Evo 8 ECU Swap Works!!!

senate6268 · May 23, 2009, 09:31 PM

**************************************** WARNING ***********************************
The information in this thread is to be used at your own risk. If you are unfamiliar with the EcuFlash software or how to tune and make changes in EcuFlash you can cause severe damage to your engine. I assume no responsibility for any damage that occurs as a result of improper tuning/flashing of your ECU.
**************************************** WARNING ***********************************

After spending hours comparing circuit diagrams in the Evo and Lancer FSMs I came to the conclusion that an Evo 8 ECU should work in the Lancer. This thread over in the DSM Tuners forums was the smoking gun. Today I finally got time to put my efforts to the test and was able to get my car to idle on an Evo ECU.

The major difference between the Lancer ECU harness and Evo 8 ECU harness is a matter of swapping 2 wires. It has to be an Evo 8 ECU, as the Evo 9 has MIVEC. I am currently running a 96420008 ROM in the ECU.

Here's a brief rundown of the Evo 8 ECU swap process:

-1- Swap the wires on the Lancer ECU harness in pins 8 (fuel pump relay) and 22 (A/C relay). On my '03 OZ MT pin 8 was purple and pin 22 was pink. Here is the Evo ECU wiring diagram to assist with the wiring: Diagram.
-2- Unplug the Lancer ECU and plug in the Evo ECU.
-3- With the Evo ECU hooked up, read the ECU using EcuFlash to determine the ROM ID. Lancer definition files available here.
-4- After you have the ROM ID, save the ROM to your computer, close EcuFlash, open the definition XML file for that ROM ID in the rommetadata folder and add the following line just before the </rom> on the final line in the file and save the file (How-To Link):

<table name="ECU Periphery00 Hex" category="Periphery" address="f9a" type="1D" level="2" scaling="Hex16"/>
<table name="ECU Periphery0 Hex" category="Periphery" address="faa" type="1D" level="2" scaling="Hex16"/>
<table name="ECU Periphery1 Hex" category="Periphery" address="fba" type="1D" level="2" scaling="Hex16"/>
<table name="ECU Periphery2 Hex" category="Periphery" address="fca" type="1D" level="2" scaling="Hex16"/>
<table name="ECU Periphery3 Hex" category="Periphery" address="fda" type="1D" level="2" scaling="Hex16"/>
<table name="ECU Periphery4 Hex" category="Periphery" address="fea" type="1D" level="2" scaling="Hex16"/>

-5- Open EcuFlash, open the saved Evo ROM and look under the "Misc" category for the periphery bits.
-6- Change Periphery0 to 56D2. To do this, hit the = key and type in "0x56D2", without the quotes. The ECU Immobilizer is now disabled.
-7- Change Periphery2 to 6FDF, Periphery3 to C0C0 and Periphery4 to FE00. Now the wastegate solenoid and fuel solenoid are disabled in the ECU. Without this step you will trip codes P0243 and P0090 for the missing solenoids.
-8- You now need to add the following values from your stock Lancer ROM tables to the matching tables in the Evo ROM to have a proper idle and fuel trims: Injector Scaling, Injector Latency Values, MAF Scaling, MAF Size.
-9- Change the rev limit value from 7606 to 6250 to avoid grenading your engine from overrev.
-10- Save the changes to the ROM and then write the ROM to the Evo ECU.
-11- Your Lancer should now start and idle.
-12- From here you will need to do some datalogging and tuning to get your Lancer dialed in for the fuel and ignition tables.

I encourage everyone to give this a go as the Evo ECU allows for the ultimate in tuning flexibility. The EcuFlash geniuses over in the Evo EcuFlash forum are coming up with new and insane ECU mods daily. These can now be utilized by the Lancer community. It will take some tweaking to get our turbo'd Lancers tuned and running right, but the sky's the limit now.

Please be sure to post any and all issues you encounter so that we can turn this into a solid tuning solution for the 4G94!

**************************************** UPDATE ***********************************
Car is now running solely on the Evo ECU
Cruise control is still 100% functional
Check Engine Light Codes tripped:
.....Wastegate Solenoid (P0243)
.....Fuel Pressure Solenoid (P0090)
..........Eliminated P0243 and P0090 codes by editing ECU periphery bits

OZ Rally · May 23, 2009, 09:57 PM

Hey if this works out then you know I'm going to buy one!

4g94T · May 23, 2009, 10:04 PM

Great work as usual senate!
This will really give us all the great features the guys in the evo ecuflash forum have created
and save us over a grand from stand alone.

JRR · May 24, 2009, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by senate6268

After spending hours comparing circuit diagrams in the Evo and Lancer FSMs I came to the conclusion that, in theory, an Evo 8 ECU should work in the Lancer. This thread over in the DSM Tuners forums was the smoking gun. Today I finally got time to put my efforts to the test and was able to get my car to idle on an Evo ECU.

The major difference between the Lancer ECU harness and Evo 8 ECU harness is a matter of swapping 2 wires. It has to be an Evo 8 ECU, as the Evo 9 has MIVEC. You may also lose your cruise control, as the Evo's don't have it. I have yet to test this out. There is a single wire that goes from the ECU to the cruise control ECU. I don't know what this wire controls.

