^ THIS ^ +1 for you my good sir.

This is EXACTLY why I picked it up when I had the chance. Besides the fact that everything is quick, easy and to the point, I can set Targets. Which at the very least will make me feel more comfortable on the Pump Tune. O

 

True. That's one of the big reasons I'm considering standalone. I'm about to spend so much on a build that being able to setup failsafes for pretty much everything is nice insurance. I saw where you can even wire in a fuel pressure sensor and have fuel pressure compensation and failsafes in the tune. No pressure switch needed for engaging a second fuel pump either.

 

There's so much s**t you can do on a stand alone, I probably don't even know half of what's possible on my Series 2. But the capabilities are there, which is what counts.

I'm with you though! To me personally, there's no sense in spending $10,000+ on a build and skimp on the SINGLE most important thing: an ECU. Granted we can do a lot with Tephra, but even with the best tuner, it's still limited when it comes to fail safe parameters and safet auxiliary I/O's.

 

I don't even think anyone is saying they aren't worth it. Personally, my point is "needed". I.E. If i'm running a moderate build that's not tuned to it's teeth, I don't see the need for a stand alone. This is just my point of view, though. I don't run a ton of boost nor power. If were tuning to the point of eeking out every WHP, or building a race car where it would be pushed to the limit on a regular basis, then I would want a stand alone because ANY hiccup will make the car go boom.



I didn't realize it was a $10,000 build. If that's the case, then maybe I'd appreciate that extra safety factor. LOL.
Since I live in an F'ed up state, I couldn't do any of that anyway. Unless it's easy to swap back to the stock ECU for OBD-II smog checks.

Has anyone had any experience with the AEM Infinity? We used AEM on a Mustang, once. WOW @ the options it had. It took forever to fine tune, but man.. It was truly amazing.

 

In my case the cost will be up there as well. I lost my block, head, and turbo. Need to do a 5 speed swap with a clutch also because I was stock clutch 6 speed. The added cost of an Infinity doesn't seem so bad when adding up everything else I'm going to need.

 

Ive ran 34lbs on 93 into the 12 afrs before. Its what the car liked. A few tenths wont matter much. As for the targeting, why do you need to hit what you place into the ECU if you are already seeing the number you want on the AFR gauge? I take those numbers merely as reference. I wouldnt say matching those numbers help your hp numbers.

 

I agree about the numbers in the fuel map just being a reference and not really meaning anything. I just meant if you're tuning to hit 12.0 and always staying at 12.0 like with a standalone vs staying between 11.8 and 12.2.

Wouldn't think there would really be much practical difference in the AFR fluctuating a bit.

 

You guys don't get it. You clearly don't track your cars. My car can see variations in AFR up to .5 once it gets heat soaked 10 minutes into a session. Its a pain to have to review logs, and adjust accordingly, and also keep an eye on AFR's while on track. With a stand alone, it runs full time closed loop, and you have your base fuel map, and then the ECU makes adjustment to hit your target AFR, regardless of heat soak, etc.


Or the track is 1500ft different elevation from home so I have to make adjustments to fueling, and boost.
Also, in the high desert area's where it can be 40* in the morning, and 80* in the afternoon, I almost always have to make small adjustment to fix throttle response issues. Usually it just entails trimming the fuel map a bit, or the SD RPM/VE table.


If I could afford, and there weren't other things I wanted to do first (mainly sort out my brakes and get some ohlins), an EMS would be much closer to the top of my list. It would be really nice to go to the track and just worry about driving and chassis setup, and not also be worrying about engine/tune. But it's 3rd on my list right now unfortunately.


Kaj, you're stilling running a MAF on a mildly modded car, so you don't really get the issues that present when switching the stock ECU to speed density.

 

And this is exactly why I let others mess with all the high-hp racey car stuff. LOL.

If I went all-out, I'd have to spend a lot of money on the stand alone to have as few worries as I do now. Seeing how my car is waaaay more street car than race car, I'll stay where I'm at.

As much fun as I have driving the Evo to events, around town, etc... I don't think I'll ever go full race car. Keeping money in my pocket is just an added bonus.

 

Well said haha

 

Dude is correct. Closed loop fuel tuning is where the ECU has a target air fuel ratio or lambda which it is always trying to achieve.

The ECU compares the output of a lambda sensor with the target lambda and adjusts the injector duration to try to achieve the target. This is accomplished using a trim percentage that is applied when the injection time is calculated, rather than by adjusting the fuel map itself.

I know you can get away with a lot with Tephra, and probably much, much more, when new patches are dropped, but it will still never have the capability that a stand alone has. Hell, there's still code in the ECU that no one knows what it does, and we've been hacking these little silver bastards for 13+ years in the US.

You can still do tons with the stock ECU, but Stand Alone > Trickery will always been the equation.