I am a suby Guru, and an Evo NEWB.

Ive been tuning suby's with the Utec for about a year at my shop, and am about to purchase an Evo for my own daily driver. Some would say im going over to the "darkside", i say im just supporting the AWD Turbo cause. I will be seeking something in the range of 450-500 AWHP.

Obviously, i'm biased toward the UTEC as i am already comfortable with it.
As an experienced utec tuner, could i assume i could also learn the ins and outs of the EMS reasonably? Im looking toward the future and don't want to fall victim to hindsight, wishing I just got the EMS in the first place.

Ive done the searches... im looking for the honest opinion of someone EXPERIENCED with the EMS.

Thanks for your help

 

The Utec is a snack, but the AEM is another ballgame. Be careful as your Utec is a piggyback,but the AEM is a Full standalone. One simple mistake can blow your engine.

 

Yes the Utec is a simple contraption, but you can easily blow a motor with a wrong click here or there using a Utec as well. Im pretty accustomed to using caution when tuning (you get used to that quickly when working on other peoples cars for a living).

But is the tuning process of the EMS truly that much more complex than the basic parameters of Ignition Timing, Boost, Fuel, Constants, etc????

 

not really i came from a dsm link background & i would say it's complex but if you know how to tune a engine it wouldn't be bad. all the cold start stuff is the hardest in my opinion the wot stuff isn't bad so far.. i just got mine though so i still have alot to learn

 

So say i go the easy route and use the Utec, at what point of modification will i kick myself? I know that you have to retain the stock MAF with the utec, but at what kind of power does the MAF become a limiting factor?

What else is the Utec missing for tuning a car with cams and a non-laggy turbo setup?

 

I owned both and if i was to do it again. The AEM hands down, the Utec has little bugs that are being worked on. IMO go with the AEM and don't look back.

 

You say you've mastered the UTEC. That means you've gone farther than 99% of people, and I congratulate you on that.

However, the AEM EMS is completely different from the UTEC, an E-manage, S-AFC, SDS standalone, or other simple system. There is so much more knowledge required in terms of engine mechanics to get a car to start, let alone idle, cruise, and perform at wide open throttle properly. I recommend downloading the free AEM Pro software from AEM's website so you can read the manual and then see the software. The way multiple trim tables interact with the main fuel and timing tables is a key difference that separates the EMS from other systems. Also, you have to tune EVERYTHING as opposed to just tuning moderate and high throttle. This includes start, idle, light throttle, and all the pages of tables and values that are involved.

As a general note...nobody should feel bad or get discouraged if they're overwhelmed by the EMS. To give you an idea of how few people do this kind of tuning well, I fix tunes performed by other shops specializing in import performance tuning on a regular basis. These aren't just small shops, but "big name" shops as well.

-Mike

 

great info, thanks for your time