Standalone ECU Best Standalone for Lextreme's New Project

The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.

Lextreme II

Active Member
For controlling Fuel and Timing. As recommended by few experts in here that I should run a computer to control fuel and ignition and the stock control the rest. Budget is an issue so give me your favorite standalone computer.

Thanks
 
megasquirt if your on a magor budget and/or a do it your selfer/ computer geek

AEM for a commercial unit

although im very intrested in this new Pro EFI system thats basicly a spinoff of AEM
 
Autronic is as good as Motec if you don't need the data logging ability.

It doens't make sense to me to spend $15,000.00 on an enging and then give it a second rate ECU.

The price differenct between great ECU's and average ECU's is probably $800.00 Aussie Dollars which is around 5% of the $15,000.00 you just spent.

On my engine the cost difference would be around 3-4% of what I have spent.

For $800.00 I get better drivability and more power and torque.

$800.00 is around half the price of a gasket set in Australia.
 
Lex mate this would be a good topic to add a poll in to it so everyone can add there comment as well as put down a vote for there recommendation.
 
Best Standalone EMS for Lextreme

OK this thread is about helping David (Lextreme) choose which is the best standalone ECU for "his" new project.

IMO the "best" standalone may not be the "best" one for him, due to reasons of economy, availability of tuners, support, and other factors.

I've listed the most popular ones here; if anyone doesn't see their favorite EMS listed, PM me and I'll add it.

Obviously, I didn't include the Pectels, EFI Technologies, or the high end Bosch's as the pricing on these get pretty ridiculous.
 
Lex mate this would be a good topic to add a poll in to it so everyone can add there comment as well as put down a vote for there recommendation.

Great idea! Done.

I think this is going to be a real popular thread......

BTW, I cast my vote for the AEM for the following reasons:

1. Support - there are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of these things in use in the USA now, particularly in Toyota products. There are support forums on AEM's website dedicated to every configuration, and there are many other support forums online for AEM owners and tuners.

2. Cost - Initial cost is only around $1400 USD and sometimes you can find them used for less

3. PnP - With an SC300 or 400, this ECU will replace the OEM ECU and plug directly into the car's harness. Once our resident tuner (see below) gets his setup sorted, a Lexus SC owner should be able to unplug his OEM ECU, plug in the AEM with a preloaded configuration, and get the car started in less than 30 minutes. There will still be fine tuning to do, but the misery of hacking a harness, installing special sensors, then finding out there aren't enough I/O to run the "whole" car, the way the OEM ECU did, won't exist.

4. Resident Tuner - Mitch Pederson, one of our members, was formerly an AEM factory engineer, and is running the AEM in his own SC400. He's currently working the bugs out, but according to him, the installation in the SC was very straightforward, and I don't think he's had to refit any sensors.

5. Familiarity - OK, I have one in my Supra, and Mitch will be reconfiguring it to run my 1UZ when we dyno next time.


Note, I don't believe for a minute that this is the absolute "best" ECU out there, but IMO it's one of the best for David.

I think with ECU's if we get hung up on buying one based on the technical specs only, we're going to miss the bigger issues of support, user friendliness, etc. To me, these things are like buying a high end home theatre system. Do I want to buy a collection of components based on their specifications alone, or should I buy a system recommended by my local home theatre expert installer, and get him to help configure it for me?

If I go it alone, and wade through the 500 pages of documentation that comes with all these components, and finally figure out how to get everything configured and working the first time, am I going to remember how to reprogram a channel on that do-it-all remote, six months down the road? Of course not.

So do you buy an EMS based only on its technical specs, or do you buy the one your local tuner recommends, knowing that he knows that EMS inside and out and can be there for you when the thing quits and you have to have the car towed (which does happen occasionally with standalones and DIY installations!)

I think any of the ECU's listed would probably work fine technically, but for David's case, I believe the AEM is tops.
 
Great idea! Done.

I think this is going to be a real popular thread......

yer im sure it will be, i know i will be keeping a close eye on it to see what people think about the different ecu's, as i will need 1 sometime soon. I think it will be good for people to add any personal experiences[FONT=&quot] [/FONT] with the different ecu's positive and negative so David and others including myself can make more informed choices for owe Xuzfe projects. prices that you paid for them would all so be a good thing to add to help compare with other ecu's also.
 
People in UAE just go for MoTeC.

The standard Nissan Patrol 4800 VTC can go over 240 Km/h with this ECU !!!!
 
But I think the Megasquirt is a good choice why:

- The great support you will get from the different forum.
- Very good price.
- Its open source and you can assemble yours to understand what is going on.
- The new LCD touch screen which you can use it to tune the engine easily.
- It can work with the 1UZ stock sensors as I heard.
 
I've always thought about AEM but with all the talk, I really haven't seen anyone that has one running on a 1UZ. So for me I wouldnt want him to be the guinea pig for an AEM implementation. I have heard of several people succesfully running the Autronic, Adaptronic and Megasquirt
 
Hey Morris,

I am in contact with few stand alone computer at this moment. The most promising would be Mega Squirt. There are two local MS turners near me. They can install and tune for me too. Looks like the MS unit will be around $755 or the eMS Pro going to run about $795.

Installation and tune will be around $1,500. These two local guys have experience with 1uzfe. My electrical knowledge is limited and dont want to deal with it. However, I am talking to Mitch also to see if his AEM powered SC400 is working properly. I will have few more months to finalize everything.
 
bad poll. It all depends on the tuner. All of the ECU's can control the engine I assume, so find a tuner who does the job best. With what ECU he does it is just a detail. Maybe an important detail, but there is no 'best ecu' unless you find one that is plug and play which just saves you a lot of work, time and money.
 
For very good advice on aftermarket ECU's I would PM Kdog (one of our moderators) he is an electronics engineer at one of our Universities and he has some interesting comments on different brands od ECU.

He's forgotten more about ignition systems than most of us will ever learn!
 


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