VilleS2K

Good, thoughtful point, although your coding talk is almost like a foreign language, haha.

I'm not too worried about it. I think there will be lots of cottage industries to support these future classics. And can't aftermarket, standalone ECUs (with capable tuners) handle things? Obviously not as ideal as OEM, but an option. Or am I missing something?

ealand0001

Honestly, I don't know. What I do know is for my viper, when it needed a new ecu he could still get it from mopar. But, for other older cars he often has to go to a third party that tries to handle it, but it's only for specialty cars and a lot of time it just involves finding a old clunker version and stealing the ecu...not ideal. But, the more I thought about it, the more it seems like a waste issue. People won't do all this work for honda civics, most likely, or if they do it won't be for very old ones, and there are a lot of cars produced and hitting landfills early. I know we recycle a lot of the car, but that has to be more expensive and wasteful,...assuming the ecu is really the part that defines the longevity of a 'modern' automobile. I feel like that should be true, but I don't actually know. Everything else seems simpler to replicate, 3d print, or hack together than the tiny computer and all the custom software.

jeffbrig

You need some serious chops in embedded software development if you're thinking you can tackle something like this. (Disclosure: I have about 20 years of professional experience in this field.) The reality of the embedded world is that after you engineer something, some of the components (processors, custom ICs, you name it) that you have designed our device to use will quickly age out of existence. Makers typically get pushed into making a "lifetime buy" of key components for current and future production forecasts. When you run out, you're out, and can no longer manufacture additional boards. Then you need to do a platform refresh (think $$$) and basically re-engineer the device using newer hardware components. I'll give you an extreme example - you couldn't build an original Nintendo Entertainment System today - the ancient parts and ICs needed to manufacture the circuit board simply don't exist today. Same for the original iPhone, or any other consumer device more than a few years old. But you can buy the Nintendo Classic Edition - a modern, revamped, reengineered with modern components - version of that original device. And it's *mostly* compatible with certain games, but many others don't work on it at all.

What you're talking of doing sounds like making a universal ECU that you can load with software for any car, and drop it right in. The word "pipe dream" comes to mind. Different cars are going to have different packaging needs (size/shape/fitment), different IO needs (physical/electrical/protocols), and their software is probably written to be so tied to their specific hardware that it would be practically un-useable to you. Any software wrappers you might put around someone else's code to get it to run on your device's modern processor can have major impacts in timing and other areas. You deal with those impacts through evaluation and testing - so now you need to build a test rig to qualify the operation of your ECU against the OEM one - because you sure as heck don't want to beta test this one someone's collectible car's engine. This is far beyond the realm of a hobbyist...

WolfpackS2k

Two things to add to the conversation. The 2nd gen Integra online community is still a thing (yay, haha) and people have developed their own fixes for a lot of ECU related problems. Not software really, but hardware. Some of the ECU boards are basic enough to be repaired with rudimentary electrical parts.

Second item, what's with the "hard-on" for '99-'00 Civic Si's? Other than being made in lesser quantities, can someone explain to me why somebody would want one of those over a contemporary Integra GS-R? Far as I can tell, the GS-R is superior in every way.