Recommended Aftermarket Ecu Mappers In/around Berkshire?

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Looking at finally buying & fitting an aftermarket ECU for the 205. Not really sure which one, probably either DTA or Emerald, but it depends greatly on the mappers location. The ECU will be fitted to an Mi16, and potentially a GTi6/EW10 in the future.

 

There is a place in Reading that can do either Omex/DTA/Emerald

(http://www.cfmengineering.co.uk/main.php?navId=3&subnavId=4) but I'd prefer to go to a 'recommended' mapper.

 

Recommendations please!

[welshpug 1,623]

http://www.powerengi...talog/power.htm

 

Don't know their rep, but its a name i;ve heard around for a while.

 

I think TOTD have closed, though I think Chris Todd now works at Power engineering?

 

Surrey RR next to Longcross don't have their own mapper, what about a trip around the M25 to Steve and Steve?

 

Or a trip to the edge of Cornwall to see Sandy if he has time, well worth it I think.

Edited February 28, 2012 by welshpug

[Baz 421]

PE are well known in the Ford world, good few friends have had good experiences with them.

 

Not sure that Chris is anywhere now tbh... TOTD was next door which is why you may think that though!

[welshpug 1,623]

saw his name on the PE website that's all Baz

[kyepan 291]

MA developments are in maidenhead, they do a lot of big power Mitsubishi evo's. I don't know of anyone who has dealt with them directly though.

[pug_ham 240 3 Cars]

As already suggest, Power engineering in Uxbridge. Maxi used PE for his most recent runs & possibly mapping afaik with good results.

 

Personally if I was going to use emerald I'd probably take it to them for mapping rather than someone else though, or down to Sandy.

 

g

[feb 47]

You have mail

Sandy mapped mine and did an excellent job.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

I booked up with Emerald last week.

They are now booking for May!

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Pro's and cons, Emerald are good but the mapping is a pain as you need to save the settings before they become live so it takes longer unless you get Dave to do it at a fix cost, And it works with the 6 coil packs too,

Omex is better for mapping and having one of the top mappers 5 mins from me helps thou, He's even got most of the Multi plex systems working on a Clio with a GEMs unit

[petert 554]

Emerald are good but the mapping is a pain as you need to save the settings before they become live.......

 

That's enough said for me to never use one! Surely that can't be. Imagine being at full load and need a bee's d*ck more fuel. The time taken to make the change could be the difference between success or a dead motor, especially a turbo. Normally you work live with the ECU in the car, then save it back to the laptop etc. I can't even imagine how much time it must take to map the ignition. It's usually just keystokes, up or down, whilst watching the torque readout.

[Anthony 1,000]

It's usually just keystokes, up or down, whilst watching the torque readout.

That's exactly what you do with Emerald - on the live adjustment screen, it's a pair of keys (2/3) for fuelling adjustment and a pair (+/-) for ignition in real time, and hit enter to update the current cell...

[feb 47]

That's exactly what you do with Emerald - on the live adjustment screen, it's a pair of keys (2/3) for fuelling adjustment and a pair (+/-) for ignition in real time, and hit enter to update the current cell...

 

Interesting, I learn something new every day!

Does that mean in the live adjustment screen if I alter the ignition or fuelling real time and press enter will it not apply the alterations to the whole map but only the cell I am in??

That's good it it's like this as I had the impression that the changes are applied globally.

[Sandy 189]

Changes apply to wherever you are on the table using the live screen, hitting enter saves it, but the trim goes back to zero and you go onto the next site with no trim, which is a pain. This is one of the subtley better things for me about DTA, the trim remains after saving, so you don't have to keep stopping to make batch adjustments to keep it safe.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Sandy

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Starting to swing towards DTA or an Omex now. Can these run the GTi6 sensors and what setup for spark would I need?

[welshpug 1,623]

the lowest level ignition+injection ecu's from DTA (the S40) and Omex (the 600) wont do sequential spark+injection so you'll need to use a wasted spark coilpack, otherwise it can run all the standard components.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Just use a XSi coil pack like I do, Easy or upgrade to the 710, Saves having crapping HT leads which people seem to go for

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Breaking this down, the DTAs (S40 £495+VAT & S60 £750+VAT) will both run a GTi6 on wasted spark and a PWM (Pulsed Width Modulation?) idle valve. Excuse my ignorance, but isn't that an old Motronic type valve? That's something I wanted to stay away from, and use something more reliable.

