Engine Management Advice Needed!

[AZhitman]

OK, by now you've all seen my build, and what I want to accomplish.

zerothread/176176

I'm having second thoughts about going with the JWT, just because it's going to take so long to get here...

Whatever i go with, the car will be tuned on a dyno, so I'm looking for some advice - keeping in mind I want ultimate reliability, and I'm willing to sacrifice some power to get it... I don't want to be fiddling with settings and re-tuning all the time.

Educate a brotha!

[Tictakman]

not sure if ur interested but i have a JWT ecu tuned for 300x mafs, 8:5:1 pistons, 72lb injectors. i also have the injectors too.

sell them both to you for 500.00

and ill get them to you by the end of next week.

Zak [email protected]

[Jookmasta]

enthalpy showed me the way...................lol. from my understanding, enthalpy is still faster than jwt unless you have a previously chipped jwt ecu. tuned ecu is ur best bet IMO.

[Craving4Boost]

what do you already have? i'd say safc + enthalpy has proven worthy already

[AZhitman]

SAFC is history - Not wanting to use one of those ever again.

[Craving4Boost]

too bad the power FC isnt used for KA's....ive heard great things about it. i know someone made an adapter to make it work for the KA but havent heard an update in a long time

[Swedish Mike]

Do you want stand alone?

/Mike

[onosqv]

too bad the power FC isnt used for KA's....ive heard great things about it. i know someone made an adapter to make it work for the KA but havent heard an update in a long time

Local shop in my area does it. I got to know the guys over the past year or so, great bunch of guys.

PowerFC on KA24DE-T

Looks like the perfect setup for you Greg, they have a good base tune map too (from XS Engineering).

No clue if they are selling it yet, but I'm sure they'll work with you - just say Q to the V said so, hahaha.

I'm gonna ask them for an adapter when I get mine t'ed... whenever that will be now, so much damn other problems.

[Florida240sx]

Greg, I"m doign the enth tune. By the time you ship it to him it will be back in 1 week. Only take shim 2-3days to tune it once it's in his hands. I'm doing this. Sending him mine. But leaving my SAFC hooke dup. So I can lean it out a bit to meet my desires. Which will be very minimal, IF ANY. You want it done right go with enth. Hell see if he might do a special for some of us. I was goign to send him mine on Monday but my comp crashed so couldn't get his address or send him money. Plans are to ship it out to him on this upcoming Monday. Let me know if you work anyhting out with him.

[Edub1]

Isn't that an SOHC? Enthalpy doesn't tune the SOHC last I checked.

Let me tell you what I'm doing and you can decide if it works for you.

I am tuning my ECU for fuel, which is fairly easy and using a BTM for timing.

I think this is a great way to go because it eliminates a lot of hastle. Plus, you can combine it with other timing changes if you like and the new BTM allows you to set it to begin at a given boost level. Also, you can set it to pull more for reliability and then less when you want power. Try that with a fixed tune.

Certainly the dyed in the wool tuning guys like the hybridka guys will tell you that it's better to tune your own ECU. And for fuel, this is true. But, for timing you'll be opening a huge can of worms and can blow your motor with one mistake. Plus, you have to learn how or find someone who can do it.

Myself, or many others here will certainly be happy to help get your fueling straight. Like I said, that part is a piece of cake. Especially if you have a wide band. Slap on the BTM and you're good to go. I can even pull a few degees from the highest load of the ECU if you want to start pulling say .5 deg/lb and end up pulling .75 or 1 deg at max load.

[Florida240sx]

He doesn't want to have multiple devices that could fail. ECU is his best bet. Yes btm and safc etc.etc. work fine. But it's better to have on solid sealed unit than multiple unit that could kill yoru engine, whether it be a solder breaking loose, a fuse blowing, or vaccum line.His engine is a DOHC.

[j-z]

his motor and floridas motors are DEs. i will be going with an enthalpy tune as well. but thats once i get some more cash and some 740s. i still plan on keeping my safc and itc in the car for more fine tunning.

[onosqv]

Isn't that an SOHC? Enthalpy doesn't tune the SOHC last I checked.

