ecu modding

[hyper3000gt]

best place to send the stock ecu from a non turbo to be upgraded for turbos? I heard jim wolf was good would like to know opinions on them and possible other options.

[3000gttom]

the only stock ecu's that can be reprogrammed are in the 98-99 cars, otherwise you will need an ecu from a tt car or get one of the 98-99 tt ecu's because they are able to be flash tuned

this thread would be better in the turbo section of the forum, for some strange reason the n/a 3s community doesn't believe in tuning

[hyper3000gt]

correct me if I'm wrong but weren't the 97 and 98 3000gts identical? I have a 97 so I was thinking the ecus could be flashed or chiped.

[Hans@GZP]

No, they are not the same.

[stealthee]

97-98 were identical exterior wise, but the ECU and wiring harnesses were different.

[hyper3000gt]

well is the engine control ecu and the transmision control ecu one in the same or are they seperated in the 3000gts? becaue if they are not seperated I can't use the ecu out of a vr4 because they are only manuel transmissions and mine is automatic.

[stealthee]

Automatic cars have a seperate transmission control unit.

People have used VR4 ECU's in Automatic cars.

[hyper3000gt]

ok that's good to know however isn't there a compression difference between the vr4 and sls engines? wouldn't this throw off the programing from the vr4s computer? also if I were to get a vr4 ecu and put it in my sl does it conect to the harness without any modification?

[stealthee]

From what I have seen in other threads the SL ECU is programmable as some people have "turned a SL ECU into a VR4 ECU."

The whole point of it being flashable means you can account for many changes/differences.

[hyper3000gt]

From what I have seen in other threads the SL ECU is programmable as some people have "turned a SL ECU into a VR4 ECU."

The whole point of it being flashable means you can account for many changes/differences.


yea but I'm being told the 97 sls can't be flashed.

[n2nsanity]

Pretty sure what he means is "ALL 98,99 ECU's are flashable. Doesn't matter if they're tt or na. And anything older is not flashable."

[hyper3000gt]

sorry still confused, I get what several people are saying how only every model is flasable between 98 - 99 but then one of the last guys told that any sl could be programaed to be like a vr4 ecu.

so does that mean I can program my 97 sl ecu then?

[stealthee]

You are definitely confused. Only 98-99 SL and VR4 ECU's can be flashed.

[R/T93]

sorry still confused, I get what several people are saying how only every model is flasable between 98 - 99 but then one of the last guys told that any sl could be programaed to be like a vr4 ecu.

so does that mean I can program my 97 sl ecu then?

NO.

Only 98 an 99 dohc ecu's are flashable.

Do a search for "chromed". Read all of that thread

From the phone.

[n2nsanity]

sorry still confused, I get what several people are saying how only every model is flasable between 98 - 99 but then one of the last guys told that any sl could be programaed to be like a vr4 ecu.

so does that mean I can program my 97 sl ecu then?

Dude, just take stealthee's word for it, lol. Don't worry about what one person may have said. Your 97 sl ecu cannot be flashed.

[stealthee]

He misread my post saying people have turned SL ecus into VR4 ecu's as meaning any SL ecu can be turned into a VR4 ecu, not a 98-99 one.

Look, you are asking about ECU modding and adding turbo's, yet you are complaining of having compression issues. With your current amount of knowledge you have a TON of reading to do before you even consider a TT conversion.

[hyper3000gt]

I know I just like to plan ahead is all in a month or so I'm going to be getting my compression issues taken care of and then slowly start buying part for a turbo conversion. this is just me learning about it before hand.

anyways when I'm ready I guess I have to get a 98 vr4 ecu and plug it in then huh?

[3000gttom]

flashable would be the smartest choice, you can get the ecu and an adapter harness and be ready,

dont worry about compression, just learn to tune, or get it tuned by somebody who know's what they are doing and compression wont be a problem,
and you'll probably still need to hotwire your fuel pump because your car wont support the two stage setup and you'll need to do manual boost control since you dont have anywhere in the wiring harness for the boost solenoid

so thats

flashable ecu
adapter harness
hotwire fuel pump
manual boost controller

then either you need a tactrix cable and a wideband to tune it or find a tuner with that equipment

i may be forgetting something but thats all i can think of for now

[stealthee]

The compression I brought up has to do with his other active thread. Compression is down on his car so his car isn't even healthy right now.

[3000gttom]

oh, my bad, you definitely need a need to get that right before you even think of turbocharging

[IPD]

hyper, my advice is to just do a lot of thread reading. there is a lot of info on tt-conversions, and you should familiarize yourself with all of it. know the differences between a tt-conversion and a tt-swap--and how they may be modded differently. read up on how to wire a TT-ecu to the TCU (lots of wires, but only a few connections). determine what kind of power you want to be making, and plan accordingly; sometimes this means selling your car and buying something else. educate yourself on the cost of owning and maintaining a car with the power you wish it to make....because it's not a liner correlation. understand the advantages and disadvantages of n/a vs. tt and fwd vs. awd.

most of all, calculate how much it will cost to keep the car in good working condition at all times (60k service, weatherstripping, fluid-changes, etc). that cost should be subtracted from whatever money you feel you can spend on the car. if after subtracting those costs, you do not have enough left to do a tt-conversion---then don't do it. nothing is more of a dream killer than a half-fixed, half-broken car because you over-extended yourself.

it's better to be slow, pretty and reliable....than fast, broken and expensive.

[BaadVR4]

And, if you currently have a 10:1 CR N/A motor with low compression but are considering a TT conversion, you might want to consider getting a good used TT engine. At least it will have the lower compression ratio you need to run more than about 8 psi of boost. The bigger turbos (of whatever size) aren't going to give you the full benefit of their flow capacity because a 10:1 CR N/A engine can't take boost greater than 8-10 psi no matter what you do for tuning. So, rather than putting money into fixing your N/A engine, just buy a TT engine. Just my 1.5 cents worth.


oh, my bad, you definitely need a need to get that right before you even think of turbocharging

[hyper3000gt]

ok thanks for the advice, do you know if the tt engine is just a drop in easy to mount assembly? does it conect fine to the automatic transmission?

[stealthee]

There are threads out there. Use the search feature and read, read, read.

[hyper3000gt]

flashable would be the smartest choice, you can get the ecu and an adapter harness and be ready,

dont worry about compression, just learn to tune, or get it tuned by somebody who know's what they are doing and compression wont be a problem,
and you'll probably still need to hotwire your fuel pump because your car wont support the two stage setup and you'll need to do manual boost control since you dont have anywhere in the wiring harness for the boost solenoid

so thats

flashable ecu
adapter harness
hotwire fuel pump
manual boost controller

then either you need a tactrix cable and a wideband to tune it or find a tuner with that equipment

i may be forgetting something but thats all i can think of for now


when you say adapter harness your not talking about a whole engine harness are you? and where could I find one these for this car? also insdtead of hotworing the fuel pump couldn't I just use the fuel pump from a vr4?

[CoopKill]

You really need to pick a subject that you are asking about, and search threads. There are many threads that will explain your questions thoroughly.

Repeating all this info as you ask is not exactly the most productive way to learn, or teach for that manner. Someone has already givin you a starting point by searching the tt conversion threads, and the chrome thread, You have not taken the time to do this, or your last questions would not have been asked.

Search, read, learn, ask along the way. It is all here.