To the guys who have purchased the ECU, how do you like it? I have puchased one but have not installed it yet. I have my car in storage for the winter thats why im slacking on intalling it. What is your overall evaluation?

 

I don't know if you saw my old thread I made about the gains I got on my car, but the ECU and intake upgrades made a really big difference. The car accelerates hard now, pulling through each gear with a nice surge. Still waiting on the local race track to open up so I can get 1/4 mile times, but I'd bet I'm in the mid 14's. The ECU upgrade alone netted 38 horsepower, and with the intake it's more like 45 horsepower. I will dyno again soon so I can put up some torque numbers as well. If you're in California you will find the bypass plug handy- you can use that for smog, or if the dealer you service at is picky.

 

I ordered the ecu, but have a 97 sc400, which has a hot wire MAF instead of the mechanical that earlier years apparently had. the ecu will not work as delivered, but Leo will be able to reprogram for the different sensor. Just shows the flexibility of this box over chips. Of course, Leo may need to fly down to San Diego (I'll buy the ticket) to tune at the DYNOSHOP here, just to make sure the maps are just right for the 97.

Best I can tell, this box is a functional equivalent(if not the same unit) of the big name piggback that is sold without maps only aand requires dyno time for each application. The WR purports to control transmission shift points and line pressure as well, which the program (unichip) does not at far as I know. The program with tuning is also more expensive and does not specifically list lexus as an application.

If the unit works with the hot wire MAF, that is good news for those with the earlier MAF, opening the door for a MAF upgrade. There is a lot of lost power (I'd guess 20) in a restrictive flow sensor.

Being able to remap the ECU is important to take advatage of exhaust and intake upgrades, but mandatory to open the door for some of the upgrades mentioned and not mentioned here such as forced induction, throttle body, head work, cams, cam gears. I'm going on the experience of building up a 500hp 944 turbo- do these things not apply to the SC, is the market not big enough, or are most unwilling to compromise the smoothness and luxury of the lexus in pursuit of big power? I know the supercharger question is ongoing- I had my buddies that build racing Porsches look at a custom turbo or SC app, and they felt a small cent. unit would fit in the air box area, but would require tapping an oil line. No intercooler, 4-6 psi, pull a little timing out, 30 -40% hp gain. Prochargers are self contained, but too big for this application. Rumor is procharger is building a smaller unit for imports, there will be a way to make this fit without major surgery, I'm assured. No good place for an intercooler and keeping things close to stock. We also need someone to make headers and a true dual exhaust. We need to get about 440 at the flywheel to keep up with the latest Z06- yes, a 150 shot would get close, but not great for any road race application (is 150 safe for a dry system with a bigger fuel pump?) Does anyone make a NOS kit that has rev cut in and out switch- will the venom system work? Can the WR ECU run a diff program for NOS?

Oh, the trick for getting a supercharger to work may be mounting a small centtif. (alternator looking style) BACKWARD, either in the airbox location or in front of the engine with small electric fans instead of viscous stock fan.

Ed

 

That will benefit us earlier owners greatly, since a program written for hot-wire would allow us to avoid the costly re-designing of the MAF housing so that the karmann will work properly on the larger intake tube.
One thing that I pointed out to Leo early on when he first floated the idea of such an upgrade was that the owners of older cars will be far more likely to modify. Also, more of the older cars were sold, sales tapered off in the later years. You probably dropped a nice chunk of change for that '97 of yours, and to be honest I'm a bit suprised you're modding the car at this stage. Given the average age of the owners here (I'd place it at 22) a lot of us bought older cars or got hand-downs from parents, etc.
All I can say is try to be patient, it took 5 months for my upgrade to actually make it through the development stages and reach where it is today. I had to take a leap of faith with Leo, because he was afraid we'd have to do all kinds of modification to the ECU to get it to work. I dropped a portly sum assuming that this would be necessary, because bottom like I wasn't gonna sell my car in this market and I WANTED that extra power. It just turned out that it was possible to do this upgrade without screwing with the ECU itself.
One note: regardless of how it's done, the shift patterns are definitely changed with this ECU - the delays are cut short as possible with both manual gear changing and letting the auto do it. There's a big surge of power every time it shifts when it's floored (like powershifting) and it's FUN

 

Now I cant wait to install mine!!! Our car's are really laging from 0-40. This is where I am hoping to see an improvment. Im not as concerned about the top end. As far as the NOS?? Some day but not on this motor. I am hoping in the future to find a wreaked SC and snag the motor. I know guys are running NOS on the SC's, but how many miles have they been running it? If I knew a stock SC motor could go 40 to 60 thousand miles without doing to much damage to the motor, then I would consider it. But in the mean time, I would rather have a slightly modded good running SC. NOS will be for the motor on the engine stand with the stroker kit on order. I still need to check the wiring harness to see what wires I have to swap. MadMaxSC400 I saw the wiring diagram you posted THANKS!! I am going to check mine off of that. I will G-Tech mine to let you know the gains I get.

 

Leo.

Would you mind telling us a little about Weapon R? I know I would be interested as to when it started, offices, location, employees and such.

 

Well, what about a torque converter to cover this lag? T/C should drop at least .5 off your times...

 

For the record, Leo has been more customer service oriented than most professionals I run across. He was pretty confident that he could get the maps right for me, but for my peace of mind he will probably come to San Diego and ensure the tuning is as good as it can be for the 97+ folks. As best I know, the 92 - 96's are identical. Since the market for a 97 specific ECU is probably pretty small, I consider this a non-moneymaking effort for Leo, above the call of duty.

As to modding a relatively new SC, One of the attractions with the WR is I can just take it out nd put the car back to stock, unlike the other ECU mods out there. I've kept all the stock parts to go back on if needed. BTW, I'm 41, a geezer by your standards, but this is not a midlife crisis project- That was the 500hp 944 Turbo. That's right, 200hp per liter. Very high strung car though.

-Ed

 

Man, those 944's handle. To my experience, they handle better than the 911, that thing must have been an absolute rip. Always liked those cars Ed. By the way, the '96-97 cars are mechanically different than the '92-95 cars, and of course the '98-2K cars. In '96-97 the SC was fitted with the revised 1UZ that debuted in the '95 LS, 10 more hp and 10 more lbs.ft. of torque, after which came the VVT-i motors in '98, modern day musclecar.

 

It will be interesting to see how that motor reacts to what we're doing here.. given that the tuning we've done has more than made up for the defecit between the 98+ cars and the older model. VVT-i cars aren't as tunable.. I'm guessing that the VVT-i motors are simply doing what the ECU can do to some extent.

 

Leo, Mad Max, etc.



For the ECU upgrade; what do you all consider "opening up the exhaust"?

The intake is easy to grasp, but I've just been wonderin' about the exhaust. Everyone has a different definition. Does the ECU require the cats to go bye-bye to obtain full benifit? Curious; I want to get the ECU upgrade.


Keith

 

My exhaust was pretty mild when the car was tuned. I had a performance cat and a pair of magnaflows on there. We live in California, and I have to smog my car in a few months here, so I haven't pulled out the cats yet.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but would a torque convertor be a better idea in 0-40 acceleration?

 

Ha, you've beat me to it.

 

I'd be interested in what a larger MAF could do,but for now,the car rips pretty good,and I haven't done anything to the exhaust yet.
I found an application for some mufflers that should work pretty good,and mount fairly easily;they're from a '58 T-bird!
The exhaust doesn't sound all that bad with the rear mufflers completely removed,but a straight-thru type resonator would be nicer than a straight pipe I figure.