I was in Chicago covering the formula D event which was,well OK. But my other agenda was to visit AMS (www.amstuned.com) and have my AEM EMS tuned.
So after setting the car up for MAP we got it on the dyno and began tuning. Because the tune was being done for free for me we had very limited time but Martin (the tuner) is damned good at what he does and in 2 1/2 hours these were the results.
This was done at 16psi on 93 pump gas. We had problems with the AVCR boost controller as the turbo was spooling late and just acting weird overall. I sense that the AEM has buggered it up as now when you get off the gas it reads 0s accross all the monitoring functions. Something is definitely up with it. Martin mentioned he has never had any luck with those boost controllers so I am contemplating swtiching over to an AEM unit.
Overall Im pretty happy with it. The car runs at a consitent 11.2-11.1 AFR and whats best is the gas mileage is amazing, better than it ever was with my JWT ecu. The map (instead of MAF) makes for very smooth transitions on and off boost and overall the car seems much smoother.
Ive got some cold start issues but I was told it would be expected as Martin only had one chance to tune it. I will be able to fix that with the instructions given to me though. I also think it has something to do with the AEM as idle is almost impossible to adjust, it sits at a constant 950-1000rpm regardless of the adjustments made. I suspect the FIAV isnt operating properly.
For those interested setup is:
S14 SR Stock block
Garrett 2871R .64 A/R w/ internal gate
Full Race bottom mount mani
HKS type-S FMIC
3-inch turbo back exhaust w/hi-flo cat
I have Tomei 256 cams but I dont even know if I want to bother installing them now. I wanted a great responsive street tune and the car is exactly that.
Truthfully, I dont trust anyone in Toronto to tune my car, Ive poured alot of my time into it and I wasnt going to take it to someone that I wasnt 100% sure of. Im good friends with Martin and have known him for a while, he has tuned countless high hp cars and knows the AEM like the back of his hand. That dyno you see there is the 20th dyno pull of the tune. After that he did the part throttle and trims. He didnt even take it on the road and its pretty much spot on. I dont want to sound like he is a God just saying that he knows his stuff and thats why I thought it was worth my while to take the car to him.
We could have made more power but the knock sensor was starting to get triggered when he threw more timing at it, that run was 330whp so he pulled it back to keep it safe.
The real problem now is that I dont think the car is fast anymore. Before we got to my car, he needed to go do a quick street tune on an EVO equipped with a GT42R, so I jumped in the drivers seat and we went for a ride. As we hit his little test spot he say Im going to tell you to get on it and when the boost hits its gonna hit hard so make sure to shift at 8K. Im thinking no problem, we are in 4th gear at 3K and he tells me to give it which I do. Nothing, the car is a dog, I hear a little turbo spool but it feels like its got 100hp, 4K hits, 4.5K, then 5K hits and BAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMM, I am nailed to my seat so hard that it feels like nothing I have felt before, before I can even look at the tach its singing 8K, I try to grab for the shifter but its dam near impossible, 9K and the rev limiter hits. Martin laughs and goes, you just felt 711awhp!
Ill tell you, I have been in 900hp supras and other fast ride but nothing compared to this thing, my god it was a bullet. 38psi on race gas will do that though. Its laggy as fuck but its for drag racing. The funniest part is they have a 900whp evo there.
Sorry for the tangent but driving home with 300whp didnt seem all that fun anymore.
As for me getting therel I had a JWT ecu installed and it ran fine, so I drove it down there on the JWT and installed the AEM when I arrived.
Bing - Sure Martin will do it, for free, not likely :).
Also - as for your AVC-R issue I would suspect it has do do with where you have tapped the sensor signals. You AEM will not behave like a stock ECU.
For example, if you have the RPM tapped off the injectors…the AEM is more than likely killing the injectors on 0 throttle and in turn sending that signal to your AVCR. If you find another signal source I’m sure you’ll be fine.
As for the gas mileage, I hit half a tank at 340km on the trip meter. Speeds were in excess of 100mph for half the trip home from Chi-town.
Before this tune it would eat 3/4 tank to get to windsor from TO now its just past half.
