Im going to take my ecu cover off today as I need to know what ecu Ive got before I go any further with the car as Im planning on a bit of tuning and a remap and ive been advised to run a L6 or even better an L8. Mine is a 3 door cossie thats apparently stage one . how can i tell the difference?? Codes colours etc?? Cheers

 

A picture of the ecu and chip might help
P8 are good but loads can be done to L8
MSD Stu is the man

 

a look here will help.click on ecu types for ecu id
http://www.bigturbo.co.uk/

 

If you want to be tied in to a ecu that for some mods is very expensive, and restricted in who can alter it then go ahead, personally I think when you've priced up coilpack, and a £500 live map, and being "tied in" to those few who do the L1/6/8 etc cost of chips cost of extras it works out expensive esp for a antiquated ecu.
Just a hint don't waste your money on a closed loop chip/mod.
tabetha

 

Whats your suggestion then? Im planning on getting more power but not into the idea of aftermarket ecu's etc as i want the car to be fairly origional with regards to looks and components really. Just fancied more power as Im pulling it apart over winter to change head gasket to group a headgasket and a few other bits, want it setting up again after ive done the work so thought whilst it apart i may aswell add a few performance parts and have it remapped. Quite fancy the ida of a livemap over just a chip. ont want to change to coilpack if i can help it really. Everyones opinion welcome on this topic though. Cheers folks

 

Cheers for that.Looks like ive got an origional L1. Never managed to remove i today but will have a go tmorrow.is it jus a case of removing the 10mm bolt and away it comes?

 

It would in my opinion be well worth you upgrading to a L6, just paint the co screw yellow to look like a L1, and use the L1 casing.
I would say if you have the money without a doubt a map session is way better than a off the shelf chip or "set up"(with off the shelf chip).
I can understand your want of originality, if that's your thing, so to get the best whilst still looking normal/std get it on the rollers, the std type ignition system is more than up to most tune levels if in good order.
One problem I found was the dizzy was getting awfully hot inside the cap, which could cause issues in cold damp weather, I took my dizzy apart and enlarged the 4 holes on the underside of the main body to 6mm from around 3mm as std, this helped no end, helping to stabilise the temperature between inside cap and outside cap.
tabetha

 

What do you have in mind re the tuning? ECU will be fine, unless you want features like ALS, LC in which case you will need a L8.

If stage 1 the chip should have a sticker on saying so, you should know as well to drive? To give you some idea stage 1 is around 280HP but more importantly more torque than standard.

No point in live map either, if it's just a standard car then an off the shelf chip will be fine, the next stage for you is a stage 3 (Stage 2 is normally skipped and not really heard about anymore) you could keep the standard T3 if wanting to at this stage some uprate the turbo to a T34 but not neccessary.

This involves changing the MAP sensor to a 3 bar item from the standard 2 and changing your injectors to Bosch 803's (Greens) or preferably Siemens 55LB.

There is also something thats known as a 'Gunship' conversion this basically allows you to run around 300HP on standard components (Not reccomended unless the engine is in good health or had a rebuild) this is from NMS.

The gains with a live map would be minimal and very expensive to do so, unless you have specific mods!

In any case a decent head gasket is a must as is decent fuel/fan pump wiring looms.

Martin

 

i've only ever driven 1 other cossy and that was a saph 4x4. Totally standard then tuned to stage one. Mine is quicker than that . Its got a -31 on it. I've got a 3 bar ready to fit and some recon greens. I an going to fit a group a gasket over the winter and a 500 cooler. Also fancy a group a cone filter. Putting a new phase sensor on too and group a coil. Then a remap. Will be happy with about 325 i think. Will i be anywhere near

 

There is every point in a live map, it will improve the engine, chips by their very nature cannot ever get the best from every engine, unless you happen to be that 1 in a million you WILL get an improvement esp in the torque and definitely in the driveability dept, but it comes down to money.
There can be a world of difference in the way the car drives even at the same power between a chip and a live map, but again down to choice/budget.
tabetha

 

Obviously it's better but for the run of mill tune you won't really get a lot of gain for the money.

How many people do you know who run a live mapped stage 1?

Martin

 

Im currently stage one. I want to go up from there thats why i want it live mapping when ive fitted the new gasket and all the new bits and bobs. Thats what im saying. The car i will keep for a very very long time so i would like it to be the best car it can be

 

Yes but you don't NEED it to be live mapped though, you could simply just change the chip which would be far cheaper. A live map of course is more beneficial but for what you want I personally wouldn't do so.

Yes that power is achievable although it may be a good idea to uprate to a T34.

Martin

 

well at least we understand where were going now eh lol. Im probably going to use harvey gibbs as im not far from where he is really. out of interest if i were to go down the live mapping route does he do this or just pre wrtten chiops, does he still use ahmed bayjoo??? ill look at the cost differences and if its only a couple of hundred quid difference i still think ill go down that route. t34 is escort cossie turbo isnt it? will it fit my 2wd exhaust manifold or will i need to change to 4x4?

 

Pretty sure Harvey doesnt use Ahmed anymore , think they both do their own mapping now.