Here's a brief rundown of the Evo 8 ECU swap process:

-1- Swap the wires on the Lancer ECU harness in pins 8 (fuel pump relay) and 22 (A/C relay). On my '03 OZ MT pin 8 was purple and pin 22 was pink.
-2- Unplug the Lancer ECU and plug in the Evo ECU.
-3- With the Evo ECU hooked up, read the ECU using EcuFlash to determine the ROM ID.
-4- After you have the ROM ID, save the ROM to your computer, close EcuFlash, open the definition XML file for that ROM ID in the rommetadata folder and add the following line just before the </rom> on the final line in the file and save the file (How-To Link):

<table name="(periphery 0)" category="Misc" address="faa" type="1D" level="1" scaling="Hex16"/>

-5- Open EcuFlash, open the saved Evo ROM and look under the "Misc" category for (periphery 0).
-6- Change the value from 56DA to 56D2. To do this, hit the = key and type in "0x56D2" without the quotes. The ECU Immobilizer is now disabled.
-7- You now need to add the following values from your stock Lancer ROM tables to the matching tables in the Evo ROM to have a proper idle: Injector Scaling, Injector Latency Values, MAF Scaling, MAF Size.
-8- Save the changes to the ROM and then write the ROM to the Evo ECU.
-9- Your Lancer should now start and idle.
-10- From here you will need to do some datalogging and tuning to get your Lancer dialed in.

I still need to do alot of testing on this ECU to work out the kinks. This is only a theory being tested at this point, but getting the car to idle is a huge step in the right direction.

I encourage everyone to give this a go as the Evo ECU allows for the ultimate in tuning flexibility. The EcuFlash geniuses over in the Evo EcuFlash forum are coming up with new and insane ECU mods daily. These can now be utilized by the Lancer community. It will take some tweaking to get our turbo'd Lancers tuned and running right, but the sky's the limit now.

Please be sure to post any and all issues you encounter so that we can turn this from a testing theory to a solid tuning solution for the 4G94!

thanks for the info. this is a HUGE step in tuning our cars!

Quote:

Originally Posted by OZ Rally

Hey if this works out then you know I'm going to buy one!

already in the works. i know where i can get one at a pretty good price!

green hornet · May 25, 2009, 09:53 PM

This is incredible. Can't wit to see how the car performs after fixing all the kinks.

Jehuty · May 27, 2009, 02:06 PM

what is the benefits of this? I don't have a turbo, I'm just curious on what this does for you guys. You're saying "ultimate tuning availiable now" but what are the limits of the stock ecu. Plus if there are limits to the stock ECU isn't that because of the limits of the engine?

**otter** · May 27, 2009, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jehuty

what is the benefits of this? I don't have a turbo, I'm just curious on what this does for you guys. You're saying "ultimate tuning availiable now" but what are the limits of the stock ecu. Plus if there are limits to the stock ECU isn't that because of the limits of the engine?

The Evo ECU is setup to run a turbo car, so it has dual fuel maps, one for off-boost and one for on-boost. With turbos on non-turbo cars, you typically run into lean issues when on partial boost, since fuel controllers only work in open-loop mode. The Evo ECU would eliminate this issue, and let the car run more like a stock turbo car would.

OZ Rally · May 27, 2009, 05:24 PM

So any update on the ECU swap?

senate6268 · May 27, 2009, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by otter

The Evo ECU is setup to run a turbo car, so it has dual fuel maps, one for off-boost and one for on-boost. With turbos on non-turbo cars, you typically run into lean issues when on partial boost, since fuel controllers only work in open-loop mode. The Evo ECU would eliminate this issue, and let the car run more like a stock turbo car would.

Definitely one of the issues turbo Lancers face. This allows for smoother driving at all RPMs, loads and throttle %'s. Another issue this fixes is that of the tiny fuel/ignition maps that Lancer ECUs have. We've had to re-scale our load values to accomodate tuning with the higher loads the ECU is now seeing. With the Evo fuel/ignition tables being more than double in size, that problem is now out the window.

GST Motorsports · May 27, 2009, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by otter

The Evo ECU is setup to run a turbo car, so it has dual fuel maps, one for off-boost and one for on-boost. With turbos on non-turbo cars, you typically run into lean issues when on partial boost, since fuel controllers only work in open-loop mode. The Evo ECU would eliminate this issue, and let the car run more like a stock turbo car would.

It does not have two fuel maps for off and on boost, it runs in closed loop and open loop fueling, just like the lancer.

- Bryan

senate6268 · May 27, 2009, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OZ Rally

So any update on the ECU swap?

None at the moment. This past weekend I only had enough time to get it to idle and then needed my car to reliably drive, so I swapped the Lancer ECU back in. This weekend my goal is to switch over to the Evo ECU and do some tuning to leave it connected permanently.

Has anyone else swapped one it yet? I would like some feedback on how it's working with different turbo setups.

OZ Rally · May 27, 2009, 08:25 PM

Nice, I'm putting my exhaust on soon and then after that I may have to look for an Evo ECU to play with too.

evoseb08 · May 27, 2009, 08:58 PM

amazing research! gl bro

nestoledo · May 28, 2009, 02:35 PM

it will work with A/T ???

senate6268 · May 28, 2009, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nestoledo

it will work with A/T ???

If you can use an ECU from a M/T Lancer, then yes.