How much would you pay for a plug-and-play FCD?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 1:09 am

I made this for myself, but having just incurred the debt associating with buying boostjunkie's old car, I really need some money.

How much would this plug and play fuel cut defender be worth? It connects in series with the lowest of the four ECU harness connectors (easy to install after you remove the lower trim panel, which is just a few Philips-head screws) and uses the "vrg3 FCD Phase II" design.

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:20 am

oh sweet! Man, I don't know how much it is worth. If I hadn't paid a bunch of bills I'd definately try it out, unfortunately I don't have any mods that would make use of htat yet, though. So even if I put it on all I could do is see if I could take it over 6500.

-Ryan

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:21 am

What were you hoping to get for it?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:22 am

Well, it only prevents overboost fuel cut, not overrev fuel cut...

I don't know how much I want for it. I don't really want to get rid of it; I just want funds. :)

To give you some idea of what it might be worth, I had to cannibalize an ECU for the connector.

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:27 am

hmm, well the overboost thing will be a desired soon, but i'm not sure how soon.

I'll look around and see what the going cost for ecu's is. I don't even know what that is.

J-MoNeY · Post by **J-MoNeY** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:27 am

PM me and lets talk numbers. I'm sure I could find a home for atleast a couple of those in Colorado.

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:12 am

vrg3 wrote:I had to cannibalize an ECU for the connector.

Damn. I've always thought it would be nice to get on of these for all the connectors so that you never have to cut an actual wire in the car.

MK

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:15 am

How did the later generation subaru guys get the connectors for the plug in harness's that are for sale?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:13 pm

mTk - I've made a couple of ECU extension harnesses that let you do that, but each one required similar cannibalization of parts.

ciper - The connectors are manufactured by AMP. I looked through their catalogs and actually found the later model connectors in there, but I couldn't find ours. I emailed someone at Tyco Electronics (who owns AMP) with pictures including the little "AMP" stamped on the underside to demonstrate that they were AMP connectors, and they told me it must have been discontinued.

$J-MoNeY-$ - I'm not really planning on making more of these (unless maybe if it turns out lots of people are willing to pay for the parts and work required to build one)... PM'd you though.

boostjunkie · Post by **boostjunkie** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:55 pm

Hehe. I transferred more than a car over to vrg3

The last time I was at the Crazy Rays, there were a bunch of 90-94 legacies there. They all use the same harness connectors, correct (minus a couple of leads)?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:58 pm

boostjunkie wrote:Hehe. I transferred more than a car over to vrg3

Heh... I haven't a shred of regret about it though.

They all use the same harness connectors, correct (minus a couple of leads)?

Yes, they do. In fact, I do believe I got the parts used to make this from Crazy Ray's.

boostjunkie · Post by **boostjunkie** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 5:48 pm

Man, I loved that place. Can't find anymore cheap parts for the new car, unfortunately.

I would've loved this plug and play setup for my own car back in the day, especially since part of my problem had to do with the actual wiring harness itself!! Kill two birds with one stone!

J-MoNeY · Post by **J-MoNeY** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 1:05 am

PM sent back. Let me know.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:02 am

Okay, apparently it's worth more to me than most other board members.

Rather than continue the "what's it worth" game, I'll ask this outright:

Would anyone be willing to pay $80 shipped for it? I figure that's about on par with the cheapest commercial FCDs, but this one is plug-and-play for our cars.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 6:38 pm

No interest, hmm... Is that just too much for the fantastic convenience of not having to cut your car's wires?

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 6:41 pm

If i needed it I'd be seriously thinking about it

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:40 pm

vrg3 I'd get it but I can't get it this week.

-Ryan

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:41 pm

The other benefit to selling it to me is that I dont have a need for it yet since I'm not intercooled. It may be a little while before I am as well, so if you wanted it back inbetween that time I"d be willing to sell it back to you.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:56 pm

Hehe... Well, I won't be needing it back, but let me know if/when you are ready to buy it; it may still be available since there doesn't seem to be too much interest.

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 1:40 am

cool.

ej22t · Post by **ej22t** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 7:32 am

Hi vrg3, I have an EJ20G engine with EJ22T ECU and have an AVC-R on board. Sometime when I push hard to the gas on around 3000-4500rpm to before redline, the engine hava like "pop",or "Bop" and the AVC-R reading is jumping very high boost like overboost and the car like a fuel cut for a second. will your unit help to solve this problem?
If it does, then I think I will get one from you.
ALso, how much will you going to send to Toronto, Canada?
Ben

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 8:12 am

Ben, it's hard to say whether you're experiencing overboost fuel cut or not.

The AVC-R can read many different parameters, right? Are you saying that you get boost spike in the middle of the RPM band? If it stays high for a few seconds then you might be experiencing the fuel cut.

What boost level do you typically run, and what level does it spike to?

If you do in fact have a boost spike problem, I would recommend fixing the spike rather than just fitting an FCD. However, if you do intend to run high boost and fuel cut is preventing it, then an FCD like this one will solve the problem.

ej22t · Post by **ej22t** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 4:10 pm

Thanks for your fast reply vrg3, I can't tell this is boost cut or boost spike.Are there any way that I could know its going to boost cut or spike?
How can I fix the boost spike, it this case?
Yep, my boost is like from low rpm(3000rpm-4000rpm) is going slow then it "pop"or Bop" then the boost meter shows the boost from 0.8kg/cm jumps to whatever 1.39kg/cm....
It don't happen all the time just once or twice when I have a big foot on the gas.
Please help
Ben

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 10:46 pm

Wait, lemme clear up the terminology I was using:

Boost spike is when the boost level rises above your desired level.

Overboost fuel cut happens when boost rises above the factory-set limit (somewhere around 13 psi) for longer than a second or two.

So, if you are actually trying to run 12 or more psi of boost, you may experience fuel cut even when your boost control is operating correctly. If this is the situation, an FCD will solve the problem. A boost level of 0.8 kg/cm^2 (my math says that's roughly 11.4 psi) ought to be okay without an FCD, though.

But, if you're not trying to run such high boost, but the boost spikes, then you should fix your boost control. Perhaps the AVC-R needs some adjustment or something; I don't know much about that device.

You say it's spiking up to 1.39 kg/cm^2?! That's really high, isn't it? About 19.7 psi? I think you need to solve that problem to save your engine, not just to avoid fuel cut. Maybe you could just switch to a simple MBC for the moment.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:06 am

So... anybody? It's still available...Eighty bucks to get rid of your fuel cut!

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How much would you pay for a plug-and-play FCD?

How much would you pay for a plug-and-play FCD?