Manual cars can get away with the cheaper DIY option which consists of the Stock ECU back plane, and a PCB to attach it to, then all that is required is the plug & pins for the aftermarket ECU some wire, a crimping tool, and the ability to solder. Assuming of course that you can read a wiring diagram
Tiptronic cars will require the more expensive patch loom, which comes pre-wired with approx 150mm between plugs and fits between the stock ECU and the stock wiring system, the aftermarket ECU loom is then patched into this loom and runs like a piggyback system for the sensors it requires. The stock ECU will control the transmission and as such will still require the crank & cam sensors. It may need some of the other sensors that can't be shared wired with resistors to fool the stock ECU, so it doesn't keep coming up with warning lights. While I'm not 100% sure this will work, I can't see any reason that the Transmission function of the ECU shouldn't function correctly if it has RPM & speed input, even if it throws a warning, I would think it will still continue to shift correctly.
Cost is approx $120 for the back plane, PCB and wires, or $200 for the patch loom.
Connectors are the same as the RX-8 and late model WRX’s.
Back plane (Part # 61086) and PCB (Part # 61075) can be sourced from Motec, N.B. These are the part #'s listed for the Ver5/6 STi, they also list one for the Version 7 (Part #'s 61087 & 61076) according to all the other sites these are the same but you would need to check with Motec to see which one fits the Caldina.
Patch harness is a available from Field in Japan ( http://www.field-net.co.jp/lineup/onetouch/op.html Part # CN-12), through places like Takakaira etc, though it may be possible to go direct if you can translate Japanese and they offer reduced prices for multiple purchases. There is also a company in the US http://www.autosportwiring.com/ that makes patch looms with they claim are better quality than the Field item, but their price is higher at $US196, though that's for a WRX/RX-8 connector, it may be cheaper to get them to make a Toyota specific one that doesn't use the middle plug, though I would think that would require a minimum order to get the price down.
This should work for any ECU that can read the stock sensors, or on a manual car you could replace the stock sensors if you needed to. On a Tiptronic you would need to keep the stock cam and crank sensors, so if your chosen ECU needs different (Hall effect) sensors you would have to run these as a separate loom.
ECU's that should work are the Motec M400, Haltech E11, and possibly the Autronic new SM-4, though I can’t say for sure as they're too secretive about releasing any useful info on this ECU. There may also be some of the Link ECU's that could work, but I'm not familiar enough with them to tell.
I was going to do the conversion myself over the christmas break and report the results, but due to having to buy a new tractor for my orchard I no longer have and spare play money, so I won't be doing it until the middle of next year. So I've posted what info I have in case anyone wants to try it themselves.
