how much tuning before ecu needed

ok so ive done a search on tuning the 4age,both here and toyota owners club,and i dont feel ive got much useful info as far as the ecu goes

i want to play around with the standard engine in my car while i consider future engine swaps

ive got new leads and plugs,cambelt and waterpump changed,apexi filter intake cleaned
might get one of those obx exhausts and manifolds(wrapped) as mine is knackered and i dont want to pay 500 pounds for a buddy club back section,prices on exhausts are silly over here!!,decat pipe is ready to go on.
alloy alternator and water pump pullies have been ordered,viscous fan is coming off for an electric one,engine has 136km under its belt

will the above mods free up much power or do i really have to get cams before it livens up?

at what point on the std 4a does the ecu need replacing?

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 2:55 am Post subject:

koh I think no one can answer that. I have 133 hp on the wheels. So I assume around 150 at the crank and I am now at the point where I need a diffrent ecu.

The standard ECU is pretty good as long as all the standard parts stay intact. (intake etc)

With cams you can gain alot. But when you want to go all the way you need to start with the basics.

head work and lower block. Than you can do anything

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 3:11 am Post subject:

The Apexi filter should help. I put on the filter and intake kit, and
noticed that it pulled harder and smoother at higher revs. But I once
put on a cheap generic tubular exhaust "header" and found it made no
difference. Since then I have changed back to the factory cast iron
header, and it works fine.

Lightweight pulleys and flywheel don't make any power, but they will
improve the response of the engine to the throttle Smile

Cams up to around 260 deg and 8 mm lift will drop in without any
other modifications. They give a nice lift in power with only a small loss
in idle quality. Depending on the grind, exhaust size etc, you may lose
some low rpm performance, while gaining mid and high rpm power.

An aftermarket ECU can give you a modest performance increase on
even a stock engine. Best results will come after you free up the
breathing, raise the compression and feed in some more fuel Very Happy

When you have full control over fuel and timing, you can tune to take
advantage of your mods. Factor in some quad throttles, and you have
the makings of a serious fun machine. I'm working towards this right
now Smile

Cheers... jondee86

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:49 am Post subject:

im not sure i want to go as far as itb with this engine,the furthest i want to go is taking the head off to increase compression slightly and change the cams

had more of a read through ecu info on here and it seems the standard one is very good,so it looks like its not worth doing in my application

also obx,its a 4 into 1 header,perhaps thats why it doesnt give much gain,perhaps i will just replace everything from cat backwards and wrap the stock header,the dizzy is very close to it

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:34 am Post subject:

interesting thread - had the head done recently, along with 256 cams & cam pulleys. Header is stock, cat stil in and a HKS cat-back exhaust. Stock headgasket.

at first it felt like it actually had less power in high revs, but more torque in the midrange - now after running it in properly on the ring it runs better than before in the high rev's as well. But it should make more power I feel...
didn't put it on the rollers yet, though.

robokill, what modifications made you end up with 133 at the wheels?

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 12:41 pm Post subject: In search of the sweet spot :))

Yes, I have 255 intake/250 exhaust cams, and the difference from
stock is not huge. On my smallport engine with standard compression
it pulls harder from about 3000 rpm all the way to redline, with what
feels like a fairly flat torque curve.

I'm still playing around with the cam timing, to see what works best,
before I put it on the dyno. When I tried the cams at 110/110 lobe
centres, they felt no better than stock. Now I have them at 102/114
and I can definitely feel the difference Smile

And the stock ECU is working fine. I have it idling at 800 rpm with
15 deg base ignition timing.

Cheers... jondee86

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 2:10 pm Post subject:

try this one for lots of time hogging:

http://www.billzilla.org/4agmods.htm

Cool

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:47 pm Post subject:

thats a great page with a lot of good info cavey,thanks

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:09 am Post subject:

np, i've read on this board that everybody that stumbles on billzilla's site, will lose a couple of hours just by reading all his info Shocked

I know I did Blonde question

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: