Wondering what peoples opinions are who have it fitted and what sort of difference it made to things like midrange power with bigger turbos. Also if anyone has had one of these and then gone to a motec/microtech/haltech etc if the difference is worth the extra expense
If you get one get a run on the dyno on the stock ECU, get a dyno operator to put it in, and then get a run with the hitech chip installed. Keep a close eye on your Air/Fuel ratios as well. Hitec was no good for my NA as it was causing detonation hence why a dyno is very important to see if its worth the expense. (in my case, not). Also, every car is different even if same mods, so if one chip works for one car, chances are it wont be the best for another, so tuning is important too. I have a Microtech and if I had 10 thumbs I'd give it 10 thumbs up but I only have 2 thumbs. I love the microtech and the dash display unit so I can keep an eye out on some of the ECU readings while I drive. Well worth the extra expense. And I also got to ditch the Air Flow Meter too. Yay!! Are there ANY before/after results of a Hitec ECU that someone has, as I am curious to see some. e
I love my Hitec.....>> And while a Motec may offer more, I just can't justify the extra expense. If you are coming to the dyno day then you will have the perfect oportunity to see a few different cars with different ECUs on the same dyno and talk to some of the people who program them. Bob from Hitec will be there and the guys at MI are experienced with both UniChip and Microtech.
Thanks guys that's what I was expecting/hoping to hear. I'll try and make it down on Saturday to get some first hand comparisons too. Shifters point about the dyno run and not all cars being the same was one of my concerns with the hitec but if it can be adjusted then it's the way to go for a set-up like mine, I reckon.
I have accepted the offer peter! I talked to the guys at m1 yesterday and have agreed to have the package you advertsied installed thursday so it will be ready for saturday for comparison. Unichip installed and tuned with GFB controller i understand i think. Should be a great day on saturday and hope everyone can make it! Saw simon today accidently and may come on friday to say hi and have a look!:thumbsup: Cheers Hayden
Get them to do a dyno run using your current ECU as its always great to see what sort of power differences are available by just trimming the fuel back to a more power friendly ratio, and playing with the ignition timing and cam switching point. Ben
Hitec $1100, Motec $6500 nuff said really. Motec is great but its not really something you get your moneys worth out of. I switched to a motec because of electrical/ECU issues I was having under high boost, otherwise the hitec/racelogic/avcr system I had was actually better than the motec I think in terms of functionality. Hitec as a plug in will never give as good a result as any system tuned to the car on a dyno but it comes pritty close. Plus if you lived over in the eastern states Im sure it wouldnt be too hard to get Bob to come along and tune the car to get those last few kws.
or you can do what i am doing... 1. socket your ECU and get a Pocket Romulator (around $300 AU) which allows the ECU program to be adjusted by laptop 2. download an appropriate eprom program for free depending on your injector size 3. get a dyno tuner to fine tune your ECU via the Romulator 4. get the resulting program burnt to an EPROM all up cost - around $600
Fleet, this is something that I'm interested in I already have my ecu socketed and can fit any chip into it. At the moment I have air/fuel problems and was told that I cannot program my existing chip. Well I thought how did the people that I bought it from program it to begin with? Where do you purchase the pocket romulator from and can you please explain how you can use it to program the chip after a dyno run. Thanks Peter
Offer still on We have offered our dyno in the past for free and still will for anyone who wants to test their HiTech ECU to see what it actually does. From what customers have told me and the ones we have tested on our dyno we found they lost power. Everyone talks about great results and happy ect but no one yet has come up with dyno readings? IF results are cars sounds better and feels like it goes better. Most people including me won't notice increase or loss of 5 or 10 rwkw even more than this if car is around say 180rwkw to start with. This dyno day down in Melbourne will be interesting. On this dyno day if you simply plug in a ECU with one then un plug and replace with HiTech or other ECU with chip and see apples for apples. Might add we have tested around 8 after market ECU's including lots of Japanese ones and all lost power other than a Power Chip slight gain. The worst loss being 10rwkw on a TT. We found a Power Chip worked on a NA zed, well if 2rwkw works and paid $750 for that, not worth the money. Especially when he was told and also on their brochure that it would make around 18rwkw which is not going to happen on a NA anyway. Fleet I am interested in the Romulator sounds the go? Custom chip tune or after market computer if you want results from my experience and opinion. We had a zed tt on our dyno the other day with custom chip tune from SAS in Sydney and air fuel ratios wer very good rather than real rich like factory. It made good power and did not do a back to back with stock ecu but confident it worked well. It did not ping at all and made good power and time did not allow for comparison. Main problem is every car is different and what may work on one car might lose on another or worse still make car ping (detonate). I wonder how many people have Jap, Aussie or US made chips in their cars and have less power than stock ecu and may use more fuel or worse still damage motors. Especially if paid good money for it.
