I'm not really thinking of the U-TEC but rather the ECU+ found on mach v's site, but there's no sub forum for it. It's much cheaper and sounds like it does a hell of a lot.

My question is this, obviously there's some serious things that could go wrong when tuning the ECU, and you kinda have to know what you're doing to make sure you don't F your engine up. Do most of these units come with instructions that teach you about the theory of a/f, boost, and timing? I'm a smart guy, but I don't have any experience with tuning, but I also think I can learn anything if I have the proper instructor, so how the hell do I gain this knowledge? is it rocket science?

 

There's no rocket science, but you do have to be careful. I would read up on posts that detail fuel tuning and how much boost people are running safely. I'd probably stay away from any aggressive timing, at least to start with.

Gauges are your friend. I like having an EGT gauge in the car, and I love my wideband air/fuel gauge.

We're having some issues currently with the famous P0300 (Random/Multiple Misfire) code. The ECU+ seems to provoke that behavior on some Evos, and we don't yet know why or how to prevent that. For the time being, you'll have to be prepared for that if you buy an ECU+ for use on an Evo. (You may have to be prepared for it even if you DON'T buy an ECU+. It happens on quite a few stock Evos, too...) We hope to have this problem solved soon.

--Dan
Mach V
MachEVO.com

 

I just realized I'm posting in the UTEC forum. My advice could just as easily apply to UTEC tuning, too; the UTEC has all the capabilities of the ECU+ and more, including full stand-alone fuel mapping now. (That means, for example, you could raise the reve limit with the UTEC. The ECU+ can't do that.)

--Dan
Mach V
MachEVO.com

 

egt gauge
boost gauge
wideband O2

1. with these three things and a tuner of some sort you can tune without fear

2. ive personally run mine as lean as 12.5 to 1 on 103 octane at 24 psi with 23 degrees timing at the top i dont know if any one else has run theres this lean

3. 93 octane no more than 11 degrees midrange 17 deg top end 11.7 to 1 at 19 psi is my safe street tune ----820 deg egt at the top of fourth gear

4. i like to set my target afr first

5. start low on the timing and gradually add but dont get greedy and take big bites it takes time

6. also remember low timing causes high egt's

7. starting low use long fourth gear pulls to redline on a level run if possible

theres lots more to it than this but thats a start
regars rick

 

How can your egts be 820? 820C? My car is at 1,200F degrees driving around town not in boost.

 

sorry .....yes 820 celcius

 

What I did what read alot of books on tuning and engine in general. I got a couple of books on turbocharging. It's alot of fun to read these books. You'll be suprised how much you learn from reading these books. Reading stuffs off of forums are cool, but most of the time, the info is not detail enough to explain to you why you do certain things and how something works. I also ask alot of questions!!! Knowing the basics such as how a car's internal works and etc can make tuning alot more productive and fun. Good luck..!!!

You can do it, it doesnt take a rocket scientish to tune with the utec...

 

Titles of some of these books ?

 

Thats the first thing I suggest to everyone, three major things to learn about..

1) basic engine function (4 stroke)
2) Turbocharging
3) Ignition timing (and how it relates to the engine)

Anyway...

www.howstuffworks.com

Look up 4 stroke engines, ignition timing, and turbocharging.... most important basic concepts of tuning is understanding how turbocharging works, how compression and cam timing works, and how ignition timing, and its relationship to the engine's power stroke (after the spark plug fires)

 

Thanks guys... I'll be doing some research!