Major NA-T dilema. Can't stop now
#1
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Major NA-T dilema. Can't stop now
Ok guys, here is the deal. I'm a noob when it comes to car mechanics. I decided to go NA-T, and I have the turbo installed, and the rest of the oil lines and downpipe, and now i really need to figure out what to do to make he car run well. I have a 7psi wastegate, keeping the stock headgasket, and am shooting for about 330-350 whp.
Here is the dilemma, and time is of the very essence, because the car is taking up space in my friend's garage. I was originally planning on running the TT ECU, because my car is a 97 sc300. It is OBDII, and I need the car to pass emissions in Chicago. However, this mod requires a lot of wiring, and a COP conversion, which is even more confusing to me, and then my tach won't work unless I mod that too, and its just a huge headache.
So my question is, should I save myself the headaches and just get a standalone like an AEM V1 or V2 and pay someone to tune it? Or get some sort of piggyback? If so, which one do I need? Are these stand alone's different for ge and gte motors?
I need this to be pretty much plug and play, and least amount of customization. I also want the car to be daily driveable and reliable. I just want this car running finally, so IDK if i should continue with the TT ecu plan, and just find someone and pay them to do it, or should I go a different route?
Kind Regards,
Matt
Here is the dilemma, and time is of the very essence, because the car is taking up space in my friend's garage. I was originally planning on running the TT ECU, because my car is a 97 sc300. It is OBDII, and I need the car to pass emissions in Chicago. However, this mod requires a lot of wiring, and a COP conversion, which is even more confusing to me, and then my tach won't work unless I mod that too, and its just a huge headache.
So my question is, should I save myself the headaches and just get a standalone like an AEM V1 or V2 and pay someone to tune it? Or get some sort of piggyback? If so, which one do I need? Are these stand alone's different for ge and gte motors?
I need this to be pretty much plug and play, and least amount of customization. I also want the car to be daily driveable and reliable. I just want this car running finally, so IDK if i should continue with the TT ecu plan, and just find someone and pay them to do it, or should I go a different route?
Kind Regards,
Matt
#5
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (4)
Aem won't pass obd2 emissions here. My county in Texas plugs into obd2 port, so if Chicago is like that you're ****ed unless you parallel the aem with the stock ecu to make the stock ecu think its running the show. So essentially a bunch of wiring and packaging. Tt obd2 ecu is your best cheapest most efficient bet if Chicago does like my county. My reasoning:
Aem
Associated sensors
Wiring to make ecu parallel
Tune
Obd2 tt ecu of your choice
Associated electronics
Wiring
The latter would be cheaper for sure, and will run great at your power goals
Aem
Associated sensors
Wiring to make ecu parallel
Tune
Obd2 tt ecu of your choice
Associated electronics
Wiring
The latter would be cheaper for sure, and will run great at your power goals
#6
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Aem won't pass obd2 emissions here. My county in Texas plugs into obd2 port, so if Chicago is like that you're ****ed unless you parallel the aem with the stock ecu to make the stock ecu think its running the show. So essentially a bunch of wiring and packaging. Tt obd2 ecu is your best cheapest most efficient bet if Chicago does like my county. My reasoning:
Aem
Associated sensors
Wiring to make ecu parallel
Tune
Obd2 tt ecu of your choice
Associated electronics
Wiring
The latter would be cheaper for sure, and will run great at your power goals
Aem
Associated sensors
Wiring to make ecu parallel
Tune
Obd2 tt ecu of your choice
Associated electronics
Wiring
The latter would be cheaper for sure, and will run great at your power goals
What about a piggyback like a F/IC6? Won't that pass emissions since it keeps the OBDII port functional?
#7
Lexus Champion
iTrader: (10)
yeah aem is a bad idea if you want to pass emissions on odb2.
odb1 aem is fine cause you can still pass with a lit up check engine light its all about the rollers.
your only options are a piggyback on the stock ecu, or the tt ecu mod, or a hybrid ecu setup with a megasquirt.
you can go the piggyback route and get a shop to do it, but it will only run as good as the tune and you need to set up o2 sims and all that stuff to keep the stock ecu happy.
the tt ecu mod is only wiring up a map sensor and the coilpacks and ignitor. you already are wired for the right type of maf the TT one will plug in. Its not that bad to wire coilpacks and you will be better off in the end compared to a piggyback on the stock coil, but It is a tough call cause the tt ecu mod a shop will probably not do, but they would love to install a fic and play around with it for you most likely.
odb1 aem is fine cause you can still pass with a lit up check engine light its all about the rollers.
your only options are a piggyback on the stock ecu, or the tt ecu mod, or a hybrid ecu setup with a megasquirt.
you can go the piggyback route and get a shop to do it, but it will only run as good as the tune and you need to set up o2 sims and all that stuff to keep the stock ecu happy.
the tt ecu mod is only wiring up a map sensor and the coilpacks and ignitor. you already are wired for the right type of maf the TT one will plug in. Its not that bad to wire coilpacks and you will be better off in the end compared to a piggyback on the stock coil, but It is a tough call cause the tt ecu mod a shop will probably not do, but they would love to install a fic and play around with it for you most likely.
