Programmable Standalone ECU
 

Hey guys,
The bench flash I have on my 3.8 is great and all, but I want a programmable one. Any ideas?

I have a 1999 2.5L base Boxster with a 3.8 M96 motor.

are you looking for something like Megasquirt..?

This will sort of open up a can of worms for a street car. For starters, you'll have to figure out a way to pass emissions in AZ. There will need to be some integration with the rest of the chassis in order for everything to work correctly like it did before. Not that it can't be done, but it's something to consider. The fact that it's a 2.5 chassis makes things a lot easier than an earlier car because there is almost no CAN integration. If your car has cruise control, you would lose that feature, and you would have to do a few things to make the AC work correctly, but it's nothing I haven't done before. It honestly wouldn't be too difficult, just a bit of an investment to do it correctly. For what you need to do, an AEM Infinity 8 would get the job done. It's pretty good hardware for the money, and very capable.

Is this something you are wanting to tackle yourself, or would you be having a shop do the work?

If a plug and play solution is what you're looking for, there isn't one.

Passing emissions in AZ isn't a problem.
Both AC and Cruise Control work with my current bench flash. I don't care so much about cruise control, but AC is a must in AZ.

Ideally, I would want a shop to dyno and tune my car as well. The car runs extremely rich currently.

I like your stand-alone ECU project .Would it not be easier to resolve the rich running problem ? If that is the only problem,it may be easier to solve/hack than a stand-alone ECU?
For example, could it be as simple as using different injectors and using the correct air filter? Or just getting the injectors cleaned and maintained - easy diy job.

AEM EMS? Have a couple friends that use it but unfortunately they're not Porscches

Stand alone ecus do not have OBD2 integration. You may be able to pass a sniffer type test but a 96 or newer vehicle needs to have a properly functioning OBD2 interface.

Off road use only.

Hi Crono0001,

check this: https://shop.vems.hu/catalog/vems-p-48.html

Fully programmable and can be individualized to your needs.

Regards
Markus

if you kept stock computers then you have a 5.2.2 dme - same as a 1999 996 3.4. get a shop with a pst2 to push a 996 flash on your car (get a row 996 flash to avoid issues with catless exhaust). that'll have you in the right ballpark. even with a .4 displacement difference, the ecu should be able to keep you running at stoich in low load situations without hitting the trim limits, and keep you a about where you want to be at WOT provided you are metering air properly - if you have a pst2 or durametric check your rkats and fras to make sure fuel trims are ok.

once you have the dme fueling you properly you can try an aem unit. they intercept the maf signal and send 'massaged' info to the computer. the computer will still use the o2 sensors to trim fueling to stioch at low load, but the aem unit will allow you to lean things out a bit at wot - more power, better fuel consumption. if you are feeling really ballsy, note that the aem unit is just a really expensive variable resistor, so try putting a variable resistor in there instead - some searching on the net should get you all the info you need.