Andre: We're here to continue our product spotlight on MoTec's brand new M150 plug and play ECU
for the Toyota 86 Scion FRS and Subaru BRZ.
If you haven't seen part 1 of our review, click the link here.
In that link we talk about all of the product features
and go through what you get in the package when you purchase one of these ECU's.
Now we're going to go through the whole system once we've had it installed in the car.
We've had a chance to check it out, tune it on our dyno
and experience the ECU in the real world for the last few weeks.
I'm going to tell you about those experiences.
One of the first things you notice with the M150 package is just how well it works in a standard car.
Basically if you install the ECU, press the start button,
the engine will start and run, basically drives just like factory.
You wouldn't even know it had an after-market ECU in it.
All of the other factor functions such as air conditioning, power steer,
traction control, etc., just work exactly like factory.
It's a really good starting point for a tune and it is quite amazing how well it does everything.
One of the functions that it does an exceptional job of is controlling the direct injector
and port injector mix.
We've got control over both the direct injection and port injection.
There's a DUI/PUI split table so you can set up the ratio of port injection to direct injection
throughout the rev and load range.
It does a really good job of controlling those injectors and you've got complete flexibility there.
One of the main differences between the M150 and most other stand-alone engine management systems
is the way the ECU controls the fuel delivery into the engine.
The M150 uses a proper fuel delivery model, so instead of tuning a millisecond based fuel table,
we actually have a table of engine volume matrix efficiency.
This works in conjunction with some really accurate injector data,
so that the ECU knows what post-width to deliver to the injectors to get the required amount of fuel
and also an [IM lamda] or IM air fuel ratio mixture table.
When we're tuning the ECU, basically we're entering accurate
and real volume matrix efficiency numbers into the main VE table.
We're telling the ECU how much air is entering the engine
and all the different combinations of load and up [unintelligible].
The advantage of a VE based fuel system is once we have turned that VE table,
we don't need to touch it again unless we make changes to the engine
that affect its volume matrix efficiency.
If you want to change the air fuel ratio or lamda value that the engine is running at
at any point, all we have to do is change the IM lamda number in the fuel IM lamda table
and the ECU will make all the required changes and it just tracks perfectly.
The other thing is if we want to change injectors,
all we do is fit the new injectors into the required injector data and again everything just starts
and runs like you've made no changes at all.
It's really powerful and it really separates the M150
from most other after-market ECU's that are on the market at the moment.
One of the features I really liked in the new M1 tune software
is the live data logging straight onto the tuning software.
This is really handy for being able to see exactly what's going on.
You can use it on the road or on the dyno to instantly see what was happening during a run.
Previously we had to download the data out of the ECU and then analyze that in MoTec's I2,
now we can do all of this from inside MI tune.
It's really powerful, one of the most useful functions of this
is the ability to really pinpoint where the ECU is accessing on any of the tables
by clicking on a certain point in the data log.
That lets you really quickly narrow in your tune
and get everything dialed in really fast and really accurately.
One of the optional accessories which we added into our M150 install
is MoTec's LTC or Lamda to Cam module.
The optional adept [unintelligible] that we got with our kit has a plug already there
for the LTC so it's just a simple case of plugging it in.
Now, the LTC unit gives on-board wideband data straight into M1 tune,
so we can use this for really quickly tuning the fuel table.
We can use the quick lamda function and all we need to do is drive the engine
into each zone in the fuel map, press the Q key,
and the ECU will automatically tune the fuel cell to match the target lamda table.
I found that really powerful and really quick.
We could tune the whole fuel table in a matter of just minutes by using that Q function.
If you've got the LTC fitted, the other thing you can do is use it for data logging,
so we can data log what the ... if your ratio lamda was actually doing on the road or track.
Another function that I use, which I found really powerful
and really impressive was the closed loop lamda function.
This allows the ECU to use the LTC input
and automatically tune the fuel table to achieve your target lamda numbers.
If there's any discrepancy the ECU will just fix it.
I found that this tracked so well, I actually left the wideband lamda control on for the entire fuel map,
so it just works perfectly and made sure that day-to-day, the lamda was exactly where I wanted.
Another function I really liked in the M150 is the closed looped knock control.
The closed loop knock control takes the input from the two factory knock sensors,
runs that through a digital signal processor
and it allows you to really accurately pinpoint knock or detonation.
You can setup a threshold table of knock versus engine RPM
and if the knock signal exceeds that threshold at anytime,
the ECU will automatically retard the ignition timing on only the cylinder that's knocking.
It's great for peace of mind that if you get a bad batch of fuel or something goes wrong,
your engine is going to be protected and I found it to be really effective.
Because we already had a MoTec CDL3 dash unit in the car and the MoTec SLE more shift light module,
the integration with the M150 was really nice, everything talks via [unintelligible].
It actually used the knock control function to output to the shift light module
and flash a red warning light if the engine encountered detonation.
