Hey all! Might be a waste or a shot in the dark, but I wonder if anyone is selling an ECUTEK ProEcu kit or whatever. I understand I'd have to get the car probably locally professionally tuned with a license, but I'm still curious if I can snag a used kit from anyone to help cut tuning costs.... cuz a phone call with a local G37/370z tuner shop with the EcuTek purchase etc I want to say was into the four-digit range... and that's insane lol. My last "tuneable fun car" was a Ford Focus ST. Just like my WRX before that, a simple $500 Cobb Accessport took care of most tuning needs. At least until you started getting into more custom mods. Anyway, hope to hear from someone!

My hope/fear/concern is that the used EcuTek would be like, "un-married" or divorced from the original car and therefore able to work with a new car i.e. mine? Not sure how it all works. Just recycling terms from my past lol.

Thanks!

PS: I only put the $1 price because I didn't know what else to put there!

 

I have a standard cable and dongle. I did update it a year ago. It shows 0 license once you download the software. Your tuner adds the license.
This one..... https://86speed.com/ecutek-proecu-programming-kit

 

So the license to tune the ROM is $300-$400, you can't avoid this.
Tuner time - $300-$600
Physical equipment - $10-$400

The only place you can save is on used equipment and tuner time depending.

Your best bet is to find someone who's going back to stock that will have the cable and the license on the cable as well. Being that you're looking for Ecutek means that it will be hard to find this since I believe the same unit to tune the BRZ will work in any other car vs Uprev would be nissans only.

ECUTEK tunes are costly and worth the money if top performance is what you want but expect to pay for it.

 

All of this right here.

Potentially, you could save (some) money by getting your kit, license and service all through the same purchase. Not a fortune, though. When your tuning project is done, you might save the same as if you bought a used kit.

Also, if you're remote tuning, get yourself the blue tooth kit.

 

Thank you all. Looks like I got too excited thinking I could save a few pennies here by buying a used EcuTek setup.

Guess tuning our cars turns out to be way more money and headache than the same kind of tuning setup on any number of other cars. Heck, with a BMW you can download an app to your phone and all you need to do is purchase the dongle/cable and you're up and running. On Fords and Subarus, you can grab a Cobb Accessport that comes preloaded with many basic OTS maps i.e. "Stage" 1, 2, 3 type maps for the most common upgrades i.e. intake, exhaust etc. Pretty sure the Cobb AP sits around $500 give or take and you can always grab someone's used one for considerably less than brand new. Unless things have changed in the Subaru/Mitsubishi community, back when I had my 05 WRX, you had so many options for tuning it was overwhelming lol. I used a free opensource program, I think it was RomRaider. All you had to do was buy a $160 Tactrix Openport 2.0 cable or whatever. Maps galore are available for free all over the respective forums.

Oh well, I'm nobody and we're not gonna be changing anything about our predicament anytime soon if ever at all. Short of learning how all that technology works and inventing your own hardware/software combo for tuning, I guess I'm stuck with the rest of you... having to cough up $1800+ to get a simple, basic tune on a mostly-stock car (have exhaust upgrades only at this point) just sucks/blows and doesn't seem worth the money i.e. bang-for-your-buck at all. Then again, I really need a tune something fierce because since I've swapped my OEM cats out to test pipes, my check engine light will never go away until I get a tune...

Sigh.

 

Your math is all wrong. Even if you go bluetooth and new, and you pay the most possible for a license, and you pay the highest imaginable price for an in-house dyno tune, you're still no where near $1800. Where'd you get that number?

Low end, you can do this project for $900 total for used equipment and a reasonably priced remote tune. High end, maybe $1300 if you're not shy about spending money, and that's only if you don't do your homework.

BigSpoon, take your time with this project. Step back and research and plan accordingly.

 

Sorry, I got the $1800 figure from a local reputable tuner who gave me a quote over the phone. I might be remember it wrong and it was closer to $1400. Still, that's insane for basic, simple tune. Not like I'm turbocharged or running anything crazy custom and in need of hours and hours of dialed-in custom pro-tuning on a dyno or the street.

I do see this as maybe an option from Z1: G37 EcuTek Performance Tuning Package ....?

$750 for that entire setup is still a little steep compared to other cars I mentioned previously... However could be a good deal. At least for a standard NA simple tune, for now. Maybe later when I have more goodies installed, I'll spend the $$$$ for an expert tune locally.

Where did you get the $900 low end figure?

 

$900ish is doable with a used Ecutek unit.

I got my Bluetooth Ecutek unit for $150
Last time I looked Admin had the license $300(you can buy the license from anyone, even if you don’t tune with them. SpecialityZ charges $350).
Remote tune $400

If you buy everything as a package it’s right around $1,150 + taxes from Seb IIRC.

