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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Aftermarket ECU's and Where To Go


terribleturner

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OK, spoke to Mark at MAD and the Autronic works out to be the same as the Motec. So side by side, which is the better of the two?? Both tuners are not too far away so that doesn't really influence my decision, and price would ahve done but looks like im still looking at the £3k mark :(

 

CJ, when you got your system done, what sort of cost was the tunning?? Am now thinking about upgrades further down the line and tunning prices.

I paid an all inclusive cost of 3k for supply, fitting and mapping. Further tuning can be done by Owen or Motec Europe (Dave Rowe) at Banbury. Dave charges around £75 per hour and to my mind is the Motec guru in the UK.

 

What sort of further upgrades are you thinking you may do after the single is fited?

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Guest Terry S

I do laugh when people say Motec is far superior to Autronic. You only need to look into the history of the systems. It is true to say however that Motec is more established in the UK.

 

The Autronic price is with a CDi R500 isn't it James? What ignition system does the Motec come with for £3k?

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What ignition system does the Motec come with for £3k?

Mine didn't come with an ignition system but in saying that, I havent noticed any time whereby I have missed one. I suppose I could have bought the HKS DLI and fitted that and that would have been around £300

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Guest Terry S
Mine didn't come with an ignition system but in saying that, I havent noticed any time whereby I have missed one. I suppose I could have bought the HKS DLI and fitted that and that would have been around £300

 

Thats my point, the Autronic includes a CDi system, which many consider the finest available. Makes it look much better VFM in my opinion as remember the costs being quoted include wiring.

 

http://www.autronic.com/page_files/direct_fire_cdi.htm

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Thats my point, the Autronic includes a CDi system, which many consider the finest available. Makes it look much better VFM in my opinion as remember the costs being quoted include wiring.

I still struggle with the argument that Motec is only more successfull due to them being around longer. Surely race and rally teams are kept well abreast of developments and will not stick to a particular product if a superior one becomes available?

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Guest Terry S

Jeez I am sure we have been through this before. You use what you get used to. I am not saying the Motec isn't good, nor that Autronic is superior, but neither is the same true in reverse. What I am saying is, IMHO, Autronic offers better VFM. That coupled with the fact that there is a damn fine tuner here, who has installed the system on what is currently the fastest Jap street car by quite a margin, makes it, again only in my opinion, a very viable option.

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It's an indisputable fact that at Formulae race levels Motec is far more dominant than Autronic, maybe people with those sorts of budgets just like wasting money. Many do actually believe that to be the case though, how true it is is anyones guess :). I personally believe the Motec ECU is better though. It's better supported, globally, better made (available with MIL connectors, for example), has better ongoing free updating of software, has new features added to the software at more regular intervals, that are better bug tested, blah blah. I think Motec should produce a software package that fires up with a "NOVICE" or "EXPERT" choice, even the basic Motec ecu software packages are nowadays quite daunting in their complexity, a lot of stuff could be hidden from a novice user. I know a lot of people who look at the demo software are overawed by the sheer scale of the options. I am... But I am far from an expert. People used to using it (as anyone mapping something like a turbo engine damned well should be), will welcome the range of parameters, in fact a really good map is probably impossible without accessing most of them. A novice user could get a feel for mapping an N/A (and preferably expendable) engine using a simpler interface. IMHO.

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Guest Terry S

LOL, ok Chris couple of points

 

The Autronic software ( to me anyway) is easier to use. The Autronic also offers a wide range of parameter, none of which are locked from the customer for extra profit ( this is what I have been told, not sure if it's true).

 

The updated software ( again bug tested) is readily available by download from the Autronic site, as is the range of documentation.

 

Please take a look at a few of the following links and give me your impressions:

 

http://www.autronic.com/page_files/sm4_kit.htm

 

http://www.autronic.com/page_files/software.htm

 

In addition, on the subject of support there is an excellent Support forum run by actual Autronic Tuners

http://www.autronic.com/forum/index.php

as well as clearly a UK distributor with excellent knowledge of the equipment.

 

BTW, think James wanted the ECU for a road car...

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The next 2 Supra customer cars will be running Autronic's. One customer choose it out of a list of 5 possibles and the other demanded it.

 

We've had experience with the Power FC, AEM. HKS is inaccessible to non-pro dealers.

 

I think the fastest ford cosworth (World), fastest skyline (Europe) and fastest road supra (UK) have a lot to do with it. Shead certainly knows his stuff.

 

Gaz.

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Motec users dont need a support forum :p

 

 

Same as mine then :innocent:

 

LOL.

 

Anyway.

 

 

A road car is far more demanding to map than 90% of race cars, people with race engines don't expect instant perfect drivavbility from sub zero, good fuel consumption at all temps and conditions, perfect light throttle manners, emission testing satisfying CO, and other emission levels, control of lots of funny gizmos anathaema to a race engine et cetera. I'd say most modern road car engines are extremely demanding of the ecu. I had a quick look at the site, but the forum isn't available to none purchasers, as far as I can tell. For documentation AEM takes some beating.

 

I agree, Motec has no publically accessible user forum, and the documentaion is a little sparse, but no less so than the Autronic stuff.

 

I think we decided while ago to agree to differ on these ecu merits? I am pretty entrenched in believing Motec is better, but I would love access to the forum, just as a none poster, to see the dialog.

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Guest Terry S
I wouldn't know, I have never had any issues to go back for. :rolleyes:
Didnt you take it to the Motec guy to sort something??? maybe I have that wrong?? Anyway, the support issue was brought up in response to CW's :p

 

Chris, it is a good forum and worth registering.

 

I think the fastest ford cosworth (World), fastest skyline (Europe) and fastest road supra (UK) have a lot to do with it. Shead certainly knows his stuff.

 

Gaz.

 

Gaz think you forgot the fastest Supra in Europe too ;)

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Guest Terry S
Terry, is it possible to register as a none purchaser? It seems to suggest you need proof of purchase first? Cheers.

 

I will see if I can get you a login via Ray Hall, Chris

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Really? Does Supramannen (sp) run Autronic?

 

Cool :)

 

Gaz

 

 

Yup, well he did ..I believe he's sold the supra now. He was making a fortune selling his maps .Autronic SM2 ECU

and Autronic CDI ignition I believe. Spec is on His for sale thread over in SPF.

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Not sure which Autronic unit it was Terry, but on it's own it's priced under £1300. I told Mark my spec and what i wanted to do with it and he came back with a price breakdown.

 

MAD is about 30 minutes away and the garage that does bits to my car have strong conections with Owen so those are the 2 closes and tuners who i have gathered are more than capable with the ecu's.

 

It's for a road going car, but im thinking that say maybe a year or 2 down the line i may wanna go bigger turbo wise. I may not but i was just trying for bit of forward planning to help sway me one way or the other. Think i'll get a quote on the Motec to compare.

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It's for a road going car, but im thinking that say maybe a year or 2 down the line i may wanna go bigger turbo wise. I may not but i was just trying for bit of forward planning to help sway me one way or the other. Think i'll get a quote on the Motec to compare.

 

 

Best way. Shop around get the feel. They are all pretty much as good as each other and none of us will EVER use all the features. Then it's just a matter of cost and who gives you a good vibe to do it. This ECU snobery is making me laugh. We all have our favorites as do the tuners and none of them like us will agree on whos is best, they will all stand by their product of choice.

 

:zen:

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