S3 upgrading ECU, advise needed
Discussion
Dear all,
Our cars are getting older and so is the limited electronics they were supplied with. Mine is soon 30 years and it is not unlikely that the electronic components in the ECU soon will start showing their age by potential malfunctioning.
Hence, I would like some help and input how to upgrade the Ford EEC IV ECU to something more modern. Mine is a S3C ie a Cat car with dual Lampda’s. The engine has had some work put in to it and it would be nice to get some of that power to the rear wheels which I’m sceptic to is the case today.
Is there someone there that has updated the ECU in the S3 (Ford 2.9L) without turbo or supercharger installations. What did you chose, why and what improvements did you see.
Did you do other modifications to increase power and if so that you unleash extra power with the new ECU?
Kind regards
//Rob
Our cars are getting older and so is the limited electronics they were supplied with. Mine is soon 30 years and it is not unlikely that the electronic components in the ECU soon will start showing their age by potential malfunctioning.
Hence, I would like some help and input how to upgrade the Ford EEC IV ECU to something more modern. Mine is a S3C ie a Cat car with dual Lampda’s. The engine has had some work put in to it and it would be nice to get some of that power to the rear wheels which I’m sceptic to is the case today.
Is there someone there that has updated the ECU in the S3 (Ford 2.9L) without turbo or supercharger installations. What did you chose, why and what improvements did you see.
Did you do other modifications to increase power and if so that you unleash extra power with the new ECU?
Kind regards
//Rob
Back in the day, Podie had a Dastek Unichip fitted to his V6S with good results .. was the subject of a Pistonheads news story I think .. 15hp or something was the gain. He seemed well pleased with the result at the time.
The Dastek Unichip is a piggyback style ecu signal-fudger and as such retains the airflow meters if fitted - some cars have MAP sensors, and so the potential gains are greater if you have airflow meters to remove, and if they are restrictive.
I have plenty of Emerald and TVR experience, but whilst I've fitted and mapped many cars with the later 24valve version of the engines fitted, I haven't ever done a 12 valve V6. One owner enquired about it but never took it any further.
The Emerald right at this moment cannot support twin lambda sensors, however I have a very good relationship with Emerald such that in the coming weeks I will be testing the first of the twin lambda / twin adaptive table ecus for them, as I would very much like to offer this option for the tvr owners and indeed already have 2 cerbera owners and a tuscan owner watching this with interest.. If it all tests out successfully (and I've no reason to think it should be anything other than perfect, everything else they do is!) then that would be the model to go for if twin lambdas is important. Bear in mind though that if you want per-bank trimmed fuelling that limits the injector firing sequences you can run. Paired cylinders on opposing banks can't be done for instance, batch fire is of course no problem.
The Ford ecu is notoriously hard to re-code to the point where if you're looking for more power and /or reliability / economy you pretty much have no option other than to swap it out.
Plenty to think about, let me know if you need any more help.
The Dastek Unichip is a piggyback style ecu signal-fudger and as such retains the airflow meters if fitted - some cars have MAP sensors, and so the potential gains are greater if you have airflow meters to remove, and if they are restrictive.
I have plenty of Emerald and TVR experience, but whilst I've fitted and mapped many cars with the later 24valve version of the engines fitted, I haven't ever done a 12 valve V6. One owner enquired about it but never took it any further.
The Emerald right at this moment cannot support twin lambda sensors, however I have a very good relationship with Emerald such that in the coming weeks I will be testing the first of the twin lambda / twin adaptive table ecus for them, as I would very much like to offer this option for the tvr owners and indeed already have 2 cerbera owners and a tuscan owner watching this with interest.. If it all tests out successfully (and I've no reason to think it should be anything other than perfect, everything else they do is!) then that would be the model to go for if twin lambdas is important. Bear in mind though that if you want per-bank trimmed fuelling that limits the injector firing sequences you can run. Paired cylinders on opposing banks can't be done for instance, batch fire is of course no problem.
The Ford ecu is notoriously hard to re-code to the point where if you're looking for more power and /or reliability / economy you pretty much have no option other than to swap it out.
Plenty to think about, let me know if you need any more help.
I also spent hours looking for a solution on Internet, for the same reasons as Phillipot : smoother running.
But i didn't find any simple solution. Megasqirt needs an adaptator board :
https://www.diyautotune.com/support/tech/install/f...
Looking for an aftermarket solution, I found solutions using the "J3 port" of the EEC IV genuine ECU.
TwEECer could be a solution :
http://www.tweecer.com/
Moates also provides solutions
http://www.moates.net/ford-pre2005-c-63.html
I'm looking for a full package and explanation....not so easy
But i didn't find any simple solution. Megasqirt needs an adaptator board :
https://www.diyautotune.com/support/tech/install/f...
Looking for an aftermarket solution, I found solutions using the "J3 port" of the EEC IV genuine ECU.
TwEECer could be a solution :
http://www.tweecer.com/
Moates also provides solutions
http://www.moates.net/ford-pre2005-c-63.html
I'm looking for a full package and explanation....not so easy
spitfire4v8 said:
Back in the day, Podie had a Dastek Unichip fitted to his V6S with good results .. was the subject of a Pistonheads news story I think .. 15hp or something was the gain. He seemed well pleased with the result at the time.
