Posted: August 3rd, 2006, 8:19 pm
WOW! A post that your 400whp mx3 isnt mentioned!! Hahahhaa.JWMotorsports wrote:If you have a digital multimeter with a tone generator & the car's OEM wiring diagram its a breeze...assuming you know a good deal about electronics.
If you had problems getting your S-AFC to work....don't even attempt this as you'll cost your self a lot of money in the long run.
First you need a general understanding of basic electronics. Then a bit about how the various electronics in the car work. My recommendation is for you to purchase "Tuning ACCEL/DFI 6.0 Programmable Fuel Injection". It is published by HPBooks and written by Ray T. Bohacz. It tells you about the different sensors, how they work, and what they are used for first. Then it teaches you how to properly size your fuel injection system components. Then it gives some a bit of info on intake manifold design and then tells you step by step how to setup the EMS and then how to tune it as well. Second best EFI book I've ever read, very easy to follow. Don't just read it once or all at one time either. Read, re-read, repeat, then referance as needed. Further more you need a good understanding of how the engine's internals work, pook around on http://www.howstuffworks.com
Most full standalone systems have the option for you to buy a universal "Flying Lead Harness". That is the option I go for because it eliminates old wireing that who knows who has chopped into etc... I've had a LOT of bad install experiances due to other peoples wiring and recommend inexperianced people to stay away from them. I've got the tools and knowledge to trouble shoot and find such things but it can be VERY time consuming. Starting with a new harness also offers you the option to reroute your harness and hide it for a stealth install. The only OEM wires left in my car...for the time being...are the circuits for the lighting system, I went through and removed all the unused wires out of the OEM harnesses and completely removed & replaced the main fuse box that was located inthe engine bay. By doing so my car lost a considerable amount of weight just in OEM wiring! Another thing I did was put my EMS and fuel pump on two seperate toggles. This enables me to leave power to the EMS for tuning, tweaks, monitoring, etc... with the ign key out. It also enables me to disconnect a fuel line and pump the 93 octane or C16 gas out of the tank VERY quickly
Both the Microtech and the Haltech are very friendly EMS systems. As for having accessories...standalones have inputs & outputs for accessory signals, both digital and analog (beware of what you buy...some have MANY and some have little or even none). Digital monitors frequency (ie...speed, rpm) and analog looks at just voltage (ie...tps,afr,egt). When you turn for example the AC on there is a signal out put by the AC clucth solinoid. That signal is what needs to be feed to the accessory signal input of the EMS. The EMS has a programmable fuel & timing table or adjustment that is user configurable. When the EMS sees this signal it will look at the user input spec and compensate for the AC's load when the clutch is engaged. Same thing the OEM system does.
AEM can work in other cars. Most people say their crap because they can't tune them or don't have them grounded properly. There are different versions of the AEM EMS as well. The $1300 off the shelf unit is pretty basic...for the AEM's capabilities and are available for direct plug in on Civics, Miatas, Talons, Eclipses, etc... You can get the AEM Pro EMS...for about $2600... and it comes with built in wide band drivers, K-Type thermocoupler drivers (EGT probe drivers/direct connect). Blahhh blahhh blahhh....does Motech still exist? Yes, but the AEM gives the top of the line Motech systems a run for their money! These EMS systems are hard to program and VERY time consuming. Why? Because the AEM EMS systems have SEVERAL load maps that overlay each other, unlike most speed density EMS systems. Most people honestly don't need the AEM system. It has full closed loop control, nitrous control out the B-hole, traction control, pretty much you name it....it'll do it!