Engine Management
Engine management
An engine control unit (ECU) controls important engine parameters such as fuel mixture, ignition timing, and variable cam timing. Aftermarket engine management units replace your vehicle’s factory ECU or modify the signals sent to the factory ECU to create a desirable tune for your vehicle. Aftermarket engine management systems fall into one of two categories: Piggy back ECUs and Standalone ECUs. Piggy back ECUs accompany the factory ECU and function by altering the signals sent between the engine sensors and the factory ECU. In this manner, the factory ECU is “tricked” into creating a different tune. This works fairly well on mildly modified engines because they only require slight changes to the factory ECUs settings. Whenever a large change is required, such as on a highly modified engine, a piggy back ECU will be insufficient. For highly modified engine a standalone ECU is the only logical choice. A standalone ECU lets the tuner build fuel, ignition, cam timing and other maps from scratch; independent of the factory ECU.
A piggy back ECU will suffice if you have a normally aspirated car and you are adding bolt-on modifications or if you are performing bolt-on modifications to a forced induction vehicle and want to modify the tune slightly to accommodate the new upgrades. If you have a normally aspirated car and are planning on adding forced induction there is only one logical option – a standalone ECU. The same goes for vehicles with built engines or those running much higher boost than the stock setting. Please contact us for application-specific advice for which solution may suit you best.
