Mines Vx-rom

[zentac]

Anyone considered an ECU upgrade to a Mines VX-ROM (http://www.mines-wave.com/products2003/electronics/cpu/cpu-mitsubishi.html) or any other ECU ?

[Andre]

ye my friend orverhere in barbados has a galant vr4 and put in a mines computer it did wonders for his car . I t rasied the boost to 13.5 pounds, it ajusted the full curve ,it took awya the speed limit, it allowed the car to rev 500 more rpm's about the rev limit, and soem other stuff it is reall good but real expensive

[borgan]

I have seriously been considering a gems ecu. Huge gains are being made by Evo's using this. Although a VR4 hasn't been done yet, there is a large amount of support over here & in the states. You can adjust the maps yourself if you want to, though it's best to get the initial mapping done by a pro. On a turbo'd jap car this is one of the best mods you can do as the factory ecu's are mapped to run very rich using the fuel as a cooling agent to avoid detonation. A correctly mapped car will see more power as well as better economy due to a more efficient air/fuel ratio. If Gems have difficulty finding a similar setup to the VR4 meaning extra dev. costs i will opt for a Unichip. The unichip has had mixed reviews on these forums.Although not in the same class as a gems, I think it's down to the tuner. Owen Developments near Oxford are rated amongst the best unichip dealers in the country & the fact that they are not booking till next year would confirm this.

[zedy1]

thissounds interesting, whats the cost?

[borgan]

The gems probably around £1500 including the mapping - not confirmed. The Unichip is 650 + vat including mapping and their equivalent of the hks fcd. Unichip allows control of water inj. to control heat levels as well as mapping for nos INSERT INTO post VALUES (probably of interest to yourself)

[Nick VR4]

Chris at Funky Products has posted about ECU's in the sale forum :)

[Spirit]

Originally posted by borgan
The gems probably around £1500 including the mapping - not confirmed. The Unichip is 650 + vat including mapping and their equivalent of the hks fcd. Unichip allows control of water inj. to control heat levels as well as mapping for nos INSERT INTO post VALUES (probably of interest to yourself)

Could be my next step if I get a decent bonus this quarter :Ponder:

[Spirit]

Hyper Sports also list a Blitz ECU:

http://www.hypersr.com/blitz_access.jpg

Looks like retail is £611 - have sent an email to Blitz UK to confirm it's correct

[zedy1]

im think we need a link for all the mods we can do to these cars and where to get bits

[BraindG]

im planning a motec one early next year...

[Spirit]

Had a reply from Hyper Sports regarding the Blitz ECU as follows:

"the Blitz Access ECU is available at £769 + VAT. It's a special order from Japan and delivery will take approx 4-6 weeks, I'll need a 50% deposit at time of ordering."

[pauly]

i have the "mines" ECU , i couldn't happier, what a score....this is what they sent me back when i sent in the barcode... i used google translate for japanese so they would respond, i tryed a few emails in english with no repsonse..


Fuel mapping and ignition timing optimized.
Speed limiter cut
Rev limit +300 from stock
Boost control is also set in the ECU at 16psi

Also be advised that VX-ROMs are set to run on 100 Ron octane rated fuel.

[Wobble]

thread form the dead alert

[Davezj]

That was my thought.
Could this be the oldest thread revival in the history of cvr4.

[Davezj]

i have the "mines" ECU , i couldn't happier, what a score....this is what they sent me back when i sent in the barcode... i used google translate for japanese so they would respond, i tryed a few emails in english with no repsonse..


Fuel mapping and ignition timing optimized.
Speed limiter cut
Rev limit +300 from stock
Boost control is also set in the ECU at 16psi

Also be advised that VX-ROMs are set to run on 100 Ron octane rated fuel.

I am assuming this is a relatively new car to you. Just bought it I mean.
With 16psi boost the optimisation of the fuel and ignition maps really need to be correct as I would expect you to get considerable knock. I assume there are other modification to the car and not only ecu.
Quite often when a car is sold the required mods that back up the ecu mod are removed and sold separately to make more money.
This is just a word of warning before you go booting everywhere with a big smile on you face.

If you have not done this already I would suggest getting evoscan hooked up and do a couple of logged runs and monitor the knock sum to check it is not an issue.
Always good to play on the safe side.

[lateshow]

i've posted the mine's mapping here somewhere. It is VERY agressive. However if you dont have a boost controller you wont get to the best part of the boost :D But lots of knock since ignition has 3 steps more from load 160 onwards. Wouldnt recommend it.

[pauly]

i have had my car for 2 years problem free..well i thought it was running at optimal untill 5 things failed at the same time......to be honest ive never even bothered to look to see what ecu i have, it was only of late when i started really getting issues with the car, i guess i got a little slack (proper servicing) and paid the price...A mate did a reasonable service, such as full oil flush/new filter..spark plugs..got injectors/rail/fuel reg cleaned , i have HKS turbo timer/hdi boost controller/gauge and upgrade RAD and intercooler/zaust and some piping...it wasn't till he stuck hes head under near the peddles that he noticed the "mines" ecu stickers....the car since the service has never run better....ive hardly found many threads regarding this ecu....hence the question......

