Your comments on various FMU

[SoCalS14]

Ok, I have to ask, mainly to get all the comments into one thread. What are the pros and cons of the various FMU's on the market...

GReddy E-ManageHKS F-ConPower FCJWT?? S-AFC

I am thinking I would like around 300 whp, and I need a competent unit to run m y injectors...I think i wil end up with 550-600cc...

[msaskin]

Do you know how to tune cars/have any desire to tune the car yourself?

I'd say your best bet is to contact enthalpy (scott avoy, secret services' old tuner) and get one of his rom tunes.

Hands down better than JWT tunes, and you'll get way more power from a rom tune then you will from a piggyback (e-manage, safc, etc.) since you'll get a better timing map.

~matt

[Cyberkreig]

I have emanage and I love it. But piggy backs are piggy backs. My emanage is piggybacked on a Blitz Tuned ecu. Even with an excellent tune its a good idea to be able to tweak.

[SoCalS14]

I don't know how to tune, but it woul dbe nice to learn what is being adjusted. I have an idea its fuel and ignition...Is the goal to maximize the air fuel ratio across the RPM range?

I have heard that APEX electronics are unreliable, but I also know quite a few folks who recommend it...

[msaskin]

I don't know how to tune, but it woul dbe nice to learn what is being adjusted. I have an idea its fuel and ignition...Is the goal to maximize the air fuel ratio across the RPM range?

I have heard that APEX electronics are unreliable, but I also know quite a few folks who recommend it...

Saying that tuning is just about adjusting timing & fuel is a gross over-simplification. I'm assuming you're going to find a decent tuner, and any tuner should be willing to spend the time tuning the car as well as explaining to you what he/she is doing along the way.

As for full standalones, the major choices are:

Electromotive Tec2/Tec3Microtech LT-8/LTx-8A'pexi PowerFCHaltech E6x/E6k/E11xAEM EMS

There are of course many many others (MoTeC, SDS, wolf, etc......)

There are a few factors to consider: How much do you want to spend? Is there a tuner in your area for the given system? Plug and play?

To give a quick review:Electromotive - expensive, not plug and play, you're going to have to fab up a wiring harness as well as a crank triggerMicrotech - least expensive. i believe they have a plug and play version, if not, you'll have to wire up a flying lead harness. finding experienced tuners in the USA can be difficult thoughPowerFC - I can't stand the FC. NO WAY to tune via a laptop unless you buy the 3rd party FC-Datalogit hardware/software, and the FC commander sucks.Haltech - cheap, tuners are plentiful, software runs in DOS (crappy), need to wire a flying lead harnessAEM - expensive, tuners are plentiful, plug and play

Another thing to consider is what standalones have base maps available to get you running right off the bat. I know AEM does, and I believe Microtech may, but that's it.

As I said, if you have more in depth questions, ask away

~matt

[SoCalS14]

Sorry for the over simplification of tuning, again I do not know how to tune.

I know POwer FC does have a base map for SR....The commander does look difficult to use...at least not as good as a laptop....

Can you go over some of the "basics" of tuning" , if such a concept exists...Maybe you could explain it in terms of what your looking at in a graph???

[S14Life]

Yes please do! I'm very interested in this thread.

[cheez80]

hey guys, there's also a standalone called "megasquirt"

my friend and i are planning on running this unit on our ae86 to drive a 20v blacktop.

imo, it's the most cost effective standalone; it only costs something like 300. it's also an open source project, making it more flexible (in terms of operating system, etc., since you can write your own code to drive the hardware)

oh, and with an emanage, supposedly you can only drive injectors up to a certain percentage over stock. iirc, the math works out to something around 500cc, even though i've heard of people running 720cc and even larger injectors using the emanage

just my 2 cents

[msaskin]

Megasquirt is cool, but it definitely involves the most time to setup/configure/wire/etc. of any standalone out there. It's not for the feint of heart

As for piggybacks, they can only correctly correct (eh???) for 50% larger/smaller (in general). The problem with piggybacks is that they start screwing your timing way out of wack because of how they correct for different injectors (by altering airflow numbers)

~matt

[evildky]

dont' forget SDS (Simple Digital Solutions) not as broad in the form of tuning as it does not interfase with a laptop, but it's cheap and the tuning pod is right there ready for tweaking whenever you get the urge

[robbbby]

If I were modding my SR and needed tuning there is only two routes I personally would go.

#1. Rom tune by scott#2. standalone

Piggy backs are exactly that. You will spend lots of money for very very limited control. The money you spend on a piggyback i'm sure is fairly close to having scott avoy do a rom tune which will make your car run like a ****ing dream. No amount of messing around with a piggyback will get your car to run as good as his rom tune. Hands down this is the best idea for anyone who doesn't have the time and money to buy and wire up a standalone. Not to mention learn how to tune or pay someone big bucks to tune.

I don't mean to keep preaching about enthalpys rom tune (I don't even know the guy) but for someone with limited funds and lack of skill and who just wants a car that will take full advantage of your mods this is honestly the best way

Standalones are awesome as well as long as you have a little bit of time and lots of money. Most include custom wiring and custom fabrication. Also if you have no desire to spendweeks upon weeks reading about EFI and how it works and willing to try and learn to tune and probably blow somehting up in the process it costs alot to have a professional tune your standalone.

[SoCalS14]

So how does his ROM tune work? I give him a list of mods and !POW! he tunes a computer for me???

[msaskin]

quick answer...yes

~matt