i currently have an APS 3" turboback with a highflow cat and need some engine management. Im looking for a very safe and reliable daily driver on 91 octane. I don't want to deal with tuning it myself or messing around with the car just want to set it and forget it. Want it extremely safe so i can drive my car for a million miles. :D what are you thoughts on an accessport, utec with dynotune, or Ecutek reflash with dynotune?

thanks

AP is the easiest way to go...Also would be the cheapest if that's all you want to do.

Plus they can be resold easily, and you can always grab something else if need be...

i was looking at cobb's dyno chart on their site and it looks like the accessport gives LESS? horsepower and torque than stock at higher RPMs.

is this a mistake or is this true?

i was looking at cobb's dyno chart on their site and it looks like the accessport gives LESS? horsepower and torque than stock at higher RPMs.

is this a mistake or is this true?

Those are numbers at the wheels, not the flywheel like a factory rating. Stock whp for a comparison is 230-240.

If you want a set it and forget it, I'd get the Accessport. The UTEC you need to constantly work with when the temperature changes, when you get crap gas, etc. etc...

I got dyno'd on a Mustang dyno with stage 1(which is just a flash), and I got 273 hp/293 ft.-lb. This is on a dyno where the stock STi's go around 255-260 hp/tq. I just got finished putting my turboback(Helix catted dp/Greddy Evo catback), and it's even meaner than the stage 1. Definitely eye opening...



Mika

Check out the AP. Im running STG 1>93. You can change maps. .try different ones. Anti theft mode etc. Plus you can check & clear CEL's.Cobb is known for safe reliable parts and engines. . . he has the maps running rich as hell on WOT. No nonsense. . .my STi runs killer. . .smoother.

If you want a set it and forget it, I'd get the Accessport. The UTEC you need to constantly work with when the temperature changes, when you get crap gas, etc. etc...

I got dyno'd on a Mustang dyno with stage 1(which is just a flash), and I got 273 hp/293 ft.-lb. This is on a dyno where the stock STi's go around 255-260 hp/tq. I just got finished putting my turboback(Helix catted dp/Greddy Evo catback), and it's even meaner than the stage 1. Definitely eye opening...



Mika


why do you need to constantly work with the utec cause of temperature changes ect? The only difference is with the utec you KNOW when you get bad gas or if something else is having an adverse effect. you could always just turn off the knock control be just as happy as you would with the accessport. ;)

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=686984&page=1&highlight=UTEC+problems

There's a decent thread about the "Shortcomings of the UTEC" and I there's enough argument on the first page alone to steer me away from it. I am a simple person, and I want a set it and forget it type EM. I'm happy with the AP, simply because it uses stock ECU settings for just about everything, save boost and fuel trim. It keeps the stock knock sensor setting. You wanna talk about lowering knock settings, keep talkin' about that UTEC...

Now, if you want to tinker with all of your fuel trim settings every time the temperature changes 30+ degrees, have fun. In the past month, the DFW metro has gone from 70+ to 15, to 70+ back down to 25(degrees temperature). With the UTEC, to keep things optimum you need to adjust fuel settings. Again, to keep things optimum. With the AP, the stock ECU(reflashed) takes care of it.

Can you extract more from the same motor with a UTEC? Yup, sure can. Are there more blown UTEC motors than AP'd motors? Yup, sure are. AP sets their parameters a bit more conservatively. What he is looking for is a set it and forget it. I suggest the AP.

i currently have an APS 3" turboback with a highflow cat and need some engine management. Im looking for a very safe and reliable daily driver on 91 octane. I don't want to deal with tuning it myself or messing around with the car just want to set it and forget it.

I agree with finnRex. From what you described it sounds like either the ECUTEK or the Acessport is for you. I personally went with the AP and have been extremley happy with mine. I reccomend the AP.

If you don't change your stock set up from what they describe as the prerequisite for each COBB stage, you should be fine.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=686984&page=1&highlight=UTEC+problems

There's a decent thread about the "Shortcomings of the UTEC" and I there's enough argument on the first page alone to steer me away from it. I am a simple person, and I want a set it and forget it type EM. I'm happy with the AP, simply because it uses stock ECU settings for just about everything, save boost and fuel trim. It keeps the stock knock sensor setting. You wanna talk about lowering knock settings, keep talkin' about that UTEC...

