SSI now offering LINK plug-and-play ECU's for the 90-94 EJ22/EJ22T (great for swaps)

[GeneralDisorder]

We have been working on this for a bit now, and have several units in the field along with a growing library of base maps for running the OBD-I harness EJ engines (turbo and non) on a plug-and-play LINK ECU. With minor changes to a few pins, and running a vacuum line to the ECU you can be up and running with no codes and modern full programmable stand-alone features in a matter of minutes. LINK developed this board for the V1-2 WRX/STI over in Europe, Australia, and Japan. It happens to share the same basic pinout as the USDM EJ22 and EJ22T cars (Legacy 90-94, and Legacy Sport 91-94). These harnesses are popular for swaps as they are readily available and cheap from junk cars. They support full motorsports features such as:

G4+ PlugIn Key Features

• Up to 6D fuel and ignition mapping
• Precision closed loop cam control (four cam, independent control)
• Sequential fuel delivery
• Digital triggering, all OEM patterns
• OEM idle hardware supported
• 5D boost control with three switchable tables
• Motorsport features - antilag, launch, flat shift
• Continuous barometric correction (on board)
• CAN port
• QuickTune - automated fuel tuning
• Individual cylinder correction
• USB tuning cable included
• Stats recording into on-board memory
• Gear compensations for spark, boost and fuel
• Real time selectable dual fuel, ignition and boost maps
• Sync and crank sensors can be a combination of Hall effect, variable reluctance or optical
• Boost control referenced to gear, speed or throttle position
• Up to 32Mbit internal logging memory
• Staged injection
• Knock with "windowing"

This is the ECU we use for this application:

http://dealers.linkecu.com/WRX2Plus

Our kits also include a 3-bar map sensor, and the expansion loom for adding inputs such as wideband O2 (highly recommended), fuel pressure, EGT, or any other input you would like to map to an ECU function, alarm output, etc. 

Included in our package is our dyno derived base map library for the EJ, as well as technical support, and 1 hour of remote tuning assistance to get you up and running and driveable to your local dyno shop or on the street tuning either professionally or personally. The tuning software is completely free and there are no licensing or other fees associated with the software. EVER! You can freely download the latest version from the LINK website anytime even if you don't own a LINK ECU. The software is very user friendly and has amazing documentation - right clicking on just about anything brings up a help window. 

Tired of those expensive MAF sensors? Throw it away forever. LINK can run speed density, or use any MAF from thousands of other newer vehicles - frequency MAF from an LS? No problem. 

Throttle body not large enough? Bad TPS? No problem - adapt a newer model. You can change any sensor to anything you like from any make and model supported in the software. Just pull from your choice of car in the junk yard and change a few ECU settings. NO LIMITATIONS. 

Tired of the limitations of the OBD-I factory ECU? The LINK ECU package with included MAP sensor, XS Loom, basemaps, and remote tuning assistance are $1499 

Here's a Dyno sheet from our shop's 1991 Legacy Sport Sedan. This car is 100% stock with only 3" turbo-back exhaust. Factory rated at 165 crank HP on 8 psi. This is @ 16 psi with a LINK ECU, and redline bumped up to 7200:

176.11 AWHP, and 196.17 AWTQ. Corrected for drivetrain losses that's about 210 crank HP from the stock EJ22T with only exhaust mods. 

Please feel free to contact me either here, or through facebook or email for any questions, etc. 

GD

Edited November 12, 2019 by GeneralDisorder

[wagons]

Yes! I can confirm to LINK ecu's being awesome. I am building a Toyoya 2.3 race engine and it will be using a LINK. Its funny you mention this now, as my buddy i new zealand who is a LINK dealer asked me if I was going to EJ swap my EA82 and if I was he said he'd setup the LINK for me. Great job GD! If you dont mind me mentioning, LINK ECU are becoming the easiest and most advanced ECU's available and get better as updates and new models being released. GD we have needed this.

[GeneralDisorder]

The VP of LINK for North and South America (Jason Oefelein) personally tunes on my DynoJet and helps build our base maps, provides tech support, etc. He is local to us and formerly operated Portland Speed Industries - whom we bought our Dyno from when they closed their doors last year - he liked the product so much he became their VP. He has about 20 years tuning experience and has been using LINK since the early days. Look for a lot more applications such as a likely adapter harness for the 95 to 99 car harnesses, and I'll be bringing LINK to the Domestic vintage GM TBI and TPI applications such as third gen F body, TBI cars/trucks, and C4 Corvettes, etc. LINK has an amazing following and a superb product but has, till now, no presence in these markets and very little North American presence in the Subaru market. Tuning with a LINK is like a dream come true. Once you try it you will never want to go back to anything else. 

GD

Edited November 13, 2019 by GeneralDisorder

[idosubaru]

Awesome.

Install it in 2005+, or are those perpetually hosed by canbus?

who will be the main users in Subaru world?   EJ stuff still seems easy enough to and support.  Is this likely popular for early adopters, turbos, and people who want to tune?

[carfreak85]

@GeneralDisorder This is quite interesting, as I've been wondering about next moves for the RX-RA.  I've got an 18 psi RobTune and the associated parts sitting on the shelf, but have never liked the adjustability of the tune (read, none) nor their abysmal customer support.

I had been eyeing the ESL daughterboard for the last few years, but they've officially stopped developing the V1-3 boards, so no motorsport functions, but from an adjustability standpoint, the ESL sounds about the same as the Link, just with no local support.

[GeneralDisorder]

The 91 to 94 Legacy turbo models are not tunable using the factory ECU and other options very limited in features and ease of use. 

