Dastek piggyback ECUs

[Woody vt]

Has anybody had any experience of these things? I'm led to believe they are very good but would value any opinions.

Tuning isn't so much of a problem for you LS1 guys but for my iron block this is one of the few ways I can get a mapable system.

[Paul-C]

Woody vt said:

Has anybody had any experience of these things? I'm led to believe they are very good but would value any opinions.

Tuning isn't so much of a problem for you LS1 guys but for my iron block this is one of the few ways I can get a mapable system.

Yes I have. If no other option go for it

[ringram]

What about Megasquirt?
There are a few local places that supply built units and will help with sensor selection and use etc.
Its also well cheap

[Well_Fans]

I've enquired on here about them as an option for the Monaro - I'd found a fair number of folk in the US talking about them and had them fitted to their cars with no problems. Have you tried talking to Dastek - they pointed me towards WRC iirc as a company experimenting with their kit on a Monaro. Never followed that line of enquiry up though.

[Woody vt]

I've spoken to APS in Aus who are the main Dastek suppliers for Aus and NZ and they have said that it's the more popular of options in the ecu mods area down there. Aside from having a custom memcal done I can't really think of anything that's going to be very accessible here. LSV are looking into becoming a dealer as we speak. I spoke to Doug about this a month or so ago. Dastek UK are only 25 mins from me in Fife though so I'm waiting for a response from them on the issue too. If I get the ECU from Aus, hopefully they will tune it for me.

Has anybody heard anything bad about unichips? What would be the insureance situation do you think? I can't see it being too diferent froma std remap but haven't phoned Adrian Flux to check that yet.

[motomk]

kalmaker is the stuff you should try and use. That is pretty similar to LS1 tuning in that it allows you to use the computer the car comes with rather than using a piggyback computer.
Searching on the net, I have found a few websites with info on it.

www.kalmaker.com.au/page17.html
www.hp-f.com.au/product+details?pid=29&c_id=7&b_id=1&g_id=3&keywords=&pg=1
http://kalmaker.hotrodhandbooks.com.a
www.paramountperformance.com/products/kalmaker.htm
www.wpv.co.nz/features/injection.htm
www.chipmaster.com.au/

motomk

Edited by motomk on Thursday 22 June 17:46

Edited by motomk on Thursday 22 June 17:48

[Well_Fans]

because its a plug in I've read some people don't declare it - its usually a 2min job to whip it out in event of a bump. Good luck with Dastek in Fife -twice I know of a Monaro going on the rollers and twice they couldn't get it to run more than 80mph. I know the owner of the Monaro was concerned that the cars weren't "properly" tied down. Though in their defence they did say it was the same system they used to test 700bhp+ Jap rear wheel drive cars and they never had any problems. I do know they are very popular with the Astra/Vectra/Civic type car owners and have met a number of people running the kits in their cars. All seem genuinely pleased with the results.

Re LSV becoming a dealer - Paul(?) at Dastek mentioned it to me last time I met him at Knockhill but I think they'd been too busy to get anything sorted out. Be handy if they could do so in time for LSV to fit and tune your car while they've got it down there for the clutch.

[ringram]

Not sure why you need anything for the LS1 other than stock as plenty of people run well over 800rwhp on the stock pcm.
Maybe over 1000, then yeah, main problem is directly driving the large injectors required.

[Woody vt]

FAO Ringram. Hi mate. I haven't got the LS1, that's why I'm interested in aftermarket ECUs. I have the VT1 GTS with the Harrop stroked 5.7 iron block. Kalmaker looks good as an alternative to unichip but I wouldn't want to tune it myself. I think I'd rather go with unichip and let dastek work their majic themselves.

[Paul-C]

Well_Fans said:

Though in their defence they did say it was the same system they used to test 700bhp+ Jap rear wheel drive cars and they never had any problems.

I think you'll find those Jap '700 ponies' are slightly more compact and bijou than real V8 ones

[ringram]

Yeah I realise that woody, just going off topic a little. Doesnt your engine already have a reasonable tune?