This was a really nice way of just being able to give the driver a visual indication
of knock or detonation occurring, it gives you the chance to back off,
otherwise you might not know it's happening.
Once we got the car bolted to the dyno we got a chance
to see what the M150 could produce when we optimized the tune.
It wasn't a huge surprise that the numbers we got
were fairly close to what we were seeing with the [Icky Tick] tune.
That's because it doesn't really matter what ECU you're using,
if you're giving the engine the same air fuel ratio, the same ignition timing, the same cam timing,
unsurprisingly the results are going to be the same.
I think we saw a maximum gain of two kilowatts at the wheels.
The advantage though was how quickly we could complete the tune.
The ability to tune everything live meant that we could make small changes to cam timing,
to ignition timing and see the results instantly.
It's really going to pay dividends particularly when you get on to
a more sophisticated engine combination, perhaps with aggressive cam shafts,
turbo charges, or super charges.
We can tune the entire map very quickly and if you want to do a speed density tune on a [re-flesh],
that's a really time-consuming process.
The other thing that I would point out is with the engine completely tuned on the M150
on both the road and the dyno, the air fuel ratio control on it is really stable,
probably the most stable I've seen on any after-market ECU and that was really impressive.
It just tracks the target air fuel ratio perfectly everywhere.
Now we'll get on to some of the reason why you would want to go with a more sophisticated ECU,
like the MoTec M150 and that's really for some of the advanced function that it offers.
I'm talking here about proper tune-able traction control and launch control.
It's really sophisticated, if you want to add a potentiometere,
you can have driver controlled maps for both launch control
and traction control so you can adjust this on the fly to suite track conditions maybe wet weather,
dry weather and things like that.
These will take a lot of work to set up properly,
but when they are set up it will give immense control over a powerful Toyoto 86
and gives the driver a lot more confidence to push hard on the road or the racetrack.
The other function that's really handy for those more orientated towards Motorsport
is the gear change ignition cut and throttle blip downshift.
If you're thinking of fitting a sequential gearbox that allows full clutch-less gear shifts
and you don't need to back off the throttle,
just pull the gear lever and the ECU will do everything for you.
On the downshift, again, don't worry about touching the clutch, just hit the breaks,
downshift and the ECU will blip the throttle to match revs for the next gear.
These are some of the features that are basically impossible to replicate
with systems based on the factory ECU.
If you want to extend on the abilities of the M150,
this is also pretty easy, there's a couple of options there.
The optional [luma] comes with a 12 pin breakout connector
so you can add additional sensors in there.
For our installation we've added an oil pressure and a fuel pressure sensor.
This is the same place you can add a gear position sensory
or a strain gauge input if you're using a sequential gearbox.
You can also interface the M150 with MoTec E888 for expansion,
for such aspects as individual cylinder exhaust gas temperature monitoring.
It makes it really easy to expand on the capabilities of the M150.
There aren't too many negatives I could really bring up about the M150.
The only one I did notice is that I think there's still a little bit of potential for work on the fuel model,
particularly if you are making changes to the port injection/direct injection mix.
At that point the air fuel ratio doesn't quite track target properly
and you actually need to go back and make some changes to the VE table.
I've discussed this with MoTec and they put it down to some fairly significant
fluctuations in the fuel pressure that's being seen by the port injectors.
We've data logged this and it does back-up what they're telling us.
It doesn't really matter because not too many people are going to go and make dramatic changes
to their PIDI table after the engine's tuned.
Basically if you see it, listen, forget it, the rest of the fuel model just works faultlessly.
The other thing I noticed is, a user quite familiar with MoTec's older 100 series ECU's
is the M1 currently feels quite locked down and not quite as flexible as the 100 series.
An example I'll give you there is the IM lamda table.
I went to change the access, the load access of that from manifold pressure to throttle position.
Now on the old 100 series, basically any table in the ECU can have any X's value assigned to it.
In the M1 tune or M150, that's not quite as easy and a lot of these parameters are locked down
and you can only use the X's that MoTec have provided.
That's not really too much of an issue, for those who are used to really changing things up
in 100 series, you might feel a little bit restricted in the M150 environment.
To wrap up, we found that the M150 package for the 86 gives excellent control,
over what is really quite a sophisticated engine, really stable air fuel ratio control
and it tunes up very quickly and the ability to do that live is great.
Now, as I said in our first installment here, this ECU isn't going to be a solution for everyone.
Most people are going to be more than happy with a re-flesh,
but for those that are looking to build an extreme engine, make a lot of horsepower
or for those that are more orientated towards serious competition
and Motorsport this ECU is a great option.
Also, for those who are wanting to get the absolute most out of the engine
and give really easy control and tune-ability, this ECU is an amazing option
and I'm really impressed with the results we've seen.
Voiceover: For online tuning courses visit learntotune.com.