When you need a standalone

Empiremen

New member
Hi guys,

I've been wondering when a GT4 owner need to change their ecu for a standalone?

I have already a downpipe catless and running stock psi with some more aggressive cam on a St205 with everything with the evap gone and everything work fine. But now, a friend of mine have a deal on some Garrett and I'm quite tempted. Do I really need a new ecu if I go with a GTX3076R or I will be okay?

My goal is having a good reliable gt4

Thank you!
 

Sifu

New member
I feel that anytime you're going to do medium to heavy modifications then yes an EMS should be in the picture; be it via flashing or piggy back or standalone. You will be hindered due to the ECU restrictions so you wont be getting the full potential of a turbo/spark/fuel/air upgrade.

With a decent tuner an EMS can be tuned to be even more reliable than the stock ECU.
 

aus jd 2703

New member
It depends if it's 205 or 185. The old maf system does let you make more changes before need a tune imo. Due to it measure ing mass airflow directly.
The map system calculates it. So on a stock motor it's accurate but the less stock the worse it is. Pretty much it's tuned to a set VE table and if you changes the engines VE enough eg cams. Then the map is no longer accurate hence u need a tune.

I personally went to a smaller turbo than your suggesting and went standalone. Several factors but mostly it was I wanted more boost. Stock ecu was locked to 17psi. I'm now running 20psi.

Doing it all again I think I would have went a slightly cheaper standalone (sprint 500 instead of the ps1000) but imo you are at the point of needing some form of ecu. You can get away with a piggy back. But I don't like the idea of a piggy back. That's just me
 

Sifu

New member
I don't like piggy back systems either but there an option since flashing isn't something a tuner can do on our older ECUs.
 

sleeper

New member
I recommend you get a standalone as soon as you do more than the standard BPU.. ( exhaust, IC, filter adjust boost)

Turbo,cams,injectors, manifolds= standalone if you want to get good results from your new parts.
 

Empiremen

New member
It's all very interesting, thank you! As you all said I think I will go the route of a EMS before anything else!
 

Hic

Member
On celica, you need standalone always. Car is so bad from the factory, it is ubelieveable. Not to mention that rotor/cap combination etc etc.
 
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