engine management systems

Once you have put a few bolt-on modifications on your car, you will probably begin to consider engine management to best benefit from your modifications. In this article, I will go over the different types of engine management and what they do.

You need engine management because of a certain factor: ECU compensation. ECU compensation describes the process factory ECUs are engine management systems programmed to go through when modifications are made to a car. An ECU takes in many variables, and adjusts things such as the air-fuel ratio and turbo timing based on these inputs. ECU compensation causes the factory ECU to adjust, mostly negatively, to mechanical increases in power that result from aftermarket engine modifications. Also, factory ECUs are not tuned for top performance to ensure more reliability.

On a side note, Manual/Electronic Boost Controllers are not engine management, and only control boost levels in turbo cars. They are not really an alternative to an aftermarket ECU.
Engine management solutions: Reflashed ECU, ECU tuned at a shop, Piggyback Engine Management, and Stand Alone Engine Management.

-A reflashed store-bought ECU is a modified stock ECU. It is set at one level of tune and left there. It is not adjustable without going to a shop(or downloading new maps).
-A custom tuned ECU is a reflashed ECU tuned specifically for the car it is in at a tuning shop. This allows a professional tune. This method will allow maximum performance and safety.

-Piggyback engine management works together with your stock ECU and allows for easy changes to tunes. This method also allows for maximum performance and safety.
-Stand-alone engine management completely replaces the stock ECU and provides pretty much the same results as a piggyback, just with more adjustability for advanced users.