I was talking with a buddy of mine recently about his WRX and he was telling me that he has to change his ECU and all this other computer related stuff, somewhere in the upwards of a 1000 dollars just keep it running right after modification. Then he was asking me about our cars and the ECU and all that and I didn't know what to say. I know Howell makes a better ECU for 97's, but I guess my question is what makes our ECU so unique that it doesn't have to be replaced after heavy modification? I would consider my car heavily modified, complete re-vaped fuel setup with bigger injectors and all that, a stage II turbo kit, ML, and tons more, and I've never even touched my ECU. Car runs great. Even in the current MachV magazine there all kinds of various ECU's for the WRX and there isn't even a page in the book for the DSM's. Someone school me .....


1999 Anniversary Edition
HRC Stage II w/FMIC

"The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifegaurd"

technically, you dont need to replace the WRX ecu.... they spend well over a MILLION dollars making that thing. ive been modding my friends wrx as a side project for him, he basically buys the shit and i put it on...the fact is that ECU is sexy, it loves boost, it figures out fuel maps and everything..its freakin sick. but yea.. they do sell better ones with different fuel maps, etc

we dont need one really, ours works good on our motor without any upgrade. i know we have small probs running big injecotrs though. 310 is the most i think we can go on a stock ECU without a EIC or some other kind of injector controller. the ECU for the 97 cars just advances the timing a little bit i think gettin some hp out of it that way. if you have a datalogger, SAFC or some kind of e-manage fuel management, something or other, you essentially control the ECU, its just a computer....

hope that kinda helps

but in short, u dont NEED to upgrade the ECU..imo, its a waste of money
_________
96 talon esi-t
san clemente, ca

Uberingram> I bow down to the Geo

Yeah I own a WRX and they have so many out for them, and at times it's war between one ecu to another user. But in the WRX it shows some great numbers as on GTI's, and other cars. But even the DSM's never have issues until they get crazy. Just varies I guess.


http://www.cardomain.com/id/jasvbts2k2
"The ONLY Honda I'd mod would be ASIMO"

Sweet ride, AF/X makes a really good one (the only one that works actually) which is available at Howellautomotive.com. Stay away from the Jet performance chip and the venom performance module. The Jet is just crap and the venom is nowhere near worth what you would pay for it.

hmm, I'm thinking maybe I wasn't clear enough with my post. I'm certainly not looking to upgrade my ECU. I could care less. I'm just curious what makes our ECU so "flexiable" (for lack of a better word) verse other cars that have to have their ECU replaced after certain mods. Just seems like our ECU has more "play" in it or someting that makes it accepting of many modifications. Does that make sense?


1999 Anniversary Edition
HRC Stage II w/FMIC

"The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifegaurd"

I think maybe it's not our ECU that's so flexible...it's all the other crap that we add to our car that "fools" the ECU it thinking that nothing on the engine has changed. Like an S-AFC or the Missing Link/voltage clamp. Maybe the WRX's various ecu's deal with the changes internaly. Idunno...that's just a guess. but it makes since to me right now...LOL

our ECU's are "better" because they're less sophisticated. they don't care as much about little things. newer cars are much more bound to the computer then cars as old as ours and in the case of the GTI you can't change out the spark plugs on the stock ECU without it giving you hiccups. after market plugs like iridiums or something to that extent.

if you really think about it the 2gnt ECU is pretty bare bones. we don't even have a speed governor. it had the EGR system crap in it but the dealerships have flashed parts of that out of the ECU's. at least on my 95 they did.

That makes more sense to me ^^^. I kinda had a feeling that it might be more to with shopistication of it more than anything. If you think about it, our cars debuted in 95, which means the technology for it was probably developed in the early 90's - it's practically a decade later. Just another reason to be in love with a 2GNT :P


1999 Anniversary Edition
HRC Stage II w/FMIC

"The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifegaurd"