ok my question is what would be the best possible way to tune my ecu? i've heard of hp tuners and megasquirt or would it be better to just have it sent off soomewhere and have it flashed. i have a 3 speed auto 99 fire
It really depends on what your plans are for the car. Unless you are planning on getting very radical with the motor as far as building it up, Megasquirt probabally isn't your best option. HPTuners is fairly intuitive, easy to use and install, but yet you still need to have someone who knows what they are doing and access to a dyno to effectively tune with it. Sending out your ECU is a waste IMO because without the car, the person tuning the ECU is not going to be able to maximize the changes being made to the programming.
Your best option is to find someone with HPTuners already and pay them to license your car for 100 bucks, then find an independant tuner and buy time on a dyno.
Otherwise just buy HPtuners yourself and do the same.
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Keep in mind Mega Squirt is a stand alone. If you want to tune the ECU itself you're either going to need HPT or a reflash from one of the three companies in North America that can do it. Or if you want to work within the stock programming of the ECU you can do an eManage or some other piggyback. However with a piggyback it's important to understand that you can't actually change the ECU's parameters. Which means you're still working with the factory settings for power enrich, fuel and spark cut, power enrich, etc.
Luis, I replied to your PM. J-Body Performance and RSM Racing are two that you'll hear most of as far as reflashing. There was one other that I had heard about somewhere but I can't think of who it was.
Either way, I'd recommend the HPT software. JBP lists thier reflash for $675 where HPT sells for less than that for the Pro version, and the standard version is even less. With the reflash you have to pull the ECU, send it in, wait, and test it. If it isn't right, you have to pull it out and send it back, and keep doing that until it's right. And any upgrades you do will be even more downtime while the ECU is reflashed yet again. But with HPT you can do it right there in the car if you have a laptop, or if you have a computer in the house you can go inside, do the edit, download the settings into the car, and see how it works. It's not real time but it's better than sending the ECU out to be worked on. And even if it's not quite right you can still drive the car because the ECU never needs to be taken out.