[pauly]

I am assuming this is a relatively new car to you. Just bought it I mean.
With 16psi boost the optimisation of the fuel and ignition maps really need to be correct as I would expect you to get considerable knock. I assume there are other modification to the car and not only ecu.
Quite often when a car is sold the required mods that back up the ecu mod are removed and sold separately to make more money.
This is just a word of warning before you go booting everywhere with a big smile on you face.

If you have not done this already I would suggest getting evoscan hooked up and do a couple of logged runs and monitor the knock sum to check it is not an issue.
Always good to play on the safe side.

i have had my car for 2 years problem free..well i thought it was running at optimal untill 5 things failed at the same time......to be honest ive never even bothered to look to see what ecu i have, it was only of late when i started really getting issues with the car, i guess i got a little slack and paid the price...A mate did a reasonable service, such as full oil flush/new filter..spark plugs..got injectors/rail/fuel reg cleaned , i have HKS turbo timer/hdi boost controller/gauge and upgrade RAD and intercooler/zaust and some piping...it wasn't till he stuck hes head under near the peddles that he noticed the "mines" ecu stickers....the car since the service has never run better....ive hardly found many threads regarding this ecu....hence the question......

[gaz]

ive run my car with a mines ecu for 18 months with no problems at all, infact its been the best thing i have bought for my legnum you will need a boost controller though and run on super unleaded.i think theres someone else on here who has one in new zealand and his car is the fastest over 1/4 mile on standard turbos. there is also a video on you tube with a galant vr4 with a mines and that does 0 160kph in around 11 seconds not many vr4 will get near that without one its a top piece of kit

[pauly]

ooops ignore this post..

[pauly]

ive run my car with a mines ecu for 18 months with no problems at all, infact its been the best thing i have bought for my legnum you will need a boost controller though and run on super unleaded.i think theres someone else on here who has one in new zealand and his car is the fastest over 1/4 mile on standard turbos. there is also a video on you tube with a galant vr4 with a mines and that does 0 160kph in around 11 seconds not many vr4 will get near that without one its a top piece of kit

i have the HDi boost controller...and as far as fuel goes, the best fuel we get here in Australia is 98 octane, i was tuned to 100, lucky because in Japan they have up to 110 octane..

[Oblivion]

I've also got a Mine's ECU and although I dont drive on max boost all the time I've always serviced it regularly and always used high octane fuel. After about 6 years - still zero problems with it. You might get slightly better power with a custom tune specific to your setup but Im still getting great performance considering all the kms on the engine/ turbos so Id still highly recommend this as a plug and play option.

[lateshow]

Well, i can just say that engignes can take lots of knock without dying then! Since i can recall that mines rom gave us something like 15-20 knock counts. :) We must have durable engines then :) To remind you all, it has +3 on ignition from load 140 upwards.

[gaz]

probably just your car mate mine doesnt knock and i have been monitoring it for over 12 months

[elnevio]

probably just your car mate mine doesnt knock and i have been monitoring it for over 12 months

What with?

[gaz]

techtom ign timing

[Davezj]

my original comment was meant a word of warning to what looked like a new member, as it turns out he is quite happy with how his car runs. which is nice.

i just would not have wanted him to damage his engine, with knock.
i have nothing against mines ecu it sound like they are setup quite well.
To be able to run high boost and not knock with only the ecu and boost control being upgraded. that is a good result.

[Davezj]

just out of interest is this Mines ecu a complete replacement ecu or just a reflash of you original ECU with a different rom file?

[wintertidenz]

Reflash of the original ECU.

[CANDEE]

I though that they were a daughter board over the top of the factory chip? I think this was for both facelift and pre..

[wintertidenz]

No, these were reflashes from what I've read up about - there's no spot for a daughterboard.

The 6 and 7th gens have the daughterboard IIRC.

[CANDEE]

Tinteresting, wonder if i can unseal and reseal a couple that are hiding.... :P

[lateshow]

probably just your car mate mine doesnt knock and i have been monitoring it for over 12 months


I have personally tuned many vr4:s here in Finland. And yes a vr4 cannot take that much advance without knock. Or then your fuel is just much better :) So it isnt just my car, all the cars ive seen here are very sensitive to that and the result is around 320bhp with everything right.

[foxdie]

Anyone got a copy of the MINES ROM so we can see exactly how far they pushed / abused it?

That said, they must have put in some serious R&D with desoldering of the CPU to reprogram it (presuming they didn't use the 7201 with external flash), so they must have known what they were doing. I'm always up for learning so if anyone has a copy of one of their ROMs I'd be curious to see what they did.

[GalantOnly]

Anyone got a copy of the MINES ROM so we can see exactly how far they pushed / abused it?

here we go...

[foxdie]

Fantastic, thanks Alex, given you some rep :)

[foxdie]

i have the "mines" ECU , i couldn't happier, what a score....this is what they sent me back when i sent in the barcode... i used google translate for japanese so they would respond, i tryed a few emails in english with no repsonse..


