using a laptop to tune your car???

djrigg · #1 (**permalink**) 05-06-2003, 06:03 PM

i saw a set up that hooks a computer to your car so you can change all the electronic stuff on ebay
they had a fuel computer that hooked to a computer and a brain that hooked to a computer
anyone know anything about this stuff?
sounds kinda cool and like it works but i'm skeptical

petar7408 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-06-2003, 08:25 PM

didnt you see fast and the furious ????

every 10 second honda has a set up like this

sfzBimmer · #3 (**permalink**) 05-06-2003, 08:37 PM

Yeah, the DSM (Mitsubishi Eclipse, 2nd gen) guys use standalone computer management a lot. Check out Haltech and DSM-Link for info. I don't know about whether there are systems like this for BMWs. It seems like it'd be too complex to write a program for.

djrigg · #4 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 05:23 AM

thanks for the info, i still think it would be worth it to have that set up.

jderry · #5 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 06:44 AM

Tec -3 ... around $2400 IIRC.

pikachu · #6 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 09:14 AM

are you trying to impress gurl by hooking up laptop to car and showing her bar graphs, charts and numbers???? i agree, that is good way to impress gurl,,, although not a tuning software, just buy a OBDII connector for your car and OBDII software for your laptop,,, or get OBDII software for your PDA running Palm OS!!!

lehman · #7 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 09:52 AM

i guess your talking about hooking this up to your bmw, you dont need this for that car, unless you want to be highly highly tunned wichh isnt good for a street car. unless your turboed then this is very helpfull. its called a full stand alone. there are alot of diffent ones. they ranch form hallteck e6k for around 1k to the motec thats about 8k. they most are very hard to install also. for the halltek you have to build your own wiring harnes for your particualar car.

IIIMSpeed · #8 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 12:23 PM

Actually Gene Liu used to use a Tec2 in his S50 powered E36 Zeemax Widebody and switched to a MoTeK once he went with that CRAZY twinturbo motor. As for if he ever got to run the car i dont know.
I do know that if your wanting cool looking graphs. on a laptop forget about it. if your tuning with a laptop all your going to see is numbers. And i hope you know what your doing when tuning or your going to have a long line of problems follow you later.

I have heard there is a PMS type piggy back system like what the DSM guys use but never actually seen anyone using it. I know Haltec has some application that is capable of working in a BMW never seen that one in use either.

PrinceE30 · #9 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 12:43 PM

The Motec M800 seems to be the way to go from what I've heard. A few places have the programming done for the S52 and S52 engines.

Standalone is the way to go if you really want to tune your car efficiently.

-Prince

djrigg · #10 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 01:35 PM

thanks guys, with the stand alone systems yall are talking about does that allow you to change all the settings in the car like rev limiters and top speed limiters or no. i just saw one of these and thougth it was kinda good idea for high tuning

Knightmare69 · #11 (**permalink**) 05-08-2003, 03:45 AM

Doesn't a chip already reset your rev limits and also remove your top speed limiter? All you might really need is something like the Apexi S-AFC or something like that. This is for tuning a N/A car?

jderry · #12 (**permalink**) 05-08-2003, 07:49 AM

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...threadid=95792

Here's a thread that might help. Why do you want a stand alone system anyway?? What kind of high tuning do you want to do?

Are you changing injector sizes, do you want to modify your duty cycle, I mean... I don't see the purpose of stand alone unless you are spending major bucks on the car ...

Because if you get stand alone ... I would think you would also get a wideband O2 sensor to fully utilize the stand alones capabilities and tune the car while on the road ... that equals MAJOR bucks.

I mean, stand alone makes sense if a person has a turbo or supercharged car, or HIGHLY modified NA car and wants to squeeze out every last bit of HP ... e.g., track guys, 1320' guys; but, for normal street drivers ... spend your money elsewhere ... purchase or piece together a turbo/supercharger kit and have someone burn you a chip ...

emi323i · #13 (**permalink**) 05-08-2003, 11:09 AM

a unichip will do exactly that ... costs less than 1k,and bassicaly overrides your internall ecu. you hook a laptop, with som software on it, and allows you to tweak engine management parameters. reset all values to 0, and you run stock parameters. it doesn't work right on late bmw's,tho... they're working in figuring out how to connect the crankshaft position sensor or something like that.