Which NICO ECU Do I Have?

[goody90q45]

I bought a NICO ECU a couple of months ago and have been having a good time lighting the streets up. I really had never read any of the threads on the NICO ECU's since I didn't think I'd ever get one but I got the urge one day to see what all the hype was about and bought it.

I got a brief explanation from the seller when I purchased it but am having a hard time understanding from the archived posts what the features are of this ECU. It has no wires hanging out and as far as I know has only one setting- FAST. Any help? How much did they sell for? Thanks all.

[Haitian_King]

No clue. Mine had Wes's name on it.

Goody, not to hijack your thread, but I had a terrible time trying to put my ECU in today. I took the glovebox out and the bottom right part of the dash, and I still couldn't get to the screws holding the stock ECU in. I don't have to take off the whole dash, do I? I would have worked on it longer but I was late for work. I did manage to put the TCU in. You were right. First Gear Start is AMAZING!

[Q45man1]

Mike,

I think you have the first version. If there's no switch or wire hanging out you have the stage 2. Mine (not to get you jealous!!) is the stage 3 (0-6 settings), switch and wirei hanging out. Enjoy your ECU.

Percy

[elwesso]

Yeah you just have stage II, which overall is a good program. The difference between stage II and stage III isnt that much. its a later run so we probably sold it for either $150 or $250, i cant remember....

Hatian, you dont have to take the glove box out, you're doing something wrong. You may have to take that lower trim piece off, but sometimes you can just put a screw bit into a 1/4 in socket ot get that top one off...

I dont know what is giving you the problem, did you remove the ECU harness connector first?

[goody90q45]

Wes- Can you explain what the writing means on the ECU. Thanks

[Q45tech]

Ecu are easy once you lean the WOT mixture less than stock you can advance the timing more than stock eventually you run into the limits of the fuel which is affected by the temperature of the gasoline/air charge and the combustion chamber minimum/maximum temperature*.

Stages may be less than 2 degrees of advance increments at 6,000+ rpms and nothing down low at 3-4,000.

Remember the KS system starts getting ignored above 4,000 rpm so safety is totally in the hands of chip programmed advance and the fuel you purchased that day.

* The coolant temp sensor reports an average of the coolant which is very very removed and lagged in time from the piston tops or exhaust valve temperatures. The flame front speed [from spark plug] traveling thru the mixture is a function of gasoline density [AF ratio] and air temperature after the gasoline has cooled it and the previous rpm has heated it. [previous residual heat].

Remember premium gas burns SLOWER than regular so it can take more advance without knocking.........................all that counts is creating AF and ignition conditions that cause peak cylinder pressure to occur at 14-16 degrees after TDC when this pressure can push down the piston with the most force at the correct angle to rotate the crank BEST.

Think sine/gauss wave at the top is best and any earlier or later is not as good.

22 + 15 = 37 degrees from ignition to the BEST TORQUE point means the flame takes 37 degrees to burn 66% of fuel

28 + 15= 43 degrees for Best POWER pointat 6,000 rpm it takes 6 degrees longer to burn than at 4,000, however the time of 6 degrees in milliseconds in 50% less than at 4,000 rpm........a fact often overlooked just thinking in degrees of engine rotation.

[goody90q45]

Tech- Thanks for the response. You must have either cut and pasted it from your library or started typing earlier this afternoon. (LOL) I'm pretty sure you just gave me an explanation of the re-tuning for 91 octane. I followed you for the most part.

How can tuning the ECU change the redline and shift points without damaging the engine? To be honest, I haven't pushed it anywhere close to redline, not sure why you'd want to go above 7000 rpm. What does the JDM smog and 4200 VTC mean?

[Haitian_King]

You see how it says "91 Octane Only"?

That's premium right? I think my pump said 92.

[Q45man1]

Haitian King-You can use 91+ only octane rating. 91 is considered premium and if you can get 92 in your area you're in good shape.

[Haitian_King]

Sweet. Thanks a million. I'd hate to put the wrong stuff in. I didn't realize the importance of Premium until a couple of months after I bought my Q.

[3Q Jay]

Mike- i don't know all the ins and outs, but.....your program has more aggressive timing thruout the rev range. robert always mentioned that he couldn't give any more than stock advance at 2000 due to detonation (don't know if that was due to his engine and not trying to get off topic), but the key is from off idle you get a bit more, and then above 2300 or so you get quite a bit more along with some leaning at higher rpm.it retains EGR functionit is not a 93 octane minimum (he did a few of those including a 91/93 switcher for me--for when i move to FL permanent), but does require 91 min to keep from high rpm detonation when the ks get ignored as Dennis was saying.the VVT 4200 means that the VVT turns back OFF at 4200 regardless of throttle position. I think this was stock, most of us asked to extend VVT band out to 4600.7200 is your fuel cut or rev limiter. most of the G50 tachs ive seen read optomistic rpm, so if you wound it out, you might indicate 7500-7600 before fuel cut.redline and fuel cut are not necessarily the same. the redline for your engine didn't change when the rev limiter was changed. redline is typically set to keep alternators from grenading, valves from floating, and occasionaly water pumps from cavitating (haven't heard of the latter as an issue on our engines). in absence of all other limitations eventually the reciprocating mass would come apart. 7600 rpm seems to be the accepted value here for the true (not indicated) rpm limit for a perfect condition VH45DE.in stock ECU form, we should never actually be able to tach into the red zone due to the stock 6900 rev limiter.

[maxnix]

Which brings us to the point of who has the logs that Robert kept for all the ECU he did.

[goody90q45]

Mike- i don't know all the ins and outs, but.....

Thanks Jay (and Tech and Wes). Great explanation and you answered all my questions except... JDM smog. Is that Japanese Domestic Market settings vs. CA/Fed settings? I'm getting very comparable gas mileage around town (NICO ECU 15.0 mpg, OEM ECU 15.5 mpg) and the way I've been leadfooting it for the last month it's probably the same or better. I'm assuming all the emissions and EGR are programmed to function (since I'm not getting a CEL) and I should be able to pass smog next time it rolls around.

.....I think you have the first version. If there's no switch or wire hanging out you have the stage 2. Mine (not to get you jealous!!) is the stage 3 (0-6 settings), switch and wire is hanging out. Enjoy your ECU. Percy

It's been a lot of fun even though I've got the b@stard stepchild ECU. I can see why you guys are lining up to get the latest version.

[silver2k2]

Haha, I rememeber you saying you would never get one. I need to come check out the improvement

[biggietx]

Are there any ECU's for the 2002 and later Q's?

[Q45tech]

There are none for OBD2 96 and later if emissions are a concern.

[biggietx]

What does "if emissions are a concern" mean? Does that mean there are ECU's but they won't pass? Or there are none because you could not pass?

[96Qowner]

None that anyone knows of.

OBDII is a hassle (emissions for one thing) and there's no EPROM to simply reflash.