Re: Offer still on how do the ecu mods compare to getting a safc or similar? :/ *confused about next upgrade*
John, I assume that the computers you tested back to back with the stock ECU were tuned to run higher boost than stock, which would mean they retarded igntion timing at full boost. Unless you change the scaling of the maps, you can only tune a set of map points that relate to about 9psi of boost, so if you wind it up to 15psi, or even a bit higher, you are still using the 9psi map area. The short of this means that if retarding timing to run say 17psi, then you wind it back to stock boost, you will make less power than a stock ECU does (because stock ecu has more ignition advance) which is possibly what you found with your back to back testing John. Assuming they ran the same fuel maps of course, but I wouldn't think a Jap chip would make it any richer, that would be insane. I wonder how the ECU's would go if you ran around 15-17psi with each computer, its possible the stock ecu would cause detonation, so not only be down on power, but blow up the engine. From the fuel maps I have seen of aftermarket JAP chips, they are as rich as stock fuel maps, so anyone who leans out the maps even a little bit (like from 10:1 to 11:1) will get a power increase. Ben
What about non turbos which dont have boost? When I trialled the hitec when my car was still an NA, it was just a simple matter of unplugging my ECU and putting the Hitec one in instead. It was then expected that I would have got a power increase. I would have got before/after dyno readings but the dyno operator chickened out when there was major pinging happening with the Hitec. Even when retarding the timing down to 12. What I like seeing though is results from chips from the stock boost level. At 7psi I have over 220kW at the wheels because mine is properly tuned. Something I dont think the Hitec could offer at 7psi. (unless I had it tuned, but thats a bit hard when Bob is over 800km away from me). But proove me wrong someone In short, I think the Hitec could be a good thing but has to be tuned to the specific car its being put in. Not just to put it in and expect mind blowing and more importantly SAFE results. Basically any ECU should always be checked on the dyno IMO.
The Hitec.......>> ECU is not tuned to provide it's best power at safety boost levels, which is what 7 psi is. Comparing ecus designed to give increased power at raised boost levels while using the stock boost setting is not exactly going to be an accurate test of the products. We all know that it is the increase of boost that provides the bulk of the additional power, it is the quality of the tune that can improve that power and make it safer for the engine.
John Penlington John Who are HiTech? Please clarify so as NOT to confuse their performance with ours. Hitec Performance
Boost You have raised some interesting points. High boost low boost same deal. With factory computer the car has AFM which adjusts with more air sucking in when running higher boost. Stock ECU's are safe and no probs with big boost, they run way too rich and timing is mild. This is a fallacy that you have to get a chip of computer if you boost your car. If tuned correctly it will make more power though. If going bigger turbo's then may need bigger fuel pump, pressure reg and have some set up to be able to tune. The factory ECU is way safe in fuel and ignition and when we tune we lean out NOT LEAN but set correct air fuel ratio and adjust timing to suit. On the other hand some chip companies quote certain increase in power figures but this can be disguised as they may not clarify it is with increased boost. We have seen zeds increase in power with stock computer around 30rwkw just with boost. Some chips come with boost jets so? Octane booster companies sometimes use this trick as because it increases the octane they can run more boost and or timing but sometimes they say we put this in a certain car and made an extra 20rwkw for example. To clarify I am not saying chips don't work, in theory they can it is just we have not seen it yet. The other theory as mentioned is a plug in one may be dangerous and may have disadvantages and may lose power, or may make power. With it seams so many Hitech chips out there surely someone has some actually factual results?? With so many critics on this forum I am suprised there are not more questioning or at least wanting proof of claims or statements saying these chips are Great and love it etc.
here is the link to where you can buy the Romluator Romulator One end of the Romulator plugs into your ECUs socket. The other end plugs into your laptop. The romulator has software you can use to upload a BIN file into it. There are some free software tools around that allow you to view ECU BIN files and program the parameters. Then the modified BIN can be uploaded into the Romulator. Dyno tuners have their own software that allows them to do this if you want to pay them (which is what I am getting done this thursday )
yep John I believe only a custom chip tune will give the best results. see my post below regarding the Romulator. Kalus put me on to this one :thumbsup:
From my personal experience... My JAP Computer had a base timing map of 23 degrees, which in turn added about 10rwKW... Yet it was pinging it's head off... And, therefore UAS put in a stock ECU at the same boost level produced -10rwKW, yet it feel Waaaay quicker that I thought... Although 10KW loss isn't much up the top end as you rarely use it! However with the Stocker and SAFC-II tuned in, she is a gun now! With 250rwKW and it produces it "safely".
