]

Ahh....I have my new Robert's MadMax Special Chip also. I have not had a chance to really test it out yet(installed this morning), but I did put on the after-burners in traffic and the car did feel quicker. Weather permitting I will be at the 1/4 mile track again next week Wednesday for some more 1/4 fun and will post the results of the new chip.

Now hopefully I can hit my last goal and break the 14 sec 1/4 mile ET barrier. That would be really sweet.

[CrimsonQ]

Ahh....I have my new Robert's MadMax Special Chip also. I have not had a chance to really test it out yet(installed this morning), but I did put on the after-burners in traffic and the car did feel quicker. Weather permitting I will be at the 1/4 mile track again next week Wednesday for some more 1/4 fun and will post the results of the new chip.

Now hopefully I can hit my last goal and break the 14 sec 1/4 mile ET barrier. That would be really sweet.

Youd be the man if you video taped it too:)

[rsiwicki]

http://q45.spilky.com/rob/Moroso.asf

download the link above...this is a 14.4?? ET run against stock 95Q that ran mid 15's. It is difficult to get a video...track is 90 minutes away and then they only allow test and tune at night so that is my video camera with night vision on which came out pretty damn good. As you can see...it is about a 2~2.5 car length difference (front bumper to front bumper) at the end which ain't really all that much for a whole 1.0 sec difference in ET's.

[TgduMg]

Now hopefully I can hit my last goal and break the 14 sec 1/4 mile ET barrier. That would be really sweet.

Keeping my fingers crossed



Danisiti 1

[Q45denver]

Did any of you opt for the switchable ECU?

[RobertsnewQ]

Rswicki's is, although he had me do some special programs for him. The jury's still out on it. I've been running mine for a couple of weeks, but I went back to my previous setup - hacked stock ECU fully programmable through a custom Consult interface.

I'll let Rob tell you all how it works.

[JedCoop]

Just got my new chip the mail today - woohoo!

Before swapping I've been trying to think of an objective performance measure, something I can use to compare an OEM ECU versus the Wes/RoboQ-ECU. Something you can do from inside the car on public streets without smoking tires. I just don't always trust my butt-dynamometer.

I think that looking at speed differences will be more accurate for comparing the same car before and after the ECU change. My one idea so far requires the help of a passenger: * take highway on-ramp at a steady known speed, say 30 MPH in second gear, (OR 20 MPH in first gear or..) * the passenger says "go" just as your front bumper reaches some landmark like a light pole or tree. * WOT * As the passenger sees the car pass a second landmark he/she reads your speedometer. Or better, take a video and yell as you pass the landmark.

If you want to stay legal, choose a landmark close to where you reach max. highway speed. The results will vary based on gearing relative to the speeds at the beginning and end of the test distance... some more thought is needed there.

Do you think this will really show what I want with any accuracy?Or does anybody have other ideas/experience?

[Q451990]

Dennis is a big fan of the stopwatch 20-80 test... that on-ramp beside T3 has good visibility

Heath

[Jeff Williams]

Find someone with a G-tech.

[JedCoop]

Find someone with a G-tech.

http://www.gtechpro.com/

Neat $200 toy! (its the $200 part I don't like)

[Q45denver]

I have an older Gtech pro that I've used maybe two times that you could have for $50?

[JedCoop]

Sounds nice, thanks!!! I'll send you an email

[bmwkiller]

Did any of you opt for the switchable ECU?

I did. Haven't got it yet...it's still being worked on. I liked Wes's idea of a 'valet' mode, so I'm having that installed, along with the 'performance' program, and I'm keeping the stock program. I'm going to wire it all to a keyed swich on the center consol and have my local print shop make me something marked "V - S - P" as indicators for the switch. I'll be able to set it to "Valet", "Stock", or "Performance" mode. Should be neat, I hope.

[qsiguy]

Ran my first full tank through and mileage is down by 2 1/2 mpg to 15 1/2mpg from ave of 18mpg. Of course, it's not a really accurate test because I had a rather heavy foot for that whole tank of gas . Maybe I'll have a more accurate reading on the next tank if I can ease up on the throttle.

