Opinions and help with piggyback ECUs

So far I have found what looks like a good option: ECUMaster Digital ECU Tuner 3 (DET3) Piggyback

Will this work with a P5 sportshift auto ECU and does anybody have experience with this company that could offer any advice? what kind of power could I get reliably? I'm looking to get around 160-170HP N/A with supporting mods like a 4-2-1 header, catback, and intake. is this feasable for the internals on the FS-DE? I have read that the auto trans can take more power in stock form than the manual.
 
Short answer is no it won't work. I tried a DET3 piggyback years ago on a friend's protege and it doesn't read the maf signal correctly. The only piggyback that worked was the split second afc. Not sure if that's available anymore.

If you want a tune, best option would be a haltech elite 550 or sport 500 running in parallel with the stock ecu.

The engine can handle your power goal without internals.
 
Short answer is no it won't work. I tried a DET3 piggyback years ago on a friend's protege and it doesn't read the maf signal correctly. The only piggyback that worked was the split second afc. Not sure if that's available anymore.

If you want a tune, best option would be a haltech elite 550 or sport 500 running in parallel with the stock ecu.

The engine can handle your power goal without internals.
how would I go about wiring in a separate ECU to work in tandem with the stock ECU? are there any threads on here that are trying to do the same thing as me successfully? any disadvantages compared to just going full standalone?

a few more questions
were there any other issues with the DET3 aside from the maf signal? how far did the troubleshooting go?
 
It should be pretty simple if you're experienced in wiring, fuel injectors and ignition coils to standalone, cam and crank signals shared with the stock ecu. You'll have full control over fuel and ignition same as a standalone. The rest of the cars features that are dependent on the oem ecu should continue to work normal.
 
this would be my first time dealing with vehicle wiring. I have a few friends with experience that I could rely on for help. should I take it to a professional for tuning or do it myself on my laptop? I have read that it is easy to accidentally fry my ignition coils by using the wrong settings.
 
Megasquirt / microsquirt is also an option, although it is very DIY and not many tuners will work with it.

My car is running a microsquirt on top of the factory ECU. The microsquirt handles the injectors, ignition and fuel pump. Factory ECU handles everything else. It took a bunch of setting up but it's been running for nearly 2 years without many issues :)
 
Megasquirt / microsquirt is also an option, although it is very DIY and not many tuners will work with it.

My car is running a microsquirt on top of the factory ECU. The microsquirt handles the injectors, ignition and fuel pump. Factory ECU handles everything else. It took a bunch of setting up but it's been running for nearly
thanks for the info. If I go with a microsquirt I should remember to ask you for a copy of your tune. any tips on what I should do to get the system up and running? also, how much extra power did you notice with the tune?
 
Any extra power from using the microsquirt is probably coming from the supercharger hanging off the engine :D I'm mainly using it to correct fuel mixtures for the added boost and have a very safe tune at the moment - need to get the car on a dyno to fine tune and fix any errors :)

It's an involved install, really no different to a Haltech/etc in terms of what sensors and wiring is needed. From memory the crank and cam sensors were tricky to get right but I think my engine has a different trigger wheel setup than the USDM engines.
 
Any extra power from using the microsquirt is probably coming from the supercharger hanging off the engine :D I'm mainly using it to correct fuel mixtures for the added boost and have a very safe tune at the moment - need to get the car on a dyno to fine tune and fix any errors :)

It's an involved install, really no different to a Haltech/etc in terms of what sensors and wiring is needed. From memory the crank and cam sensors were tricky to get right but I think my engine has a different trigger wheel setup than the USDM engines.
supercharger?! hot damn that's a spicy protege!
 
Any extra power from using the microsquirt is probably coming from the supercharger hanging off the engine :D I'm mainly using it to correct fuel mixtures for the added boost and have a very safe tune at the moment - need to get the car on a dyno to fine tune and fix any errors :)

It's an involved install, really no different to a Haltech/etc in terms of what sensors and wiring is needed. From memory the crank and cam sensors were tricky to get right but I think my engine has a different trigger wheel setup than the USDM engines.
quick question: if I want to let the stock ecu take control while I find a tuner, will the microsquirt just send standard instructions to the engine?
 
quick question: if I want to let the stock ecu take control while I find a tuner, will the microsquirt just send standard instructions to the engine?
You'll still need a base tune on the microsquirt to get it running. The place I got mine from took a bunch of engine specs and loaded a very rough base tune based on their supercharged MX-5.

I think a true piggyback system like the Split second controller will do what you're after :D
 
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