Let me tell you what I'm doing and you can decide if it works for you.

I am tuning my ECU for fuel, which is fairly easy and using a BTM for timing.

I think this is a great way to go because it eliminates a lot of hastle. Plus, you can combine it with other timing changes if you like and the new BTM allows you to set it to begin at a given boost level. Also, you can set it to pull more for reliability and then less when you want power. Try that with a fixed tune.

Certainly the dyed in the wool tuning guys like the hybridka guys will tell you that it's better to tune your own ECU. And for fuel, this is true. But, for timing you'll be opening a huge can of worms and can blow your motor with one mistake. Plus, you have to learn how or find someone who can do it.

Myself, or many others here will certainly be happy to help get your fueling straight. Like I said, that part is a piece of cake. Especially if you have a wide band. Slap on the BTM and you're good to go. I can even pull a few degees from the highest load of the ECU if you want to start pulling say .5 deg/lb and end up pulling .75 or 1 deg at max load.

No, enthalpy doesn't do sohcs... but can you tell the difference btwn a sohc & dohc? and the whole vert thing should have given it away... From your very first question, it almost makes it automatic to ignore the rest of your post

If you read the first post carefully, AZHitman's been thru all that "piggy back" style stuff, and doesn't want something like that anymore, he wants premo stuff... Sure, a BTM + user tuned ecu could work... but I don't think he wants to go through the trouble when there are better options out there, especially since he's not tight on a budget - and you wouldn't want to be considering the amount spent building the engine and everything else.

[Craving4Boost]

Local shop in my area does it. I got to know the guys over the past year or so, great bunch of guys.

PowerFC on KA24DE-T

Looks like the perfect setup for you Greg, they have a good base tune map too (from XS Engineering).

No clue if they are selling it yet, but I'm sure they'll work with you - just say Q to the V said so, hahaha.

I'm gonna ask them for an adapter when I get mine t'ed... whenever that will be now, so much damn other problems.

interesting.....if it's not too far from here at San Diego i would like to meet them as well.

[deviousKA]

Certainly the dyed in the wool tuning guys like the hybridka guys will tell you that it's better to tune your own ECU. And for fuel, this is true. But, for timing you'll be opening a huge can of worms and can blow your motor with one mistake.

dyed in the wool?

Ecu tuning is no different than standalone tuning. The oem ecus are standalones, anyone even thinking about attempting rom tuning should consider themselves apt enough to understand self-tuning of their efi, and all of the work that accompanies. ECU tuning is really only for people that are looking into full efi control, without the bloated price tag of a haltec/motec/AEM etc.. (they come with a sticker and a keychain though right?).

To say you can blow your engine with one mistake, that is entirely true. Just as easy (if not easier) to blow your engine improperly tuning a standalone. A certain level of understanding is required to operate any sort of equipment, thats just reality.

The only difference is that the oem ecus provide a much better base map than any other "standalone" :P. Tuning is done in similar fashion

Any self-respecting EFI tuner that is truly serious about their work DO NOT SELL MAIL-ORDER TUNES! Ask any true EFI professional and they will tell you the same thing, proper tuning does not work this way.

AZhitman, whatever route you take, just make sure that the car is tuned on an individual basis. Before you decide on a system you should purchase your own wideband and install it permanently into the car, if you havent done so already. No real interest in tuning but a desire for performance dont really go hand in hand though, so I cant really recommend anything of use. You should be discussing this with whomever will be tuning your car, as the end result will be based on their skill and experience.

[AZhitman]

Good advice.

Wideband is installed in the car, and regardless of what engine management system I go with, the car will be tuned on a dyno, by a professional, who will be well-compensated for his time.

He'll also get mad referrals.

[Edub1]

What would really be interesting is a realistic, all inclusive break down of what it takes to fully tune one of these motors.

It would be interesting to know how many shops out there tune them, how much time it takes and what a person should expect to spend.

Also, how much farting around might someone expect to do?

I understand the Bikirom is good for the DE motor. DIY is great but some of us have more to worry about than a tune for a 15 year old car.