I have a 2000 RS-T, I was thinking about getting the Link Stand Alone ECU. However it seems that alot of people have problems tuning the car and keeping it tuned once they put a stand alone in. Is it the hardware that is the problem with tuning or is it the people behind the laptop? I dont have any problems with my car now. Should I invest? Or just leave good enough alone? What advantages would I gain by having a stand alone? Like I said my car runs quite well.

J

The largest pain is that you loose the learning capabilities of your ECU so that even if there is a change of weather (such as winter) you have to remap and retune. You also have to hack up your ECU wiring harness. Its basically just a lot of maintenance and initial setup.

If you do not plan on extracting 100% of the available HP out of your car, do not get a LINK.

If you do not want to spend time behind a laptop tuning, do not get the LINK.

If you do not want to have to keep a laptop in the car incase of humid weather, or colder climates, do not get the LINK.

With that said, there is a lot of performance left on the table by getting some sort of programmable engine management. But it also takes lots of work to see any benefit. You may have to hire a tuner and some dyno time just to get some base maps setup initially. Then you can tweak from there with a basic understanding of the LINK software and all of it's functions.


P.S. There is a plug and play version of the LINK for the RS ;)

so would a unichip be better for most people then? It retains the stock ecu learning and leaves off-boost management to the original ecu if my understanding is correct. Only under positive intake manifold pressure does it override the stock ecu, right?

Originally posted by Trizzle
so would a unichip be better for most people then? It retains the stock ecu learning and leaves off-boost management to the original ecu if my understanding is correct. Only under positive intake manifold pressure does it override the stock ecu, right?

Perhaps in your case(RS-T) a Greddy emanage is a better solution. A normal being cannot tune a unichip without the software. You must be an "authorized dealer" to get the software.

For a WRX, forget unichip... get a reflash.

So many misconceptions...

You know, there are such things as altitude correction and temperature correction in standalones.

You can also tune your car conservatively and forget about it with standalones as well. Especially so if you're in an area where the climate doesn't change much (ie. not Chicago).

A wide band is a BIG plus and will make life MUCH easier. Starting off others' base maps is a good thing as well since corrections should already be fairly set if they've used it through the seasons.

OTOH, yes, you do often have to just keep an ear open for any problems with the way the car is running, and it is helpful to keep a laptop in the car... though I've got almost 2 months between tweaking mine before.