Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

]']Hey peeps

just wondering which is better  

i know that F con V can only be tuned by BD4's but

i want to know  

if tuned right.

which will be better?

F con V or PFC?

What would a second hand HKS FconV sell for ??

What is the difference between the two?

F-CON V is old, don't know many tuners even in Japan who will touch the F-CON V. Not to say it's a bad ECU just that every shop has already upgraded to the new software.

Hell I've even tried to sell my old unit on Yahoo for 1000yen and no one wants it. The best way I can only sell it is like a Mines ECU including the mods list.

F-CON SA/SZ and the F-CON V PRO are the current versions.

I think in terms of features FConV < PFC = FConVPro (or slightly better than)

I'd take the PFC in terms of ease of tuning. FCon limits you to a select few tuners.

You obviously know little about the F-CON units, the PFC has gone through revision as well.

I'll admit about the limited number of tuners in Aust for the HKS unit, but very different in Japan.

I run a F-Con SA sub-com (piggyback) with a slightly smaller 20X16 map compared to a PFC, a full-com (standalone) with a 20x20 map. Obviously a sub-com requires less messing around setting it up, just plug it into the harness. I also perfer having the factory ECU there for feedback, diagnostics and troubleshooting which you'd lose on a full-com setup. I've also compared the PFC back to back with the F-Con SA and V Pro and there are limitations to the PFC, but not that you would notice unless your chasing big HP. For one the small map is disappointing for a standalone. I'm better off with a HKS unit because once your familiar with the HKS tuning it's an easy upgrade to a F-Con V Pro (32x32 map). You won't need a F-Con V Pro unless you after 500ps+, but the F-Con SA can also be setup as a standalone if need be with additional sensors. You can buy the HKS navigator unit (English) for tuning without the software.

Horses for courses; your question doesn't have an exact answer. It lies in the location of the tuners, cost and the application (hp/kW/ps goals). PowerFC is great for ease-of-use and simplicity, whilst an F CON V PRO would be great if you needed the detail in your maps and such for higher hp figures.

]...

if tuned right.

which will be better?

F con V or PFC?

Do a search on all the top powered tuning shops cars and you will find I would say 80-90% is all runing a F-Con, the (Motec of Japan) and the rest PFC and in house ECU...the F-CON wins hands down as the prefered ECU!!! Also if the shop has a HKS bit writer license they will always perfer tuning F-CON over any ECU.

You also know what HKS stands for don't you? Hasegawa, Kawasaki and Suzuki, the 3 owners but now just owned by Hasegawa. You also know how Apex and Trust came about don't you? Kawasaki and Suzuki split and created Apex and Trust, thought I forget who owns which now. The PFC is a spin off from the F-CON but not quite as good as the F-CON, but sure can still do the job. The Greddy e-manage was released to compete in the same sub-com market as the the F-CON SA/SZ but you'll know how good they are...when what you pay is what you get.

You also already answered your own question, as said Aust lacks the tuners for F-CON thus people most go for PFC. Again as said the PFC is fine for most people so I would suggest a PFC with all the available knowledge in Aust.

Edit: also F-CON has been around longer since 1989, back then known as the PFC F-CON. Note the name of the Apex PFC!

Do a search on all the top powered tuning shops cars and you will find I would say 80-90% is all runing a F-Con, the (Motec of Japan) and the rest PFC and in house ECU...the F-CON wins hands down as the prefered ECU!!! Also if the shop has a HKS bit writer license they will always perfer tuning F-CON over any ECU.

You also know what HKS stands for don't you? Hasegawa, Kawasaki and Suzuki, the 3 owners but now just owned by Hasegawa. You also know how Apex and Trust came about don't you? Kawasaki and Suzuki split and created Apex and Trust, thought I forget who owns which now.  The PFC is a spin off from the F-CON but not quite as good as the F-CON, but sure can still do the job. The Greddy e-manage was released to compete in the same sub-com market as the the F-CON SA/SZ but you'll know how good they are...when what you pay is what you get.

You also already answered your own question, as said Aust lacks the tuners for F-CON thus people most go for PFC. Again as said the PFC is fine for most people so I would suggest a PFC with all the available knowledge in Aust.

lol learn sumthing new everyday

thanks mate really good answer :cheers:

:cheers:

Your welcome...too much mis-information on the internet these days.

Especially when I hear people talk about different Japanese ECU. I'll bet they've never even play around with any of them, just hearing what his mate's sister's uncle's dog said...or have substantial experience with each of them.

Your welcome...too much mis-information on the internet these days.

Especially when I hear people talk about different Japanese ECU. I'll bet they've never even play around with any of them, just hearing what his mate's sister's uncle's dog said...or have substantial experience with each of them.

cool i'm going for F con V pro then.

what's the diff between the Pro and the normal versions?

Before you do, ask yourself what power levels your after?

