Question about ECU. Notably for Bumble.

[awood]

Bumble' , I , as most , if not all other forum members here , have seen that you continually post about changing things in the standard ECU to improve or change , disable , make better the things we can control in our cars.
Now , I'm not ever about to fiddle around with my ECU with you're beloved Tactrix port thing as I'm in no way confident enough to mess with something so important.

However , as I have watched all the MCM videos of there car builds , they ALWAYS add an aftermarket Haltech ECU into there cars. This seems to be a very easy plug and play option , especially in the last couple of years.
Is this something you have ever looked into or have contemplated trying in your car?
If not , why not?
Not being a smart ass or stirring the pot , just really interested to hear why you would or would not use them?

[adamhumphrey]

The standard ecu is pretty powerful and can handle most things up to high horsepower applications. I think if you remove the standard ecu you could get issues with the immobiliser not working etc. There is a Motec and Syvecs plug and play ecu available for the Evo x. I am unsure if it could be useful for standard Lancers. They are very expensive $5-7k. Compared to a standard ecu with a tune of $1k. At the end of the day, it just depends on what the car is going to be used for and the amount of data logging and fail-safes in the ecu that is required. RP Motorsports in Sydney have tuned some really high power Evo X and Ralliarts and they mention nothing about using aftermarket ecu when they tune them.

[awood]

I had a feeling cost would be an important factor in this.

[bumblebee]

Don't bother with aftermarket ECU
The OEM ECU is more then powerful enough , there is so many parameters in the OEM that have been detuned and wound right back for not only the NA , but RA and Evo it's not funny.
Mitsubishi isn't the only manufacturer who does it
Every single engine that is EFI controlled since day dot of EFI has been crippled from the factory.
The Biggest reason for this is to get it thru emissions control
Plus
If power is wound back you can't break it
This is a good thing as it keeps the car on the road, and reduce warranty claim and gives a good client reputation.
There's a lot of aftermarket ECU around for all sorts of vehicles and they are no where near as adjustable or as wonderful as what you think or been lied in to believing by the manufacturer.
Absolutely nothing wrong with the Mitsubishi ECU so long as you have a decent .XML definition file for it.
I know guys with Evo's running E85 , knocking out over 700HP and the OEM ECU handles it no dramas.
It's more then fast enough to handle damn near any hardware you want to throw at it.
No need to spend mega bucks at the local "speed shop" for a tune
There are tuners around in various countries like [email protected] who can and do remote tune the car just as good if not better then the "big boys"
In fact Merlin writes the ECU tune for a lot of the "big boys" in Australia and overseas and has done for decades.

[awood]

Nice , thanks for the replys.

[bumblebee]

Anytime

[Mars1811]

Good explanation bumble, that was a question I'd been wondering for a while.

[bumblebee]

Excellent
Glad to be of service