Vi-PEC Plug in ECU

[David Buschur]

Thanks to a forum member on another forum, crcain, for contacting Vi-Pec, owned by Ray Hall and asking him to send me an ECU for evaluation. This was quite a surprise to me. Ray contacted me, we exchanged a few e-mails and the Vi-Pec showed up.

Here is a link to Vi-Pecs home page for anyone that would like to read up on more of their products and such. http://www.vi-pec.com/index.html

Vi-PEC stands for Versatile Intelligent Performance Engine Control

The unit I have is the "Plug-In ECU".

The ECU comes with a cable for connecting to the ecu, air temp sensor and a 2.5 bar map sensor. This particular unit is a circuit board with the factory plug in connectors on it. You take your factory computer, open the case, remove the factory circuit board and install the new Vi-PEC circuit board. Very easy to do and it's nice being able to bolt it back into the car in the factory case/factory location.

We used the supplied Vi-PEC air temp sensor, an AEM 5 bar map sensor and an AEM external wide band controller. Wiring is simple to hook everyting in, just wires into the factory sensors.

I ran into just a few small problems. 1st problem was the unit came up with the fuel pump set up incorrectly so the car would not start. A quick phone call and we figured out the problem with Alex at Apex Speed Tech. The next issue was an odd one that I thought was related to using Vista. The ECU went offline and I could not reconnect. I loaded the program into my other laptop with XP and same problem. I disconnected all the connectors to the ECU, plugged them back in and it worked instantly. After those two small issues the rest of the job of tuning went smoothly.

With all programs it takes a while to get up to speed where things are located, how to change them, shortcuts etc. Right now I have about 6-8 hours in working with the Vi-PEC and I feel like I am pretty up to speed on it. No expert but moving around the program with very little effort and tuning quickly.

The Vi-PEC has a quick tune feature. This is really nice. As long as your AFR target table is set up and your wideband is reading correctly you can start. Simple click the Quick Tune feature and hold the engine in a cel and the ECU will do the rest and dial in the AFR's very quickly. Don't get me wrong, it takes some effort to hold the car steady enough in each cell to get it to self tune but it is TONS faster than doing each cell manually.

The idle is exceptional on the car and so is the start up, the car fires instantly and with no gas pedal input will start and go to high idle.

There is no knock control in the Vi-PEC but one is being offered seperately. I do not have 100% of the details on it yet and when I get it I will release that information.

We installed the Vi-PEC on my brothers "beater" as he calls it. It's a 2003 EVO8. Stock EVO9 turbo, Stages 1-4, 780cc PTE injectors, single Walbro, drop in pistons a fairly basic build.

My brother, Daniel, is a hard guy to please. He had the AEM EMS on the car and couldn't start the long cranking. He then went to the stock ECU and wasn't happy the car was down on some power. Knowing how hard he is to please makes him a great test bed for anything new! haha

I did some of the initial tuning to get the AFR's close just out in the parking lot. The car was loaded on the dyno after that to get all the low end dialed in.

The AEM and the Haltech both use boost fuel correct. This means once you get the AFR's close at low boost each load cell can be set the same and the ECU calculates additional fuel needed based on boost pressure.

The Vi-PEC doesn't have this feature so each load cell needs to be tuned individually. I did some quick math in my head and hoped to error on the rich side, plugged the numbers into the fuel graph and made a pull. Power was pretty good but what surprised me was the car pulled clean with AFR's in the 8:1 range.

To make a long story short, the tuning went very well. The car also made the most power it has ever made regardless of what ECU was on it.

Here is the final 4th gear dyno graph:



I'm happy as hell with the results and surprisingly, Daniel is happy as hell with how the car runs and drives. I have just a bit of idle hunt when the car comes to a stop and will fix that tomorrow. Tonight it is suppose to drop to about 3X degrees F so I'm anxious to see how the car starts tomorrow morning in the cold and how it drives in to the shop.

The issues I had so far are small and could be from my lack of experience with the ECU, I'd rather let all you guys know that every install and every new item doesn't go perfectly smoothly all the time. You all know I tell the good with the bad. Fact is so far, there really is no bad. I'm not even missing the knock control or ability to monitor it.

I have a lot of reading to do to pick up on using the datalogger, so far it has baffled me enough that I didn't use it at all.

I have to give the ECU a thumbs-up so far.

[David Buschur]

Updates:

After tuning the car Daniel took it home. The first question from me the next morning was, "How was the car this morning?" Daniel replied, "Excellent." I was shocked, never have I got that response from him. He said he started the car this morning instantly, idle was perfect and then he instantly tried to take off and see how poorly it would run dead cold, to his surprise it ran perfectly. He said not so much as a small stumble or glitch.

