6 replies to this topic

[VT-R]

Just wondering if anyone who has gone down the K20A engine route has used any other engine management systems apart from the Hydra?

If so what, if any, problems have you encountered?

[JetBLICK]

Cant comment specific to the z-car situation, but if your looking for an alternative to hydra my good friend uses k-pro on his civic type R. Its a very good system, very easy to use. When he first got it he simply plugged it in and then plugged a laptop to it. From there its very simple to set basic settings even with no experiance, things like launch control, the rev limmit and twiddling where the 'v-tec' comes in. Obviously tho, setting the v-tec and advance curves etc are all better left to a proffesional. I dunno bout hydra but k-pro has a load of extras, things like launch control and anti-lag function if you have a turbo, nitrous control, data logging etc etc. Its a very nice bit of kit

[Pegbox7]

Cant comment specific to the z-car situation, but if your looking for an alternative to hydra my good friend uses k-pro on his civic type R. Its a very good system, very easy to use. When he first got it he simply plugged it in and then plugged a laptop to it. From there its very simple to set basic settings even with no experiance, things like launch control, the rev limmit and twiddling where the 'v-tec' comes in. Obviously tho, setting the v-tec and advance curves etc are all better left to a proffesional. I dunno bout hydra but k-pro has a load of extras, things like launch control and anti-lag function if you have a turbo, nitrous control, data logging etc etc. Its a very nice bit of kit

The HYDRA ECU has all of the above and much more. It is one of the best stand alone ECU's currently available (and one of the best kept secrets) The biggest advantage of HYDRA is that the Guy who Maps these units for Chris at ZCars is arguably one of the UK's greatest mappers, he is flown all around the world in order to use his talents setting up competition cars..You can therefore guarantee that the base map set up in your kit will be better than most other tuners live attemps....This will save you a fortune in the wallet department, not to mention your cars performance will be at its maximum !!!

[JetBLICK]

Cant comment specific to the z-car situation, but if your looking for an alternative to hydra my good friend uses k-pro on his civic type R. Its a very good system, very easy to use. When he first got it he simply plugged it in and then plugged a laptop to it. From there its very simple to set basic settings even with no experiance, things like launch control, the rev limmit and twiddling where the 'v-tec' comes in. Obviously tho, setting the v-tec and advance curves etc are all better left to a proffesional. I dunno bout hydra but k-pro has a load of extras, things like launch control and anti-lag function if you have a turbo, nitrous control, data logging etc etc. Its a very nice bit of kit

The HYDRA ECU has all of the above and much more. It is one of the best stand alone ECU's currently available (and one of the best kept secrets) The biggest advantage of HYDRA is that the Guy who Maps these units for Chris at ZCars is arguably one of the UK's greatest mappers, he is flown all around the world in order to use his talents setting up competition cars..You can therefore guarantee that the base map set up in your kit will be better than most other tuners live attemps....This will save you a fortune in the wallet department, not to mention your cars performance will be at its maximum !!!

Fair nuff, i dunno much bout ecu's to be fair, just know that the hondata one was very easy to use... considering i've never had anything to do with ecu's before.

[VT-R]

I had looked at the K-Pro because the Honda boys seem to rave about it, but had written it off as its not real time programmable and I think a lot of the tuners use it more like a 'superchip' with just off the shelf maps based on level of modification.

I have actually bought a DTA S60 pro now as it has all the required functionallity of the Hydra, but as i got it second hand it was a third of the price.

Personally I'd trust a day on a rolling road with a good reputable mapper over any base map however good the person who compiled it was.

[Pegbox7]

I had looked at the K-Pro because the Honda boys seem to rave about it, but had written it off as its not real time programmable and I think a lot of the tuners use it more like a 'superchip' with just off the shelf maps based on level of modification.

I have actually bought a DTA S60 pro now as it has all the required functionallity of the Hydra, but as i got it second hand it was a third of the price.

Personally I'd trust a day on a rolling road with a good reputable mapper over any base map however good the person who compiled it was.

A BASE MAP, is exactly as it states and should never be used as a perfect replacement of a full live session on the dyno/road. But it gives a good safe starting point from then on it's upto the individual to do the final set up. The DTA is also a very good ECU along with the others mentioned.

The point i was trying to make is that it's not just down to the ECU you choose mainly the person behind the mapping, and the guy behind Chris's live mapping is extreamly good..........Not all owners of shiney dyno's are good at mapping as many of us have found out to our costs.

Don't skimp on the final stage as it is probably the most important !!!

[z cars chris]

the reason we use the hydra is that unless you get the ecu and key from the original car you need to get the ecu de immobilised this costs around £400 then add the cost of hondata etc and youve paid for the hydra unit which comes with a simple loom and has loads of functions
only one of our customers has used hondata and he is struggling to get it going and he is an electrician building aeroplanes so not stupid by any means
we have one std v tec on a dyno at present and he is getting 260 bhp at the wheels using our hydra, exhaust, and throttle bodies rest of motor is as it came out of the car
chris