Electromotive TEC-II?

[David Gould]

Perhaps this is not truly diy, but...

I autocross a 1.8 liter Mazda Miata. I am allowed by the rules I run under
to replace the entire intake and exhaust systems, but not to modify the
engine internals. Some of the other competative cars (Miatas, RX7s, CRXs) are
using the Electromotive TEC-II system to control fuel and ignition. I have
looked at the Electromotive manuals and it looks like a reasonable system to
me, but I am not an expert and have little to compare it too.

Since this car is both a race car and a daily driver in CA, I will have to
face the smog check every two years. It looks like the simplist solution
would be to replace the original system, get the smog cert, and put the
Electomotive back on every two years. Bummer.

Given all of the above, is the Electromotive a reasonable system? I am vaguely
aware that there are others (Motec etc) out there, but am under the impression
that they cost quite a bit more. Is there another system I should look at?

Is there anything especially good or bad about the Electromotive?

I noticed in the manual that it does not have some of the frills that the
stock system has like idle control adjusted for electrical loads, EGR control,
purge canister control. Do I need all this stuff? I suspect not, except for
the purge control. How do I do the canister purge without the stock ecu?

Will there be drivability problems with the Electromotive? What about weather
and altitude changes? Again, the stock ECU looks more sophisticated, but then
cars ran on carburators (a french word meaning 'don't mess with it') which
were even less sophisticated than the Electromotive.

Any experience with Electromotive as far as reliablity of the system? Do they
support the product and handle repairs etc well?

Any special gotchas or neat hints for this application?

Thanks for any and all advice.

-dg

David Gould                   dg at illustra.com                    510.869.6383
Informix Software (formerly Illustra)  1111 Broadway #2000  Oakland, CA 94607
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