R32 GT-R model year differences on ecu

[timmy94]

I need a new oem ecu in my 1991/08 r32 gtr. 

What differences are there between the oem ecu part numbers? Mine suppose to have oen ecu with partnumber ending on *****60, but i found on that ends on *****62 and 61. They are from other model year. I dont know if they are interchangeble. I cant afford aftermarket ecu atm, will go for one in future instead.

The parts catalogue dont tell me that they are interchangeble which worries me.

Edited July 14, 2022 by timmy94

[Duncan]

I've never heard of any differences in the car side wiring between all 32 GTRs, so any ECU will fit and work.

It would help to post full part numbers if you want input, rather than people having to guess/research if they want to help

[joshuaho96]

On 7/14/2022 at 2:27 PM, Duncan said:

I've never heard of any differences in the car side wiring between all 32 GTRs, so any ECU will fit and work.

It would help to post full part numbers if you want input, rather than people having to guess/research if they want to help

I strongly doubt that there will be any differences other than map revisions and minor board revisions.

[timmy94]

On 15/07/2022 at 2:12 AM, joshuaho96 said:

I strongly doubt that there will be any differences other than map revisions and minor board revisions.

Probably not. Are the OEM ecu okay to drive with today on a stock car? The boost restrictor may be removed

[timmy94]

On 14/07/2022 at 11:27 PM, Duncan said:

I've never heard of any differences in the car side wiring between all 32 GTRs, so any ECU will fit and work.

It would help to post full part numbers if you want input, rather than people having to guess/research if they want to help

yeah sorry, i did not have the numbers in my head at the time. I just thought that there would be some one that maybe already figure this question out and had an answer to it. Thanks.

[joshuaho96]

On 7/19/2022 at 2:18 PM, timmy94 said:

Probably not. Are the OEM ecu okay to drive with today on a stock car? The boost restrictor may be removed

Sure. If you're really afraid of running too much boost/unsure of whether the restrictor is in there you can either buy a replacement hose with the factory restrictor still or you can just unplug the boost solenoid while leaving the hoses all hooked up.

[Duncan]

It will be fine with standard turbos, boost restrictor in or out. Just be aware the standard ceramic turbos don't last well at higher boost (especially after 30 years) and might fail, and some people have reported engine damage as result

[timmy94]

On 20/07/2022 at 1:34 AM, Duncan said:

It will be fine with standard turbos, boost restrictor in or out. Just be aware the standard ceramic turbos don't last well at higher boost (especially after 30 years) and might fail, and some people have reported engine damage as result

Thanks guys. 2 new garett turbos are installed 

[GTSBoy]

On 7/21/2022 at 7:24 AM, timmy94 said:

2 new garett turbos are installed 

And..... what model?

Here's a big recommendation. Do not consider operating the car with a significant turbo upgrade on the stock ECU. You really need to be tuning it, otherwise you will blow off the end of the stock maps and be running in "make it up as you go along" land.

[joshuaho96]

On 7/20/2022 at 2:54 PM, timmy94 said:

Thanks guys. 2 new garett turbos are installed 

You cannot just slap any Garrett turbos on your car and expect to run the stock ECU. The range of Garrett's lineup spans turbos good for maybe 150 hp each to 600+ hp each. The efficiency of any bolt-on upgrade is substantially higher than the stock turbos and will make more power with the same boost. I don't know why people think it's ok to leave out critical information like this. OEM turbos you can run with the stock ECU whether the boost restrictor is in the hose or not. I can say with confidence that it does not take much to cause the stock ECU to exceed what it considers to be a safe amount of airflow. I have a pair of HKS GTIII-SS turbos on wastegate boost. These are tiny, tiny turbos that are only good for something like 10-13% more power than the factory turbos at roughly 15 psi. These are still enough to end up losing 5-10 degrees of timing if I go WOT even at roughly 0.9 bar of wastegate boost. Factory spec for an R33 is supposedly 0.85 bar. I do not go past 0.5 bar of boost indicated on the factory boost gauge currently to make sure I stay within the safe zone of the ECU map.

