hey guys, what going on with you all?

Some of you who've skimmed the forums in the introduction thread might of seen my post as a new user , but for those of you that didn't know, I will be picking up a 2008 Berlina Black s2000 CR this coming winter, and down here in Texas, its pretty much summer year round.

Onto what I was getting into. I was doing searches on the forums regarding EMS options available for the s2000. (research early is always a good thing yeah?)

My first question would be are there any other available EMS that will give better tuning options then the AEM EMS/hondata? (from what I've search, these two are the top choices along with the e-manage from GReddy).

Also opinions on a Apex'i FC, HKS Fcon, motec, and turbo XS. If there are other options available please feel free to post.

Also as far as AF meters go, If you guys could recommend some that'd be great, I was personally looking @ zeitronix, AEM UEGO and the Motec AF meters.

 

First you have to choose piggyback or standalone. Piggybacks allow you to change the air-fuel ratio and ignition timing, some add wideband O2 feedback. They are typically used for adding boost to a factory non-boosted engine, wild cams, etc. Examples are AEM FIC, Greddy e-manage, Apexi FC, HKS Fcon, etc.

Standalones can control stuff outside the basic engine parameters covered by piggybacks. They typically add extra functions like nitrous control, speed dependent boost control, two step launch control, etc. They are also used for converting to ITB's. Two biggest categories of standalone ECU's are universal and plug-n-play.

Plug-n-play's use existing sensors and wiring harness for your vehicle. Examples of plug-n-play are AEM EMS 1052, Hydra, and Hondata K-Pro.

The most tuning options are available in the universal units like Motec, Haltech, FAST, Accel DFI. They are designed for total control and integration, rather than ease of install and price point.

The newest S2000's are drive-by-wire with traction control, and present a challenge for total integration. There are options available. But you must really determine what your needs are. You can get a piggyback to tune a built engine with, or add boost. You can even use an AEM EMS as a piggy-back to the stock ECU, but it will only control the basic engine parameters that a typical piggy-back would. The stock ECU would still be used to control the throttle solenoid, ABS, traction control, etc.

I believe Motec's top of the line stuff is unbeatable for true race cars. With capabilities for basic engine tuning, anti-lock braking, traction control, drive-by-wire throttle, plenty of memory for many channels of data-logging, and well sorted software, its great. However, it would take a ton of development time to move all the functions over to a standalone and get them all ironed out to work as good as stock.

I bet Hondata will some day have a tightly integrated plug-n-play standalone for the newest drive-by-wire S2000's if you can wait for it.