Now, if you want to tinker with all of your fuel trim settings every time the temperature changes 30+ degrees, have fun. In the past month, the DFW metro has gone from 70+ to 15, to 70+ back down to 25(degrees temperature). With the UTEC, to keep things optimum you need to adjust fuel settings. Again, to keep things optimum. With the AP, the stock ECU(reflashed) takes care of it.

Can you extract more from the same motor with a UTEC? Yup, sure can. Are there more blown UTEC motors than AP'd motors? Yup, sure are. AP sets their parameters a bit more conservatively. What he is looking for is a set it and forget it. I suggest the AP.


With your argument I wonder why you would even upgrade your car? I mean I understand a set it and forget it philosophy. But why set it and forget it if your not setting it to be more powerful. People have blown engines with utecs, and people have blown engines with anything they can change the parameteres of the engines with. Its a user error and not the error of the tool.

The only problem I have is people saying they want accessports because they dont have to mess with it or worry about temperature compesentions ect. The utec does the EXACT same job but has a very sophisticated system to let the user know when something is amiss. Some people see this knock control system as a error with the utec when all its doing is letting you know when something is wrong with the car. The accessport DOSENT let the user know when their is a problem, so the problem isnt reported (thus it must not exist) which is ignorance in its finest. The accessport will have the same problems but instead of retarding timing it will just knock the engine, giving the user a sense of set it and forget it.

Ive used many utecs and havent noticed a difference with temperatures. unless you are tuning to the edge (which you cant even do with the accessport) you will not ever need to retune with the utec moreso than any other ecu.


"With the AP, the stock ECU(reflashed) takes care of it."
By how? knocking and not letting you know? The stock knock sensor settings are inadequate. Just ask the first batch of sti owners ;)

The UTEC, when using "Open Loop Fueling" mode, has a serious problem dealing with the switch to "winter" gasoline. Where I live, the switch occurs Oct 1 and lasts until Apr 30. Farther south, the switch may occur later and end sooner. The switch frequently coincides with the arrival of cold air. "Normal" gas has a stoichiometric air/fuel ratio of about 14.7:1 but gasoline with 10% ethanol has a stoichiometric A/F ratio of only about 14.0:1. Suppose you had a UTEC set up for some load/rpm condition so that a wideband A/F meter reports 11.0:1 when using "normal" gas. Now suppose you get your first tank of "winter" gas. At the same load/rpm condition as before, your wideband A/F meter will report your A/F ratio with the "winter" gas is 11.5:1. Your UTEC will not realize that it's fueling much leaner than before and will do nothing to alert you or to correct the problem. It's completely up to the user to recognize this problem and make changes to the UTEC fuel maps to correct it. This is not good, even if you do continually monitor a wideband A/F meter. If you happen to live in a "border" area where some pumps give you "normal" gas and other pumps a mile away give you "winter" gas at certain times of the year, you've got a lot of "tuning" to do just to keep your A/F ratios stable.

I think that most of the "gross lean condition" reported in thread Call to arms!: UTEC+TUNA users who run OLF (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645472) is attributable to a switch to "winter" gas (note that the thread began on Oct 11, likely a couple of weeks after the "winter" gas switchover in the Midwest).

This, of course, is a non-issue for the OEM ECU since it continuosly adjusts its fuel trims based on its front A/F sensor measurements.

BTW, if I were a UTEC user, I wouldn't rely very heavily on the ability of its knock detection to save the engine.

winter gas? that is an old thing from the 90's. Do some reasearch, they did start a program in the early 90's to have more additives in fuels during the winter but eventually the system went back to a year round mix. The only difference between summer and "winter gas" is the temperature of the air your running it in.

I know this because i emailed sunoco asking when the change was. They replied with a plethora of information and charts with year round tests of gasoline concentrations by area. The only places that get a little worse gas are big cities.

winter gas is no more than an urban legend these days.

winter gas is no more than an urban legend these days.Except when you live within a 90 mile radius of an urban area, where it becomes reality.

how about between Ecutek and Accessport. You would still choose the accessport over the ecutek even though you get a tune more specific to your car?

Have 1 word for you :AccessPORT!