 

The OMEX 600 series (£645 all in) will need wasted spark again, but can run a 4 wire motor type valve.

 

Is there anything that I've missed, that I should be concerned about if I go for the Omex 600 to run on an Mi16 and a GTi6/EW engine in the future? What about fault diagnosis? The Emeralds seem to have this feature.

[Sandy 189]

DTA has about the best and clearest tell-tales and diagnostics. The idea of choosing the ECU on idle valve functionality makes me wince hard, but if that's your main priority..! Keep it simple, keep it wasted spark; there's no true creditable reason I've seen for running 4 coils and as Sarty found on mapping day, if one goes down it's game over, where as wasted spark coil packs are more reliable and massively plentiful.

[petert 554]

keep it wasted spark; there's no true creditable reason I've seen for running 4 coils and as Sarty found on mapping day, if one goes down it's game over, where as wasted spark coil packs are more reliable and massively plentiful.

 

Whilst that's true for joe average, in the quest for the nth hp, only two plugs get optimum spark in this situation, as the current is reversed in the other two. I just love my 2L engine with Autronic SMC, running fully sequential fuel and direct fire ignition. The four ignition outputs go to an M&W Pro-14 CDI, which fires four individual coils. The coils are cheap as chips, but reliable Bosch MEC-718. I accept it's top shelf stuff and not within the budget of most. However, what it does for an engine with big fat cams is truly amazing. It idles cleanly at 1000rpm and has a super flat torque curve. I've just rebuilt it and will post an update once it's been retuned.

Edited March 14, 2012 by petert

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

DTA has about the best and clearest tell-tales and diagnostics. The idea of choosing the ECU on idle valve functionality makes me wince hard, but if that's your main priority..! Keep it simple, keep it wasted spark; there's no true creditable reason I've seen for running 4 coils and as Sarty found on mapping day, if one goes down it's game over, where as wasted spark coil packs are more reliable and massively plentiful.

 

Oh no, it's not my main priority! I'm just trying to weed out the different traits to each ECU. I've researched the idle valve since my last post, and it appears the GTi6 stepper is unreliable anyway.

 

Sod it, I'll just get the S60.

[Sandy 189]

Whilst that's true for joe average, in the quest for the nth hp, only two plugs get optimum spark in this situation, as the current is reversed in the other two. I just love my 2L engine with Autronic SMC, running fully sequential fuel and direct fire ignition. The four ignition outputs go to an M&W Pro-14 CDI, which fires four individual coils. The coils are cheap as chips, but reliable Bosch MEC-718. I accept it's top shelf stuff and not within the budget of most. However, what it does for an engine with big fat cams is truly amazing. It idles cleanly at 1000rpm and has a super flat torque curve. I've just rebuilt it and will post an update once it's been retuned.

 

Speak as you find it of course, but we have no such problems getting our race engines to run nicely and having extensively compared single coils and wasted spark on BMW, Honda, Peugeot, Vauxhall and Duratec high spec competition engines. There is a small difference in smoothness fro sure, but in my experience usually trivial and hard to detect. Nothing like the improvements that come from injector sizing and position for example. What matters more to me is cost and serviceability, particularly if the car can get sidelined at the critical hour by not being able to source replacements in a hurry, as has happened!

 

I don't want to make too big a deal of this, but I constantly come up against problems with cars brought to me for mapping, that have been over-complicated by ideas people have been given, supposed to improve things, that cause problems themselves or distract from the importance of getting the basics right. Most of my work is for one major engine builder, who uses the simplest possible ECU/ignition/fuel system combo that makes the engine work well and it is ultra reliable and effective. The small number of projects that deviate from that package cause tha vast majority of problems! I hate to sound like i'm getting older and grumpier and i'm not pointing this at you Peter, but almost without exception, it's my experience that the posher the management system is on the engine, the worse it's usually set up! More expensive systems mask imperfect mapping better and i'm sure that's why some tuners prefer them, the margin's better and they can get away with a rush job. Simpler is more cost effective and if set up correctly, no compromise and generally more reliable.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Sandy

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Changed my mind again. Can't see any advantage, for me, to get the S60 over the S40. The S40 has all the features I require.