The factory RB26 ECU is tolerant of questionable things like this, but only to an extent. Once you hit the end of the map you get something like 22 degrees of timing and roughly ~11:1 AFR. If it turns out that you need less timing than that for the kind of airflow you're getting you could easily destroy your engine.

[timmy94]

On 21/07/2022 at 8:48 AM, joshuaho96 said:

You cannot just slap any Garrett turbos on your car and expect to run the stock ECU. The range of Garrett's lineup spans turbos good for maybe 150 hp each to 600+ hp each. The efficiency of any bolt-on upgrade is substantially higher than the stock turbos and will make more power with the same boost. I don't know why people think it's ok to leave out critical information like this. OEM turbos you can run with the stock ECU whether the boost restrictor is in the hose or not. I can say with confidence that it does not take much to cause the stock ECU to exceed what it considers to be a safe amount of airflow. I have a pair of HKS GTIII-SS turbos on wastegate boost. These are tiny, tiny turbos that are only good for something like 10-13% more power than the factory turbos at roughly 15 psi. These are still enough to end up losing 5-10 degrees of timing if I go WOT even at roughly 0.9 bar of wastegate boost. Factory spec for an R33 is supposedly 0.85 bar. I do not go past 0.5 bar of boost indicated on the factory boost gauge currently to make sure I stay within the safe zone of the ECU map.

The factory RB26 ECU is tolerant of questionable things like this, but only to an extent. Once you hit the end of the map you get something like 22 degrees of timing and roughly ~11:1 AFR. If it turns out that you need less timing than that for the kind of airflow you're getting you could easily destroy your engine.

yeah, the turbos are GARRETT GT2860R, which is pretty much stock turbos i belive. Thats why i went for them. (ballbearing)

Edited July 22, 2022 by timmy94

[timmy94]

On 20/07/2022 at 1:34 AM, Duncan said:

It will be fine with standard turbos, boost restrictor in or out. Just be aware the standard ceramic turbos don't last well at higher boost (especially after 30 years) and might fail, and some people have reported engine damage as result

A guy had an oem ecu which i bought from him. He had it in his R32 GT-R, but when i recieved it i saw that its was from a R33. I dont know if they are 100% interchangeble without any modification? I think there are 2 different 02 sensors

[timmy94]

On 20/07/2022 at 12:59 AM, joshuaho96 said:

Sure. If you're really afraid of running too much boost/unsure of whether the restrictor is in there you can either buy a replacement hose with the factory restrictor still or you can just unplug the boost solenoid while leaving the hoses all hooked up.

I received an ECU now. The guy who sold it to me told me he picked it from his R32 GT-R but it says MEC-580D on the circuit board.. Which is from a R33. I dont believe that they are 100% interchangeble and feel that this guy could f##k things up for me?

[joshuaho96]

On 7/22/2022 at 12:29 PM, timmy94 said:

yeah, the turbos are GARRETT GT2860R, which is pretty much stock turbos i belive. Thats why i went for them. (ballbearing)

Garrett GT2860R turbos are not "pretty much stock". The -7s are about the same as an R34 N1 spec turbo. The -9s are like GT-SS turbos. The -5s are in the same ballpark as HKS 2530s. All of those flow significantly more than stock. You cannot run a stock ECU tune on any of those and expect to have good results, especially if you go WOT.

On 7/22/2022 at 12:34 PM, timmy94 said:

I received an ECU now. The guy who sold it to me told me he picked it from his R32 GT-R but it says MEC-580D on the circuit board.. Which is from a R33. I dont believe that they are 100% interchangeble and feel that this guy could f##k things up for me?

The ECU is an R33 ECU. You will have to swap O2 sensors for it to work properly and possibly re-pin your O2 harness wires. The ECU map is almost identical save for minor revisions. Details count here and messing around with this stuff lackadaisically is a good way to blow up your engine.