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#8
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
yeah aem is a bad idea if you want to pass emissions on odb2.
odb1 aem is fine cause you can still pass with a lit up check engine light its all about the rollers.
your only options are a piggyback on the stock ecu, or the tt ecu mod, or a hybrid ecu setup with a megasquirt.
you can go the piggyback route and get a shop to do it, but it will only run as good as the tune and you need to set up o2 sims and all that stuff to keep the stock ecu happy.
the tt ecu mod is only wiring up a map sensor and the coilpacks and ignitor. you already are wired for the right type of maf the TT one will plug in. Its not that bad to wire coilpacks and you will be better off in the end compared to a piggyback on the stock coil, but It is a tough call cause the tt ecu mod a shop will probably not do, but they would love to install a fic and play around with it for you most likely.
odb1 aem is fine cause you can still pass with a lit up check engine light its all about the rollers.
your only options are a piggyback on the stock ecu, or the tt ecu mod, or a hybrid ecu setup with a megasquirt.
you can go the piggyback route and get a shop to do it, but it will only run as good as the tune and you need to set up o2 sims and all that stuff to keep the stock ecu happy.
the tt ecu mod is only wiring up a map sensor and the coilpacks and ignitor. you already are wired for the right type of maf the TT one will plug in. Its not that bad to wire coilpacks and you will be better off in the end compared to a piggyback on the stock coil, but It is a tough call cause the tt ecu mod a shop will probably not do, but they would love to install a fic and play around with it for you most likely.
I've been reading obout this stuff non stop over the last couple days and I guess i'm just overwhelmed with the info. So you're saying the TT ECU just plugs in to the wiring harness, and i just need to wire up the map sensor? Also, i sent you a couple PM's. Sorry becasue I'm asking for a lot of info here buy I'm under a lot of pressure to get this car done asap.
Last edited by myLEXsc400; 10-03-13 at 08:59 AM. Reason: mis print
#9
Lexus Champion
iTrader: (10)
Yeah its not the best project to get done under pressure but it is doable.
Yes the tt ecu just plugs right in, you simply unplug the old one and plug in the tt ecu for that step.
Same with the maf since you are odb2, you can just unplug your old maf and plug in the TT maf same connector.
you just need to wire up the map sensor and all the stuff for the ignition.
so thats the 3 wires for the map sensor, and 2 extra wires for the ignitor, and you need spare pins to do that wiring in my diagram where there wasn't a pin already. aso jump the grounds for the cam/crank sensors as shown in the diagram.
once you have some spare pins and the wires, its literally a matter of making the connectiong on the diagram which is not that many. you run the wires to the ignitor and map sensor, plug those up, and then the last thing to do will run your coil harness from the ignitor to the coils and drop those in.
at that point it should start and run. you may have to do the a/c fix, and everyone has to do the tach fix when going to coilpacks there is no way to avoid it, but those things you can do on your own time my 85 pickup doesnt even have a tach doesn't stop me from bouncing it off of whatever rev limit it has if you can even get it close to there.. maybe downhill sometimes lol.. until the 2jz swap that is.
Yes the tt ecu just plugs right in, you simply unplug the old one and plug in the tt ecu for that step.
Same with the maf since you are odb2, you can just unplug your old maf and plug in the TT maf same connector.
you just need to wire up the map sensor and all the stuff for the ignition.
so thats the 3 wires for the map sensor, and 2 extra wires for the ignitor, and you need spare pins to do that wiring in my diagram where there wasn't a pin already. aso jump the grounds for the cam/crank sensors as shown in the diagram.
once you have some spare pins and the wires, its literally a matter of making the connectiong on the diagram which is not that many. you run the wires to the ignitor and map sensor, plug those up, and then the last thing to do will run your coil harness from the ignitor to the coils and drop those in.
at that point it should start and run. you may have to do the a/c fix, and everyone has to do the tach fix when going to coilpacks there is no way to avoid it, but those things you can do on your own time my 85 pickup doesnt even have a tach doesn't stop me from bouncing it off of whatever rev limit it has if you can even get it close to there.. maybe downhill sometimes lol.. until the 2jz swap that is.
#11
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
#12
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Yeah its not the best project to get done under pressure but it is doable.
Yes the tt ecu just plugs right in, you simply unplug the old one and plug in the tt ecu for that step.
Same with the maf since you are odb2, you can just unplug your old maf and plug in the TT maf same connector.
you just need to wire up the map sensor and all the stuff for the ignition.
so thats the 3 wires for the map sensor, and 2 extra wires for the ignitor, and you need spare pins to do that wiring in my diagram where there wasn't a pin already. aso jump the grounds for the cam/crank sensors as shown in the diagram.
once you have some spare pins and the wires, its literally a matter of making the connectiong on the diagram which is not that many. you run the wires to the ignitor and map sensor, plug those up, and then the last thing to do will run your coil harness from the ignitor to the coils and drop those in.
at that point it should start and run. you may have to do the a/c fix, and everyone has to do the tach fix when going to coilpacks there is no way to avoid it, but those things you can do on your own time my 85 pickup doesnt even have a tach doesn't stop me from bouncing it off of whatever rev limit it has if you can even get it close to there.. maybe downhill sometimes lol.. until the 2jz swap that is.
