I've been thinking of new products to make as I need something else to sell besides chips. I'd like to ask some of you if you would be interested in a replacement ECU that plugs into the harness directly where your current one is, and lets you tune the fuel and timing maps from a PC. It would also have a pressure sensor for forced induction applications, and possibly some other neat features such as the ability to use a MAP or MAF sensor.
If this was available, what price range is reasonable? Keep in mind that you don't have to change any sensors and it's plug and play. (and then tune for your specific mods, such as cams, turbo etc)
I would plan to have a version available to replace these DME's :
0 261 200 059 from early M30
0 261 200 061 from euro M30
0 261 200 071 and 079 from m3, m5 and M6
If there is enough interest, I'll seriously consider making this product. I could have a prototype by August or September.
MarkD
[Edit by MarkD on [TIME]1111535409[/TIME]]
[Edit by MarkD on [TIME]1111535488[/TIME]]
who would be interested in a self-tuneable DME?
'm definitely interested. I won't be able to buy untill next winter, but, it looks like that'll b about the time when you'll have it fully operational.
What I would be looking for, would be like you said, a complete ECU, that I cn plug a laptop into, and program from there. If your ECU came with the software, and a 'basic' tune, I'd probably be willing to spend upwards maybe up to $800, depending. I'm considering the MegaSquirt right now, and, if I can get rid of my VCan Air Flow, and just use a map, then, I think it may be well worth it. I would like to see something that comes wiht stock software for our cars, and then can be tuned multiple times after that. I would like to have my stock tune, then be able to create, and save, multiple tunes on the laptop, or even on the chip, and be able to switch back and forth between tunes. Then, I would also be able to help out friends, with they're system which they could buy from you, too, and we could share, and develop better tunes from there, you know what I mean?
I'd be very, very interested in seeing something like this come into play. This is basically what I've been looking for for awhile now, cause MS doens't even come with any kinda tune stock, right?>
What I would be looking for, would be like you said, a complete ECU, that I cn plug a laptop into, and program from there. If your ECU came with the software, and a 'basic' tune, I'd probably be willing to spend upwards maybe up to $800, depending. I'm considering the MegaSquirt right now, and, if I can get rid of my VCan Air Flow, and just use a map, then, I think it may be well worth it. I would like to see something that comes wiht stock software for our cars, and then can be tuned multiple times after that. I would like to have my stock tune, then be able to create, and save, multiple tunes on the laptop, or even on the chip, and be able to switch back and forth between tunes. Then, I would also be able to help out friends, with they're system which they could buy from you, too, and we could share, and develop better tunes from there, you know what I mean?
I'd be very, very interested in seeing something like this come into play. This is basically what I've been looking for for awhile now, cause MS doens't even come with any kinda tune stock, right?>
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Mark 88/M5 Houston
- Posts: 8548
- Joined: Feb 12, 2006
- Location: Far North Houston
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RetiredDoc
- Posts: 1319
- Joined: Feb 12, 2006
- Location: Aiken SC
I'm sure you are aware that you are marketing to a very tiny community. I'd bet that most e28 m30 owners are high school or college students who recently purchased the car used on the cheap for the BMW marque, and will drive it as-is until it quits running or they can affort to replace it. They have little discretionary income for upgrading their cars. What discretionary income is available will likely be spent on items like sound systems and external appearance items.
Your potential market is at most about a hundred hard-core m30 drivers who post regularly on the dozen or so BMW boards.
~_~ ~_~
Your potential market is at most about a hundred hard-core m30 drivers who post regularly on the dozen or so BMW boards.
~_~ ~_~
Mark:
I think it's a great idea. As others mentioned, as long as the price is reasonable, sign me up. $500 for a tune-able plug & play unit would be a screaming deal, and you might be able to get away with $600-$700.
Would the only difference between the 059 unit and 061 unit be the o2 sensor input? I would assume you could achieve both states of tune from an adjustable box with o2 input.
I think it's a great idea. As others mentioned, as long as the price is reasonable, sign me up. $500 for a tune-able plug & play unit would be a screaming deal, and you might be able to get away with $600-$700.
Would the only difference between the 059 unit and 061 unit be the o2 sensor input? I would assume you could achieve both states of tune from an adjustable box with o2 input.
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Damon in STL
- Posts: 474
- Joined: Feb 12, 2006
- Location: St. Louis
I would be interested if the price is right. Doc is right, I am one of the college students here who has little to no income. This summer when I get an income I will be using it to live -- pay rent, food, gas... etc -- So I can't afford to dish out heavy prices.
It sounds like an awsome idea. Except at this point you would have some serious competition with Megasquirt. The one thing that would have me buy a megasquirt over a replaceable ECU was the fact that we get to totally ditch the AFM -- I hate that damn thing -- also giving a good 20rwhp on a turbo car. I also hear that megasquirt has very easy to use GUI programing.
