FTO AUSTRALIA

Well, having driven this for a couple of weeks now, have found something interesting. Yep, I got an extra 10+KW at the wheels, but am also getting about 20% better fuel economy as well. Money well spent I say.......

Standalone Haltech or piggyback?

piggyback

what more can I say

Is it really a noticeable power difference? Ie. am I really going to notice a difference when I plant my foot?

how much you pick yours up for dstocks

Mates rates for the unit - $550. I can probably get that deal again im thinking. Install and tune cost me $650. This will vary depending on where you get it done. Aza got his done at Pulse racing I know.

As to the difference it makes, it really depends on the mods you have. Aza got 18KW at the wheels and is now running at 135. I got an extra 12KW ATW on mine and im over 130 as well. Given a stock FTO pulls about 100KW at the wheels, we are both getting 30% more power than stock. I certainly noticed the difference on my car, but that is not to say it would be the same on yours. Youd certainly pick up 10KW ATW at a minimum which you should feel

what is it???

*cass has her learning cap on*

Based off of the lecture I got from stocks yesterday (I really need to stop asking him random FTO questions ) it's an additional component that ties into the cars computer (CPU) or works alongside it.

It gets the performance boost by tweaking what the main CPU does or, in some cases, doesn't do. An example given to me was the standard FTO is detuned for dirtier Japanese fuels (so the chances of engine damage is less) and this chip can allow you to tweak for higher grade fuels. The other is that it can disable the annoying Japanese speed limiter that's set to 185kph.

Half of the cost to stocks was getting a professional to do the actual tweaking to get the performance right.

wow-- u actually made that simple to understand...

Thanks

yep, what he said . Added to that is the fact that the standard computer in the FTO is not designed to cater properly for the many performance modifications you may make to your FTO over time (intake, exhaust etc). This means that to ge the full value of those modifications, you have to add something that can tune the engine to make te most of the changes you make.

Actually japanese fuels are not only cleaner they generally higher octane

^^ This.

In fact, everywhere else in the world gets 98 octane type fuels as their 'regular' unleaded...

Australia gets the sh*t fuel that everyone else rejects.

Well you can blame mr dstocks for that

To be fair, I believe he said the city fuels are better than Australia, but outside the city centres was inferior.

Edit: See how deep I can dig a hole for him, mwhahaa

These sorts of results are awesome to hear.

I am in the process of making my own Haltech style piggyback ECU. Mine will be a higher spec'ed unit with more IO and a faster processor allowing more tuning points. So far it is looking like it will cost less than $250 installed which I am pretty happy with.

In fact, everywhere else in the world gets 98 octane type fuels as their 'regular' unleaded...

Actually japanese fuels are not only cleaner they generally higher octane

Actually, I thought that as well. From what ive been told by the people that set my Haltech up, this is apparently not the case however. In Japan, the city centres have 100 Octane, but the outlying areas do not necessarily have access to it. Not only that, it is common that the fuel itself has a lot more impurities in it. This is one of the reasons why you are able to get better performance out of something like a Haltech. The car is tuned out of the factory to run on the lowest grade fuel it is likely to get without causing damage to the engine.

Im only repeating what I was told. I guess that it could be wrong, but if you think about it, it makes a kind of sense. The amount of cash they put into R&D on these cars and the effort they put into wringing another one or 2 horses out of the engine with subsequent model releases. Why would you be able to get a better tune (power + fuel economy) after a few runs on the Dyno. Admittedly, mods could explain this away, but im not convinced that there isnt some truth in this.

ok now for $250 we all want one, get busy !!!!

if you can get it for that price in like a month I will ask you 2 get me one for my 6a13tt man that is a interceptor

Well, the good news is that $250 was assuming I make one. If people are interested the cost of parts will go down. Making two will probably only cost $80 more in parts.

The less good news is that I am using rather small surface mount components which unless you have a good soldering iron, thin solder and some flux paste (oh, and some skill in soldering) I wouldn't recommend attempting. Good new is I can probably help with.

I should be finishing the hardware design of my piggyback ECU over the weekend. I have everything but the analog outputs already done.

Once the hardware is done, the software & firmware (software run by the ECU) will take probably 1~3 months. (Keep in mind that this is a hobby project an not one I am making a profit on)

Also note, my car is a GR so I have a MAF sensor. While I can write a MAP version of the firmware and test it in my lab, I will need someone to verify that it works.

And as with all home brew projects, I can not provide any guarantee.

If after reading this you are still interested, let me know.

oh, I think you miss-understood, we want you to do all the work, we just want the benefits !!!!!!!!!!

I’m guessing that because you are tackling this kinda project that you are qualified / are an electronics whiz???