Standalone ECU

[Bastijn Van Weynsberghe]

I'm looking for information on a standalone ecu for my E30 325I, can someone educate me on this subject because I'm trying to learn everything I would need to know before buying one. I have a few questions already like first would you be able to keep all the factory functions like the warning lights, the control panel in the roof ETC, second what are the best options for an E30 I know Megasquirt makes good ecu's and Ecumasters is also one I read good things about but what are the other good options? also would you be able to download a base tune for the M20 and load it on to the ecu or would it need to be tuned from scratch immediately? Are there other important things I need to know or need to look for please let me know I'm trying to educate myself and your help would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Bastijn Van Weynsberghe

[JehTehsus]

1. Yes, you can keep all the warning lights. Really the only lights the ECU controls is the check engine light. The tachometer will work as well. The fuel mileage gauge can be a little more complicated, but is also doable depending on the ECU and/or your electronics knowledge.
2. I have worked with megasquirt, 2 and 3, and I can recommend them, but I can't speak to anything else as I have not worked with it.
3. With a mostly stock M20 you can start with a base tune and realistically get a decently drivable car with a few hours driving around street autotuning. Probably wont be able to extract all the available power from the engine without dyno time though.

[Bastijn Van Weynsberghe]

Thanks for the info really appreciate it!