Well my longblock from Todd(builtZmotors) will be here this monday so i was talking to my shop today deciding what engine management I should go with.. And he brought up the Hydra. He says he was told it will be out around a month from now.. So im thinking im gonna scrath the Utec and go with the Hydra.. Here is the link wiht some more info on it.. But i wanna get some of your guys opinions, have any of you used this on sti, evo, supra or even civics? Opinions please!? thanks!


http://www.elementtuning.com/technical/element_ems.htm

once i find more info. on this i will get back to you guys as well.. like release date and price... If your interested in this product shoot me a PM and i will make sure i get back to you when i know more about it.. thanks.

 

One of our Subaru's is making about 650HP with the Hydra. Good system. Do keep in mind that in terms of drivability nothing beats the stock ECU, and setting up a standalone EMS for a big power car is pretty time consuming (read expensive).

Cheers,

Gary
Gruppe-S

 

I think the best combo is a stock ECU with a UTEC

 

why do you feel this is best? what advantages does the utec have over the hydra EM

 

My shop called Hydra about 6 months ago . They said the same thing...it would be out in a month or so . Hope its true though...he said he likes it for the cars you mentioned

 

you can talk to XS themselves and they will tell you that they have MAJOR issues with the UTEC right now... they have the chances of the system just stop working... the drive by wire doesnt get a signal back saying its there and then there is no throttle response... its happened to me now and a few others + XS has even got it to happen with their car so the issue is there... also the UTEC has a slight bump with the new software between regular ECU and UTEC at 0 boost pressure.... u are feeling both want to fight over what map it use... its quite annoying!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by veilside350zTT

why do you feel this is best? what advantages does the utec have over the hydra EM

Setting up a standalone is not an easy/fast job ... (cold start, compensations, parameters, etc, etc..) ... without mentioning the VVT.

Now, In order to use all of the stock options and have a good starting point (stock ECU) with the ability to tune @ the laod point that I need (Boost) cuts time in half and I don't need to worry all that much about compensations and all that.

Thus, I say the best combo is a stock ECU and a UTEC .. even if you want to run big injectors (1000cc plus) all the have to do is re-wire the injector harness with some sort of relay (i used NOS relay) and the AEM P&H driver box. Now, you would ask that up to 1000cc you can scale with the UTEC, but what about bigger injectors... well what you can do is run a bigger intake (charge) pipe to compensate for the bigger injectors (the MAF will see less air, thus less fuel, without having to takeout fuel form the 0% column on the UETC)

Ok, let’s go further and say you want to run a bigger throttle body .. well I have a solution for that … if you open up the stock TB you will notice that it’s nothing more that a motor and gears and a TPS … so all you have to do is hook that TB to another via cable making sure that the butterfly travel is the same on both TB (the stock TB and the new cable TB) you ask how can you do that .. well, on the other side of the stock TB you would have a cover and underneath that cover you will find a bearing for the butterfly rod and the end of the butter fly rod …. All you have to do is attach a socket (you choose the size) and weld it to it and then make a wheel and attach that to the socket and run the cable from the stock TB to the new TB …

What else can you do with a standalone … thinking … well that what comes to mind, I know you could do a lot with a standalone .. I mean anything that you want to do with a standalone you can do with the combo mentioned above and for a fraction of the price (hardware and tuning)… how much resolution does each stand alone gives you let’s see now … the highest you can get is with the Motec (AFAIK) and it gives you 40x21 (RPMXLOAD) which is good, however, with a UTEC you get 35x11 (RPMXLOAD) in addition to the stock ECU.

Az

Eidt: The Hydra gives you 32x32 which is in a way less than the UTEC by 3 RPM points and ? on the LOAD Points (the utec gives 11 points which leaves 21 points, which would be covered by the stock ECU ... I don't know how many load points does the stock ECU gives)

 

i've tuned some cars using hydra, basicly it is a easy to use ecu in the segment of standalone ECUs. The cons are it lacks of sensor feedback like u dont get a CEL or something if a sensor is not working properly. I'd prefer AEM over HYDRA.

 

Do a search on the Subie forums, the Hydra failed miserably in the US market..When I say failed, I mean it never really took off like it should have..

 

Hydra has been in the works for months and months. Back at last year's Sema (Nov05) they were just weeks away from launching it. I feel its one of those products that will never actually be formally and thoroughly launched.

I still prefer parellel style engine management systems, ala FCON, UTEC, or AEM. Why remove the stock ECU, when it starts, idles, and cruises the cars so well?

 

+1

And Hydra has not done a great job at marketing their product to the masses,at least in the subie world..Ask 10 Subie owners what they use, it will be a toss up between UTEC and Cobb Accesport...Maybie one out of a hundred will be running a Hydra..There is a reason for this
Remember MORE control is not always better when it comes to building a "True Street Car"

 

The problem that I see is like mentioned before, to much control can mean to much hassle when it comes to tuning. However, with such a complex stock ECU, certain engine management systems (piggy backs) have had trouble controlling it consistantly as it makes changes to the primary signal.

 

goto the MR2 world and hydra and AEM are the ways to go... either those or having a cutom harness made for Autronic of TEC3.

With Ricky B and Bryan Moore tuning the Hydra has a good review over in the MR2oc.com!

 

Maybe thats why my shop owner said he liked the Hydra alot . He has a turboed MR2

 

Here's a video of a 650HP STI we tuned with the Hydra. Makes decent power, runs pretty solid times (should be capable of 10's once it stops breaking driveline components).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...06286612765051

It's daily driven, but not optimal for a street car because of the Hydra.

Cheers,

Gary
Gruppe-S

 

You know if you have trouble tuning and mapping your low end to match with the factory ecu, you can always map your fuel table from -15 to insert your max boost here. You don't have to let the factory ecu control anything but idle and this will be changed soon.

Have you talked to someone at TXS regarding your DBW issue?

Thanks,

 

Has anyone considered using the Haltech system on this car. The rotary guys love them and the e12X is supposed to be the poop.