Full Standalone for less than a grand.
01-02-2007, 11:10 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 545
Well after much delibrating and dragging my feet. I have decided to take my car apart again. I found the how to that Banzai Racing did on putting in a FD power FC into a S-5 turbo car. It sounded pretty easy and fortunately I am pretty well versed on the engine harness to help along the project.
So I took my car out for its final drive on Sunday to west seattle to pick up some coil packs. Decided on the way home I would take it apart on the 1st, kinda like a new years resolution. The reasons I am going with a pfc is 1. cost; and 2. it seems to be the only stand alone that can be tuned successfully in this area. By that I mean Ralph at ground zero.
So the cost aspect is this, New pfc is $690 plus $40 shipping from JapPartsSpecialist.com, yes that includes the commander. Since I didn't have a FD map sensor, I will be subsituting a GM 3bar and I also bought the factory pig tail for it as well $106.08 from GMPartsDirect.com. Third item is a FD intake air temp sensor to replace the FC one, I bought that from Neil at Pinnacle Mazda with our club discount for $59.14. I sourced the pig tail for that off of a Mazda MPV at pick a part, cost $2.16. The only exception to my list is I bought my pfc, commander, and datalogit from a local member for $750. So I spent ten dollars more, but I also netted the datalogit. My total cost for parts is $917.38. With a little internet searching I am positive you could save quite a bit more by buying used parts.
Parts for less than a grand, yes. Will it run, stay tuned,?
So I took my car out for its final drive on Sunday to west seattle to pick up some coil packs. Decided on the way home I would take it apart on the 1st, kinda like a new years resolution. The reasons I am going with a pfc is 1. cost; and 2. it seems to be the only stand alone that can be tuned successfully in this area. By that I mean Ralph at ground zero.
So the cost aspect is this, New pfc is $690 plus $40 shipping from JapPartsSpecialist.com, yes that includes the commander. Since I didn't have a FD map sensor, I will be subsituting a GM 3bar and I also bought the factory pig tail for it as well $106.08 from GMPartsDirect.com. Third item is a FD intake air temp sensor to replace the FC one, I bought that from Neil at Pinnacle Mazda with our club discount for $59.14. I sourced the pig tail for that off of a Mazda MPV at pick a part, cost $2.16. The only exception to my list is I bought my pfc, commander, and datalogit from a local member for $750. So I spent ten dollars more, but I also netted the datalogit. My total cost for parts is $917.38. With a little internet searching I am positive you could save quite a bit more by buying used parts.
Parts for less than a grand, yes. Will it run, stay tuned,?
01-04-2007, 12:11 AM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,114
keep me tuned Chris, I am interested in how this will turn out. From what I understand Ralph is the top for the PFC and I also intend to take my microtech down to him.
Standalone is stupid expensive. 1k is a good deal IMO. I have 1300 into the microtech and all the goodies included.
Just remember that tuning is going to cost money too... haha just kidding.
David
Standalone is stupid expensive. 1k is a good deal IMO. I have 1300 into the microtech and all the goodies included.
Just remember that tuning is going to cost money too... haha just kidding.
David
01-04-2007, 12:25 AM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 545
Yea I know, that doesn't include the tuning which is the wildcard. The cool thing about the pfc is it is literally plug, play, and drive. They come loaded with a map for the basic bolt on mods.
Thursday, is the moment of truth, everything is wired up and pulled over too the ecu. I had to extend one of the harnesses about two feet. The pfc is going to be mounted over in the passenger foot well, more like a factory install. I put in about five hours today after work, but only about one more hour to go.
Thursday, is the moment of truth, everything is wired up and pulled over too the ecu. I had to extend one of the harnesses about two feet. The pfc is going to be mounted over in the passenger foot well, more like a factory install. I put in about five hours today after work, but only about one more hour to go.
01-04-2007, 09:26 PM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 519
hopefully one of the maps should be pretty close for you. The FDs had larger porting but you also only have a single turbo with some work and also a ported wastegate. You also have a nice exhaust setup and FMIC so hopefully you wont need much time on the dyno, although with the money you saved with the setup I guess you would be fine if you needed some extra time on the dyno.
One thing I was wondering about the PFC is if it does away with the MAF and instead just does adjustments based on MAP and/or TPS. Most other standalones do away with the MAF because you can get more accurate readings from the MAP or TPS... Of course anyone that has had to deal with a Mazda TPS knows they are a piece of ****. I want to sit down sometime and figure out a simple way to mod a regular GM or Ford TPS to replace the Mazda one. Anyone that has seen CodeBlue's TPS setup knows exactly what I am talking about (props to Corksport on that setup).
One thing I was wondering about the PFC is if it does away with the MAF and instead just does adjustments based on MAP and/or TPS. Most other standalones do away with the MAF because you can get more accurate readings from the MAP or TPS... Of course anyone that has had to deal with a Mazda TPS knows they are a piece of ****. I want to sit down sometime and figure out a simple way to mod a regular GM or Ford TPS to replace the Mazda one. Anyone that has seen CodeBlue's TPS setup knows exactly what I am talking about (props to Corksport on that setup).