Once he got here the car cooled off for a few hours and then I went out to work on it. There were quite a few things I changed today after spending a few hours reading the manual last night. I figured out the datalogging, works excellent and is very similar to the AEM. The fan temps I lowered considerably as the car was getting too hot at idle before they would kick on. I also set up the rev limiter today.

I went through and set up all the RPM tables to they are the same and then the load too.

Then I took off down the road with the car to check to see if I was hitting the target AFR's at cruise. Now this car is pretty mild with just 400 whp but I was amazed at how well it runs, it is seriously one of the smoothest driving EVO's I have ever driven. Idle control is the best of any ECU I've ever used. With a huge set of cams and injectors that could very well change and I am looking forward to putting this on something with 600+ whp.

One of the last things I needed to do to this car is to set up the launch control. This too after a few minutes was an easy task and works perfectly. There is a stand two step launch control and anti lag. I am using just the simple launch control.

I have to say I am impressed. To dial this in with this limited amount of time in it pretty much boggles my mind. It's nice to have it working this well with very little actual time and effort.

As much as I don't want to see it get cold here, I am anxious to see how it's going to perform when it does as far as cold start and such.

Very happy so far.

[David Buschur]

We have ordered more of these units and will be stocking them. Thus far it's been as cold as 29 degree F, starting and drivability is flawless.

[SPIN2GST]

I am planning on switching over to the Vi-PEC from the stock ECU in the very near future. I plan on posting a full review on the unit.

[ny-quiL]

nice to see some more options on the market - any idea on price out the door for this thing ( all sensors and whatnot)

[redevo_dj]

nice to see some more options on the market - any idea on price out the door for this thing ( all sensors and whatnot)

+1

might be interested too.

[David Buschur]

Shoot me a PM for pricing. It is against Vi-PEC policy to discuss it openly on the internet.

[vwjeff]

You pleased Dan... WOW!

Sounds like a very nice set-up!

[talontsi92]

I am assuming this is all Evo specific for the plug in units, but is there any chance they have a unit that would work for us idiots who still drive the DSM dinosaurs?

[David Buschur]

I will have to check on the plug in unit for the DSM but I am guessing yes, as they have a unit listed for the EVO 1-3. I will check on it and get back to you.

[8thWonder]

Hmmm, sounds good. I'm anticipating more reviews on the Vi-PEC.

[David Buschur]

I just got the answer about the DSM's, YES there is a plug in ECU for the DSM's and for the Stealth/3000GT too. If you are interested in pricing, send me a PM. I'd love to tune one of these on a DSM!

[chris@EFITuningTech]

In my dealings with Ray, he has always been a stand-up individual. He also does not procrastinate and gets things done quickly and efficiently. The ViPEC platform is very easy to use and all of the documentation is user friendly as well. He has made great strides with the product. The more I use those ECUs the more impressed I am!

Chris Macellaro

[David Buschur]

Yesterday Eric, Spin2gst, came in to have the Vi-PEC installed. The car is pretty similar to my brothers that we installed the first unit on but different enough that the map wasn't a direct drop in and 10 minute ordeal.

Eric's car previously was one of the white EVO's from Ohio that ran 9's. Eric decided to tone the car down for awhile and took the big turbo, injectors, coil on plug, double pumper, AEM EMS and some other things off the car. The car was on the AEM EMS when he ran the big turbo and the car ran 9's. He then switched to the stock ECU, his car is a 2005. I attempted to tune the car on the stock ECU but had a lot of difficulty doing so. I thought the problem was my lack of a good XML file to use so I had access to enough of the map to make it run really good. I made about 330 whp with the car on 93 octane at 26 psi. I had another person tune it who I have a great deal of respect for, the car made 346 whp but still ran unexceptable. Constant stalling and just a general lack of good drivability. I wanted to try the newest XML's from Tephra and Jack-of-trades but Eric was done dealing with the car.

It didn't take Dan long to install the sensor, remove the MAF and do a little wiring. Plugged in the Vi-PEC, loaded a base map and it fired up instantly. I spent about 2.5 hours on the car and we could not get the wideband to read correctly. It was extremely frustrating. The problem ended up being a confusion as to what an AEM Wideband gauge is and an AEM wideband external controller.............I didn't see a guage, asked if it had the external controller in it and the wideband ended up being set up incorrectly because of the answer. (Thanks Eric! haha) After an email from Eric last night telling me his AEM GAUGE didn't match what the Vi-PEC was reading I realize he had a GAUGE and not an EXTERNAL CONTROLLER. The gauge was tucked up behind the dash and I didn't see it. Anyhow, this morning I came in, fixed the map, called Eric and things should be much better.

