AF1JZ said:
Gots a question for you Joe....since we are way off from topic anyway, what kinda gains did you see with the mines compared to the stock ecu?
I couldn't really tell you the gains from stock ECU with any dyno sheets or anything. I never had a stock ECU in this car. I dynoed 293@12psi though with the Mine's ECU and other stock twin mods. It feels stronger after 4k than my old stock ECU 1J car though. It's a nice upgrade and the going rate for a Mine's ECU is usually around $500 when they're posted for sale on the forums or ebay.
87tboMKIII: If you have a standalone properly tuned by a qualified and certified tuner, you shouldn't have any problems with it and you don't have to keep a laptop in your car. A friend of mine is running his new 1J setup with a stinger standalone and is daily driving his car so far without issues. You should only have to adjust something when you change something in your setup or the tune was not sufficiently done the first time. This isn't any different than a Mine's ECU or anything. If you change something, you can't simply adjust the reflash ECU. You're going to have to compensate with some kind of piggyback. Changing your setup will require changing your tune to optimize the new setup no matter what ECU you have.
I only asked if Ric thought an 1800 dollar Mine's ECU is a better investment than a standalone and I don't see any gray area there. 2K is alot to spend and you might as well get the most for your dollar. You need a proper tune either way. What if you told Mine's the wrong information? Or between the time you order it and the 4 weeks you get it, you decide to change? What then? You'd have to compensate for the changes because you can't adjust the Mine's yourself. With a standalone,you change something in your setup and take it back to your tuner to adjust or retune. No having to ship back to Japan and waiting.
If you found a Mine's for sale somewhere for around 500, I'd say sure go for it. Great buy. But you are still limited to modifying or fooling the ECU.