My first impression of the BETTER THAN JWT Q45 ECU

[dsagers]

Christmas day afternoon, I installed the “BETTER THAN JWT Q45 ECU” sent out by Robert Bowen.

First Impression: NICE!

My 91 Q responds faster off throttle, the cams kick in earlier so freeway driving is really improved. The car definably feels like it has more power. My Butt-o-meter cannot give an accurate reading, and some of the improvement may be due to wishful thinking, and justification for the money I spent.

Swapping the ECU is easy, and even for a first timer like me it was a 20-minute job.

Took the car out for a test drive, and noticed improved acceleration off throttle when pulling away from a stop light. Got on the freeway entrance that I use to drive to work, traffic was clear and the roads dry, so I nailed it. In the small amount of time it took to check the mirrors for officer friendly, the tach was swinging past 6,000 and the speedometer was just about touching 100 mph.

After driving this freeway entrance for the 6+ months I’ve owned the car, let me tell you, I have never experienced this acceleration in the Q before.

Bottom line is, even with the mild tune, the car responds to the throttle better, the engine runs great and with the cams kicking in earlier, the power band has moved down the RPM scale and is more usable for me. At the asking price, it is a bargain. Definitely recommended.

THANKS TO ROBERT!!!

[Q45CALIBER]

Thats Great!!!! Can't wait for the 94 GB..

[Q45tech]

"the tach was swinging past 6,000 and the speedometer was just about touching 100 mph."

Metaphorically speaking?

91Q gearing that might acheive 100 mph assuming oem diameter tires:[2nd gear 7400 rpm] [3rd gear 4800 rpm][4th gear 3333 rpm]

[dsagers]

Q45tech, I say this all with a smile, so please don’t be offended. You should work as either an accountant or an engineer, as your information is 100% accurate, but not useful. And, I can say that because I’m a CPA, so I understand.

Every hear the old joke, ask an account (or engineer) what color that horse is over in the pasture, and he will answer, brown, “at least on this side?” 100% accurate, but what’s the point?

My little test drive was anything but scientific, that’s the reason I referred to the “Butt-O-Meter.”

Now if I had a manual transmission and a strong clutch your calculations might be a valid argument to my claims. Your numbers are only useful if I was running on a on a flat road, steady speed, no tail or head wind, and the transmission operating perfectly with the torque converter locked up.

My test drive was on a stretch of freeway with a noticeable incline, I had the pedal to the floor and was accelerating for everything the car was worth. Do you think the torque converter was locked, or was it slipping as it is designed to do?

Another problem with trying to calculate RPM to MPH is my lack of detailed observations. In fact, I barely looked at the instruments, and seeing the needle at almost 100 MPH, I experienced the “OH ****” alarm as I realized I was going fast enough to spend time in jail and get a reckless driving ticket if the highway patrol caught me.

I was watching the road, not the instruments. I immediately let off the gas and applied the brakes to bring my speed down to something much safer and legal.

I stated honestly, what I saw on the tach and speedometer, not exaggerating, bragging or even speaking metaphorically.

"the tach was swinging past 6,000 and the speedometer was just about touching 100 mph."

Metaphorically speaking?

91Q gearing that might acheive 100 mph assuming oem diameter tires:[2nd gear 7400 rpm] [3rd gear 4800 rpm][4th gear 3333 rpm]

[guadofreak]

Q45tech, I say this all with a smile, so please don’t be offended. You should work as either an accountant or an engineer, as your information is 100% accurate, but not useful. And, I can say that because I’m a CPA, so I understand.

Every hear the old joke, ask an account (or engineer) what color that horse is over in the pasture, and he will answer, brown, “at least on this side?” 100% accurate, but what’s the point?

My little test drive was anything but scientific, that’s the reason I referred to the “Butt-O-Meter.”

Now if I had a manual transmission and a strong clutch your calculations might be a valid argument to my claims. Your numbers are only useful if I was running on a on a flat road, steady speed, no tail or head wind, and the transmission operating perfectly with the torque converter locked up.

My test drive was on a stretch of freeway with a noticeable incline, I had the pedal to the floor and was accelerating for everything the car was worth. Do you think the torque converter was locked, or was it slipping as it is designed to do?

Another problem with trying to calculate RPM to MPH is my lack of detailed observations. In fact, I barely looked at the instruments, and seeing the needle at almost 100 MPH, I experienced the “OH ****” alarm as I realized I was going fast enough to spend time in jail and get a reckless driving ticket if the highway patrol caught me.

I was watching the road, not the instruments. I immediately let off the gas and applied the brakes to bring my speed down to something much safer and legal.

I stated honestly, what I saw on the tach and speedometer, not exaggerating, bragging or even speaking metaphorically.

LMAO! at your response!

Glad to hear ya liked it! I too will wait tillt he 94's can be messed with.

[maxnix]

Q45tech, I say this all with a smile, so please don’t be offended. You should work as either an accountant or an engineer, as your information is 100% accurate, but not useful. And, I can say that because I’m a CPA, so I understand.

Duhh...he is an engineer (BSEE) and an MBA.

I hope you calculate better on your prepared tax returns. You probably saw the speedometer after it shifted into third, but the tachometer before.

Arithmetic doesn't lie, unlike some professionally licensed people.

[elwesso]

Just remember im running my 94 Q on a 90-93 modified ECU.

[dsagers]

maxnix, whats the problem?

"Duhh..." is a great way to open a sentence, especially for a grown man still trying to pass the third grade

Then, making a broad statement about a everyone in one profession being liars? What a jerk.

Kinda surprised at the response. I give my initial, very positive first impressions of a products a board member has spent a lot of personal time developing, and I get "Super Moderator" - BSEE, with an MBA to boot, telling me his math proves I could not have possibly seen what I saw.

Then to top it of, some nose picker from Texas chimes in and starts calling people liars, and wondering if I can correctly complete a tax return...?

OK Mannix, you have the big mouth, lets see you back it up. How do you account for the loss of MPH vs. RPM due to torque converter slip? Not even an MBA is going to help you out with that calculation. Maybe you can just make something up, and throw some that Texas BullSh*t around. Not that many will believe you, but go ahead, keep your jaws flapping and prove beyond all doubt you are the idiot some village is missing.

I'm sure that with all the work Robert Bowen and elwesso put into this project, they are just thrilled to have dip sh*t hijacking the thread.

I sincerely appreciate the great product that Robert is making available to us for an unbelievable low price. Compared to JWT, this is a gift. So Robert and elwesso, THANKS, you did a great job!!!

[elwesso]

Alright boys thats enough, i guess we forgot to take our geritol today.....

Just because it gave me an excuse to, i went out and took the car up to 6000 RPM in 2nd gear, and the car was going roughly 85MPH (couldnt stay there too long, was not safe)... Tech is right... However you were easily at 5000 RPM, which is certainly "close" to the 6000 RPM range... you should not be taking accurate RPM readings (w/o video camera) while going 100MPH anyway... Its very possible that you simply misread it, it may have bene what you THOUGHT you saw.. Your data may have been accurate but not precise...

Regardless of all this wasted time, im glad to hear that you like our ECU!!!! BTW, if you call me elwesso it takes me a second to register who that is because most people call me Wes...

[Q45tech]

"Metaphorically speaking?"...................why I put this in, I assume you were just saying "WOW............it's a lot better than before.......I like it".

Just that even 20 more HP or lb/ft will not create significant improvements in acceleration. It will require a stopwatch to know for sure.

After all the stock Q does the quarter at over 90 mph [15.5]and the best modified are under 100 mph [14.8].............when you are already this good stock..................every 0.1 seconds is hard to come by and harder to measure accurately.