[timmy94]

On 22/07/2022 at 11:25 PM, joshuaho96 said:

Garrett GT2860R turbos are not "pretty much stock". The -7s are about the same as an R34 N1 spec turbo. The -9s are like GT-SS turbos. The -5s are in the same ballpark as HKS 2530s. All of those flow significantly more than stock. You cannot run a stock ECU tune on any of those and expect to have good results, especially if you go WOT.

The ECU is an R33 ECU. You will have to swap O2 sensors for it to work properly and possibly re-pin your O2 harness wires. The ECU map is almost identical save for minor revisions. Details count here and messing around with this stuff lackadaisically is a good way to blow up your engine.

Oh god.. this is why i never used to belive or buy stuff from the shops were i live.

Previous owner bought the turbos just because he did not want to buy an aftermarket ecu atm. From what i know, they told him that the turbos were interchangeble, it was just a newer model.

 

And the ecu......... the guy who sold me this one ownes a tuning shop so i thought that he would have some knowledge about this. My previous experience with other car builds told me to double check the circuit board which i did luckily enough. I dont know if a change of o2 sensors and re-pin of cirxuit board is a good idea when you got a new built engine... maybe should consider a aftermarket ecu 

[timmy94]

 

 

From Nistune:

 

This document has your answers:

http://nistune.com/docs/Nistune%20GTR%20ECU%20options.pdf

 

There is no difference between R32/R33 GTR apart from the O2 sensor heater (which needs no change if using R33 GTR ECU) and the sensor voltages. You may need to run a zirconia sensor if you find your cruise mixtures are not stoich (or disconnect the sensor and not use closed loop)

[TXSquirrel]

There are 2 different GT2860R, do you know which one you have?  Or a part number?

[joshuaho96]

On 7/22/2022 at 11:18 PM, timmy94 said:

 

 

From Nistune:

 

This document has your answers:

http://nistune.com/docs/Nistune%20GTR%20ECU%20options.pdf

 

There is no difference between R32/R33 GTR apart from the O2 sensor heater (which needs no change if using R33 GTR ECU) and the sensor voltages. You may need to run a zirconia sensor if you find your cruise mixtures are not stoich (or disconnect the sensor and not use closed loop)

The "sensor voltage" is not actually different if you're using the correct circuit to read it. The reason why the R32 ECU in an R33 application has a different calibration is because as mentioned before, the R32 O2 sensor is a variable resistor. In the R32 a controlled 1V reference voltage is sent across the sensor with a voltage divider and then the ECU measures the resulting voltage on the voltage divider to determine the O2 voltage. See this: http://www.tomco-inc.com/Tech_Tips/ttt20.pdf

Putting an R32 sensor on an R33 ECU will make it work improperly. The ECU does not supply the appropriate reference voltage and lacks the appropriate sensing resistor. You cannot use Nistune on an R33 ECU either. You will have to replace the O2 sensors which means swapping the exhaust manifolds to suit. My recommendation at this point is find an R32 GTR ECU and Nistune it to adapt to the turbos you have or go full standalone.

Post what actual turbos you have, GT2860R can be a 400 whp turbo or a 500+ whp turbo depending upon the spec chosen.

[Duncan]

Putting aside the turbo thing, you can also just run with the o2 sensors unplugged. Assuming the GTR is not driven in traffic all day it will not make a meaningful difference to fuel consumption (although, you might do more than your fair share to destroy the world)

[joshuaho96]

On 7/23/2022 at 2:17 PM, Duncan said:

Putting aside the turbo thing, you can also just run with the o2 sensors unplugged. Assuming the GTR is not driven in traffic all day it will not make a meaningful difference to fuel consumption (although, you might do more than your fair share to destroy the world)

I don't really recommend this mostly because if it does have a catalytic converter it will be damaged. Running rich tends to cause the cat to overheat. Also one of the critical indicators of something wrong with the engine is the O2 signal. It's a lot easier to infer something is wrong when your ECU is reporting 120 AF Alpha than if you have no O2 data at all.