Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) caTCHER ecm (Marco's aka MAD)

[I-6DZL]

guys plz explain a little bit to me. I did not see one "base" price in this post. Lets say The "mad" computer costs $500 (as the "base" price) and marco will refund $350 for the core computer. Then you're only paying $150 for the programming (plus shipping and handling of course). So my real question is what is base price, did i miss something along the way ?



TIA Curtis

 

[Bob Wagner]

its against TDR policy to post pricing

 

[amillstream]

Ok, I've been following this and emailed Doug but havn't gotten a reply yet. I'm sure he'll get to it soon but if someone could pm me with a price and more details on this thing, I think I could have an ecm in the mail in a couple of days. Might send 2 ecms (I have a friend that said he was interested and could probably get one too. )

 

[tcourse]

I'm in

Oh, yeah limited to the first 10, TDR members ONLY!



Marco, I'm In. Will send you a brand new ECM. Where do I send it. Will I get the same ECM back?



Thanks,



Terry

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

A question for Marco - you have indicated that a programming chip inside the ECM is swapped out - is that the ONLY change, or are there others? If the chip is the only change, is the original returned in case an owner wants/needs to return the ECM to original operation?



I'll also be VERY inrerested in seeing what effect adding something like an EZ does to Marco's mod - and also wonder what the difficulty is in eliminating the rev limiter INSIDE the ECM, when the Drag Comp is fully capable of doing it EXTERNALLY... .

 

[Big P]

The drag comp doesn't raise the redline, it delivers full fuel to redline.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

AH! Thanks for the clarification!

 

[jrobinson2]

Originally posted by I-6DZL

Lets say The "mad" computer costs $500 (as the "base" price)

The price was "hinted" at on one of the ECM threads, I think you only missed by $1. 00

Jared

 

[KatDiesel]

Who do we contact to get in on this? I am assuming Doug??





I definatly want a piece of this pie. Hope its not too late. Been out all afternoon and come back to find this posted

 

[PRyker]

I am going nutz...

I am going nutz reading this thread... Just a couple of questions:



1. Because you re-program the ECM there is no way to go back to "stock mode" with a re-program correct? So if I only wanted the power sometimes I would not be able to switch unless I had two ECM's. One for fast and one for stock slow yes?



2. How hard is it to swap computers? DOes it screw anything up like mileage readings? Can the dealer tell I have done this?



3. I can afford down time on my truck righ now as I have two cars. Can I just pull my current ECM and send? What is the time to get it back?



Thanks



Phil

 

[Bob Wagner]

my only word of caution is to keep the your stock ecm do to emission checks that a mandatory in most states.



It better to be safe than sorry. stock ecm for driving -30 minute swap back to stock.

 

[thejeepdude]

I thought marco's ecm was switchable back to stock settings? I remember reading on another thread something about being able to select stock settings, MPG setting, or power settings. Is this not the case with the unit you're running, Bob? Marco, could you clarify?

 

[Bob Wagner]

the 4 level box is not an option. The CatCHER program works 1st class all the way but there is no way to default back to stock setting without a reflash

 

[Marco]

I thought marco's ecm was switchable back to stock settings?

Thinking back, I guess I've never updated you all about the multiple file ECM's.



After a long development of that soft/hardware we've had way to many problems with it. Also the only way to make it work reliable would have raised the cost of such an ECM in the 2K$ US range...

( For the modification alone... )



So we decided to drop the ball.



What we're doing now is a modification of the ECM with ONE software that REPLACES the ORIGINAL one. That software is what I call the CaTCHER.



I think I need to truly apologize, I've never made that clear enough ( I think)!



Sorry.....



Marco

 

[dsather]

Marco - Smoke with the catcher

I'm not sure how to take this quote from Marco;





"Now let me talk about what " I " feel is a major problem.



Smoke.



While the CaTCHER can produce a major smoke show, it IS possible to control the smoke. One has to get used to the software but once you're used to it I can assure you that tire smoking take off's ARE possible without ANY (black) smoke! "





Marco, are you saying that smoke is increased and that's the problem or are you saying that smoke is a problem that the Catcher addresses? I would think it would smoke more due to having to spool the turbo sooner which can't be done without fuel. Of course, once the spool up is accomplished the smoke level goes down. Can this be clarified please.



Dennis

 

[Blackbird]

My memory of how to control smoke works is to ramp up the fuel rate as the boost increases, not to add a bunch of fuel & wait for the turbo to catch up. In the old mechanical pumps they didn't allow full rack travel until the boost came up. I would think that this would be easier to do with the electronic ones &software, just step the fuel rate accordingly.

Smoke on initial acceleration, i. e. low rpm & no/low boost, is the one complaint that I have with the in-line the box that I'm currently using that is hooked to the MAP sensor.



Jay

 

[Marco]

I would think it would smoke more due to having to spool the turbo sooner which can't be done without fuel. Of course, once the spool up is accomplished the smoke level goes down. Can this be clarified please.

What I'm saying is that the CaTCHER smokes LESS than the boxes. Better yet, the boxes combined with the CaTCHER smoke less too! Personally I don't like too much smoke, a little is OK...



Sure if you nail down the throttle standing at a traffic light the CaTCHER will hide the sun behind a cloud. Once one get's used to that file it IS possible to launch HARD without producing much if any smoke. That's what I wanted, that's what I did.



That's because the turbo spools up much sooner than with a stock software. Fuel is only a small part to do the trick...



A guy who has tested the CaTCHER is into drag racing. Truck is heavily modified.



Launching with a stock software:

Stand on the brakes and get the boost up to 15 Psi.

Launching with the CaTCHER:

The brakes will not hold more than 5 (yes, that's not a typo ) FIVE psi!



If you have ears, listen!



Let's talk about emissions testing.



I don't know how they test in every state over there. Here, they control opacity @ given RPM's. No problem with the CaTCHER, injectors and HX40 in my truck. With the stock file opacity is higher... ...



Marco

 

[darkhorse]

Marco, it sounds like you have taught the ECM to sing my kind of song! I'll be calling Doug for shipping details as soon as UPS delivers the spare module.



Richard

 

[John - K5AWO]

Originally posted by Marco

... . With the stock file opacity is higher... ...



Marco

Marco,



If I read that correctly, under normal daily driving, CaTCHER emits even less smoke than the stock DC ecm file does?



And produces more low end torque Awesome...



Arizona is an opacity testing state.

 

[KatDiesel]

Originally posted by Marco

A guy who has tested the CaTCHER is into drag racing. Truck is heavily modified.



Launching with a stock software:

Stand on the brakes and get the boost up to 15 Psi.

Launching with the CaTCHER:

The brakes will not hold more than 5 (yes, that's not a typo ) FIVE psi!

Do you know what kind of time improvements it made?



And also I sent you a PM... ... ... . emailed Doug, and PM'ed him... . no reply yet... ... ... want to make sure and reserve my spot in line, was hoping you could help me get in touch w/Doug assuming thats who we goto.