[Edit by Tjn182 on [TIME]1111585275[/TIME]]
It sounds like an awsome idea. Except at this point you would have some serious competition with Megasquirt. The one thing that would have me buy a megasquirt over a replaceable ECU was the fact that we get to totally ditch the AFM -- I hate that damn thing -- also giving a good 20rwhp on a turbo car. I also hear that megasquirt has very easy to use GUI programing.
[Edit by Tjn182 on [TIME]1111585275[/TIME]]
[QUOTE="kendogg"]'m definitely interested. I won't be able to buy untill next winter, but, it looks like that'll b about the time when you'll have it fully operational.
What I would be looking for, would be like you said, a complete ECU, that I cn plug a laptop into, and program from there. If your ECU came with the software, and a 'basic' tune, I'd probably be willing to spend upwards maybe up to $800, depending. I'm considering the MegaSquirt right now, and, if I can get rid of my VCan Air Flow, and just use a map, then, I think it may be well worth it. I would like to see something that comes wiht stock software for our cars, and then can be tuned multiple times after that. I would like to have my stock tune, then be able to create, and save, multiple tunes on the laptop, or even on the chip, and be able to switch back and forth between tunes. Then, I would also be able to help out friends, with they're system which they could buy from you, too, and we could share, and develop better tunes from there, you know what I mean?
I'd be very, very interested in seeing something like this come into play. This is basically what I've been looking for for awhile now, cause MS doens't even come with any kinda tune stock, right?>[/QUOTE]
My unit would come with base tuning maps to get a car running. I don't think MS comes with that but you could probably find a file from someone who has already tuned an M30. Anyway, I doubt I could perform the R+D and then bring an ECU to market for $800. I was thinking of more like $1500 as there is no other aftermarket ECU that would be in that range after buying all the different sensors and making a new harness etc. And just check the price of something like a TEC3. I know that megasquirt is available, but it's a kit. Even a pre-built MS is around $500, then you have to make a harness and spend time swapping sensors.
I think I'll still make a system, but it will be targeted at club racers instead, and people who are adding forced induction.
MarkD
What I would be looking for, would be like you said, a complete ECU, that I cn plug a laptop into, and program from there. If your ECU came with the software, and a 'basic' tune, I'd probably be willing to spend upwards maybe up to $800, depending. I'm considering the MegaSquirt right now, and, if I can get rid of my VCan Air Flow, and just use a map, then, I think it may be well worth it. I would like to see something that comes wiht stock software for our cars, and then can be tuned multiple times after that. I would like to have my stock tune, then be able to create, and save, multiple tunes on the laptop, or even on the chip, and be able to switch back and forth between tunes. Then, I would also be able to help out friends, with they're system which they could buy from you, too, and we could share, and develop better tunes from there, you know what I mean?
I'd be very, very interested in seeing something like this come into play. This is basically what I've been looking for for awhile now, cause MS doens't even come with any kinda tune stock, right?>[/QUOTE]
My unit would come with base tuning maps to get a car running. I don't think MS comes with that but you could probably find a file from someone who has already tuned an M30. Anyway, I doubt I could perform the R+D and then bring an ECU to market for $800. I was thinking of more like $1500 as there is no other aftermarket ECU that would be in that range after buying all the different sensors and making a new harness etc. And just check the price of something like a TEC3. I know that megasquirt is available, but it's a kit. Even a pre-built MS is around $500, then you have to make a harness and spend time swapping sensors.
I think I'll still make a system, but it will be targeted at club racers instead, and people who are adding forced induction.
MarkD
[QUOTE="Tjn182"]I would be interested if the price is right. Doc is right, I am one of the college students here who has little to no income. This summer when I get an income I will be using it to live -- pay rent, food, gas... etc -- So I can't afford to dish out heavy prices.
It sounds like an awsome idea. Except at this point you would have some serious competition with Megasquirt. The one thing that would have me buy a megasquirt over a replaceable ECU was the fact that we get to totally ditch the AFM -- I hate that damn thing -- also giving a good 20rwhp on a turbo car. I also hear that megasquirt has very easy to use GUI programing.
[Edit by Tjn182 on [TIME]1111585275[/TIME]][/QUOTE]
You could replace the AFM with my system also, and use alpha-N, MAP or MAF.
I'd have a GUI at least as good as MS does.
The main difference is my system would save the cost of the sensors and harness, and have a much faster processor that a MS, with more room for expansion to control water injection and any other hardware.
MarkD
It sounds like an awsome idea. Except at this point you would have some serious competition with Megasquirt. The one thing that would have me buy a megasquirt over a replaceable ECU was the fact that we get to totally ditch the AFM -- I hate that damn thing -- also giving a good 20rwhp on a turbo car. I also hear that megasquirt has very easy to use GUI programing.