I'm hoping Eric will pop in and give his review of the Vi-PEC. It obviously is going to need a touch up on the map now with the wideband working but I think he is very pleased. The power is up, we made 366 whp with only 24.xx psi of boost too, so that's a nice plus!

[Evo_Kid]

Great reviews, updates and everything

[grntsiturbo]

IF I ever go standalone down the road. This will probably be the unit that I go with. Do you think it would be a problem to use a Omni 4 Bar MAP with this ECM?

[David Buschur]

grntsiturbo, funny you should ask that! We are actually only going to be offering the Omni map sensors from now on. For a guy with a fab'd intake that doesn't have a stock MAP sensor port then we'll use the AEM 5 bar like always. Other than that it doesn't make much sense to use anything but the Omni sensor. It's a direct replacement sensor and uses the stock wires.

When I install this on my RS I intend to put the stock MAP sensor bung on our Fabricated Intake Manifold so I can use the Omni sensor.

[SPIN2GST]

My initial thoughts of the Vi-PEC Plug In ECU. I have now had this unit installed in my car for 3 full days and honestly couldn’t be happier. This ECU meets and exceeds my expectations on what a standalone ECU should be from a performance, drivability, cost and ease of use standpoint.

I had recently gone back to the stock ecu from the AEM after I decided to tone the car down a bit. I was happy with the drivability but couldn’t get rid of the horrible throttle hang it had. Also due to the large cams the car would stall at the most inconvenient times mostly when I was in stop and go traffic, stop signs or pulling in and out of my garage. I contribute most of the problems to being a MAF based system. When it came down to it I was just unhappy on how my car ran but sucked it up and lived with it. A week or two later I get the word from David about the Vi-PEC unit and how happy Dan was with it installed in his “beater” and how smooth the car ran. From that point I wanted to give this unit a shot on my car.

As David has mentioned the installation is quite simple. Wire in the AIT and MAP sensor, remove your stock ECU board and replace it with the Vi-PEC board, plug in the supplied USB cable to your laptop, load the base map and start the car. Installition should take no longer than an hour.

Each morning the car fires right up without any throttle input and the cranking time is just as quick as stock. This morning it was snowing and 20*. Hit the key and the car fired instantly. Idled at 1500rpm until the car was warm and then fell to the desired idle which is set at 1100rpm. There’s a pretty nifty feature when you turn the key to the on position. The tach needle will sweep up to 7,000rpm and back to zero much like the Subaru factory gauges. The parameter is fully customizable to whatever rpm you want the needled to sweep to.

Drivability is fantastic, very smooth with the large BF272 cams. I drive the car in a good amount of stop and go traffic each day and there is no hint of jerking at low speed. I have no problem lugging this car around town in forth gear at 1800 rpm….something I could never do with the AEM without constantly clutching in. Pulling in and out of parking spots and other low speed maneuvers there is no hesitation, stalling, or sputtering. The idle is rock solid when you turn the a/c on or turn the steering wheel lock to lock. Honestly this is how a modified EVO should run in my opinion.

The Vi-PEC comes with a feature called Quick Tune. While you are connected to the ecu via laptop you are able to select Quick Tune from the tuning drop down box. The ECU will add and subtract fuel to meet the desired afr in each load cell. There are plenty of settings to customize this feature to your specific liking, such as how long you need to hold the target box in the correct load cell to be tuned. Once you have everything set up, go drive the car and quickly watch the cells change. All you have to do after that is smooth the map out and you’re done.

I couldn’t be happier with this ECU. So far it has been everything I have expected. I will be heading back to Buschur’s this week to have David take a look at the fuel map and make sure everything is to his liking. I will be driving this car through the rough Ohio winter which should reveal anything unfavorable in this unit. I plan on updating this review periodically. Thanks again David for your time and knowledge. I am very impressed with Vi-PEC and honestly wish we knew about it years ago.

Thanks for reading,

Eric

[mikec]

Nice review Eric. You car is a true NO EXCUSES bad ass, scary fast, street car. Keep us updated on how your winter adventure goes.

Mike

[David Buschur]

HI MIKE!!! My brotha from anotha motha! Nice to see you here and Happy Thanksgiving to you and Eric, both of you sent me nice texts, thank you both.

Thanks for the review Eric. I'm really glad to hear you are happy with the car again. I'm looking forward to finishing the car this week now that the wideband is working correctly. I'll see you this week!