ECU choices
Turbo Mini Forums

I am looking at purchasing an ecu for the 7 port. Although i am not nearly ready for it i want to tidy and repaint the engine bay so want to figure out the wiring routing, weld up holes and possibly cut new ones before the paint gun comes out.

Has anyone got experience of Canems (currently out of stock) or Polestar? my thoughts are that i have tuners within a 1.5 - 2 hour drive from me and my opinion is that it seems little point in buying the best ecu within my budget if there is no-one within a sensible distance to tune it.

Any thoughts? alternatives also.

https://www.canems.co.uk/products.html
http://www.polestarsystems.com/Products-2.htm

Emerald for me, mainly influenced by them being local but massively impressed with the versatility and service.

Shane

Discuss with your chosen tuner first if you will be reliant on them.

And discuss what you need or want from the system during use and long term, maybe future options/upgrades to the car

I notice neither of those mention datalogging...which if you've any interest in what is going on yourself, or will be racing etc...IMO that is vital.
Although one ecu's claim of datalogging can be vastly different than anothers ( applies to a lot of features to be fair ). And likewise their tuning and data log viewing software. Some can be crap, some superb.

Swindon seems relatively central that there should be plenty of tuners not too far for all sorts though.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Emerald for me as well, I've had a couple of them and they've done everything I've wanted from them. Decent customer service as well.

And of course....what is your budget ?

There are countless options these days, from maybe cheap, to not so cheap at all.

Common UK made stuff would be Emerald, DTA, Motorsport Electronics, Syvecs, Life Racing, SCS ( on paper the Motorsport electronics stuff looks very good value for money, but never used one )
Ideally get one with onboard wideband lambda so you don't need to mess about with add on boxes.

Most others would be made abroad if supporting local business is a thing.

The Caneems one seems odd....I think they're UK based ? although they state in their adverts the ecu enclosure is made in the US. Which seems weird you'd use a UK made ecu....with a US made enclosure ?

Maxxecu seem well priced and specced with a lot of offerings, Swedish based

A lot of others can be Aussie or NZ based, Link, Haltech, Motec etc
I do hate the Link software.

And of course there are the Megasquirt offerings which seem popular with some groups but perhaps fewer tuners wanting to touch them
Or the latest Speeduino, arduino based stuff which are at the cheaper end again if you're full on DIY electronics.

I prefer sticking with quality brands though

Edited by stevieturbo on 19th Jun, 2022.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Both people I know who bought cars with Canems have replaced them due to tuner preference/experience.

The polestar is being run by a number of people in competition, Neil Turner himself runs both his R1 lynx mini and 16v a series hillclimb car on them. He assisted Stu Lugger with some issues on his R1 engine and that thing is now ballistic. Stu also runs his A-series mini on it, switching the one ECU between both cars.

Emerald is reliable, and a great service when you go to them for it mapping. It is worth the journey.

Thanks all.