Yes the tt ecu just plugs right in, you simply unplug the old one and plug in the tt ecu for that step.
Same with the maf since you are odb2, you can just unplug your old maf and plug in the TT maf same connector.
you just need to wire up the map sensor and all the stuff for the ignition.
so thats the 3 wires for the map sensor, and 2 extra wires for the ignitor, and you need spare pins to do that wiring in my diagram where there wasn't a pin already. aso jump the grounds for the cam/crank sensors as shown in the diagram.
once you have some spare pins and the wires, its literally a matter of making the connectiong on the diagram which is not that many. you run the wires to the ignitor and map sensor, plug those up, and then the last thing to do will run your coil harness from the ignitor to the coils and drop those in.
at that point it should start and run. you may have to do the a/c fix, and everyone has to do the tach fix when going to coilpacks there is no way to avoid it, but those things you can do on your own time my 85 pickup doesnt even have a tach doesn't stop me from bouncing it off of whatever rev limit it has if you can even get it close to there.. maybe downhill sometimes lol.. until the 2jz swap that is.
So that means that i dont mess with the ecu at all. Thats all just plug and play. i just mess with the wiring of the ignition and map? Where do i get spare pins from? are there any things i can salvage from the oem sc300 ecu?
#13
Lexus Champion
iTrader: (10)
you do not mess with the ecu at all but you will be inserting new pins into the ecu connector.
you will have to run those wires through the firewall to connect to map and ignitor (5 of them).
you get spare pins from a Junked harness, you can also get them from toyota or driftmotion.
nothing is salvageable off of the stock ecu. I would hold on to it until you get this mod working, then you can keep it or sell it but they are not worth much anyways so probably just keep that in case you go back to n/a.
also an aem fic or an aem ems would require someone to install a map sensor, which believe it or not is the exact same wiring as the tt ecu mod. so the only extra you have to do is a coil on plug conversion, which is a slight pain up front but then you get coilpacks, which you can never have on a piggyback setup with the ge ecu, it is not even an option.
its all in the tt ecu mod thread. on the distributor delete thread ignore all the parts with the 7m cps, you will be using the base of the distributor with the tt ecu mod in most cases.
If you have never done any wiring before which it sounds like, you may have a tough time with this mod.
alot of poeple have done this type of conversion before on other toyota's or have done harness work for swaps, and once you learn to remove pins from the connector, make connections, and splice into a factory wire, then its just a matter of going through the steps one at a time like you would do in a science lab or something.
Really don't want you to take everything apart and not have a running car again, but I can't do it for you unfortunately.
Maybe you can get Vrank and his pole to fly out there and do the respective jobs.
you will have to run those wires through the firewall to connect to map and ignitor (5 of them).
you get spare pins from a Junked harness, you can also get them from toyota or driftmotion.
nothing is salvageable off of the stock ecu. I would hold on to it until you get this mod working, then you can keep it or sell it but they are not worth much anyways so probably just keep that in case you go back to n/a.
also an aem fic or an aem ems would require someone to install a map sensor, which believe it or not is the exact same wiring as the tt ecu mod. so the only extra you have to do is a coil on plug conversion, which is a slight pain up front but then you get coilpacks, which you can never have on a piggyback setup with the ge ecu, it is not even an option.
its all in the tt ecu mod thread. on the distributor delete thread ignore all the parts with the 7m cps, you will be using the base of the distributor with the tt ecu mod in most cases.
If you have never done any wiring before which it sounds like, you may have a tough time with this mod.
alot of poeple have done this type of conversion before on other toyota's or have done harness work for swaps, and once you learn to remove pins from the connector, make connections, and splice into a factory wire, then its just a matter of going through the steps one at a time like you would do in a science lab or something.
Really don't want you to take everything apart and not have a running car again, but I can't do it for you unfortunately.
Maybe you can get Vrank and his pole to fly out there and do the respective jobs.
Last edited by Ali SC3; 10-03-13 at 11:49 AM.
#14
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (4)
No I daily a vvti 1j and my gf dailies a non vvti on an aristo ecu. But I've done these harnesses in other things. Matter of fact hooking my boy up for free-fifty-free right now wiring a 95 ge from an sc into his mk3 with gte electronics. But my gf knows about the old one, so I'm not allowed to go to the Windy City haha
#15
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Ali, once again, I cannot thank you enough. I called around, and it turns out the shop want $500 to just tune the car, plus i would be paying $325 for a used AEM FIC6, plus $200 for the plug and play harness for it. It just isn't worth it for me to go piggyback, i think.
I'm going to go ahead and attempt the TT ECU mod with my buddy. Please wish me luck. Is there a parts list for absolutely everything I need on your thread, Ali?
I'm going to go ahead and attempt the TT ECU mod with my buddy. Please wish me luck. Is there a parts list for absolutely everything I need on your thread, Ali?