SOLVED ECU upgrade for R33 Gtst 1994E

[rocky ivy]

Hello im Looking to upgrade my ECU for my r33

Mod list

• Greddy Intake Plenum
• Greddy intercooler
• Apexi Airfilter
• Radium Fuel rail and bosch 550cc injectors
• greddy oilcatch can

Engine is otherwise fully stock and so is the fuel system beside injectors and rails. Aiming for reliable power at around 350hp (looking to increase over time, currently future proofing)

Upgrading from stock ECU but have no clue what to look for, MAXXECU has been recommended and haltech but if anyone has more experience please give opinions

[pliant field]

go with what your tuner is most experienced with

[pastel temple]

Hi, I quite literally do this shi for a living. What do you want from an ecu because If you have the ecu already from the turbo rb model I feel that ecu would be flexible enough to adapt to those mods well enough, maybe not quite taking the full advantage of those parts but definitely adapt pretty good to them.

If you want all the fancy features like flat foot, 2 step etc, you will need a full decat and expect to be upgrading the turbo soon if not already as the factory ones like to go when put under stress like this.

[rocky ivy]

I want a ECU thats pretty much plug n play, easily tunable if needed and good future proofing

Currently owned the car for like 4 months so the mods are pretty tame

But in the next few years, forged internals, bigger turbo, new headers full fuel system revamp ect

So basically a easily tunable, Easily installed, Ecu for a fair price that has future proofing

[digital sage]

GG @rocky ivy, you just advanced to level 5! Chat more to level up and earn top roles!

[rocky ivy]

the 350hp is the first goal, i doubt id ever go above 600

[pastel temple]

Me personally, especially for future proofing, I would look into g4x, they are quick to get into, I would assume they have a pre made up loom somewhere, they can access a very wide plethera of solutions for fancy stuff like flat foot and 2 step. I would ask your tuner tho as we all have different experience with different ecus and getting an ecu they are unfamiliar with may lead to mapping issues.

Not to mention they are easy to reflash so they hold their value as they can be ported from car to car

[rocky ivy]

You mean thease? Theres a link reseller pretty close to me so they should be able to tune more properly, but ill confirm before buying

[pastel temple]

As they are a full standalone

[pastel temple]

Yea these guys I stick to now fully, use to mix between haltech and link however when pushing a customers build, it would dip in voltage and this cause the car to lean out and killed it. Brand new didnt show any signs of wear, just defect from factory aswell as a few annoying quirks with their mapping software so now I'm loyal to link lol

Link may not be as flashy with features but if your not looking for 700 whp+ you will do just fine with link

[rocky ivy]

Yeah no, current plan is to have a fun car thats meets legal road criteria, has power to play with, but reliable

Been told from a friend whos also building a r33 that the stock ECU, altough does the job, wont keep up with more detailed mods and arent the easiest to tune

So something reliable futureproofed and easy to set up is the goal

[stuck trellis]

What about FUELTECH? Plan on throwing that in the Datsun

[pastel temple]

erm dont have much xperience with them as they are an american brand, they seem to be a good enough base from what i see

[stuck trellis]

I keep forgetting you’re from across the pond! 👋

[pastel temple]

ye

[pastel temple]

the problem with these ecus is they will attempt to keep up until they cant and can lead to lean out at high rpms killing the engine

[rocky ivy]

So if i grab the g4x with a pre loaded tune whats the risk?

Or should i just tune after every larger upgrade?

[pastel temple]

g4x tunes are pretty good if you go through the base map, will be perfectly safe to drive on until you can get it mapped

[pastel temple]

depends on cost and upgrade

[rocky ivy]

yeh alr so its not a risk, heard since my new fuel rails are top feed a tune is pretty necessary though

[pastel temple]

and depends how advanced the map is

if your concered richer is always better than leaner

[rocky ivy]

Yeh, i just know nothing abt tuning in general, adding new mods i can figure out but when it comes to the mapping im clueless

[pastel temple]

just keep an eye on the fuel trims especially after a modification

[rocky ivy]

Currently swapping the intake, realised the injectors are fkd so im getting new injectors and a rail

Ideally id get a pressure regulator and new fuel pump too but not within the budget

And i heard from a guy with the same build that its really dumb to use a upgraded fuel system on stock ECU

Ecu’s a future proof mod anyway so i would need it eventually so might aswell get it done before i start building performance

[pliant field]

this happened with haltech?

or link

also there's supposed to be lean-out engine protections in these standalones

[pastel temple]

Haltech, we had mapped everything in, we had a bunch of issues with it. We wanted to send it back to haltech after we got the car back, the issue was intermittent so we never ended up actually seeing the issue until the customer bought it back to us when it would cut off randomly, we found the ecu would pull way too much. Got the car running and did an oil change but by that time the damage had already been done. We confirmed everything had been fitted correctly and sent the ecu of to be rma by haltech and the customer worked out a deal with them as compensation. I haven't had many issues but this soured my opinion enough for me to stick to what I know and trust with link, plus link are just that little bit better with core engine controls.

[pastel temple]

There is but the ecu was not functioning as intended when the issue came about, should definitely gone into protection state but didnt.

[pliant field]

the fuck

I went with haltech because I have itb + turbo and dual MAF

details like this are what scare the fuck out of me ngl