Hey guys, finally switching to a standalone this winter and wanted to reach out for some experienced input.
I have been running a Dyno tune by Martin from RSENTHALPY for the last two season and it has been great. The SR20 made 359whp on 17psi, but I'm not exactly looking to increase those numbers, rather have an assortment of data to look at when doing a once over/troubleshooting. Also ethanol is not an option for me, as the nearest pump is 2 hours away.
What are some MUST have features, sensors, etc that you guys think I should make sure to include when I make the jump to Link ECU.
S13 SR20DET blacktop
AEM water methanol
Greddy Profec (new style)
AEM wideband
550cc injectors
255lph pump
Aeromotive FPR
MMP SS300 (T518Z/GT3071R hybrid)
Future Fab bottom mount
PBM mid mount intercooler
Pics for clicks 😬
Also the engine bay in question, because I'm proud of it finally 🤓
Air intake temp, fuel pressure, wideband and oil pressure are all I added.
I'm running a Link G4x on my K swap that I finished last winter. It was my first venture into the world of standalones, or really any sort of ECU related stuff for that matter. It was definitely a learning experience, I'll try to summarize what I found. Now I will say that I also purchased a Wiring Specialties harness so it was pinned for all the sensor I spec'd out. There might be better options for you that require less wiring if you're using a Plug n Play. I would suggest talking to your tuner and seeing what they want to use before purchasing anything.
First off I'd steer away from any of the Link sensors. There's nothing wrong with them but most of them are just marked up GM or Bosch sensors with a Link sticker.
Your wideband should work with the Link with a bit of wiring. I went with the Link CAN Lambda as it plugged right into my ECU and unlike a standard wideband requires no calibration ever.
Again I'd run this by your tuner first but I don't see any real reason not to run an electronic boost controller. It can be used to smooth out your curve and even hold more boost in up top should your turbo start choking out in the upper RPMS. Any of the 3 port MAC valves should work, just watch out for cheap knock offs on ebay and Amazon.
I used a GM intake air temperature sensor. I recommend buying a genuine GM/Delphi as I bought an NTK brand initially and it was bad right out of the box.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=87034&cc=0&pt=5072&jsn=735
I'm running this Honeywell sensor from Wiring Specalties for fuel pressure.
Lastly heres what I went with for oil pressure and temperature. It reads both on one sensor. I believe it had a Mazda part number on it but I can't remember for sure.
im running G4x on my rb25. the true advantage of running an ecu like this is that its incredibly intelligent if you provide it with all the correct information. what i mean by this is that the ecu can essentially tune the car by itself, as well as hit boost targets, and a whole bunch of other neat things. to unlock all that potenial you need to give the ecu all the info it needs. this includes information on your injectors, your coil packs, accurate and fast afr readings, fast intake temp readings, and ofc coolant temp. with that being said the sensors sensor skrrtt_reynolds linked are basically essential (especially the can lambda module).
personally i used this IAT sensor.
no idea how to integrate meth into the ecu but im sure its possible.
also my oem knock sensors dont work with link. i ended up just not running any because my tune is really safe. but add those to the list too if you want detonation protection.
also, PCLink (the tuning software) is free. you can download it and load a preloaded tune in there and mess with it. theres a help box thats good at explaining what everything is and what it does.
running link g4x monsoon on my ka t, when hitting limiter in drift, the car was having ignition signal drop out, causing iginition cut. my tuner advised me to swap the trigger disk in my distributor to the aem one (aem30-8760). this also happened to him with an sr20 car, had to change the disk in the CAS. since doing so and resetting base timing, it's gone away.