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G'day,

I was having a look at some ECU's on ebay for an r32 rb20det and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them before.

Apparently they are from japan, they look like factory computers that have been remapped.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mines-St1-ECU-Skyli...=item3a56b1acec

There are a few on there, this is just one of them.(There's r33 and 34 ones too...)

Does anyone know if these are any good?

Thanks, Pat.

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The other side to the argument is if you just have basic mods, mines and places can spend a lot of time on the tune and they will test it on many cars.

This is compared to a tuner spending a few hours on it and depending on quality of tuner whether he can be bothered.

I agree a good tuner doing a custom tune is better although I would prefer a mines ecu over a quick custom tune from a lazy tuner.

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Can you get these anywhere other than ebay? I've been looking into getting a Minues ECU for my 33 for a while as i've heard they're quite good. Just ask a guy called ADIS on these forums, as he has first hand experience with his 33.

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i had a kakimoto GTR remap come in today and it had about 6 degrees too much timing in it... i had to set the base timing to 14 instead of 20. it pays to look at the tables before running something like this. It would not have taken long for this agressive map to kill a 26.

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i'll have a look in the shop... i'm sure theres one in the parts bin... usually mines, nismo or kakimoto are the big name shop ones...

i've got a no name chip in mine with a retune... works fine. keep in mind this is 1989 computer tech. your wristwatch now has more going for it electronically. as said before god knows whats on those maps, so make sure you get a remap with a tune for your car.

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The other side to the argument is if you just have basic mods, mines and places can spend a lot of time on the tune and they will test it on many cars.

This is compared to a tuner spending a few hours on it and depending on quality of tuner whether he can be bothered.

I agree a good tuner doing a custom tune is better although I would prefer a mines ecu over a quick custom tune from a lazy tuner.

How do you know the Mines chip/tune has not been altered/fiddled with since it was done?

Oh wait... You don't. :P

Therefore all you are doing is taking a gamble with your motor based on nothing more than a guess.

There is no "other side" to the argument. There are to many risks, to many variables all for the sake of being a tightass :down:

If you are going to get a Mines ECU, you are better off sticking with the factory one. At least it'll shutdown via rich/retard.

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yup. safer option would just be to get inline "Speed Defender"/fuel cut removers etc. At least they do only one thing and that's it.

all the Mines ECU's etc are just a chip with a slight remap of A/F ratios and a few Hex values changed to remove limiters or move them higher up.

Problem is, there is no way of knowing if its a factory remap (that takes a factory spec setup and tweaks the ratios to get more performance) or if its been custom mapped by its previous owner for a balls out system that was on its car.

for example:

My GTS4 runs a 2530, intercooler, exhaust etc, and I've got a remapped ECU using an EEPROM to let me run all day on about 14 P/sI. For all intents and purposes it looks and works like a factory ECU. Put it on a car running a standard setup and it'll cause troubles.

That said, I'd take a standard ECU with a remap that's custom tuned over shelling out for a Nistune... in an R32 anyway. Maybe use a Nistune to get the map right (as an EEPROM has to be removed, flashed, reinstalled, run, and repeated all over till it's just right, comapred to a Nistune which can be altered live).

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How do you know the Mines chip/tune has not been altered/fiddled with since it was done? Oh wait... You don't.

You do! There is no way in hell you can modify a mines chip. They cover all their EPROMs with solid epoxy which cannot be removed without destroying the ECU! Later model Mines ECUs usually replace the MCU rather than install a daughterboard in SR20 ECUs also. Not to be said for other though like Central20 and a stack of others which can be changed or have a jap daughterboard installed

Therefore all you are doing is taking a gamble with your motor based on nothing more than a guess.

Agreed. Some tunes could be for 100 octane, but most that I have seen in my time are fairly miminal changes to the timing, some change of fueling for different boost levels (how much boost?) and increase the speed rev, air flow cut and limiters and put a whole heap of fuel at the top for some flames

I would not recommend getting any of these since they are overpriced and you dont know what the tune is for. I purchase quite a few factory ECUs from ebay so we can rechip them and have had to remove previously rechipped ones so we can chuck a board in

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That said, I'd take a standard ECU with a remap that's custom tuned over shelling out for a Nistune... in an R32 anyway

Yeah for R32/Z32 it is a cheaper option but also depends on whos doing the tuning and if they have the equipment to erase/program the EPROM chips. The firmware on the R32 boards also offer knock reporting to the software as an added bonus

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That said, I'd take a standard ECU with a remap that's custom tuned over shelling out for a Nistune... in an R32 anyway. Maybe use a Nistune to get the map right (as an EEPROM has to be removed, flashed, reinstalled, run, and repeated all over till it's just right, comapred to a Nistune which can be altered live).

Man screw that, make a change and have to spend time burning a new eeprom.... its the only reason we dont burn chips anymore for anything (flash or live tuning only nowadays except for the odd euro), At least when you sell the ecu its actually worth something :P

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you can get a burner/emulator combo for a few hundred bucks if you want to tune live. should work out slightly cheaper than a nistune, which isnt so good if its for a single car, but might be an option you hsould look into trent

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