Falcon Barra motors

Hi we have a Barra motor running in a jet boat. We are running the standard car ecu. I am wanting to get into this and play around with the settings plus we are looking at putting a turbo on one. What software and interface do we need to do this? Many thanks Steve

Depending on your budget restrictions, I'd suggest biting the bullet at the start and run a Haltech conversion - they have PnP wiring kits and the correct ECU will allow you to do what you want, without compromise, and be ready for when you do go forced induction. You could even look at it as saving money as you'll eventually need to change the OEM ECU and it avoids purchasing software, etc, you'll have limited use of.

However, there are products that will access your OEM ECU, such as HP Tuning, if you want to keep it, but don't have specific suggestions.

In my opinion HP Tuners is probably the most user friendly (easy tables with good database for knowledge) although there is also SCT (most expensive as you need to buy an xcal device also) and PCMtec (very well priced and by far the cheapest, I use this software on my F6X) but they both require a decent amount of tuning knowledge to navigate. If your ecu is from an N/A then you won't have the turbo maps available (boost sensor, wastegate dc, closed loop boost control, etc). There is also Sniper??? software to (from BPT) but not much talked about there...

You may be able to get a local tuner to set up the tune for you without the turbo ecu unless you can do it yourself but the applicable boost, wideband AFR and EGT sensors and gauges are recommended... Plumb a stethoscope with tubing to earmuffs for knock if you have to as you'll hear it easily and these engines can take a fair beating without being phased one bit (I don't mean 20psi with knock though!)...

None of the OEM ecu tuning softwares are live tuning unlike Haltech but all can datalog. PCMTec is the most advanced imo with stupid fast read/writes if that's a concern and other features that no other OEM developer has but are still in their early stages of development and unsure if you need any for a boat...

On YouTube watch Episode 52 of Street Machines "Carnage" and you'll see in that video what tables are missing in HP Tuners (around the 4min mark).

A turbo ecu is advised but you can still tune the engine for boost without it.

That's my 2 cents anyway...happy hunting!