The Dastek Unichip is a piggyback style ecu signal-fudger and as such retains the airflow meters if fitted - some cars have MAP sensors, and so the potential gains are greater if you have airflow meters to remove, and if they are restrictive.
I have plenty of Emerald and TVR experience, but whilst I've fitted and mapped many cars with the later 24valve version of the engines fitted, I haven't ever done a 12 valve V6. One owner enquired about it but never took it any further.
The Emerald right at this moment cannot support twin lambda sensors, however I have a very good relationship with Emerald such that in the coming weeks I will be testing the first of the twin lambda / twin adaptive table ecus for them, as I would very much like to offer this option for the tvr owners and indeed already have 2 cerbera owners and a tuscan owner watching this with interest.. If it all tests out successfully (and I've no reason to think it should be anything other than perfect, everything else they do is!) then that would be the model to go for if twin lambdas is important. Bear in mind though that if you want per-bank trimmed fuelling that limits the injector firing sequences you can run. Paired cylinders on opposing banks can't be done for instance, batch fire is of course no problem.
The Ford ecu is notoriously hard to re-code to the point where if you're looking for more power and /or reliability / economy you pretty much have no option other than to swap it out.
Plenty to think about, let me know if you need any more help.
Hi SpitThe Dastek Unichip is a piggyback style ecu signal-fudger and as such retains the airflow meters if fitted - some cars have MAP sensors, and so the potential gains are greater if you have airflow meters to remove, and if they are restrictive.
I have plenty of Emerald and TVR experience, but whilst I've fitted and mapped many cars with the later 24valve version of the engines fitted, I haven't ever done a 12 valve V6. One owner enquired about it but never took it any further.
The Emerald right at this moment cannot support twin lambda sensors, however I have a very good relationship with Emerald such that in the coming weeks I will be testing the first of the twin lambda / twin adaptive table ecus for them, as I would very much like to offer this option for the tvr owners and indeed already have 2 cerbera owners and a tuscan owner watching this with interest.. If it all tests out successfully (and I've no reason to think it should be anything other than perfect, everything else they do is!) then that would be the model to go for if twin lambdas is important. Bear in mind though that if you want per-bank trimmed fuelling that limits the injector firing sequences you can run. Paired cylinders on opposing banks can't be done for instance, batch fire is of course no problem.
The Ford ecu is notoriously hard to re-code to the point where if you're looking for more power and /or reliability / economy you pretty much have no option other than to swap it out.
Plenty to think about, let me know if you need any more help.
I'm in the process of making the exhaust for my AJ30 (Jag 3.0 v6) engine S1 and have ordered an Emerald K6+ ecu.. Would it be advantageous to weld a Lambda boss into each exhaust (about 600mm from the head) or go to a single just after both down pipes come together at the silencer?
Hi,
Thank you all for the input.
As I run my S3 supercharged normally I do have “open code” piggy bag chip on my EEC IV. That works fine but is old and rather unflexible. And the number of people that know how to program them is deminising rapidly .
The S3C is MAP sensor and with dual lamdas.
The EEC IV is more than 30 years old now. Who has a 30 years old computer ( 8086 ) at home?
It would be surprising if the new ECU’s cannot offer better performance. And several maps to switch between.
Kind regards
//Rob
Thank you all for the input.
As I run my S3 supercharged normally I do have “open code” piggy bag chip on my EEC IV. That works fine but is old and rather unflexible. And the number of people that know how to program them is deminising rapidly .
The S3C is MAP sensor and with dual lamdas.
The EEC IV is more than 30 years old now. Who has a 30 years old computer ( 8086 ) at home?
It would be surprising if the new ECU’s cannot offer better performance. And several maps to switch between.
Kind regards
//Rob
magpies said:
Hi Spit
I'm in the process of making the exhaust for my AJ30 (Jag 3.0 v6) engine S1 and have ordered an Emerald K6+ ecu.. Would it be advantageous to weld a Lambda boss into each exhaust (about 600mm from the head) or go to a single just after both down pipes come together at the silencer?
I would do all of that!I'm in the process of making the exhaust for my AJ30 (Jag 3.0 v6) engine S1 and have ordered an Emerald K6+ ecu.. Would it be advantageous to weld a Lambda boss into each exhaust (about 600mm from the head) or go to a single just after both down pipes come together at the silencer?
At the moment you can only run one lambda through your k6+ , so use the one downstream for the blend of gases.
You may be able to update your k6+ to dual lambda in the near future, in which case you can then use the two upstream lambdas.
Irrespective of that though, having lambda ports per manifold is good for diagnostics, so at this point you have the option to go for all three ports, so that's the way I would go!
sebackman said:
The EEC IV is more than 30 years old now. Who has a 30 years old computer ( 8086 ) at home?
My scientific calculator is 30 yo. I use it regularly. Yes, I could replace it by a new one, but is it better / quicker / more reliable for my usage ? That's the same thing for your ECU. It's pretty eternal. Is it cost-effective to spend a grand (and probably more) to replace it ? that's the real question.
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