Talk to the tuners in Aust who can tune the F-CON, see their work with cars tuned running the F-CON. I'm not say they are no good just do your homework on tuning shops. A quick comparison of the mods on their car to a similar car tuned in Japan to see how experienced they are.

I had a F-CON V then upgraded to a F-CON SA, you may ask why not a V Pro. Because I wasn't after hugh HP and the SA was sufficent.

Remember the F-CON V only had a 8x8 map when released back in 1995. The SA is already a hugh upgrade and I wanted to keep the factory ECU in there. Think how difficult or good they were to get 600ps on the old unit.

But if you want to be different and start early with the HKS unit by all means go for it. By the time it becames common in Aust you'll have the experience, which is why I went for it. I made the most of my hands on experience with the years I had in Japan. Also helps when I know 3 of the 10 HKS licensed tuners in Kansai.

Explained earlier the difference is one is piggyback and the other is a standalone, different resolution. V PRO can run D-Jetro and has some additional functions for hardcore tuning. F-CON SA requires an additional sensor to run D-Jetro. F-CON SA and F-CON SZ are the same, SA stands for Super Autobacs version. There are no difference that I know of. I got a good deal, well because my business partner works and drives for Super Autobacs (see the R32 in my avatar).

Edit: Can someone also tell me what's this ease of tuning you all talk about with the PFC? Laptop or handheld? Again me think this comes down to the shallow reply that most have not tuned with a F-CON before. Though I will make one point of the F-CON Naviagtor, the screen while nice and compact is a little too small to show the full map. HKS has noted this and is addressing this problem on the next version. All my tuning is done with the laptop, but if you don't mind paying for the handheld it's nice to have for the quick odd settings and status feedback on the road.

You obviously know little about the F-CON units, the PFC has gone through revision as well.  

I'll admit about the limited number of tuners in Aust for the HKS unit, but very different in Japan.

Fair call. I'm not an expert on them both, but my comments are based on experience with having both tuned in Australia (I have a PFC and my brother has an FConV). When I say 'ease of tuning' I meant that if you have a PFC there's over 15 places in Sydney alone you can get it tuned at. But with the HKS unit there's only a handful across the country. Also my view was tempered by the fairly poor tuning job done by one of the local HKS tuners.

I'll acknowledge what you say about Japan the HKS ECU being so popular. From watching a few Video Option DVDs I've seen heaps more HKS F-Cons than Power FCs.

From what I've read (and what you said) we seem to agree though Evo_Lee:D

But like he says Danny - The F Con V Pro is the better unit, but your results are only going to be as good as your tuners capabilities.

Vijay

Razorsharp, I wasn't intentionally having a direct stab at you.

You just happened to make the comment first what most people percieve.

I'd actually highly doubt anyone in Aust can still tune the F-CON V, as I said most shop in Japan wouldn't bother...where did I put that dam F-CON V software again!

You will find to tune a F-CON V over here is not that cheap, compared to a buddled package for the F-CON SZ including tuning. This is the move by HKS and the shop to upgrade customers over to the newer units. Bit of marketting also as the Navigator and the new products will only interface on the SZ and V Pro.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Hi, is the HKS  Tower Bar still available ? negotiable ? 🤔
    • From there, it is really just test and assemble. Plug the adapter cables from the unit into the back of the screen, then the other side to the car harness. Don't forget all the other plugs too! Run the cables behind the unit and screw it back into place (4 screws) and you should now have 3 cables to run from the top screen to the android unit. I ran them along the DS of the other AV units in the gap between their backets and the console, and used some corrugated tubing on the sharp edges of the bracket so the wires were safe. Plug the centre console and lower screen in temporarily and turn the car to ACC, the AV should fire up as normal. Hold the back button for 3 sec and Android should appear on the top screen. You need to set the input to Aux for audio (more on that later). I put the unit under the AC duct in the centre console, with the wifi antenna on top of the AC duct near the shifter, the bluetooth antenna on the AC duct under the centre console The GPS unit on top of the DS to AC duct; they all seem to work OK there are are out of the way. Neat cable routing is a pain. For the drive recorder I mounted it near the rear view mirror and run the cable in the headlining, across the a pillar and then down the inside of the a pillar seal to the DS lower dash. From there it goes across and to one USB input for the unit. The second USB input is attached to the ECUtec OBD dongle and the 3rd goes to the USB bulkhead connected I added in the centre console. This is how the centre console looks "tidied" up Note I didn't install the provided speaker, didn't use the 2.5mm IPod in line or the piggyback loom for the Ipod or change any DIP switches; they seem to only be required if you need to use the Ipod input rather than the AUX input. That's it, install done, I'll follow up with a separate post on how the unit works, but in summary it retains all factory functions and inputs (so I still use my phone to the car for calls), reverse still works like factory etc.
    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
×
×
  • Create New...