Hey

I wanted to buy a apexi power fc for my car but I cant find a tuner in new zeland for it so i got told by the same shop to put in a HKS I.S piggyback ecu. I dont no much about tuning but what i have read about piggyback ecu's has made me think that they are not very good.
Is the HKS piggyback a good choice or should i get a stand alone ecu? Any background info on piggyback ecu's is much appreciated as Google didnt help me much...

EDIT# My goal is only 250hp at all four wheels# with stock motor, mods will be
3' exhaust, spark plugs and leads, fuel pump and pod filter.


Thanks for any help

This post has been edited by beno: Jan 25, 2007 - 8:29 PM

talk to presure2....hes the man you wanna link up with. From what i understand, piggy backs make more sense if you're not a mad scientist. they allow you to tweak and modify your current ecu maps and other other madness. A standalone now...from what i hear, you can do pretty much what you want, but it takes time and knowledge.

it seems as if greddy emanage ultimate is really close to the stuff a standalone can do...at a good price. But like i said, talk to pressure or lagos...they might be able to help you choose your poison.

Thanks ill have a look into that greddy ecu because i want a decent piggyback if thats the way im going to go

im not a fan of the powerFC. it has no knock response built in, and thats a really bad thing.

to get 300hp, down to all 4 wheels, youll probably need to upgrade to a bigger turbo. id start looking into that first, and then decide if you need a piggy back or a full stand alone. since you already have stock 550 injectors, you might just need to make a few minor corrections. if thats the case, a simple piggy back with do the job just fine.

with a piggy back does it use the knock response of the toyota ecu? will that then mean that the car will use the stock ecu's 'safe mode' if the car starts knocking?

Doesnt Magic have 320hp at 4 wheels with a stock turbo?

yes, with a piggy back you get to keep all the stock safety features.

i highly doubt magic is making that much power on a stock ct20b. hopefully he will stop in here and tell us about his setup.

i was going to ask the same question. im not getting any knock but im wanting maybe 50-60 more hp so a bigger turbo would be best? in my case what size would you go with after having a ct20b lagos? sorry to threadjack.

easternpiro1, its all good im interested in what turbo people recommend to since we have the same goal in mind

I just got told by a car tuner that he hasnt seen a piggyback ecu work properly and recommended that i use a standalone. Hes only doing the tuning, im supplying my own ecu, so its not as though hes just saying that to get me to buy his product.

yes a stand alone ecu is aways the better way to go. you should look into what AEM has to offer.

but it all really depends on just how much tuning needs to be done. minor adjustments can be made with a piggy back, while major ones should be done with a stand alone.