Eagle, I realize that I am not quite the person you want to hear from, as I am running on a stock block, at 8.5 PSI of boost, but I do have some experience with the Haltech, and I can honestly say it is great. It is very smooth, no jerkiness like my UTEC used to have. The flexibility of the settings is tremendous, and the load points are completely configurable. In other words, if you only boost to 8.5 PSI like me, no need to have a 20 PSI load point, whereas for someone like you, you would have load points all the way to 20 PSI (and a little bit beyond) For areas where you need extreme granularity, you can do so, and other areas where the engine doesn't spend a lot of time, you can make the load points wide.

The boost control can be run in either closed loop or open loop, and the number of adjustments for all the different areas is huge.

I drive my G pretty hard, and while I haven't been to the track with it yet with the Haltech in it, I will next weekend, and I can let you know how the Haltech handles track work (not quarter mile, but real road course track, I mean)

Additionally, as you have probably already seen, the support for the Haltech is great. Hal at IP is doing a great job providing updates, helping out owners, and answering questions from non-owners. He's a great pimp for a great product

Finally, the Haltech engineers in Australia are continuing to improve the software and firmware, and working on adding new functions (multiple maps, low/high boost, working with the CAN connections, etc...)

Oh, and a postnote; the Haltech ECU can be as simple or as complex as you want it. You can tune it, and leave that perfect tune alone, with the ECU tucked away under the dash, or you can continually tinker with it, as you find a point on the map that is not quite perfect, you can go in and change it, since the software is both unlocked, and incredibly easy to use, while maintaining massive functionality. You can invest in one of the neat dash displays, or you can not. You can use the factory O2 sensors for O2 adjustment, or you can invest in one, or even dual, aftermarket O2 sensors. All in all, I am very pleased with the Haltech.

Having said that, I will remove myself from your hihgg-boost thread, unless you have any questions that my stock block low boost engine can answer.

 

Dave thanks for your input. I love the fcon, but like a day like today where my car went threw some trama, It would have been nice to go thru the log and made sure indeed nothing went wrong inside the belly of the beast. After today I have no question in my mind I will be going with a EM that will let me get in there and see what my motor is doing. (i.e log my runs)

 

Do you think we could meet up sometime this week? Id like to meet you, I could meet you at PFS (since we didnt at the track day) and drive your car if possible. I would love a 5 minute test drive where I could see how smooth the Haltech is. If your not cool with that, no worries, I understand. I did a quick drive of a Greddy TT set-up with an FCON and it was VERYYYY smooth, would like a camparison.

 

That's not a problem. PM me when you would like to come by.

 

Thanks, I'll PM you later today or tomorrow when I know what my schedule is looking like.

 

Please post or PM me your review, as you have also driven my car with the Fcon.

 

I appreciate the reviews as well. I am leaning towards the Haltech for my HR TT build.

J

 

Ray has been kind enough to offer a test drive of the EMS. I will likely update Thursday night after I meet up with him. I hope this thing is all its cracked up to be.

 

Ray it was nice meeting you man! Thank you for an opportunity to drive the car. The Z with the never ending redline!

Review tomorrow Im tired

 

Ok man what did ya think?

 

It was nice to finally put a face with the legendary name

 

Ray, thanks for taking the time to show Alberto your setup.

Alberto, I think I speak for others when I say we eagerly await your review.

 

Ok so my thoughts...keep in mind Im comparing one Haltech with the older software, vs 2 FCON cars Ive driven from a tuner that has used them for years.

Start up-I tried to start the car simply turning the key, it didnt start. FCON starts right up. Gave it the good old UTEC gas tip and it started up.

The good: Normal driving the car was just as smooth as the FCON. I tried to get the car to hiccup tipping into the throttle and letting off. Lugging it al low rpm's, slowly letting revs climb up in the powerband while in boost, no hiccups. Very nice.

WOT I didnt expect any issues and there were none. Smooth, and Ray's car is a strong car!

The "bad"--> Now-one thing I have to mention, I had heard of this before and went in looking for it. Ive heard that when driving and letting off, for a split second the injectors dont shut off and the car feels as if its still moving forward and not decelerating. I did experience this but it was not as pronounced as I thought.

Conclusion: In fairness to Ray/IP, Ray told me he hadn't really messed with the system as much as he had liked to, (Ray/Hal correct me if Im wrong here coming up!) and he believes there is a feature where you have to select the injectors to turn off, and/or that the new software would take care of this issue automatically. He also mentioned he could make the idle smoother, but I did not think it idled rough and the rpm's didnt fluctuate. In my dealings with Sharif I know he has told me that he really likes the new software over the old, and I know Injected is coming out with all these great features like the (speed dependant boost) and updating the system quite often compared to say the UTEC. From what I read on here Hal is also very helpful should any issues arise-and having support is always a good thing. Knowing that this will be my next choice in Engine Management.

I feel that once Ray downloads the new software, and fine tunes a little more (he is a busy guy-you guys know "shop/personal" cars take the back-burner to customer cars) the system will be flawless and up to par if not better than the FCON in terms of start up, and that decel issue and its not locked down! Which is a HUGE plus for guys like me and the Luie's of the world

I look forward to getting my car back with this system in it. Hal when will map switching via switch be available? Any questions, comments?

Thanks again to Ray for taking the time to meet up and let me drive the car!

 

Nice review Alberto - and I think a very reasonable conclusion. Getting startup and idle perfect takes some work, but is possible given the degree of control. I know I need start-up to be 100% flawless as I'll be wiring in a security system soon with remote start. I never noticed the decel issue - will have to look for it. I recall watching AFRs all the time (with a tuner reg) and never saw it dip on decel (which it should if throttle closes and fuel remains on) - and I was on old, old software then. Weird.

 

Was there any difference between warm start-up and cold start-up? Were the RPM's consistant right away at idle? or did it take a minute for the car to warm-up to idle smoothly? Any other issues under decel? Any dipping of the rpm's when letting the car go to idle from a high rpm? How was the throttle response?

 

I did a cold start (at least by looking at the guage). Did not do a warm start. RPM's were solid right off the bat, BC stage 2 idles great. I thought the idle was very good but he mentioned he could make it better. No other issues under decel, and that issue I spoke of is barely noticable. If I had not gone in looking for it Id be hard pressed to "feel" it. No rpm dipping when letting off from a high rpm. Throttle response was nice-on par with the FCON, felt very crisp.

 

Cool. Good review.

 

Good reveiw looking foward to more info as time goes on.

 

You got PM!

 

I will certainly keep you/all updated when my bucket is done.