tuning without knock control

how would one approach tuning an ecu without knock control inputs to the ecu my reason im looking to purchase a pnp link atom II for my specific engine but as I am an newby to tuning which I will be doing my self I would like some tips and ideas on how to approach this tuning process thanks

You could use a set of Det Can's to listen for knock. In your sig is says SW20, so I'm assuming you're tuning an MR2? This is a non-turbo version or Turbo version?

Turbo version

I must be missing something. You're going to run a Link engine management system on it? Like the MR2Link? you can run a knock sensor with that system.

ECU knock control is not normally useful for tuning as you need to "calibrate" the knock control system before it is capable of detecting knock - to do that properly you need audio knock detection equipment which is the same as what you would use to tune an ECU without knock control anyway.

As per Rob's question - I would suggest the MR2 plug-in ecu rather than the Atom, the plug-in is only a couple of hundred dollars more than the Atom, doesnt need any wiring and is a much more capable ECU, including knock control and much more inputs and outputs.

It’s for the generation 4 3sgte which is from the 2002 caldina link only Ofer the atom or monsoon and rob yea there is but for the gen2 and gen3 plug in if I could gotten it to work I’d a went that route

If you have no knock control, your main option is to use some known safe base map, put it on a dyno and adjust a degree or two at a time to see if you are picking up any power or torque. Then you have to leave a big enough safety margin.

thanks im going with the link storm since that has everything and more flexible

Knock control is a relatively new in terms of aftermarket ECUs and I probably spent the first 8-10 years of my professional career tuning engines with no built in knock control. That's not to say you don't use knock detection, just that you use audio knock detection for the purposes of tuning. This does mean that in general it's smart to add a little more safety margin in your timing compared to an ECU with a well sorted knock control strategy. As Adam mentioned above, even with a knock control system this still needs to be dialled in and validated which requires audio knock equipment anyway.