Two that are better than Motec

Pectel

and

Magneti Marelli

All three are very hard to use on anything that is street legal.

 

At the risk of being redundant....why are these "better"? What specifically makes them "better". Pectel I have used several times....while a pefectly competant system (as ANY of them are in the right hands, which has been my point all along), it was nothing special.....it did not allow me to do anything any better or any faster than any other ecu I have used. This is a perfect example of why brand shopping, especially in the realm of ecu's, offers little benefit.

Neither the Motec nor the Pectel were "hard" to use on a street car at all...I found both the be quite user friendly, though Motec's support blew Pectel's away IMHO.

Adam

 

For the record....My air filter was a K&N

ALSO...Ive done ALOT of research...I asked some of the DSM guys to come here and inform us on some of their progress with the Microtech...Im seriously considering this...u can use a laptop, hand held or a dash mounted controller to adjust on the fly..it has all of the same things the aem and motech have and its only like 8-1200 bucks...we need some input here...

 

How are you going from the AEM plug and play to a hard wired unit?
The AEM is really a great unit and my opinion is to stick with this.

 

Well I havent made any decisions yet..I just want to really discuss it in full before I do....from what Im gathering the microtech is a much more versatile system...even though its a hard wired system what does it matter? I think its about an hour of work to hook it up...it seems to be the system to use..Where cost is no object Im seeing people using the Microtech...and its cheaper than their competition...Im just findign it hard to get a really good debate with anything concrete to support any system

 

You already spent the money on the AEM and their willing to resolve these problems...why go through the hasstle. Considering the AEM is on the world's fastest import...what more is there to say?

 

I want to try and clear up some of the questions on the differences between Microtech,Haltech,AEM,Electromotive,Motech and the rest of the units out there.

I have been working with stand alone units since the day most of them were released to the public and was building boxes to get grey market cars through inspection in the 80's, so I have a pretty good idea of how all the units are built and operate. Most of this knowledge comes from my business partner who worked as the head engineer for Motorola for 25 years building and testing the chips that are in almost all of the units available. As I have learned from him each manufacturer uses there own algorithm to interface with there components, and here lies the big difference. Evey unit on the market is designed to run any vehicle regardless of make, model or cylinders/rotors amount and that means a universal dodderboard and chip. These units work very well for some and not so great for others. When they do have problems the companies install buffers, patches, piggy back boards, whatever it takes to convince the system to run correctly. The difference with the Microtech units is that each unit is customized for the vehicle application, the correct board is installed with chip and configured to work with that vehicles sysem and a base map is pre loaded to make startup simple. So bascially the unit takes less than a hour to install and turn the key from cold start and you are running, no having to setup the cold start and idle values to begin with, you can modify them after that. Then you can plug in your laptop or hand controller and tune to your delight. The bigest deal you have is ignition controll and this is where Micotech will not lower there standards. the ignition is designed to work with the specific vehicles ignition and no others, so yes you cannot just take it out of your RX7 and plug it in to your corvette and start it up. You have to send the unit back to Microtech or us and have the chip replaced and the board reconfigured for your specific vehicle and the fee for this is much much cheaper than buying a new unit. The new units coming in a few months will have the same capabilities as the Motech units but with better ignition control and a much cheaper price which will make a lot of people happy. The current pricing on the MIcrotech units run from 550.00 to 1100.00 depending on how much system you need. Also new plug and play units will be available so that should make you plug and play style guys happy also. And so you all understand, the only sensor you have to buy to run a Microtech is a 35.00 map sensor from GM or whoever you want to get yours from and that is it, ALL the sensors your engine have from the factory interface with the Microtech units. And even if you upgrade your cars ignition or rework it completely the Microtech will still be capable of dealing with it. I hope I answered a few question for you.

Max

 

Just as a Microtech RX7 Board won't work on an evolution; a Civic AEM EMS will not work on an evolution. There are distinct differences in the idle control boards (among other things).

 

That is where most other units fail. They use the same board and just reconfigure the programing. Where Microtech changes bothe te board and Program to exactly meet the factory design. I guess the best proof I ever saw was a Gen 3 RX7 we had just finished a tune on with a unit that will remain un named but is extreemly popular. We swapped it for a Microtech LT8 unit and used the exact same tuning settings from the other unit and we made 42 more horse power at the wheels and the car had mid range grunt that was unbelievable. The owner was blown away and the unit cost him 600 dollars less than the one we took out.

Max

 

Ok..sounds good but why isnt microtech more popular? why do people swear by AEM and Motech and only a few select people use the Microtech?...why exactly did this car magically make 42 more horsepower, what do you attribute it to? Is the microtech unit faster, easier, does it process information better? I dont mean to be negative but I keep hearing people saying Mine is better or Brand A beats Brand B...but I cant find any hard evidence of why one is better in a practical manner...although you did mention that microtech unit works with the factory ignition of each car...does AEM and Motec do that too? How about that super expensive Motec system...can the microtech compare?

 

Is it possible to have a "shootout" of JUST facts here supporting each sytstem? and pluses and minuses instead of opinion

 

John,

All standalones are going to have there good and bad things. Most of the more reputable ones will always give you their full support. You have to go with the one YOU OR YOUR TUNER FEEL MOST COMFORTABLE. What good is a xxx if your tuner is comfortable with yyy and swears by it? Here in Orlando Microtech is pretty big. Why? Because we have a great tuner here that can provide full support and is very knowledgeable with that stand alone. So get the one that you or your tuner feel most comfortable wiring up and tuning. Wether it be a AEM, TEC 3, whatever. You get the point.

If you don't have anybody down there than can help you out take the short trip up here and you will never regret it

 

Well thats a lovely story and your knowledge of microtech is certainly helpful but I am not following how the same settings (specifically the same boost/timing/fuel settings) could translate into something to the tune of 42 WHP. The VE of the engine wasnt changed so what factors IYO attributed to this?? Better Knock attenuation? Sure those boost settings didnt change? Is the absolute resolution of the microtech that much better than this competetor? Sure those timing settings were the same? Even if the resolution was so much better I dont see how the peak settings couldnt have been obtained with the other ECM (kinda like what we see with SAFCs and reflashes) Was the gas upgraded to c16?

 

OOoooo... Unfortunately that would be incorrect info if you are referring to the AEM EMS regarding this.

AEM (and GEMS) use the same main boards in the box for all vehicles. Then they make a specific daughterboard piece that makes it specific to a car with all the necessary changes to deal with the specific sensors, values, connector and much more.

Looks like this inside:



Larger Image

Mike W

 

I posted in the other trhread , as i will here. Every tuner has their own preferences. This is based on many things. Some being, product availability, support after the sale, ease of software use and profit margin. Some times economics will dictate and sometimes plain old word of mouth. Someone has something that works well and the other guy wants that too. Really i have worked with some good and BAD systems out there. From piggys to stand alones to hardwired parralel systems. I just find the AEM in this and many more applications to be a fantastic unit. Plug and Play for the most part is important that really no "hacking" of the harness is needed and then the true tuning abilities are showcased. Haltech, MoTec and FAST. Those systems i've used and they are all good in their particular respects. Do i have a favorite? Again it depends on the items i listed above. I have never used the Microtech or the Autronic. They are both good systems from what i hear. But as i have always been taught. Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see.
John, seriously stick it thru with Frank and he will take care of you.
If at that point you are not happy then take the path you may. But at this point you've been dealt in the game, might as well finish out the hand.