Unfortunately there aren’t any cost effective options for this platform.

The only one I could call a budget deal is from Rob at Zcargarage in San Jose, ca.
$600 for a uprev dyno tune, but you don’t get any hardware to take home.

 

Thanks man. Yeah it's too bad we happen to have a platform that has great aftermarket options and upgrades available from many reputable companies that offer tried-and-true-tested products.... but happens to cost an arm and a leg for basic, simple ECU tuning options.

I might pull the trigger on that EcuTek kit from Z1. From what I can make out on the product page, it includes the license, hardware, and a basic standard NA off-the-shelf-canned tune all for $750. That's a steal when we were just talking about options that cost 2x that price lol

 

Getting remote tuned was my big project last year. Here's the wrap-up on that:

https://www.myg37.com/forums/ecu-tun...ml#post4295453

Used EcuTek kit (wired, no bluetooth) from a FS thread here on the forum.
+ License through AdminTuning
+ Remote tuning through Eugene Turkov
+ (and misc stuff)
= $965 + many hours, much gas and lots of anxiety


Sweet! Big savings there.

 

I think Rochester or Bull mentioned it, but my vote is to find a local Z/G shop, if possible, and bundle other services with your tuning - that's how I was able to get a decent price for it. Although I did not keep the hardware so I'm locked into this shop (soho in CLT) when I need a re-tune / update.

 

Oh awesome man thanks for the breakdown and explanation. I'll go check your thread too

When you say bundle other services... like, ask the shop to also do an oil change? Lol

I found a local shop! Ironically I used to know the main tuner at this place YEARS ago. I'm talking like back in 2010 when I had my WRX tuned by them. But they changed their name and location so I had no idea until I looked at their pictures. And their tuner is pretty famous locally for his tuning on all kinds of stuff from Subarus and Mistubishi but they're also huge into Nissan/Infiniti stuff i.e. GTRs, Silvia, RB engine swaps, 370Zs you name it... So I asked about EcuTek through them and this is their reply:
I guess I still don't understand the licensing / dongle situation. I mean, I understand their function/purpose. I just don't want to pay TWICE for something on accident if I don't have to if that makes any sense. What I mean is like you see they're quoting me $1300 and making it sound like that's a good deal because they have some kind of in-shop-dongle? But as I posted previously, there's that kit Z1 sells for $750. So if I purchased that setup through Z1 and then later wanted to take it to a local shop for a full custom dyno tune, would I need to purchase ANOTHER license ON TOP of whatever the shop charges for the tuning itself?

Lastly, are there any pros/cons between the two different kits available for our cars? I mean, it looks like they both do the exact same thing, but one of them has the long cable attached to the OBD2 plug end while the other one is just the OBD2 dongle by itself and apparently connects to your phone via Bluetooth and that's all you need?

 

If you're doing your own data logging, the blue tooth connector to your phone would be infinitely better than the wired cable to a laptop. Using a laptop and a wired cable for data logging is a royal PITA. Keep in mind, you still need the USB Key, a laptop (and USB cable to your blue tooth connector) to use the ProECU software with a valid license applied, so you can upload new maps to your ECU. But it's not like you're driving around while that's happening. However, if you're having a shop do your tune for you, and never plan on data logging, then you simply don't need the more expensive blue tooth setup. There's no point to it, unless like I said you're data logging to your phone.

When they say "shop dongle" what they mean is they use their own cable (dongle), and all you have to buy is the USB key and the license. The only catch is that any time you need to use ProECU, you have to go back to their shop and use that same cable. It's a savings to you, but based on that quote, it doesn't sound like they're passing that savings on. I don't know. The problem (or retail benefit ) of a multi-component paradigm in parts and service is that things get easily obfuscated.

Assuming you go with them and use their "shop cable", well, you can do the math... they're asking big money for just the dyno-tune itself. But hey if that's what they're asking, then that's their ask. No one has a gun to your head. About three years ago I had a reputable local shop quote me $700 for an EcuTek license and an in-house dyno-tune using their "shop cable". FWIW

OP, I strongly urge you to step back, take a deep breath, then research and educate.

 

Just a suggestion, I got tuned by Martin at RS-Enthalpy and he sent me the Ecutek kit with the wire, USB license, Bluetooth dongle, and tune for $850. Did an E-tune and as Rochester said, it makes the tuning so much easier with the Bluetooth dongle, and I am able to view all my temps and change maps on the go with it.

 

and any other work. I had the shop do my (anti)sway bars, COs, tranny / diff fluids, and other maintenance - so they took a bit off the total. Worth asking, if you need other things done.
Although, the bills I come back with from the shop give me a headache sometimes, but I trust that they know what they are doing and will keep the car running without issues for years to come.