[Woody vt]

She seems to run nice an strong. I've no real cause for complaint for now. Loads of torque with constant pull, just one small flat spot I have noticed so far.
I'm interested as I am having the exhaust done at present but would ultimately like to change the inlet manifold and throttle body along with the MAF pipe for a STARR performance setup. It's more for a little way down the line rather than an immediate thing (especially since I "caved" and bought the APs - pleased I did though).

I'd like to be able to set the car up correctly when all is done. I want a nice NA setup that is a fair amount over stock but not crazy.

http://starrperformance.com.au/index.

[ringram]

I read the group A (twin throttle) was the best manifold.
When I was in NZ in the old days, at least it was anyway.

Have a read here and take a look at this.
"COME Racing Holden V8 EFI Twin Throttle body intake manifolds...complete with intake snorkels for only...$2500.00 including delivery anywhere in Australia. These best selling Holden V8 EFI manifolds have a well deserved reputation for making the Holden V8 perform the way it always could. Any other manifold is at best a compromise. We congratulate Darren Parker with his VP SS Commodore Super/Sedan Drag race car for his amazing runner up finish at the Willowbank Raceway Winternationals over the recent Queen's Birthday weekend. His COME Racing Ultimate 383 EFI engine is just so consistent he mowed down 6 rounds of hard fought competition to achieve an amazing feat of endurance with consistent 10.1 second ET's @ 132 mph. His manifold was our off the shelf Twin Throttle Body EFI piece."

www.comeracing.com/products/manifolds/ttb_holdenv8/

Also check out their 400cid engine for Holden V8 apps on the home page www.comeracing.com/index.shtml

Some other thoughts and options for you.

Some more comments from here http://forum.streetcommodores.com.au/

"3/ Intake manifold
The std bunch of bananas is pretty restrictive on a 215i in std form. Once u start to power it up, well im afraid unless the intake manifold is upgraded, there will only be small returns in power for any modification. The std intake manifold becomes a restriction to power at high revs at aroiund power levels of 155-165rwkw. There is a plethroia of aftermarket manifolds around. If you want a basic power upgrade you cant go past the starr-performance modified factory one. It has 90mm throttle body, and really releases power above 4000rpm in the engine. It is not uncommon to release over 20rwkW from this mod alone.

The starr is not the best solution for the power hungry, so a decision has to be made pretty well at this point as to how crazy U are going to go with the engine. I guess those wanting to go for nice fat camshafts in the future with targets above 220+rwkW mark, should look past the starr mainfold and upgrade to say the facotry groupA one (if u can find one for under $4500), or look to the aftermarket with say a COME twin throttle body, or perhaps an old school looking single/twin plane manifold with predrilled injector bosses and a carby looking quad throttle body. A word of warning with an aftermarket manifold swap, is u are looking very different under the hood so the police & epa may not really apprieciate your mods as much as you do. I guess thats why the groupA is popular as at least its a "factory" product"

[Woody vt]

Thanks for that Ringram. The C.O.M.E. setup looks great. I want to try and keep the engine bay looking std though, I'm sure you can imagine why. The stock manifold and TB flow 580cfm where as the Starr setup will flow 1200cfm and the C.O.M.E. setup 1500 - 2000cfm. If I effectively double the std flow using the Starr manifold etc I think it should do all I am looking for. I may change the cam, I may not. Like I said, I want it hot but not nuts. I'd be happy with somewhwere near 300rwhp. I think that would be possible with a little fettling and effort.

I appreciate all the digging and advice from all. The best bit being, I haven't had anybody say unichip is not a good idea yet!

Cheers

[motomk]

As Ringram has mentioned the Group A manifold is good, I beleive it is quite hard to get hold of as demand was so high for it. One semi-bonus with it was the bonnet scoop on the factory cars. The manifold was to big to fit under the bonnet so a hole had to be cut in it and then the bulge put on top! They still look good on the VS shaped cars even though they came out on the VN Group A.
A few pictures in here of the engine bay and bonnet.

http://uniquecars.carpoint.ninemsn.co