Nice purchase! I have owned my DSM since 2003 and it has proven to be a very fun and reliable car. It is all in the quality of the build and taking care of it. DSM's get a bad name because they are fast and cheap so they are bought up by a lot of high schoolers, romped on, and not properly maintained. Evo's are heading in the same direction as the price gets lower and lower and DSM's get rarer and rarer.

As far as cursedsm's opinion of DSMtuners.com, I would like to remind that you that everyone has an opinion, so check out the site and form your own. Joining Dsmtuners back in 2003 was without a doubt the best thing I ever did for my car. It is the largest DSM forum in the world for good reason. As with any forum, this one included, it has it's share of ******** but I highly encourage you to check it out for yourself. It is also packed with extemely knowledgeable and helpful DSM owners and a search there will answer almost any question you may have without even having to ask it.

 

Yes, you must have an EPROM chip to run ECMlink. Just take the cover off the ECU and refer to the pictures below to see if you have one or not. If you don't have one dont sweat it, Tom and Dave at ECMtuning can convert your ECU to an EPROM for a fee ($135 or $95 with the purchase of v3).
ECU without EPROM:


ECU with EPROM:


ECU with ECMlink V3 chip (same chip for lite or full versions):


Actually you can, and i have, run speed density with V3 lite. I would say V3 lite is plenty for the vast majority of daily driven DSM's. The only reason I upgraded to V3 full was for the boost by gear setup. Otherwise I would still be rocking V3 lite. The really nice thing is that you don't lose any money by buying lite and upgrading to full down the road as opposed to just buying v3 full. I think the difference is like $5. It was well worth it to me.

 

I owned a 1992 TSI running a GT3076r on E85. It was a great vehicle as I used it as a daily. It was even better once I made the switch to the EVO8 ECU. All in all, Brian has given you great advice. Enjoy!

 

I have the same setup as you do but I run an aem and I am not tuned for e85 yet

 

PM sent, my friend.

 

Quick update on the car. Transfer case was leaking pretty bad after I got it home. Previous owner had changed the TC seal the day before I bought it so he may have installed it wrong.

That being said, I called Chrysler just for fun to check for recalls on the car and guess what, there is a transfer case leak recall that was never performed on my car.

Right now the car is at the dealership having a full TC service free of charge. Thank heaven for safety recalls that never expire. The funny part was when I called to schedule the appointment the service guy asked why I was bringing an Eagle to the Chrysler dealership. I told him that Chrysler actually owned Eagle and tried to make him feel like a moron.

Outside of that leak, the car is great. Feels really tight for 170k. There is some oil seeping from the return line where it mounts into the oil pan. I have a new gasket ordered with crush washers and will replace it when I get the car back.

 

Gotta love them recalls.