The guys swapping over EA chassis to EJ engines. Lots easier plumbing if you can delete the MAF. 

The Vanagon and sand rail crowd. 

Any swap situation where you want to simplify plumbing and not deal with speed sensors, neutral switches, and all that nonsense. The LINK doesn't care about any of that. 

Also alternative fueling or flex fuel - E85, methanol, Nitrous, and of course power adders. All supported easily. 

GD

[GeneralDisorder]

42 minutes ago, carfreak85 said:

@GeneralDisorder This is quite interesting, as I've been wondering about next moves for the RX-RA.  I've got an 18 psi RobTune and the associated parts sitting on the shelf, but have never liked the adjustability of the tune (read, none) nor their abysmal customer support.

I had been eyeing the ESL daughterboard for the last few years, but they've officially stopped developing the V1-3 boards, so no motorsport functions, but from an adjustability standpoint, the ESL sounds about the same as the Link, just with no local support.

ESL is a joke, really. They aren't full time developers, and their support is terrible. On top of that it's based on 30 year old factory hardware that could fail at any time and is SLOW. They never did deliver the motorsports features they promised for the V1/2. I tried to work with them on the issues and get them into the US market but they never came through. They just don't want to get their product out there I guess. 

Robtune is much worse than ESL. Not tunable at all. All you get is an e-tune that's sorta close and still no motorsports features and based on OLD slow factory hardware. 

The LINK is lightyears ahead of either of those. It's 100% stand-alone hardware. And the have a lifetime warranty. 

GD

[GeneralDisorder]

3 hours ago, idosubaru said:

Awesome.

Install it in 2005+, or are those perpetually hosed by canbus?

who will be the main users in Subaru world?   EJ stuff still seems easy enough to and support.  Is this likely popular for early adopters, turbos, and people who want to tune?

The LINK hardware does support CANBUS, yes. In fact they have plug-and-play boards for the '06 and '07+ WRX/STI. But it doesn't do OBD-II so if you do it on a 96+ you aren't going through emissions testing - they don't support that. Of course not an issue for many people and definitely not an issue for anything that's getting an engine swap. And for the WRX guys you can always throw your stock ECU back in with an open-source modification to get it through testing. 

Rick

[carfreak85]

Ok, that's good feedback to mull over.

Assuming I want the full meal deal with anti-lag, launch control, etc, how much dyno time are we looking at on top of the price of entry to get a safe, solid tune?  You mentioned one free hour of remote tuning, does that change if I bring the car directly to you on a trailer?  (I have friends in PDX with garage space I can use to install the parts).  Could I save the free hour and apply it after I've done some datalogging at altitude?

Just trying to get a feel for the overall time and cost needed to make the leap.

[GeneralDisorder]

Sure you can do it that way and just trailer it to the dyno and apply the hour to that instead. Typical dyno tuning runs about $500. That's for a solid, safe tune, with dyno printouts, etc. Things like launch control and anti-lag, etc are ala-carte additional options as Jason likes to put it. On an as-requested and case by case basis. I can ask Jason for a rough idea on each. 

Of course the maps are not locked and you are free to experiment with those features on your own at the track, etc.

Being a stand alone that has full programmability, there are a LOT of features and setup of some of them can be quite time consuming. Think of launch control like adding NOS or meth.... it all takes time on the dyno. More features, more time. But you can't ask for a better tuner than the vice president of the manufacturer. LoL. 

GD

[wagons]

Can this be setup to use the AC? A lot of people have told me using AC in an EJ swap is not possible with an EA82 because of vaccuum operated and electric controls, however i have swapped modern engines into old AE86 corollas and used a LINK and made AC work.

[el_freddo]

3 minutes ago, wagons said:

Can this be setup to use the AC? A lot of people have told me using AC in an EJ swap is not possible with an EA82 because of vaccuum operated and electric controls, however i have swapped modern engines into old AE86 corollas and used a LINK and made AC work.

You’ve listened to the wrong ppl. My AC works when it has gas in it. I needed to make some custom AC pipes to fit the EJ compressor to the EA AC system; and I needed to reference the compressor clutch wire (from memory) to the EJ ECU wire that is used to idle up when the AC is in operation. 

It wouldn’t be much different to the Link system too I reckon. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[wagons]

7 hours ago, el_freddo said:

You’ve listened to the wrong ppl. My AC works when it has gas in it. I needed to make some custom AC pipes to fit the EJ compressor to the EA AC system; and I needed to reference the compressor clutch wire (from memory) to the EJ ECU wire that is used to idle up when the AC is in operation. 

It wouldn’t be much different to the Link system too I reckon. 

Cheers 

Bennie

Man, that is the only thing that was stopping me from pulling the trigger on an EJ Swap! I need a/c in Arizona in summer its 115 degrees and not driveable without it.

[GeneralDisorder]

Sure. The LINK can handle AC easily. My Trans Am has a LINK and my AC has been converted to R134 using a 7 piston Sanden compressor for a semi tractor. . Also since these packages come with the auxiliary I/O harness to run the external MAP sensor, you will already have the necessary inputs to tell the LINK the AC is running and to increase the idle, etc. 

Incidentally the AC system has nothing to do with the FI on these cars, you just need some input to tell the ECU that the compressor is running so you can adjust the idle. Or you can just set the idle a little high anyway and let it drop a little. Lots of ways to do it. 

GD

Edited November 21, 2019 by GeneralDisorder

[wagons]

Thanks GD. I now have a spring project!

[Numbchux]

Yep, A/C is easy, from a wiring standpoint. Stock ECU or aftermarket.