Ecutek, MHD, BM3…Questions

[travsam89]

Alright so my ecu has been sent out to russia for unlock and will be needing a tune for when it gets back.
From what ive read is that Ecutek is the way to go however, from the vids ive watched on youtube (thicwhips) it seemed like he had a really good experience with MHD.

Is a laptop still needed with Ecutek? What all do i need to get the car up and running with the ecutek? I think this is what turns me off to ecutek vs going with MHD is the simplicity plus the MHD is good but cheaper.

Car will only be a downpipe/full exhaust car for a while so i dont know that i really need the ecutek/custom tune but i would hate to waste the money on the MHD license and then have to switch to ecutek if i ever want to upgrade to a pure 800 down the road.

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[NitroYellowMKV]

a few weeks ago Ecutek started phone flash with, it is the best option forsure if you want a custom tune and the best options, I had BM3 before I swapped and it was okay on 93 OTS, but but Ecutek with a custom Visconti tune is much safer and smoother, and on e30 BM3 was terrible, transmission issues and shit and limp modes. If you do not do Ecutek, MHD is the way to go. they have very good OTS tunes and of course a much cheaper option than Ecutek but since you are already paying so much for the Fetmo unlock, may as well go all out. Do Ecutek with a custom tuner of your choice, get the Visconti flex kit from @Marshall@ViscontiTuning to run flex fuel and get it all dialed in properly.

 

[zrk]

Alright so my ecu has been sent out to russia for unlock and will be needing a tune for when it gets back.
From what ive read is that Ecutek is the way to go however, from the vids ive watched on youtube (thicwhips) it seemed like he had a really good experience with MHD.

Is a laptop still needed with Ecutek? What all do i need to get the car up and running with the ecutek? I think this is what turns me off to ecutek vs going with MHD is the simplicity plus the MHD is good but cheaper.

Car will only be a downpipe/full exhaust car for a while so i dont know that i really need the ecutek/custom tune but i would hate to waste the money on the MHD license and then have to switch to ecutek if i ever want to upgrade to a pure 800 down the road.

It all depends on your goals. Are you going to want port injection? Ecutek. Meth? Ecutek. Big turbo? Ecutek. Nitrous? Ecutek. Want a tune by Botti/Visconti/Payn? Ecutek. (There are exceptions to all these things, it's just a general rule).

If you want a solid mid-high 10 second street car, you'll probably be fine with MHD. There are also folks (Marin, John at CES, etc) that do custom tunes with MHD and BM3. It's not that you can't do those things with MHD/BM3, but finding a tuner to tune this is going to be tricker.

Call your local tuner shop and see what they tune with.

 

[MR_X]

I’m on the same boat as the OP. I had MHD on my M4 and never had any issues. It was pretty good with just their OTS stage 1. I liked how simple it was to use compared to the other 2.
The way I see it ECUTEK is good because you can get a custom tune for your car but you can also get that with the other 2. I have Boostlogic local to me and they can do custom tuning for BM3 and ECUTEK, so I’m leaning towards BM3. If I had a local shop that could do MHD, it would be my first choice.
Everyone pushes Ecutek but unless you are planning to go bigger turbo, I don’t see the benefits over the other cheaper alternatives that are simpler to use. I’m only panning to run stage 2 with a high flow catted downpipe but want to see how stage 1 feels first…might be happy with just that. Don’t think I need to go any quicker than that.

 

[zrk]

I’m on the same boat as the OP. I had MHD on my M4 and never had any issues. It was pretty good with just their OTS stage 1. I liked how simple it was to use compared to the other 2.
The way I see it ECUTEK is good because you can get a custom tune for your car but you can also get that with the other 2. I have Boostlogic local to me and they can do custom tuning for BM3 and ECUTEK, so I’m leaning towards BM3. If I had a local shop that could do MHD, it would be my first choice.
Everyone pushes Ecutek but unless you are planning to go bigger turbo, I don’t see the benefits over the other cheaper alternatives that are simpler to use. I’m only panning to run stage 2 with a high flow catted downpipe. Don’t think I need to go any quicker than that.

tl:dr; if you think “stages” are a thing, don’t buy ecutek. If you want to be competitive, buy ecutek.

 

[travsam89]

tl:dr; if you think “stages” are a thing, don’t buy ecutek. If you want to be competitive, buy ecutek.

Everytime is see someone talking about “stages” im automatically triggered…Anywho i went ahead and bought Ecutek with an OTS tune from Marintuned. I figure a OTS tune will get me by until im ready to step up my game with flex and big turbo.

 

[MR_X]

Damn you guys are sensitive. Sorry, I don’t make the “Stages” it is how they are labeled with MHD and BM3 so take it up with them. I feel like someone said Mufasa

 

[zrk]

Everytime is see someone talking about “stages” im automatically triggered…Anywho i went ahead and bought Ecutek with an OTS tune from Marintuned. I figure a OTS tune will get me by until im ready to step up my game with flex and big turbo.

Marin is great. Enjoy it.

 

[zrk]

Damn you guys are sensitive. Sorry, I don’t make the “Stages” it is how they are labeled with MHD and BM3 so take it up with them. I feel like someone said Mufasa

LOL. Yes. Yes. we are. I'm sorry.

 

[Twisted Tuning]

you can use any flash platform and achieve the same results. very large misconception about that. you can run big turbo, port injection, and whatever you want on any of the flash platforms as well. how a tune performs on any platform, solely depends on the capabilities of the tuner tuning the car.

 

[travsam89]

you can use any flash platform and achieve the same results. very large misconception about that. you can run big turbo, port injection, and whatever you want on any of the flash platforms as well. how a tune performs on any platform, solely depends on the capabilities of the tuner tuning the car.

Thanks for clarifying, Wish i would have seen this before dropping a $1000 but im just ready to be tuned and enjoying my car again.

 

[Twisted Tuning]

I understand the concept of the stages but it seems like everyone has a different

Thanks for clarifying, Wish i would have seen this before dropping a $1000 but im just ready to be tuned and enjoying my car again.

yes sorry, i havent been active in a couple weeks. but im trying to come back on combat any misinformation posted and help people out more. just been busy. Marin is cool, so you should be fine. dont hesitate to reach out if you need anything

 

[travsam89]

yes sorry, i havent been active in a couple weeks. but im trying to come back on combat any misinformation posted and help people out more. just been busy. Marin is cool, so you should be fine. dont hesitate to reach out if you need anything

Thats what we need in this forum! We appreciate you

 

[MR_X]

you can use any flash platform and achieve the same results. very large misconception about that. you can run big turbo, port injection, and whatever you want on any of the flash platforms as well. how a tune performs on any platform, solely depends on the capabilities of the tuner tuning the car.

Glad you came here. Made me look into your website. As I’m looking for tuning options, I need my DME unlocked (10/19 production date). What does this means in your unlock services page?
*****NOTE - Our unlock service is not compatible with Ecutek B58 suite*****
If I was to have my ecu unlocked by you, I can’t use ECUTECK?

 

[visconti]

Lots of options

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