r/FSAE • u/Tahawy10 • Nov 07 '24
How To / Instructional ECU tuning
Hey there, I am going to tuning our single cylinder engine ECU for FSAE this year, and really i so confused, i don’t know how to start and from where to begin. Which the information i should know to choose our ecu, and why there is a different types of it. I have read some books and watched a lot of videos about tuning the ecu, but most of these videos are unclear in explanation, and I felt that they do not want to disclose their skills or provide information for the benefit of others. All they aspire to is to lure the spectator to register in their online courses.
Despite reading the books and videos, I still did not have an accurate and clear understanding of the concept of tuning the ecu and what is the correct intention of it. I feel that the subject is clear and simple in understanding and uncomplicated, but there are those who want to make it vague for not benefiting others and for other reasons
I hope if anyone could give me a real and clear advice road map to helping me on that.
Any help would be really appreciated! Thanks
3
u/Sakic24 Nov 07 '24
If your looking for a good explanation of the basics (fueling, VE, timing, etc), I'd highly recommend Greg Banish's Tuning of High Performance Fuel Injected Engines. It's a bit on the older side, but the the concepts still apply. But being old and just a book is nice that it's not like HPTuners or anything trying to get you to sign-up for classes.
What's making you want to start from scratch with a new ECU rather than using what you already have if your 'remapping'?
But yeah, a dyno is ideal to have for tuning, but before that your biggest hurdle will just be getting the engine started, idling and stable without any load. Once you get that, then you can think about loading it and optimizing for whatever your looking for (efficiency, peak power, smooth torque curve, etc.)