I wanted to get some opinions on what would be a good locally supported stand alone in the bay area. I am considering:

AEM
Motec
Hydra
FCON

This is for an 05 STI with cosworth long block. Any input is much appreciated. Also where can i get it tuned safely.

James.

 

Anyone??

 

i hear good stuff about hydra.... no personal experience just cuz i never thought about going this route. you might wanna call tuners around the area and ask if they will tune stand alone systems. try GST motorsports in hayward, EQ tuning or DB tuned....ive only delt with one of these shops but all do good work.

 

Thanks for the input, but I am not willing to " Try " if you know what I mean. I have put too much time and money into the car, I dont want to have issues because of tuning. No offense to anyone here, just need some real life experience building cars.

 

Anyone here using AEM or Hydra?

 

I have a Hydra tuned by Mike at GST and am pretty happy with it so far. I believe he runs the Hydra in their time attack car as well. From what Mike tells me, the hardware of the Hydra is great, but the software sucks(not very user friendly). The AEM's software seems to be much better, but you have to buy things like injector drivers to run low impedance injectors, whereas the Hydra has it built in. This is just one example. If money is no object a Motec would probably be best, but give Mike a call and see what he recommends.

 

Thanks for the input, I want to get it tuned and then be able to play with it myself at times. I heard the same about hydra a few times and I think I am leaning towards AEM, issue being there dont seem to be any AEM certified tuners in the bay area.

 

any motec certified tuners?

 

If you want to play with it yourself it would be better to go with the AEM over the Hydra since it's more user friendly. Go to Mike at GST he tunes both AEm and Motec.

 

I know that this will sound paranoid but i want a certified tuner, just my personal preference. What is mike certified in?

 

My guess is all these: http://www.gstmotorsports.com/home/i...id=5&Itemid=26 . I've personally used him for about 10-15 cobb accessport tunes(I change parts a lot haha) and so far 1 hydra tune(just switched to it) and have been completely satisfied with his tuning. You'll be in good hands if you go to him

 

I looked through the site but did not see any certifications. I am sure he is a good tuner I have seen them in action and do believe they are good at what they do. For my personal peace of mind i would like to speak to a few different people before i make any decisions.

 

LinkECU.

I run a Link G3+ stand alone EMS, and it's allllllll good. I have yet to need a feature/use that it can't handle.

 

Hey, thanks guys for the input. So are there no certified shops in the bay area? What gives. I really dont want to take it down south, too much money in towing etc.

 

FLI has been using LinkECU's for many years now, and I believe they are certified by Link if that's all that important to you. Quite a few stand-alone options, but personally I feel Link and Motec offer the most comprehensive ECU's.