[3Q Jay]

now have 1200 miles on the Bowen ECU. let me just say that i see no negatives.the engine fires quicker and the hot start oscillation is cgone (coincidence?)the pull from 2000 revs up is sweet! around town driveability is awesome compared to before. definite improvement on the 'lugging outta the hole' feeling (still doesn't roast 'em from a standing start, but will at least hop).

600 mile road trip averaged 19.5-20 mpgs. solid city is around 11, but was only 11-12 before.

all in all: 2 thumbs waaaayy up!

[qsiguy]

11 mpg!@#$@! Wow, and to think I was complaining about 15. What year Q do you have and why are you getting such poor mileage? I don't ever remember getting less than 14-15 mpg in my '94 and average 17-18 on my commute with 2/3 city 1/3 freeway miles (37 miles total each way to work).

[3Q Jay]

94. i attribute poor mileage in city to: 1. active pump (mine works even harder due to a temporary fluid resonance workaround) 2. never getting O2s really hot enough on an 5-8 mile run between start/stop. 3. too many dang stoplights. 4. too many WOT runs from aforementioned stoplights (only WOT after at least 10 minutes of course).

[elwesso]

thats the key... When you only drive less than 10 miles per startup, all bets are off for city gas mileage.

[DrewQ45]

now have 1200 miles on the Bowen ECU. let me just say that i see no negatives.the engine fires quicker and the hot start oscillation is cgone (coincidence?)the pull from 2000 revs up is sweet! around town driveability is awesome compared to before. definite improvement on the 'lugging outta the hole' feeling (still doesn't roast 'em from a standing start, but will at least hop).

600 mile road trip averaged 19.5-20 mpgs. solid city is around 11, but was only 11-12 before.

all in all: 2 thumbs waaaayy up!

Are you guys shifting manually or are we talking full auto here?

[qsiguy]

Full auto most of the time, I'll drop it down to 1st and nail the throttle through 2nd gear up to about 70mph about once a day whether it needs it or not, you know, to blow out the cob webs! Oooo what a rush.

[RobertsnewQ]

Jay - Cold running & warm driveability will be improved, especially at idle - I use the JDM settings for the closed loop, EGR and carbon canister.

Once warmed up they're the same, but the USA version is set up to go closed loop at a lower engine temp for meeting US/CA cold start cycle.

The CA version is the crappiest-running of the three, especially cold. It's just too aggressive, especially on a "loose" engine.

Any of them will pass CA sniffer test, but the ECU must be "For Offroad Use Only on Non Pollution Controlled Vehicles."

[rsiwicki]

I put about 700 miles on Robert's ECU this weekend and used the Mad Max program that deleted O2, EGR, and some other stuff. Did not have a problem the entire trip on the interstate and car is and was very very fast. It definitely is a lot more effortless to go from 80 to 100mph without pressing too hard on the pedal and then the WOT runs are really nice on the interestate running very very fast. Unfortunatley do to some other priorities...I will not be able to get to the track soon, but I would have to say I would be a solid 0.2 secs quicker in the 1/4 mile. The car absolute flies from 5,000~7,300rpms. I really don't feel too much difference in the lower rpms although there is an improvement which is probably due somewhat to my cars setup. I can tell you for certain that I was getting rather bored with my current acceleration capabilities yawning often, but now with Robert's ECU the car just literally screams down the highway. My passenger who has been in numerous street races with me in my car and driven it was like...WTF did you do to your car and I had not told him about the new ECU as I wanted to see if he noticed a difference. We did a few WOT runs on the interestate and he and I were both very impressed. Also not to mention a guy in a M5 the other night was sweating bullets also as he only pulled on me by 1/2 car length from 70mph to 125mph. We both got a very good solid dead even start and went at it evenly...with my front bumper ending up on his passenger rear door. Even I was shocked to see me hang that tight with the guy although I did ride the 7,300rpm redline a little longer than expected as I was concentrating on many other factors versus just my rpms.

Cheers to Robert and his dedicated work....

Now I just need to get the beast to the track for some real documentation of my estimated 0.2 sec improvement in 1/4mile ET's.

[redmanfx]

I can't seem to notice to much difference with mine. Can't redline it either. Hopefully it's just me. Taking the Q for a run to my friends here shortly. I have to be doing something incorrectly not to redline this ECU. I'll stomp on it on the way over to his house and see what happens.

red