being rich has its advantages for now. you have the headroom to play with your tru boost settings to get your boost just right before you go in and get it all smoothed out.

one question that is slightly off topic - open loop operation is utilized only under WOT, this i know. however, are partial throttle AFR's different in terms of safety? if i partial throttle my car and start to make boost i see AFR's jump to the 12's or so - is this safe? sometimes partial throttle is more useful than WOT....

 

Did you notice a reduction in the vtec dip after your exhaust/ hfc install? I'm looking at your exact setup for my car. Definitely get tuned. The dip can be leveled quite a bit with just stock components. You'll be amazed how well it smooths out.

 

as long as your out of boost, your afs can be 13+. Once boost hits in 12's or lower is usually ideal whether its a little boost or a lot of boost.

12's for you is fine on partial throttle. I run 12 af on WOT without a hitch

 

There was a dramatic reduction in VTEC dip with the Berk HFC and 70 mm single.

 

Those numbers seem about right....here are my "readouts"

2003 AP1

Greddy Kit (some mods)
HKS Exhaust
Berk TP

AEM wideband
AEM Tru Boost (off for now).

Peak boost 7.5lbs welded at all times to redline

AFR

Full boost - welded at 10.5 to redline.
Partial boost - in the 11s area.
Idle 14.7 +/- .5
Cruising 15.xx or 16.xx
No throttle - (---)
Cruising with "normal" throttle 13.xx

It's a pretty good basemap. The car runs better than any other basemapped car I've ever driven.

 

^^ i will agree with the basemap statement. my car idled and drove totally without a hitch on the basemap - it just reported back very rich!

 

yep really close to mine. Why is your tru boost off?

 

Because I'm not tuned. Big no-no to use a boost controller without a tune.

 

I'm hoping my bad luck with the emu will go away with the exhaust. I'm going to try to find a good emu tuner in the louisiana, texas area. If that doesn't work, I'm going aem , and will throw the stock-emu combo back in for inspection. My tune has killed my cat it's so off right now. I wasted my money on the dyno. =/

 

what you really need to realize is the tune is MAP based, IE load based. thinking in terms of part throttle and full throttle dont necessarily make sense.

explanation:

your at half throttle, but you just rolled away from the light so your in boost at say 5psi. your at half throttle but car is basing your fuel and timing off of the 5 psi of boost and what rpm your at. as the rpms increase, assuming your at the same half throttle, the load will drop, or boost, and you will see less boost or maybe even vacuum as the car stops accelerating and begins to hold a speed, as this is happening, your tune will constantly adjust itself based on the load it sees and the rpm you are at.

now you put your foot to the floor, car boosts to 8, well the tune will adjust timing and fuel for that rpm at that load. sooo, if your car has for some strange reason a boost spike to 12 and then falls to 8 by redline, well the tune will adjust accordingly for 12psi load and that rpm, and then the decreasing load combined with the rising rpm will call up different fuel and timing settings.

think of it as giant spread sheet. rpm on x axis and load on the y. even at wot, if your boost fluctuates, the tune will select the value based on the load and rpm.

this is the way aem ems works, and i think emu, kpro and what not.

now on a stock computer , i think it takes throttle position into account. anything past 80 percent or so reverts to a special WOT map that doesnt care about load at all. its rpm based once it hits this map.

you mentioned that you went to half throttle and saw 12:1. well this makes sense, becuase the load was higher then crusing, and you were even in boost.

as load increases, you will run richer and richer. to cruise you can see 15:1 and yes it will bounce around a bit. but as you increase the load, you will see it gradually, or quickly, depending on who tuned it, to your tuned full load AF ratio. even then, it may bounce a tenth here or there.


hope all this junk helps.

one other thing, do not get hung up on the AF ration the dyno sniffer spits out! it will be different then the number you see on your wideband. it will always be higher sometimes even a full point higher!

you seeing 10.8 on your wideband could be up to 11.8 on the dyno sniffer. for me, i was seeing .5-.7 higher on the sniffer then my wideband. trust your wideband.