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R33 Gts-T Ecu Upgrade

Rocco R33

By Rocco R33,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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Rocco R33 Rookie

Rocco R33

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys,

i have been searching around for info on which way to go when it comes to upgrading the ECU on a R33 GTS-t manual.

can anyone shed their knowlege when it comes to upgrades as i am sure there are plenty of people asking the same question.

it seems to be the big question between

-NISTUNE

-Apexi Power FC

-Haltech Platinum Pro

-Vipec v44

i know price is a major factor, but is there substacial benifits of each ECU?

thanks in advance

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https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/416039-r33-gts-t-ecu-upgrade/
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gtsttrk Mentor

gtsttrk

Posted
Posted

Exactly the same boat that I've been in. Going to ring my tuner and see what their most comfortable with as we all know an ECU is as only good as the tune/tuner. But I'm leaning towards vipec, allows duel fuel maps (E85/98) and also MAF/map tunes.

Manuel Kasko Grand Master

Manuel Kasko

Posted
Posted

Exactly the same boat that I've been in. Going to ring my tuner and see what their most comfortable with as we all know an ECU is as only good as the tune/tuner. But I'm leaning towards vipec, allows duel fuel maps (E85/98) and also MAF/map tunes.

Do exactly this

Ask your tuner and see what he recommends because an ecu is only as good as the tuner

GTSBoy Grand Master

GTSBoy

Posted
Posted

The other factor is how much you want to remain undercover. Nistune keeps standard ECU and EFM. Looks and works like it's supposed to and could save your bacon when the bacon are perusing through your car. Aftermarket plugins that hide inside a factory ECU case are the next best, but take a lot of extra effort (and a faked up AFM) to camouflage to an equivalent level.

My comment on "ask your tuner" is that a good tuner should be able to handle pretty much any ECU that uses laptop software or a hand controller. It only takes my tuner an extra couple of hours to tune a car for the first time when it's something that he's never seen before (and that happens rarely enough these days) and he wouldn't think of charging the customer for that time. It's his self education investment.

Same guy is so sick of bullshit Haltech failures that he will still tune them, but will not help anyone to install one.

AngryRB Grand Master

AngryRB

Posted
Posted

The other factor is how much you want to remain undercover. Nistune keeps standard ECU and EFM. Looks and works like it's supposed to and could save your bacon when the bacon are perusing through your car. Aftermarket plugins that hide inside a factory ECU case are the next best, but take a lot of extra effort (and a faked up AFM) to camouflage to an equivalent level.

My comment on "ask your tuner" is that a good tuner should be able to handle pretty much any ECU that uses laptop software or a hand controller. It only takes my tuner an extra couple of hours to tune a car for the first time when it's something that he's never seen before (and that happens rarely enough these days) and he wouldn't think of charging the customer for that time. It's his self education investment.

Same guy is so sick of bullshit Haltech failures that he will still tune them, but will not help anyone to install one.

My tuner is so used to tuning power fc's that a complete new tune with different injectors,afm,turbo etc etc.. he got the car running reasonable within 5minutes, and on the dyno took no more than an hour then some small adjustments for half an hour..

in comparison the first tuner i used had it on the dyno for upto 4hours, another tuner asked me for the instruction manual WTF?? so i never used them, lol

simpletool Mentor

simpletool

Posted
Posted

Exactly the same boat that I've been in. Going to ring my tuner and see what their most comfortable with as we all know an ECU is as only good as the tune/tuner. But I'm leaning towards vipec, allows duel fuel maps (E85/98) and also MAF/map tunes.

Also LINK.

I'd go Nistune on a 8-bit Z32 ECU. I've got one myself. If your tuner doesn't know Nistune I'd be suspicious. However the Z32 into R33 requires more than basic knowledge to work correctly (remove knock sensor, fuel temp resistor, etc).

Hanaldo Grand Master

Hanaldo

Posted
Posted

This has been done to death. In the end you're going to get LOADS of mixed responses because everyone is going to recommend what they have experience with (flying the Link flag myself) and you're not going to be any closer to an answer.

Best way is to just call up your tuner, see if he has a problem tuning any of the ones you are thinking of getting (mine couldn't care less), then do your reading on each one and see which one appeals to you the most. I ended up going with the Link because it ticked all the boxes I wanted and I could get it cheaper than a Vipec even though they are essentially the same thing (some will claim they are exactly the same thing, just different labels).

gtsttrk Mentor

gtsttrk

Posted
Posted

Also LINK.

I'd go Nistune on a 8-bit Z32 ECU. I've got one myself. If your tuner doesn't know Nistune I'd be suspicious. However the Z32 into R33 requires more than basic knowledge to work correctly (remove knock sensor, fuel temp resistor, etc).

Yeah I thought of nistune it'd certainly be the most economical on purchase price. But from my understanding (haven't done a tonne of reading yet so don't flame me) you are fairly limited on a Nistune compared to stand alone ECU's?

GTSBoy Grand Master

GTSBoy

Posted
Posted

Limited yes. Limited to what the factory ECU can do - which is run the engine fairly bloody well. But if you want a bunch of aux outputs or tricky rev limits or boost control or dual maps etc etc, then you will need something else.

For a normal street car with a few mods (even up to quite serious mods) it will still be a good choice. Just depends on what your plans are.

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