What's up with SSSquid?

[82eye]

Me personally would go the standalone route. It's affordable and it will allow you to grow into other mods if you wish. It doesn't matter if you low goals right now. My car runs so smooth with his setup.

at some point it's probably worth it just for the updated engine management. the original ecu in these cars won't last forever.

[Northern]

The problem with all those companies you mentioned is that they don't cater to the M20. I'm sure there are work arounds and some may dabble a little bit (mostly outside the US). I really hate that the go to for E30 mods is to pull out the M20. I'm not against swaps, I love cool engine swaps. But the M20 is a great engine that needs love too. I think it's starting to get some attention again though.

I'm not sure if you mean they don't offer an M20 PNP option, or if they don't have a base tune or pre-written tech for the M20 or something else.

That stuff I get - but I also hate the stock connector on these harnesses, which is one of a few reasons I sold my Link E36X.
The base tune, understandable, but could basically figure it out from another standalone if nobody has done it yet.
Otherwise, is there anything at all difficult about the M20 other than the picky crank sensor and alternator charging circuit? Maybe ECU power?

I understand some people's priority is to fuck around as little as possible, so the PNP stuff makes sense.
I definitely think the juice is worth the squeeze on a wire-in option for me.

[digger]

I went with a Wolf V500 back in 2007 solely because it had a PNP setup (patch harness). It is a big deal for many.
TBH the other issue is in 5 years will there be support for hardware or other issues (non tuning issues)? For example WOLF are no longer in business so with a failure you're out of luck.

For this reason i will be changing to something mainstream Haltech most likely as the connectors are similar type so can just depin and rearrange etc and every tuning shop deals with them

i am sure there are patch harnesses you can buy and adapt to other ECU types

[82eye]

For this reason i will be changing to something mainstream Haltech most likely as the connectors are similar type so can just depin and rearrange etc and every tuning shop deals with them

local shop kept trying to sell me on haltech until they looked and saw they had nothing for m20 here. haltech in aus supported it but not worth bringing over for the cost. they didn't even mention the US.

[econti]

local shop kept trying to sell me on haltech until they looked and saw they had nothing for m20 here. haltech in aus supported it but not worth bringing over for the cost. they didn't even mention the US.

Cut plug off M20 harness, terminate with Haltech pins, put pins into Haltech plug. Easy job easy life.
I had a ECUmaster Emu Black in my E39 M54 and honestly it was rubbish. You get what you pay for

[82eye]

Cut plug off M20 harness, terminate with Haltech pins, put pins into Haltech plug. Easy job easy life.
I had a ECUmaster Emu Black in my E39 M54 and honestly it was rubbish. You get what you pay for

the shop i was working with won't touch it for tuning even though they are the haltech dealer. they don't have an ecu for e30 at all even though it's known to be supported in australia.

[digger]

local shop kept trying to sell me on haltech until they looked and saw they had nothing for m20 here. haltech in aus supported it but not worth bringing over for the cost. they didn't even mention the US.

supported? there is no PNP option and it is the same as applying to any other engine that doesn't have a PNP solution. Sounds like the shop just didn't want the job because too busy or they aren't competent to work out from first principles and they are just keyboard tappers (like most tuners)

It seems like there is a PNP patch harness for EMU this should be able to be repurposed

[econti]

If they aren't confident in tuning one, it's not a shop you should be going to. Any of the Elite model that does at least 6 cylinders is fine. I think the Elite 750 is the cheapest that'll suit.
Do Link do a patch harness? They'd be my other pick for ones that are worthwhile.

[McGyver]

To be fair, any of the current Haltech units can run an m20. Batch fire the injectors in 2 banks and wasted spark ignition requires 3 circuits. That's what everyone was doing with MegaSquirt back in the day, and other than being complicated to learn/plan/setup, it works just fine.

That being said, if a tuner says it isn't possible, they aren't comfortable, or don't want to tune a specific ECU, I would find ANY other option than to use them for that ECU.

[Northern]

We're basically at the point where any ECU will run an M20 at least as well as the stock DME as long as it's tuned decently.

Then it all comes down to what extras you want - COP, sequential fuel injection, e-throttle, sensors, logging, etc.
And how easy you want it to be - PNP vs wire-in, reuse OE sensors/connectors or replace, base tune provided or not, tune done by someone or yourself, etc.

[82eye]

supported? there is no PNP option and it is the same as applying to any other engine that doesn't have a PNP solution. Sounds like the shop just didn't want the job because too busy or they aren't competent to work out from first principles and they are just keyboard tappers (like most tuners)

It seems like there is a PNP patch harness for EMU this should be able to be repurposed

they assumed haltech would have a pnp here, haltec told them that it was an aus option only. they wanted to sell me some stuff and lost out.

[econti]

To be fair, any of the current Haltech units can run an m20. Batch fire the injectors in 2 banks and wasted spark ignition requires 3 circuits. That's what everyone was doing with MegaSquirt back in the day, and other than being complicated to learn/plan/setup, it works just fine.

That being said, if a tuner says it isn't possible, they aren't comfortable, or don't want to tune a specific ECU, I would find ANY other option than to use them for that ECU.

I had a R32 Skyline with the RB20 (2 litre) that was running batch injection. It got 9 miles to the gallon

[digger]

I had a R32 Skyline with the RB20 (2 litre) that was running batch injection. It got 9 miles to the gallon

And your point is?

[McGyver]

I had a R32 Skyline with the RB20 (2 litre) that was running batch injection. It got 9 miles to the gallon

Due to the limited flow rate of our injectors (low pressure/flow), sequential injection is only possible around idle speeds. As RPM increases, the time to spray with the valve open decreases. This doesn't leave enough time for our injectors to supply all the fuel while the valve is open. As a result, the stock DME uses batch firing. It's a little crude, but it also sprays fuel on the back of the intake valve, cleaning the valve and vaporizing the fuel.

Your RB20 either needed a shitload of fuel due to a big turbo, you drove it aggressively, or it was horribly tuned and ran filthy rich. Batch firing injectors is a little less fuel efficient, but wouldn't put you at 9mpg.

Sequential Fuel Injection – DIYAutoTune

[digger]

Due to the limited flow rate of our injectors (low pressure/flow), sequential injection is only possible around idle speeds. As RPM increases, the time to spray with the valve open decreases. This doesn't leave enough time for our injectors to supply all the fuel while the valve is open. As a result, the stock DME uses batch firing. It's a little crude, but it also sprays fuel on the back of the intake valve, cleaning the valve and vaporizing the fuel.

Your RB20 either needed a shitload of fuel due to a big turbo, you drove it aggressively, or it was horribly tuned and ran filthy rich. Batch firing injectors is a little less fuel efficient, but wouldn't put you at 9mpg.

Sequential Fuel Injection – DIYAutoTune

yep

IMO based on my experiences with dizzy and batch fire then full sequential and waste spark on same exact setups, my conclusion is that fully sequential fuel is not worth the effort nor is waste spark for a typical NA street build as you don’t see enough tangible benefits to drivability, economy or performance to justify for the average user.

foregoing these simplifies the transition to a standalone