S1 manual conversion to S2 ECU?

[Chi-Town]

I think I have searched every thread on here for the answers and diagrams but have not found a solid answer yet.

I have a 12/97 S1.5 (non-neo) that I am converting to manual.

I would like to use Nistune for tuning purposes but the original non-JECS ecu is not compatible.

I have access to a early S2 manual ecu but cannot find a direct comparison of the two pinouts or anyone who has successfully done it.

My questions are:

Does anyone have both late S1 auto and early S2 manual wiring diagrams? (there are a lot of broken links for them btw)

Has anyone attempted this. What issues did you run into?

Has anyone used the Spiider attessa controller to get around any of the issues?

Thanks in advance!

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Chi-Town

[GTSBoy]

OK, a couple of questions arise.

1. Are you suggesting that you want to swap to the S2 ECU so that you can Nistune it? Because....none of the R33 ECUs can be Nistuned.
2. What would an ATESSA controller do to help? You have no ATESSA.

Beyond that, the S1 and S2 ECU pinouts are nearly identical, as far as I can remember.

A quick look around on SAU yields the following for S1.

As I said, almost all of it is identical. I think there might be a few changes around the AFM and the ECCS relay, not much else. There's not functionally anything particularly different between a manual and auto ECU pinout. Can run a manual engine on an auto ECU quite trivially, for example.

[Chi-Town]

@GTSBoy thank you for the reply 

I'm looking at GT-R transmissions hence the spiider controller train of thought. I'm new to the Nissan world so I'm assuming it works like Subarus DCCD?

It appears that the S2 and ER34 ECU can be Nistuned with the Type 4 board according to thier site? 

 

[GTSBoy]

No. No R33 RB25DET ECU can be nistuned. Only the R32 and R34 Neo ECUs can. You may be confusing yourself by including the mentions of S2 Stagea, which were Neo engines.

Why are you looking at GTR transmissions. Are you converting to AWD? If you are not, then there is nothing you can use a GTR tranny for except to gut it or otherwise cripple the transfer case off it. You do not and cannot benefit from an ATESSA controller on a RWD car.

Converting a RWD chassis to 4WD is.....possible, but not easy or fun. And getting harder and harder as parts evaporate.

[soviet_merlin]

@GTSBoy just to make sure everyone is on the same page: OP is doing the manual conversion on their S1 Stagea

[RBW49N]

On 2/7/2022 at 9:59 AM, Chi-Town said:

@GTSBoy thank you for the reply 

I'm looking at GT-R transmissions hence the spiider controller train of thought. I'm new to the Nissan world so I'm assuming it works like Subarus DCCD?

It appears that the S2 and ER34 ECU can be Nistuned with the Type 4 board according to thier site? 

 

Atessa will work the same as it’s operated by a different ECU. If you want to use one so it can be RWD only I’m not sure that will work and if it is what you want then using a GTST or GTT gearbox would be a cheaper and easier tho v to use. You can just use the AWD gearbox and leave out the shaft that goes from the transfer case to the front diff for full time RWD. Changing the ecu and wiring just so you can use a nistune? There are better options out there that are plug and play to your existing harness connector and they should all work if you are running a manual instead of an auto. 

[GTSBoy]

On 7/2/2022 at 12:09 PM, soviet_merlin said:

@GTSBoy just to make sure everyone is on the same page: OP is doing the manual conversion on their S1 Stagea

Yuh, suppose I should look at what forum the recent posts are in.

[Chi-Town]

Sorry if I confused anyone, it was unintentional 

I have a 12/97' Stagea RS-Four V that is currently auto but I'm collecting the parts to swap it to manual.

The spiider controller was a thought just for a bit more control offer the ATTESA but after further reading it maybe over kill for my purposes.

I was looking into using as manual Stagea S2 ECU with Nistuned in my car but I'm not sure this is feasible. Thinking it maybe easier to go R34 GTT?

 

[RBW49N]

On 3/7/2022 at 3:07 PM, Chi-Town said:

Sorry if I confused anyone, it was unintentional 

I have a 12/97' Stagea RS-Four V that is currently auto but I'm collecting the parts to swap it to manual.

The spiider controller was a thought just for a bit more control offer the ATTESA but after further reading it maybe over kill for my purposes.

I was looking into using as manual Stagea S2 ECU with Nistuned in my car but I'm not sure this is feasible. Thinking it maybe easier to go R34 GTT?

 

Do you mean R34 car, gearbox or ecu?

[GTSBoy]

S2 Stagea ECU is same same as R34 GTT ECU. OK, the program is slightly different, as Stag has no TCS, but they can both be Nistuned and can be swapped. I have a Stagea image in my R34 ECU (as the base image, since significantly changed and retuned) because it eliminates the TCS fault codes caused by not having any TCS hardware installed.

[Chi-Town]

@RBW49N R34 ECU, for trans I have a line on an R33 unit.

 

@GTSBoy thank you, that was the info I was looking for. So if I have a Stagea S2 manual ECU it should be pretty much plug and play?

[GTSBoy]

On 7/4/2022 at 8:52 AM, Chi-Town said:

So if I have a Stagea S2 manual ECU it should be pretty much plug and play?

Yes and no. The Neo ECU has a boost sensor that you need to have connected. It will not be happy without it. You will likely need to Nistune the ECU to deal with the DTCs that will probably still happen.

[RBW49N]

On 4/7/2022 at 10:52 AM, Chi-Town said:

@RBW49N R34 ECU, for trans I have a line on an R33 unit.

 

@GTSBoy thank you, that was the info I was looking for. So if I have a Stagea S2 manual ECU it should be pretty much plug and play?

Is there a reason that you don’t want to go with an aftermarket ECU? As once you buy the series 2 Stagea ecu and wire it and then nistune it the cost is up there. Admittedly aftermarket will be more but not that much in the scheme of things. And you don’t need to change ECUs if the only change is a manual conversion 

[RBW49N]

On 4/7/2022 at 11:21 AM, GTSBoy said:

Yes and no. The Neo ECU has a boost sensor that you need to have connected. It will not be happy without it. You will likely need to Nistune the ECU to deal with the DTCs that will probably still happen.

I have a spare boost sensor if anyone wants to buy it. And the idle motor as well

[Chi-Town]

@GTSBoyis the boost pressure sensor different than the one on the motor now?

@RBW49N honestly, I don't want to deal with aftermarket ECUs. The minor wiring changes for the S2/R34GTT ECU I can do without any real effort or cost so it saves me a bunch of money there.

[RBW49N]

@Chi-Towni am pretty sure the sensor is different I took it off my car as it’s not needed with the aftermarket ecu

[GTSBoy]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:45 PM, Chi-Town said:

@GTSBoyis the boost pressure sensor different than the one on the motor now?

Are you sure there is one on the motor now? You're not talking about the one on the firewall for the boost gauge are you? The ECU boost sensor is separate. It's on Neos. It's not on earlier RBs.

[Chi-Town]

@GTSBoy I thought all rb25det had them, sorry I'm running on parts catalog diagrams and google images till the car arrives.

[Duncan]

Just FYI if you want to manage costs, you can run the manual on the stock auto ECU, I did for a while until I got annoyed at the inability to up the boost without annoying the standard engine. 

If you are determined to change the ECU, I'd go aftermarket, link or haltech to save the stuffing around

And any attessa controller will work, the cheap ones do 99% of what the expensive ones do. Just remember not to use RWD only mode as it is no good for the xfer case clutches