J's Racing ECU installed
07-12-2005, 12:49 PM
#11
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The car felt fine during a 4 hour drive but after being in traffic, the car did start to bog a bit. That could be related to intake temps though.
Is there an easy way to check if I am running lean - i.e check the spark plugs or something rather than forking out for some elctronic gear?
Thanks for the link though.
BTW - what kind of noises am I supposed to hear if the car is running lean?
Edit: after fitting the Js header I did notice a lot more whooshing sound from the exhaust though.
Is there an easy way to check if I am running lean - i.e check the spark plugs or something rather than forking out for some elctronic gear?
Thanks for the link though.
BTW - what kind of noises am I supposed to hear if the car is running lean?
Edit: after fitting the Js header I did notice a lot more whooshing sound from the exhaust though.
07-12-2005, 01:05 PM
#12
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Well the bogging after a 4 hour drive is probably from your intake manifold heating up.
If you don't want to trouble yourself, just go down to a shop that has a dynometer, they will run you car at WOT and give you back your A/F #'s.
Or, you can pickup an A/F meter and wideband O2/lamda, hook it up and see what your average readings are. If you want you can also look at the end of your spark plugs. A whitish/grayish tip means you've been running lean.
Most vehicles running rich/lean usually give off distingusable noises such as "knocking". You would know by now if this was the case.
Did you reset your ECU after your mods?
If you don't want to trouble yourself, just go down to a shop that has a dynometer, they will run you car at WOT and give you back your A/F #'s.
Or, you can pickup an A/F meter and wideband O2/lamda, hook it up and see what your average readings are. If you want you can also look at the end of your spark plugs. A whitish/grayish tip means you've been running lean.
Most vehicles running rich/lean usually give off distingusable noises such as "knocking". You would know by now if this was the case.
Did you reset your ECU after your mods?
07-12-2005, 01:10 PM
#13
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I didn't notice any knocking or odd noises at all. I reset the ECU after the installation.
So sorry to be a pain but where do I connect the A/f meter and lambda etc?
So sorry to be a pain but where do I connect the A/f meter and lambda etc?
07-12-2005, 01:27 PM
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Here is a diagrahm of the wiring for the PLX units. http://www.plxdevices.com
You can get the M300 (includes display) for under USD 400.
However, this may be overkill if you don't have any future plans for it (i.e. tuning). If you just want to see if you're running lean or not, have a shop do it for you
BTW, read my last post, I editited it (spark plugs).
07-12-2005, 01:37 PM
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With the pricing of all the aftermarket units out there, and the fact touched on previously that the JDM ecus may disable knock sensors, and are tuned for higher octane fuels, I'd have to recommend the AEM to anyone who needed an ECU upgrade..
It will upgrade with you in the future - unless you are done now? (yeah RIGHT!
)
It will allow forced induction
It will allow you to retain your stock ecu, for any number of purposes (smogtime, ebay, etc etc)
It can be fine tuned for your specific car, altitude - everything. Even identical cars from the factory can have large variances.
Local Support Base and user group
Price!
Seems like an easy choice. Plug and play ecus, mail order maps, and trying to get anything optimally tuned from a remote source is going to be a losing battle.. The only downside I see on the AEM is it NEEDS TUNING. The base map is not safe for anything but starting the car up and maybe putting to the dyno facility.
It will upgrade with you in the future - unless you are done now? (yeah RIGHT!
)It will allow forced induction
It will allow you to retain your stock ecu, for any number of purposes (smogtime, ebay, etc etc)
It can be fine tuned for your specific car, altitude - everything. Even identical cars from the factory can have large variances.
Local Support Base and user group
Price!
Seems like an easy choice. Plug and play ecus, mail order maps, and trying to get anything optimally tuned from a remote source is going to be a losing battle.. The only downside I see on the AEM is it NEEDS TUNING. The base map is not safe for anything but starting the car up and maybe putting to the dyno facility.
07-12-2005, 01:43 PM
#16
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Thanks for the post Rich.
That one downside you mention is what I am worried about. I don't know of any tuners near me that I would trust to tune my car.
I will check if the J's gets rid of the knock sensors etc.
Would the J's ECU not work well with my setup?
That one downside you mention is what I am worried about. I don't know of any tuners near me that I would trust to tune my car.
I will check if the J's gets rid of the knock sensors etc.
Would the J's ECU not work well with my setup?
07-12-2005, 02:06 PM
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I agree with Rich on this one, however if you don't want people messing with your car...I would just pick up a nice wideband unit and an A'pexi VAFCII and call it a day. Thats what i'll being doing!
07-12-2005, 02:12 PM
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I'm gonna sleep on it for a bit but I am leaning towards:
1 - Test pipe
2 - J's ECU mapped to my mods - emailed J's Racing - they have preset maps which will suit my selection of mods
3 - Racing spark plugs
Thinks to check:
1 - knock sensors - safety margins
2 - cost!
I just wish people using the J's ECU would chime in.
1 - Test pipe
2 - J's ECU mapped to my mods - emailed J's Racing - they have preset maps which will suit my selection of mods
3 - Racing spark plugs
Thinks to check:
1 - knock sensors - safety margins
2 - cost!
I just wish people using the J's ECU would chime in.
07-12-2005, 02:21 PM
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I don't think many people use the JDM ecus.. as stated
They are based off 94 octane at the minimum
Emissions controls that are here in the states may not be accounted for
There is no "exchange" - you pay nearly double the list price of an ECU since they don't want or need your core.
VAFCII would be my second choice - simply for the fact that its an easy method to adjust pulsewidth, and you can "trim" the setup yourself, eliminating the NEED for dyno time.. although a good wideband and VAFC and you are right at ~ $1k I would think... Fatten everything up and then gently pull it back/lean it out over runs.
A split second ARC-1 or ARC-2 would allow that adjustment too, but without the wideband you are tuning in the dark...
They are based off 94 octane at the minimum
Emissions controls that are here in the states may not be accounted for
There is no "exchange" - you pay nearly double the list price of an ECU since they don't want or need your core.
VAFCII would be my second choice - simply for the fact that its an easy method to adjust pulsewidth, and you can "trim" the setup yourself, eliminating the NEED for dyno time.. although a good wideband and VAFC and you are right at ~ $1k I would think... Fatten everything up and then gently pull it back/lean it out over runs.
A split second ARC-1 or ARC-2 would allow that adjustment too, but without the wideband you are tuning in the dark...