Well, I've got to add my 2 cents now.

It seems to me that, as old as this thread is, no one has yet hit upon the most important issue (to me, anyway).

Smoggy, this is a hobby. A *hobby.*

For a bunch of people who are ostensibly into tuning, a highly fexible system that allows us to do exactly that in just about every way possible is going to be a very wonderful thing, regardless of its performance. Which is good, because the AEM's performance varies wildly depending on the experience level of the hobbyist!

(I destroyed one cylinder already... best reason to buy a stroker kit *ever* )

Of course, not everyone here's into tuning; some just want a fast car and are more into the driving aspect. Trust me, they'll go for your "more bang for the buck" options almost every time.

But for the rest of us... L'AEM n'est pas mort! Vive l'AEM!

 

I love AEM EMS's. I run an AEM EMS on my personal car. People that talk negative about the AEM EMS usually either have had a bad experience with their tuner, go off what other people say that have had a bad experience with their tuner and/or have little to no experience with the AEM EMS. Dont get me wrong. I like the stock ECU but prefer the AEM EMS

 

FWIW, watching Autronic SM4's Autotune feature tune itself makes an AEM EMS look like it comes from the stone age. No comparison.

 

how much is retail on one of those?

do they make them for EVO's?

 

They retail for right about $2k. The SM4 is PNP for the IX, PNP with a harness adapter (made by an EVOm member) for the VIII. The SM4 is what you want, not the SMC (originally made as a PNP for the VIII).

What nice about the Autronic (aside from its much better interface) is that one can install one and tune it himself in about 15-20 minutes with NO prior experience and without relying on anyone for base maps or tuner input ($). Trying to do that with an AEM is like trying to put a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle together in the same amount of time.

 

$2k that's alot of dough! I'll have to do more research on the SM4 PMP

 

I think the Vpro is better than all!!

Sean

 

Ted I do alot of autronic cars, they are good units, but no average Joe without some sort of background is going to get that running well. It doesn't auto tune the timing curves.

Sean

 

Let me clarify, I'm not referring to an 'average joe' without any tuning background. I'm referring to the fact that one needs not have application specific expertise to get it up and running, and reasonably well tuned in minutes. Try to do that with an EMS.

What it does is get things like AFR tuned and out of the way quickly, easily, and without tedium, which is a big piece (like almost 50%) of the puzzle. It saves a good deal of dyno/tuning time ($$), and likewise reduces the potential for user error.

 

Having never seen one (and you put your hands on all of them), I am curious as to the attributes of the Vpro that make your opinion of it what it is. Do elaborate.

 

I'm interested too. How does the Autronic and HKS Fcon V Pro compare to the AEM in terms of knock control?

 

Autronic allows individual cylinder ignition and/or fuel adjustment to control knock, so I imagine it's pretty decent.

It appears the HKS unit requires dealer-only software in order to tune or retune it, so that counts me out.

 

Engine management systems debates are always interesting as they tend to attract polarized participants. I will add my 2 cents, from a tuning background (not from a evo specific background.. yet).
EMS's are wonderful things, I have megasquirt on my hotrod volvo, it gets better every day, I've tuned a 500hp honda (its up around 640 whp now) with an AEM, it was nice, seen and played with various other honda tuning devices (socketed chrome'd ecus, aem s300's, turboedit, and the like). Any grassroots tuning solution is almost always going to lag behind a commercial venture like the AEM, as its a passion/free time/low cost project, not a 'We need to get this out there fast and close to right to cover our investments and make the stockholders happy', hence features and abilities tend to lag behind a bit. The trade off normally is in cost, and of course at the end of the day one has to ask whether or not its in sync with your plans for the car or not.
The biggest benefit of keeping the stock ecu over a standalone is in what *has* to be mapped and remapped vs what you *want*. Switching over to an EMS almost always requires going through and remapping everything. This can add up quickly if one is paying someone else to set these things up. Getting someone else's base map can drastically cut down on the time required, but every setup varries. My feelings go both ways: on my fun car, I like to have control over everything, but on my daily-d I ideally like to have just enough control to bend it where I want it (this is a big issue on the older volvos that I've been playing with, they have an adaptive learning type of thing that more often than not causes great consternation) without having to jack with everything to do so. Might not yield every last bit of power, but when you're just bombing around town with friends, its fine.

Now having said all this, i'll go introduce myself in the n00b forum.

 

After 500 wp I think ecutek and a puggy back cannot support the neccesities of your car

 

What about converting the MAS to a speed density? How much power THEN can the OEM ECU (say and Evo IX ECU ) handle?

I for one am a HUGE fan of the knock control capability of the OEM ECU. That alone should make people think twice.