One for the turbo'd nuts?

[alan-lee]

Anyone that has a turbo'd dc5 what is the best ecu to go for? looking something good quality obviously but at a decent price.. don't mind buying new but needs to have everything needed to fit

Thanks

 

[dave c]

Anyone that has a turbo'd dc5 what is the best ecu to go for? looking something good quality obviously but at a decent price.. don't mind buying new but needs to have everything needed to fit

Thanks

As a general rule with ECU's the more you spend the more you get.


In the sense that you will have the ability to control far more parameters with a full standalone ecu rather than a piggy back unit. That said, Honda massively over engineered the stock ecu out of the box so there is no reason why you can't use kmanager (KPRO).


If i were you I would stick with KPRO as they are readily available, cheap and do more than they need too.

My setup is mapped with KPRO and its silky smooth on part throttle, under different load conditions everything, it drives like factory although the mapper (Paul West) did put a lot of hours into getting it just so.


Some of the trick features i use are, high/low boost setting and boost-by-gear.


This means that in "low boost" i get circa 300bhp

1st gear i get around 2psi,

2nd gear i get 3-4psi
3rd gear i get 7psi

and that means that traction is never an issue and protects the gearbox well.

Then in "high boost" i get circa 400bhp

1st gear 2psi
2nd gear 3-4psi
3rd gear 14.5psi
4th gear 18psi
5th gear 20psi


For me this is all i need and feel no need to upgrade the ECU to something like AEM, OMEX, MOTEC, EMERALD etc

 

[alan-lee]

As a general rule with ECU's the more you spend the more you get.


In the sense that you will have the ability to control far more parameters with a full standalone ecu rather than a piggy back unit. That said, Honda massively over engineered the stock ecu out of the box so there is no reason why you can't use kmanager (KPRO).


If i were you I would stick with KPRO as they are readily available, cheap and do more than they need too.

My setup is mapped with KPRO and its silky smooth on part throttle, under different load conditions everything, it drives like factory although the mapper (Paul West) did put a lot of hours into getting it just so.


Some of the trick features i use are, high/low boost setting and boost-by-gear.


This means that in "low boost" i get circa 300bhp

1st gear i get around 2psi,

2nd gear i get 3-4psi
3rd gear i get 7psi

and that means that traction is never an issue and protects the gearbox well.

Then in "high boost" i get circa 400bhp

1st gear 2psi
2nd gear 3-4psi
3rd gear 14.5psi
4th gear 18psi
5th gear 20psi


For me this is all i need and feel no need to upgrade the ECU to something like AEM, OMEX, MOTEC, EMERALD etc

Thats a fantastic answer Dave! Really appreciate that! Answered all the questions i didnt even ask!

Is there a particular model kpro i should look for?
Anywhere best to buy? And how much should i expect to pay?

 

[dave c]

Thats a fantastic answer Dave! Really appreciate that! Answered all the questions i didnt even ask!

Is there a particular model kpro i should look for?
Anywhere best to buy? And how much should i expect to pay?

There is a limited number of UK KPRO dealers, from memory CPL is the only "official" dealer.

However Romain @ ArTech can source ECU's (i believe from France) and Paul (TDi north) can also source ECU's


There isn't a specific model as such its more a choice between KPRO and K100


Both exactly the same capabilities but the KPRO allows you to plug a laptop in via usb whereas the K100 is a tuner only thing.


Personally i would say that K100 would be the suggestion from the tuners but i went for KPRO.


Price wise I think you are looking at £650+ for kpro and £450+ for the K100


On top of your chosen ECU you would have to pay for mapping and i would budget a fair bit as that is the most important part, do it once and do it right and all that jazz.


Mapping costs vary so i couldn't comment but my personal recommendation of tuner would be Paul West.


hope that helps

 

[alan-lee]

Ok cool mate! I think ill go for the kpro route!

Thanks again ill keep you in mind for anymore questions that arise lol

Thanks

 

[dave c]

Not a problem, happy to help

 

[k20_irf]

Romain is a fantastic mapper aswell!

 

[alan-lee]

Norn iron area so i doubt ill be able to get him!