i dont plan on modding that far......i would buy the aem but after spend the dyno time tuning it......twice the cost of j's. even if i go SC, i can still sell the j's to someone that is where i am now. i dont know.....it HARD!

 

^ IMO, ECU would be one of the last things to buy. Until you get the other bolt-ons, a VAFC with a good tune would less money with good results.

 

really? vfac, just lets play with with A/F right?

 

A GREAT tune at Ultimate Lurker's place (Church automotive) is only around $300 for an simple N/A car because its really pretty easy for him as he does soo many.

One reason the EMS is superior to the VAFC is the knock sensor control. When you try and lower the VTEC engagement, the knock sensor senses that. ie. the engine makes more noise...the stock knock sensor is calibrated to not be AS sensitive at that transistion point and a few hundred RPM before and after...with the VAFC, you can lower the VTEC point, but a lot of people see some weird and not perfect results. Typically the engine detects the lower engagement point as the engine knocking and pulls some timing for that little point. A reason why the EMS is able to lower VTEC much more and gain much more mid-range power then the VAFC...for top end, ya, the EMS doesn't gain too much more. You just have to figure out if you're more about peak numbers...or the power that matters

 

i dont plan on lowering vtec, seems like honda has it right. i have notice the vtec varies anyway

 

For the money, the ECU isn't worth it over the VAFC. I think the best and cheapest magical combo for our car's NA is:

CAI(name your brand), J's header, T1R70, Proflow 70mm TB (only 150 dollars), Hondata gasket, VAFC tune.

Whether or not you'll hit 230, your car is going to be much quicker. Instead of spending another grand or two after this to squeeze out another 5-10 hp, wouldn't you rather get gears, or something that'll make your car lighter and more fun?

I'm probably going to go with the 4.56 gears, and IF I can find a J's header I'll get one. If not, I'm thinking I just might do used lightweight wheels and coilovers and just have fun with the car. I mean, at this stage in the game you'll be as fast as a SC up through 3rd gear. You're going to hammer every 350Z you find. Plus, working on getting the car as LIGHT as possible is quite fun. Try it

 

gears are a given....4.56 for me. vfac with a tune. got it. how much does T1R go for? single that is.

 

ahh...but they didn't get it right. They set it up so that everybody could FEEL that magical VTEC kick in and kick in strong. In reality, to be making the most hp, you shouldn't ever FEEL the VTEC transistion. If you can feel it kick in, this means that the high cams could have been engaged at an earlier RPM and have been making more torque over the low cams. In reality, to get the most area under the curve the VTEC transistion should be as smooth as possible. I'm probably going to set mine for 4500-4000 rpms, somewhere in that range and at above around 50% throttle. While I believe the high cams will could actually make slightly more hp even a tad lower then that...I'm also going to give a little buffer for oil pressure and such.

also, this isn't the only area the EMS is better. If all you plan for are the simple upgrades, and nothing more, then sure a VAFC will work fine. I guess where I'm coming from is the fact that I believe in spending the big money once rather then doing the small money upgrades and having to upgrade again later. So I'm more about just getting the best stuff from the get-go. While hypocritical slightly because I bought the JIC exhaust and want a J's 70, the deal on the JIC was too good to pass up, and I've been wanting an exhaust for quite some time now, and it is used and I'm sure I can sell it for close to, if not the same price.

Anyway, I can't wait to have all of this PLUS gears...it will be exciting.

 

alright, AEM EMS it is.....you've talked me into it.

 

haha...what a salesman I am lol no. Its really just my personal opinion, hence why I bought an EMS. I actually waited until I found a good used one. Well, it was never actually used, just sold at a used price with the UEGO gauge type controller. I've had it since July but still haven't installed it because I wanted to get another gauge to fill the second hole on the A-pillar and find the right tuner, and get some cash aside to tune it... I'm planning to tune my current set-up on either the 19th or 20th of Dec. I will be posting the dyno sheets up, however UL's dyno reads a little high, so I'll ask him about how to convert those numbers into actual whp numbers (its a dynapack)

anyway, if you are N/A, once you tune the EMS for the first time...you really don't need to tune it again unless you do something major, like headwork, ITB's etc...you can add a header or a bored TB, an intake manifold etc...and you don't need to get it re-tuned. Personally I will probably just log some 3rd or 4th gear pulls after I get it tuned and install new things to make sure there isn't knock.