Fuel mapping and ignition timing optimized.
Speed limiter cut
Rev limit +300 from stock
Boost control is also set in the ECU at 16psi

Also be advised that VX-ROMs are set to run on 100 Ron octane rated fuel.

Okay to clarify;

* Speed limiter is indeed removed (or rather its set to 510 KPH, I'd be terrified if the car went that fast, haha!)
* Runs slightly leaner above load 140 and engine speed above 5000 RPM
* Generally runs 4~5 degrees more timing across the board for better economy, 5-6 in torque areas, around 3 in the power areas
* Rev limiter of 7653 RPM vs the stock 7296 RPM (so loosely an extra 350 RPM)
* Boost (fuel) cut load limiter set to 220% up from the stock 170-180% (so it's upped from roughly the 0.9-1.0 bar region to roughly 1.2-1.3 bar region)
* Target engine load of 103% across the board vs the stock sliding 89%-110%-80% default scale
* Target wastegate duty cycle of 82.5% across the board vs the stock 49%-34%-67%-30% scale
* Slightly more tolerant of knocking

This reaffirms what MINES have told pauly, it'll be slightly better on economy for cruising, boost will be raised to around the 1.0-1.1 bar region with a fair bit more lower down torque and a reasonable power increase probably in the region of about 310 HP. It's definitely mapped for higher octane fuel, that's for sure and will knock like a bitch on our 95 RON, 98 RON is an absolute minimum. I'd be very worried running that tune on an ageing stock fuel pump too, it's tempting fate.

[peter thomson]

I don't think all mines ecu's will be the same as I know of one with a limit above 1.2

[lateshow]

You can actually easily drive with a load limit of 220 cause you rarely get over 220 over a period of one second (thats when it really does the fuelcut) The boost may spike a bit but then go back to around 1 bar.

[Davezj]

i can't unzip the rom file it says access denied
do i need a password to unzip it.


sorry my fault i tried extractive it directly to my ecuflash directory which yo can't do.

all sorted now

[foxdie]

Nope, no password, sounds like a corrupt download, try again :)

If you have problems, I'll stick it on my Dropbox for you.

[wintertidenz]

I think that Mines would have externally flashed them, or had information from Mitsi to flash them. In saying that, all the photos of the Mines ECU's I've seen have had some kind of resin across the flash chip and microprocessor.

Alex - is that image from a 7202/7203, or a 7201? Would be nice to see the differences between the ECUs with the Mines tuning.

I'm suspecting that the mods required for this Mines tune would be a performance filter, exhaust (cat-back) and larger FMIC? Oh and fuel pump.

[GalantOnly]

It's 7202/7203

[Adam.Findlay]

what def files do you need to veiw/flash the mines rom?

[pauly]

Okay to clarify;

* Speed limiter is indeed removed (or rather its set to 510 KPH, I'd be terrified if the car went that fast, haha!)
* Runs slightly leaner above load 140 and engine speed above 5000 RPM
* Generally runs 4~5 degrees more timing across the board for better economy, 5-6 in torque areas, around 3 in the power areas
* Rev limiter of 7653 RPM vs the stock 7296 RPM (so loosely an extra 350 RPM)
* Boost (fuel) cut load limiter set to 220% up from the stock 170-180% (so it's upped from roughly the 0.9-1.0 bar region to roughly 1.2-1.3 bar region)
* Target engine load of 103% across the board vs the stock sliding 89%-110%-80% default scale
* Target wastegate duty cycle of 82.5% across the board vs the stock 49%-34%-67%-30% scale
* Slightly more tolerant of knocking

This reaffirms what MINES have told pauly, it'll be slightly better on economy for cruising, boost will be raised to around the 1.0-1.1 bar region with a fair bit more lower down torque and a reasonable power increase probably in the region of about 310 HP. It's definitely mapped for higher octane fuel, that's for sure and will knock like a bitch on our 95 RON, 98 RON is an absolute minimum. I'd be very worried running that tune on an ageing stock fuel pump too, it's tempting fate.

thanks for making that more clear..

getting a new fuel pump was on my post it note of "to do,s"

i was pretty happy to get any sort of response from MINES...and happy with the result of the email , thanks to google translate (japanese)....since some upgrades and decent service its never run better ..

and BP 98 octane seems to be working really well..

[SmartBOOST]

what def files do you need to veiw/flash the mines rom?

+1 need a def files.

[foxdie]

I had no problem opening it with the defs from EvoScan.com, here's a link to all the defs I have;

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/36481366/ECU/galant-defs.zip

[wintertidenz]

Is there any way to find out what mods were required for that ROM, and modify it slightly to knock less? Thinking of either this or the KSMods for my car, mainly want economy tune though.

[foxdie]

If you just want the economy tune, take the timings between 0-80 load and 0-4000 RPM :)

For the power, given it's such an aggressive tune I'd be looking at a full service including injectors cleaned, fuel pump / pressure regulator, much larger intercooler, free flowing 3" exhaust, performance panel filter and if possible a dedicated cold air feed straight into the airbox. And if possible, meth / water injection.