Subaru guys I need your help again, UTEC.

[DomZ]

What are your thoughts on UTEC. I know you STi guys have DBW like us Z'ers and UTEC has finally released a full plug-n-play for my car. I'm excited but skeptical, would you guys reccomend it?

Take into account:

A.) I don't want to hack into my stock harness so this is a good option for me
B.) I need to be able to return to stock quickly if possible
C.) I want to be able to tune it myself
D.) I would like to make maps for 91 (safe map, I'd still be using 93 octane), 93, and 100 for the track...as well as a nitrous map and a fuel economy map...

[subwrxkid]

Wait U-tec for a 350z??

[TROLL]

i know nothign about it for your car, but here is whati know about it for the subaru....

it has a wiring harness and requires no wire cutting. you can return to stock with the flip of a switch, or removing the utec entirely can be done in about 30 minutes. you can tune it yourself with a laptop and serial cable. it can store 5 different maps.

how good are you with tuning? do you have an EGT gauge? a wideband AF gauge? i think road tuning is really fun, but it can be dangerous if you dont have the correct tools and the experience.

bryan

[Adamblitzer]

get cobb AP if it is for an sti or wrx.... so many options.. UTEC is way far behind.. and they dont have any improvements coming .... alll about cobb right now, top notch.

[DomZ]

Wait U-tec for a 350z??

Yep, just came out

[DomZ]

i know nothign about it for your car, but here is whati know about it for the subaru....

it has a wiring harness and requires no wire cutting. you can return to stock with the flip of a switch, or removing the utec entirely can be done in about 30 minutes. you can tune it yourself with a laptop and serial cable. it can store 5 different maps.

how good are you with tuning? do you have an EGT gauge? a wideband AF gauge? i think road tuning is really fun, but it can be dangerous if you dont have the correct tools and the experience.

bryan


I'm going to have a WB and I have access to a great tuner and dyno time so I can get my maps perfect.

[subwrxkid]

I'd say if turbo xs developed it, get it tuned by them. For one they know everything about the product. I know that for subies anyway, turbo xs does the best tunes, with up to 5 maps, carrys a hefty price of $450 for the tune but well worth it!

[wgknestrick]

I would do some research to see what others are doing on the Z platform. UTECs for Subies are nice, but TXS has dedicated much more time into that platform. The UTEC for your car will most likely have many bugs (all UTECs did when first released for an ECU). I don't think the tuning software is very powerful compared to others out there, it runs in hyperterminal, not a dedicated interface.

My thoughts are to spend a little more and get the best EM you can afford, assuming there are tuners in the area to support you. You must have someone you can drive to for support and or updates to your map if you plan on freq modding.

I'm not educated at all on the Z platform, but try checking into the following EMS's because your car is very popular in Japan and should have decent EM support.

AEM EMS
Power FC
reflashed OEM based ECU

[sesolcSTI]

The UTEC for your car will most likely have many bugs (all UTECs did when first released for an ECU).

I agree! That would be my main concern. If you are stuck on getting a UTEC, wait until its more developed! :wink:

[DomZ]

I would do some research to see what others are doing on the Z platform. UTECs for Subies are nice, but TXS has dedicated much more time into that platform. The UTEC for your car will most likely have many bugs (all UTECs did when first released for an ECU). I don't think the tuning software is very powerful compared to others out there, it runs in hyperterminal, not a dedicated interface.

My thoughts are to spend a little more and get the best EM you can afford, assuming there are tuners in the area to support you. You must have someone you can drive to for support and or updates to your map if you plan on freq modding.

I'm not educated at all on the Z platform, but try checking into the following EMS's because your car is very popular in Japan and should have decent EM support.

AEM EMS
Power FC
reflashed OEM based ECU


Well, there are some EMS options, AEM not being one of them. AEM is scared, they literally stopped making the EMS for my car halfway thru and gave up. All of the options for my car:

eManage Ultimate - doesn't work well enough, factory ECU overrides it in most cases
HKS FCON - expensive and there aren't many tuners available in the area from what I understand (also isn't this a complete standalone? which means no cruise, no climate controls - I didn't pay 25k for a car to make it a pure race car)
MOTEC - reaaally expensive, unproven, and good luck finding a tuner
UTEC - proven to be so-so, lots of tuners, easily plug and play
Hydra - proven in the Subie world, not out yet for the Z..but shortly
Reflash - Not nearly powerful enough, no timing control, no real-time anything...big waste of $600

[DomZ]

oh, and Unichip sucks, too.

