Everyone who is bad mouthing a standalone ecu, probably has never even touched, letalone owned one.

What are you thinking Pluto? Something with a little controler like the Power FC, and maybe a datalogit for those who want to be able to change everything? Or would it be laptop only? I, like alot of people realy like the ease of running something plug and play without having to get rid of the fly by wire or anything like that.

I would be willing to spend $1500ish for a power FCish ecu. CJ

I'm hoping that its possible to splic in a megasquirt to the factory ECU and use it as a fuel and ignition and idle controller only... There's got to be some way to give the ECU some simulated loads (i.e. injector duty and ignition control etc...) so the stock ECU is still there and still working for the DSC and fans, and AC and radio and the beep and all that jazz... but at the same time running a megasquirt using a MAP sensor to measure the air to give the fuel and spark and temp warmup etc...

THere is sooo much control that the megasquirt gives you... and we should be able to get it to correctly control EVERYTHING about running the engine other than the accessories...

I would love a stand alone unit that is used just for Fuel injection and spark. I think most people using the Greddy kit would.

I don't think the megasquirt will work since it "CAN't" control the drive-by wire on the TB. If you try to piggyback the stock ECU to control the TB while the megasquirt controls the fuel and ignition, I think the ECU will goto safe mode causing the TB opening partial.

Nothing in the Rx8 ECU is cheap. The CAN bus interface alone cost $550. We're not sure if its even worth doing it yet. We estimated that w/o the CAN bus interface will cost around $1750 for the EMS. with the CAN bus interface will probably run into $2000+ range.

The stand alone is plug and play using a laptop interface for modifying all parameters. Unfortunately, Apexi has no plans to produce a ECU for the Rx8 because of the complexity and price to make it work.

Electromotive doesn't work well from what I heard. Microtech doesn't seen to work because of the limited I/O within the unit (unless they're making something with at least 16 I/O to control all parameters. Haltech doesn't have drive-by wire control but can be done with stepper motor (which is silly). Motec is the only one that can control it by you're looking to spend at least $5000 for the unit plus $$$ for extra features. HKS FCON V supposely work but will still piggy back with the ECU for CAN bus interface (just like the 350Z they offer) and will cost at least $1800 for the unit and only Pro dealer/tuner from HKS can tune them.

On top of what I said a few posts above, I'd also consider that sooner or later RX8 PCM recalibrations and tools will be available on the market rendering this "plug-and-play" ECU a very expensive option. And for the full race applications, there always is Motech and others!

Fabrice

What's the big deal about throttle by wire anyways? It can't be that expensive to switch out throttle bodies and fabricate anything needed...

By the time we're talking about FI there's no point in having any ECU decide what velocity of air we need since its all pressurized... (correct me if I'm wrong)

More about ETB (electronic throttle body) here :
http://rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7864

You could indeed replace the T/B. But that ECU would not be plug-and-play anymore then.

true... but we have to realize that unless ford gives us a new ECU it won't be plug and play

Thanks for that link...

After reading that thread I think I'd actually prefer a cable driven throttle...

I've been noticing that each gear the throttle feels different and to be perfectly honest, it annoys the crap out of me...

If it unlocks what's necessary to build extremely powerful renesis motors without the quirks of piggybacking and of course it's tuned well, I'm sure people will pay the price for it.

And I know it'll be tuned well. ;)

What I have posted on that thread is only a part of the ETB functionnalities There might be other interesting features like :
- compensation for altitude
- adaptative tip-in response according to aggressivevess of driving
- ...

Fabrice