ECU Rempapping

[rava712]

Hi everyone,

Newcomer to NICO.

I am trawling the internet to find some cheap means of remapping my ECU on a s13 CA18DET.

I can take the car to some local tuners here in Ireland but I find it will be too expensive and being a Mechanical Engineer I would like to do all the tuning myself to get to know the basics of ECU tuning.

This subject has always interested me as I have always been a Nissan and sports car fan.

The problem is I have spent most of my budget on painting and getting the car ready for the road and it is not running properly.
I have upgraded the intercooler and since this upgrade the car has not run properly at all. Giving the odd back fire and just running too rich. I have taken this as an ECU problem as every other aspect of the engine and wiring has been checked umpteen times and it is really getting on my nerves at this stage.

Any info on some good free or cheap software to rectify this problem would be greatly appreciated and would solve alot of my problems i've had recently with the car.

Thnaks in advance for reading and hope to converse with some of you Nico heads soon.

All the best

Eamon McCauley
[email protected]
00353831882389

[blkvrtswp]

First of all, upgrading the intercooler does NOT require any tuning or ECU work. Period. You only need a tune if you upgrade your injectors and MAFS, usually along with a turbo upgrade.

I would recheck your couplings and BOV for leaks - bucking, inability to go over a certain boost psi and running rich are all caused by boost leaks.

Also, my opinion after 18 years playing with S13's: Amateur + ECU tuning = Boom. Better have a spare engine or two ready. Tuning is for the pros.

[rava712]

Hi blk thanks for swift reply. I have checked for leaks on all pipes, valves and that is why I came to the conclusion it was ECU related. The car was ditting up for year and was running fine until was idle.
I am wondering if you have any tuning experience as even without being tuned this time would definitely be tuned when upgrade turbo and injectors. I am looking for some good cheap programs for the job and some relevant sites where could get some good reading on the subject.
Thanks for the ideas and nice to hear from an sx driver in NY ( visiting in july) hope you enjoying the snow. Cheers

[blkvrtswp]

Good tuning options:

NISTUNE - install board on your stock ECU and install a program for the fuel map etc tune on the memory chips.
Apexi PowerFC - replaces the ECU entirely.
Greddy e-manage - piggy back intercepts the signals to your stock ECU and modifies them.

None of these are cheap, and also not recommended to learn on - unless you have spare motors lying around. Experienced tuners will use these to dyno tune your setup, the cost can be several hundred dollars per hour. This is the best option, it makes the most power.

The other option is Jim Wolf Technology (JWT) or Racing Service Enthalpy (Enthalpy) service to install the boards on your supplied OEM ECU, and provide a safe tune that can be customized for your turbo/injectors/cam/MAFS. This is the safe option, and makes plenty of power. Tuning can get maybe 10% more WHP than this but again, there is no room for error so it is tough to learn how to do it.

Or look on eBay - I see tuned ECUs on there all the time.

Good luck!