[JoeScooby]

Reflash is not a waste of 600 bucks, normal reflash is about 400 bucks with discounted flashes afterwards and is a safe tune while UTECs go for way over 1000 bucks. The access port costs 600 bucks with about 30 maps to download ranging from stock all the way to mild/major tunage, also has some valet mode, limp mode, etc. IMO it depends on how far you’re going to take your modifications, the access port is good enough for me. Maps can be downloaded and now tweaked by the protuner/street tuner software if I needed to go above and beyond the maps available to us by COBB. I also use a derivative of delta dash for monitoring the system, works like a champ. Truthfully I don’t even need it because I trust COBB; another great thing about the access port is the ability to switch maps on the fly just like the UTEC as well as having the standard base map still loaded without having to but the map switch tool thingy. Personally I donot think its a waste of money and I'm sure there are a thousand others out there who feal the same way.

Good luck!

[DomZ]

Reflash is not a waste of 600 bucks, normal reflash is about 400 bucks with discounted flashes afterwards and is a safe tune while UTECs go for way over 1000 bucks. The access port costs 600 bucks with about 30 maps to download ranging from stock all the way to mild/major tunage, also has some valet mode, limp mode, etc. IMO it depends on how far you’re going to take your modifications, the access port is good enough for me. Maps can be downloaded and now tweaked by the protuner/street tuner software if I needed to go above and beyond the maps available to us by COBB. I also use a derivative of delta dash for monitoring the system, works like a champ. Truthfully I don’t even need it because I trust COBB; another great thing about the access port is the ability to switch maps on the fly just like the UTEC as well as having the standard base map still loaded without having to but the map switch tool thingy. Personally I donot think its a waste of money and I'm sure there are a thousand others out there who feal the same way.

Good luck!


Woah woah, we're talking apples and oranges here. My pistons go the RIGHT way. lol

[JoeScooby]

lol.. ours are a little crooked, I'm just giving you my POV. :mrgreen:

[CGMSTi]

I had a UTEC on my old 02 WRX and it was the first thing I bought when I got my 05 STi. Tuned by XXTuning in CT. I put well over 120k miles on the 02 with no problems and great power (ran low 13s on the stock WRX turbo). What I do like about the UTEC that the EMS's don't have (and I don't know if this applies to the Z as well) is that if knock is detected, it flashes the Check Engine Light and pulls timing. I don't know of any others that will alert you of knock this way.

[TehWagon]

i'll be damned... they do make it!
http://turboxs.com/shop_car3.php?car=15

sounds like from what you've researched so far, utec is one of the better options. unlike previously mentioned, keep in mind txs themselves don't always provide the best tune. they do, however, stand by their product and will work with you if you do encounter any bugs... they took my unit back and reviewed it when i was having a problem... good luck!

[wgknestrick]

Well, there are some EMS options, AEM not being one of them. AEM is scared, they literally stopped making the EMS for my car halfway thru and gave up. All of the options for my car:

eManage Ultimate - doesn't work well enough, factory ECU overrides it in most cases
HKS FCON - expensive and there aren't many tuners available in the area from what I understand (also isn't this a complete standalone? which means no cruise, no climate controls - I didn't pay 25k for a car to make it a pure race car)
MOTEC - reaaally expensive, unproven, and good luck finding a tuner
UTEC - proven to be so-so, lots of tuners, easily plug and play
Hydra - proven in the Subie world, not out yet for the Z..but shortly
Reflash - Not nearly powerful enough, no timing control, no real-time anything...big waste of $600

Looks like you should wait for now. I was stuck in your same position when I got my STI. I was one of the first to get it (after owning a WRX) with nothing but modding plans ahead. I was one of the first with a turbo kit on my car before there were ECU options to support it. Needless to say, I had all the hardware on my car, but nothing to extract the HP out of it. STI sat for just about 1 year with stuff on it and wasn't tuned. During that time, much much better options were released turbo/HP wise while still waiting for a decent EM.

I grew tired of waiting on UTEC list and bought a piggy back (XEDE). It was just a waste of money, nobody knew how to tune it and many people blew motors because of it (not quite as many as emanage though). I would have blown mine if I had drove on it. The tune was very dangerous and unpredictable.

In the end, I really regretted waiting to do everything until the Hydra (standalone) came out. I was tired of "being" on the UTEC list, always getting the runaround. Now I am very happy, but much lighter in the wallet compared to waiting to do done everything at once.

[DomZ]

I had a UTEC on my old 02 WRX and it was the first thing I bought when I got my 05 STi. Tuned by XXTuning in CT. I put well over 120k miles on the 02 with no problems and great power (ran low 13s on the stock WRX turbo). What I do like about the UTEC that the EMS's don't have (and I don't know if this applies to the Z as well) is that if knock is detected, it flashes the Check Engine Light and pulls timing. I don't know of any others that will alert you of knock this way.

Yea, they actually have a seperate knock light you can get, and you can set the threshold, so if it knocks X amount of times THEN pull timing....