074: Why Aren’t You Using a PMU in Your Next Build?

Every so often in this industry, a new technology comes along that improves the quality of both cars being built, and the work of their builders. The PMU — also known as a PDM — is one of those technologies. This week, Zach Denney of ECUMaster USA joins us to discuss how these brilliant devices work and how you can use one in your next build, as well as all things standalone ECU, dyno tuning, and much more.

Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in

After appearing on our radar a few years ago, ECUMaster has been steadily gaining popularity in most markets around the world. We’ve been using ECUMaster products in a couple of our own projects for a few years now, so we’re in a good position to ask Zach some challenging questions about ECU development, PMU applications, and motorsport electronics in general.

First though, we dive into Zach’s journey from working at a tyre shop to becoming the North American distributor of ECUMaster, along with some other key European brands. It’s never an easy road, but through continued education and hands-on experience, Zach has built up his business from scratch and made it work despite the challenges of selling and supporting standalone ECUs.

With ECUMaster releasing its brand new range-topping EMU Pro series a couple of days ago, we next look at some of the challenges around producing ECUs that are powerful and feature-rich, while still being accessible to the average enthusiast or tuner.

We’re also big fans of PMUs here at HPA, and as we’ve been using a pair of ECUMaster’s excellent PMU16s in our SR86 race car, this discussion inevitably swings in the direction of power management units, with Zach and podcast host Andre spending time breaking down how they work, what they can do, and why they’re so good.

This episode also contains some great discussion around the liabilities and — for lack of a better term — finger-pointing that can come with tuning other people’s cars, as well as all the variables that can affect a dyno-session’s outcome. We know who’s going to be first in line to cop the blame, so how do we, as tuners, avoid becoming public enemy number one if something goes wrong later down the track?

Follow Zach and ECUMaster USA here:
IG:@holyzachrilege, @ecumasterusa
FB: @ECUMaster USA
WWW: ecumasterusa.com

Interested in learning how to install and utilize a PMU/PDM on your own project? Start here: https://hpcdmy.co/PMUb