In my quest for finding a tuner and trying to decide what system to go with (vafc, emanage, ems) I ran across a reputable yet low key tuner in Austin who recommends hondata over EMS saying EMS can cause a lot of headaches after a tune and installation. The only "headaches" ive heard of was a not so consistent engine start.

Anywho, they have a decent price for a dyno pull (75 bucks for an hour I believe) as opposed to other shops who charge 200 per hour. I've been doing everything within the realm of my knowledge to make sure the engine is running in top shape before I go and mess around with an engine management system. I did a compression test tonight and these are my numbers.

Warm engine, WOT upon start, tested with 1 plug out at a time.

#1 - 220
#2 - 220
#3 - 230
#4 - 230

On cyl 1 and 2 I noticed the pressure lowering on its own due to me not having the hose screwed in all the way to avoid having trouble pulling it out, and on 3 and 4 I tightened it down a little bit harder which leads me to believe that 1 and 2 could have been at 230, and dropped to 220 by the time i got out of the car and to the engine.

Any other tips before hitting a dyno? And also, getting Hondata kpro to work with AP1 is insanely expensive, and should I risk getting my car tuned with AEM EMS if the tuner says its a "headache."

 

Hondata is still considered an EMS . .

AEM will work fine . . . Many people use it with absolutely no problems.

 

Don't trust your car to a 'reputable' tuner just because he tunes cars.

Tony1 is in TX, that's who I'd have tune my car if I was in that area.

 

There is merit in the above post. If you go EMS use a good tuner of S2000s and not the local good tuner that has not done S2000s.
Tony1, Mase, and many others are available. Don't cheap out and mess up your ride. If you don't have the money to do it right, just slow down until you do.

True story: A local guy decided to have his friend tune his AEM EMS supercharged S2000 because his friend was very good with big V8s. First pull lunched the engine. He was running about 15 degrees too much advance and blew it right there on the spot. Took out the rings and cylinder walls in more than one cylinder.

It can be important with an S2000 to use someone familiar with them.
Many folks on the forums have traveled hundreds of miles to get the good tune. You can always drive there ahead of time to cool down, change the injectors and EMS and have them start it on the dyno. The other option is to get it ready and tow it there.

Keep us posted on your progress and good luck.

 

cool, thanks for the info and references!

 

If your tuner says AEM EMS is a headache id get my car and drive to a different tuner. It does take a couple seconds to start but you'll get used to it. Anyways Ive been running aem ems with my greddy kit for a year now and have made several roadtrips from Oregon To California (11 hour drives) and back without any issues.

 

I did however notice that when I pulled my plugs, they were all white and dry. something to worry about?