[Edit by Tjn182 on [TIME]1111585275[/TIME]][/QUOTE]
You could replace the AFM with my system also, and use alpha-N, MAP or MAF.
I'd have a GUI at least as good as MS does.
The main difference is my system would save the cost of the sensors and harness, and have a much faster processor that a MS, with more room for expansion to control water injection and any other hardware.
MarkD
I talked/meet with A525i (Alex) about his mega-squirt, and I noticed that a lot of the dash gauges no longer worked. It seems that it would require quite a bit of modification in order to make mega-squirt to work properly. Yes 500 bucks would be a good place to start with, I have been wanting to put in a 750i MAF, and didn't want to do serious mods just to make it work. Also if you could change the fire of the injectors from batch to sequencial, I am sure that would change fuel economy as well as greater power at the rear wheels.
[QUOTE="dworthy"]Also if you could change the fire of the injectors from batch to sequencial (sic), I am sure that would change fuel economy as well as greater power at the rear wheels. [/QUOTE]
Sequential fire is mainly for emissions and is a bit helpful for economy, but the effect on power is negligible.
Sequential fire is mainly for emissions and is a bit helpful for economy, but the effect on power is negligible.
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Guest
Mark,
I think $1500 is a fair price, especially if your ECU allows easy modification from the AFM to an off the shelf MAF or MAP sensor.
I own a Euro M5 and the only decent plug-n-play system is the ECU sold by Lenz. I believe the cost of this ECU with the appropropriate sensors is a little over $3k, so $1500 is a significant savings.
My requirements for an ECU are everything you've already stated, plus direct compatability with a WB O2 sensor.
Rich
I think $1500 is a fair price, especially if your ECU allows easy modification from the AFM to an off the shelf MAF or MAP sensor.
I own a Euro M5 and the only decent plug-n-play system is the ECU sold by Lenz. I believe the cost of this ECU with the appropropriate sensors is a little over $3k, so $1500 is a significant savings.
My requirements for an ECU are everything you've already stated, plus direct compatability with a WB O2 sensor.
Rich
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Threeshifter
- Posts: 704
- Joined: Feb 12, 2006
[QUOTE="Rich Euro M5"]Mark,
I think $1500 is a fair price, especially if your ECU allows easy modification from the AFM to an off the shelf MAF or MAP sensor.
I own a Euro M5 and the only decent plug-n-play system is the ECU sold by Lenz. I believe the cost of this ECU with the appropropriate sensors is a little over $3k, so $1500 is a significant savings.
My requirements for an ECU are everything you've already stated, plus direct compatability with a WB O2 sensor.
Rich[/QUOTE]
Hi Rich,
yes I would make an interface for a wb O2 sensor also, but the software for it may come later.
Mark
I think $1500 is a fair price, especially if your ECU allows easy modification from the AFM to an off the shelf MAF or MAP sensor.
I own a Euro M5 and the only decent plug-n-play system is the ECU sold by Lenz. I believe the cost of this ECU with the appropropriate sensors is a little over $3k, so $1500 is a significant savings.
My requirements for an ECU are everything you've already stated, plus direct compatability with a WB O2 sensor.
Rich[/QUOTE]
Hi Rich,
yes I would make an interface for a wb O2 sensor also, but the software for it may come later.
Mark
[QUOTE="Threeshifter"]Could this be made to be universal with wiring harness adaptor for various cars? That would open your market up. Seems like it could be something focused on Bosch systems in general.
I thought that the MegaSquirt carried many of these features, but I know little about that product line.[/QUOTE]
I'd make a system for the older DME's that end 0xx (motonic 1.0)
I may need to make a different system for each version of Motronic but if I can use just one system, I will do it that way.
Yes MS has most of the features, but you have the pleasure of hacking your wiring harness also, and possibly changing sensors.
MarkD
I thought that the MegaSquirt carried many of these features, but I know little about that product line.[/QUOTE]
I'd make a system for the older DME's that end 0xx (motonic 1.0)
I may need to make a different system for each version of Motronic but if I can use just one system, I will do it that way.
Yes MS has most of the features, but you have the pleasure of hacking your wiring harness also, and possibly changing sensors.
MarkD
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alexbaby88
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Feb 12, 2006
I'm no engine wizard, so something that would let me be able to create my own maps without cutting the heck out of my wiring harness, putting in special sensors etc is definitely appealing. It'd be great if all my gauges/OBC etc still worked when I was done too. While switching to an aftermarket system has it's perks.. .I'm really fond of my OBC and don't want it reduced to "clock" status.
I like the idea of being able to switch to a MAP sensor too.
I'd certainly be interested if you created something like this, Mark.
I like the idea of being able to switch to a MAP sensor too.
I'd certainly be interested if you created something like this, Mark.