Link Engine Management is recognised and respected worldwide in Aftermarket Motorsport Electronics. Link started in 1991 in Christchurch, New Zealand, and now supplies the worldwide market.
Like most Kiwi businesses, the first Link ECU (engine control unit) was produced in 1991. The EMX managed fuel and ignition and was was assembled totally by hand, in the famous blue and grey box.
The first Link Engine Management (LEM) came in 1995 in a green and white box and added boost and idle controls to fuel and ignition.
LinkPlusarrived in 2001, now adding eight fuel and eight ignition drives and dedicated outputs for boost and idle speed control. PCLink software also came out to let tuners control and configure ECUs via a PC computer.
G3 Link ECUs , with an ST10 microprocessor arrived in April, 2007 in the silver and black colour box.
The G3 line of ECUs lasted through to 2008 before the release of the G4 range of ECUs. From 2008 – 2013 the G4 is easily recognised by its iconic red G4 Xtreme enclosure.
The G4 ECU series was widely regarded as one of the best in class, and with so much going for it, the release of the G4+ in 2013 was an incremental upgrade on what was already a stand-out system.
The G4+ was hard to top, and took 6 years before it could be improved in the G4X in 2019. The upgrade was in the availability of improved hardware – the micro-controller and communications chips. Like many aspects of automotive technology, the abilities of electronic hardware have plateaued and remain largely similar, however the performance, size, speed and power of processing has improved a lot over the decade. While the G4X uses the most modern hardware, the G4+ is still sold as it is still as capable a unit as the hardware is able to produce and in no way obsolete.
Link ECUs are of course no longer assembled by hand, and production facilities and techniques have also come a long way in producing precise products. Alongside rigorous testing, Link ECUs are reliable and high quality products.