Lets talk about safety.
In the ECU there are essentially two sets of configurations for fuel delivery and ignition timing. One configuration is used when everything checks out OK. There is also a safety configuration that lowers ignition timing and delivers more fuel in an attempt to protect the engine if an error is detected with a sensor or excessive detonation is experienced.The ECU also has what is called 'safety boost'. This is a mode in which the ECU will lower boost to 7psi in an attempt to protect the engine further. This is another function of the safety mode. If you are running a boost controller, the lowering of the boost is eliminated because the stock boost control solenoids are cut out of the loop. However, the safety configurations in the ECU are retained. Now, the point I am getting at: In EVERY aftermarket ECU upgrade I have laid my hands on (DINAN, JWT, Superchips), the safety configuration is identical to the normal configuration. What this means is when your ECU detects something wrong and switches to this safety configuration, it is not changing anything. If you are using boost jets to raise your boost, your boost will drop to 7psi, BUT if you have a boost controller it will not. You will have no indication that something is wrong. Now where my program is superior in this department (it is also superior in other departments as well) is that my safety configurations retard timing by several degrees and deliver more fuel - the same theory as used in the stock ECU configuration. So, if you have a boost controller and something is detected, the car will have notably less power and this is a good indicator that something isn't right. Checking codes would reveal the problem. In addition to this, there is also a fuel delivery configuration for running in 5th gear. Since 5th gear is such a tall gear and it is expected that if you are running at wide open throttle the engine will be pulling for a good long while. Delivering additional fuel in the high load region of this 5th gear fuel map ensures that any long WOT pulls do not induce detonation due to heatsoak. Everyone else's 5th gear fuel maps are the same as the 1st-4th gear mapping. My programs develop a bit more power than JWT's simply because they were overly conservative on their primary 'normal configuration' mapping. I believe they did this because they were unaware of these 'safety maps'. By taking advantage of these safety mappings I can run a little more agressive timing and fuel delivery to make a marginally noticeable increase in performance, but raise the bar significantly in the safety department as well. Safer, better.
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16:32:07 05/20/03
