MCM's 2ZR swap

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by 06YarisRS

$7000.00 doesn't sound unrealistic to you for an ECU install and tune? When I spoke to another tuner before embarking on my build, he recommended standalone. He confirmed that the Haltech ECU he was looking (~$1500.00) at supported DBW and he estimated about a day on the dyno tuning. The wiring can't be that much more complicated than the F/IC. In the conversation I had with the tuner, he gave me a quick list of questions and said that if the parameters were met, it would work in my car. Subsequently, he looked up my car and the aftermarket ECU and was convinced they'd work together properly. As far as research goes, isn't that basically looking at wiring diagrams? A professional tuning shop should be well versed in matching up ECUs to a variety of cars. Maybe it's that anti-corolla sentiment in effect. $7000.00 still seems incredibly high. But, it would be nice to see a detailed work order. Maybe they are ballparking really high in case they do run into significant problems.

Expectations vs reality.

A good tuning shop will know exactly what the reality would be with a swapped engine which now involves an additional wiring diagram and complexities. A good shop is full of work and isn't grasping at work to keep the lights on which makes the cost reflective of what it would cost to be worth it for them. Again, I guarantee this is their all in cost for a well sorted car, not one that has idle issues and ambient temp issues that need to be sorted by the owner.

A standalone is a whole different ball game than a piggyback, they are not even close. Dealing with DBW vs a piggyback which keeps the original ECU in place to manage all of that is apples to oranges. Your build is an example of the above. How much time have you put into making your car driveable and idle properly? Keep in mind this is all on a piggyback and not a standalone. Now think of how much time it would have been for a tuner to do all of that when you factor all of the time in that you spent reading things online and various wiring diagrams.

When you take a step back you are hours upon hours into your build, and all of this is just to get it street driveable, not necessarily ready for the demands of a track and heat soak or various maps. I am no different, but if I expected a shop to do what I did I would expect to pay big $. In the world of tuning and car builds you pay to play...or you do it yourself (and still pay somewhat).

Yes the above quote is a lot of cash but not out of the realm of what I would somewhat expect for a top tuning shop for a ready to go car.