When you need a standalone

[Empiremen]

Hi guys,

I've been wondering when a GT4 owner need to change their ecu for a standalone?

I have already a downpipe catless and running stock psi with some more aggressive cam on a St205 with everything with the evap gone and everything work fine. But now, a friend of mine have a deal on some Garrett and I'm quite tempted. Do I really need a new ecu if I go with a GTX3076R or I will be okay?

My goal is having a good reliable gt4

Thank you!

 

[Sifu]

I feel that anytime you're going to do medium to heavy modifications then yes an EMS should be in the picture; be it via flashing or piggy back or standalone. You will be hindered due to the ECU restrictions so you wont be getting the full potential of a turbo/spark/fuel/air upgrade.

With a decent tuner an EMS can be tuned to be even more reliable than the stock ECU.

 

[aus jd 2703]

It depends if it's 205 or 185. The old maf system does let you make more changes before need a tune imo. Due to it measure ing mass airflow directly.
The map system calculates it. So on a stock motor it's accurate but the less stock the worse it is. Pretty much it's tuned to a set VE table and if you changes the engines VE enough eg cams. Then the map is no longer accurate hence u need a tune.

I personally went to a smaller turbo than your suggesting and went standalone. Several factors but mostly it was I wanted more boost. Stock ecu was locked to 17psi. I'm now running 20psi.

Doing it all again I think I would have went a slightly cheaper standalone (sprint 500 instead of the ps1000) but imo you are at the point of needing some form of ecu. You can get away with a piggy back. But I don't like the idea of a piggy back. That's just me

 

[Sifu]

I don't like piggy back systems either but there an option since flashing isn't something a tuner can do on our older ECUs.

 

[sleeper]

I recommend you get a standalone as soon as you do more than the standard BPU.. ( exhaust, IC, filter adjust boost)

Turbo,cams,injectors, manifolds= standalone if you want to get good results from your new parts.

 

[Empiremen]

It's all very interesting, thank you! As you all said I think I will go the route of a EMS before anything else!

 

[Hic]

On celica, you need standalone always. Car is so bad from the factory, it is ubelieveable. Not to mention that rotor/cap combination etc etc.