Well, I do have the Emerald K6 as I said and I also have a new Adaptronic e420c and a new Dicktator. So that's 3 aftermarket ecu's...
Now, I had bought the Dicktator some years back to install in the 12v engine but this ecu doesn't have closed loop mode (no lambda). I decided I wanted closed loop after the fact. Then I got the e420c for the same engine but later on decided to remap the std Bosch, which is easily done here on the dyno by several shops. Then came the 24v, but since I wanted to stay
coil-on-plug which the e420c doesn't support (for 6cyl) I ended up getting the Emerald K6 (two weeks ago). In the meantime, the 24v was running great with the locally remapped std ecu. Over a year, $hit happened and I ended up with ...5 std ecu's for significant total cost. This is a last effort to have the 4 repaired; no sense in having 4 bad ones. When I think about it, evident stupidity destroyed the 3 units and one was bad to begin with (not paid for) so the record is not bad, only one ecu died inexplicably -but I wasn't there when it happened so I can think whatever I want...
Since I will sometime start on the 3.2liter, I want to have all 'resources' intact. I suppose one engine will run with the K6 and the other with the std ecu. More than likely, I will end up selling the 3liter 24v and the old 12v to make up some of the money lost on all this electro-mechanical stuff; no sense having these engines sit around. Besides, I still have to finish the 'good' 1.8T...
So you see there's plenty to do yet. As for dyno mapping here, I'm all for it, std ecu's or not. I don't intend to change engine configuration to the point remapping will be required. I built it the way I planned and it will stay like this until it comes out of the car, to make room for the 3.2liter.
I don't expect more power out of the K6 compared to the std ecu and frankly, I don't think aftermarket ecu's are less 'failure-prone' than std ones. They can crap out like any other electronic device.
The ability to map these things can
not be considered a great advantage in a country where std ecu mapping is readily available
if you don't intend changing significant engine parameters -requiring a remap.
As for cost, a total std ecu dyno map (~2-3hrs) will run ~400€. I would assume the same time will be required for an aftermarket unit. Now if you think you can map it 100% on the road alone, I will strongly disagree. I have seen similar efforts here and the dyno wins hands down every time. So, we are left with the cost of buying aftermarket and keeping the std -or buying a few more like I did. Your price for a good unit (DTA, Emerald,Haltech etc) with the needed features easily exceeds $1k. You all insist on aftermarket but where is the
real gain? If you are racing the thing, I can see datalogging as the only reason, but if not? This is how I thought and stuck with std stuff which -by the way- is as good as they get as far as features: two O2's, two knock sensors, sequential injection, maf, limp home function...not too shabby for stock!
So, aftermarket or not, in
my mind Bosch is still king!
Jim K.