Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Taking a little break
Taking a little break from posting on blogspot. Expect new posts sometime in November.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Engine Management
Perfecting the Tune
Making more power out of your engine can be done through many different ways. You can slap some bolt-on power-adders, add forced induction to a naturally aspirated engine, upping the compression ratio of your engine through upgraded cylinder block internals, port and polishing your cylinder head, etc. In order to make these power adders as effective as possible, it is necessary to tune your engine for the parts. Tuning an engine, in simple terms, lets the engine run making the most power as safely as possible or as to your liking.
On modern day fuel injected vehicles, the engine is controlled by the ECU. The ECU is the brain of your car. It controls the rate your fuel injectors are opening and closing, it reads what position your camshafts are at, it controls spark for your spark plugs through your distributor, it reads how much air is coming past your MAF sensor or the MAP in your Intake manifold, it controls your Air Conditioning unit, etc.
Now comes the issue of controlling what your ECU is doing. A stock factory ECU (for a majority of vehicles) is coded/encrypted so that you can't go in and plug it up straight to a computer and start changing values for fuel mapping and timing tables.
ECU Tuning comes in 3 flavors. Chipping, Piggyback, and Full Stand Alone.
Chipping, or ECU flashing is a process where you would send in your ECU to a company or a programmer that would load new settings onto a chip in your ECU through an Emulator. The problem with Chipping/ECU flashing is that they are usually mass produced and/or have a limited depth of precise tuning to your specific setup. Companies that offer these services most often guarantee HP/Tq gains as well as an increase in gas mileage on a stock vehicle, usually through more aggressive fuel and timing maps. These are good for vehicles with very limited aftermarket (aka Brand New Cars) or for a very mild tune car. Chipping and ECU flashing overall is a cheap way to lightly tune your vehicle
Piggyback ECU's and devices are more expensive than chipping and less expensive than Stand Alone Engine Management. Fuel Computers read and intercept the signal running from your fuel injectors and alter the signal giving off "fake" voltage readings so that the ECU is tricked into thinking it's giving either too much fuel or too little fuel and sends the corresponding information to the injectors accordingly. Some piggyback ECUs can alter the redline of the vehicle, effectively letting you set the rev limiter so that your car can rev higher (really only needed if your engine is modified for it's powerband to operate at higher RPMs). Some piggyback ECUs can also control ignition timing and other aspects of engine operation. The downside of piggyback ECUs is that they are not designed to completely take over all engine operation. They are designed to be used with the factory ECU as a base and alters signals received and sent from the factory ECU. Piggyback ECUs do not have the amount of flexibility and tuning range that a Full Stand Alone Engine Management system has. I would recommend the use of Piggyback ECUs and devices only when Full Stand Alone Engine Management Systems are not available for you car or when it is far too expensive or out of your budget or not cost effective for your project vehicle to run a Stand Alone system.
Examples of Piggyback Devices would be the Apex'i SAFC/VAFC, HKS Speed Cut Defencer, Fuel Cut Defencer, Innovate Motorsports LM-1, etc.
The mother of all tuning is Full Stand Alone Engine Management Systems. These tuning solutions more than likely replace the entire ECU for an aftermarket ECU that plugs up to the OEM connectors. Other stand alone engine management systems use OEM ECU Chips that have been de-crypted or un-coded so that all aspects of the ECU mapping and settings can be changed. Other systems use board combinations that de-crypt and uncode the factory ECU and are installed inside the ECU. They are usually outfitted with ports that can be plugged directly to a laptop for real-time tuning. Stand Alone Engine Management Systems is the best for of engine tuning allowing you to tune every aspect of your car that is electronically controlled by the ECU. The main difference between piggyback systems and Stand Alone is that you have many more options and flexibility. For example, a piggyback fuel computer can tune say 10 separate points along the RPM range, while a Stand Alone may be able to map 32+ seperate load points along the RPM range. It's like trying to cut a tomato with a sharp knife compared to a hammer, you'll be able to tune the vehicle more precisely with a Stand Alone.
Examples of Full Stand Alone Engine Management Systems would be AEM EMS, Nistune, [to an extent] Apex'i Power FC, SDS EMS, etc.
-Mainichi Tuning
Making more power out of your engine can be done through many different ways. You can slap some bolt-on power-adders, add forced induction to a naturally aspirated engine, upping the compression ratio of your engine through upgraded cylinder block internals, port and polishing your cylinder head, etc. In order to make these power adders as effective as possible, it is necessary to tune your engine for the parts. Tuning an engine, in simple terms, lets the engine run making the most power as safely as possible or as to your liking.
On modern day fuel injected vehicles, the engine is controlled by the ECU. The ECU is the brain of your car. It controls the rate your fuel injectors are opening and closing, it reads what position your camshafts are at, it controls spark for your spark plugs through your distributor, it reads how much air is coming past your MAF sensor or the MAP in your Intake manifold, it controls your Air Conditioning unit, etc.
Now comes the issue of controlling what your ECU is doing. A stock factory ECU (for a majority of vehicles) is coded/encrypted so that you can't go in and plug it up straight to a computer and start changing values for fuel mapping and timing tables.
ECU Tuning comes in 3 flavors. Chipping, Piggyback, and Full Stand Alone.
Chipping, or ECU flashing is a process where you would send in your ECU to a company or a programmer that would load new settings onto a chip in your ECU through an Emulator. The problem with Chipping/ECU flashing is that they are usually mass produced and/or have a limited depth of precise tuning to your specific setup. Companies that offer these services most often guarantee HP/Tq gains as well as an increase in gas mileage on a stock vehicle, usually through more aggressive fuel and timing maps. These are good for vehicles with very limited aftermarket (aka Brand New Cars) or for a very mild tune car. Chipping and ECU flashing overall is a cheap way to lightly tune your vehicle
Piggyback ECU's and devices are more expensive than chipping and less expensive than Stand Alone Engine Management. Fuel Computers read and intercept the signal running from your fuel injectors and alter the signal giving off "fake" voltage readings so that the ECU is tricked into thinking it's giving either too much fuel or too little fuel and sends the corresponding information to the injectors accordingly. Some piggyback ECUs can alter the redline of the vehicle, effectively letting you set the rev limiter so that your car can rev higher (really only needed if your engine is modified for it's powerband to operate at higher RPMs). Some piggyback ECUs can also control ignition timing and other aspects of engine operation. The downside of piggyback ECUs is that they are not designed to completely take over all engine operation. They are designed to be used with the factory ECU as a base and alters signals received and sent from the factory ECU. Piggyback ECUs do not have the amount of flexibility and tuning range that a Full Stand Alone Engine Management system has. I would recommend the use of Piggyback ECUs and devices only when Full Stand Alone Engine Management Systems are not available for you car or when it is far too expensive or out of your budget or not cost effective for your project vehicle to run a Stand Alone system.
Examples of Piggyback Devices would be the Apex'i SAFC/VAFC, HKS Speed Cut Defencer, Fuel Cut Defencer, Innovate Motorsports LM-1, etc.
The mother of all tuning is Full Stand Alone Engine Management Systems. These tuning solutions more than likely replace the entire ECU for an aftermarket ECU that plugs up to the OEM connectors. Other stand alone engine management systems use OEM ECU Chips that have been de-crypted or un-coded so that all aspects of the ECU mapping and settings can be changed. Other systems use board combinations that de-crypt and uncode the factory ECU and are installed inside the ECU. They are usually outfitted with ports that can be plugged directly to a laptop for real-time tuning. Stand Alone Engine Management Systems is the best for of engine tuning allowing you to tune every aspect of your car that is electronically controlled by the ECU. The main difference between piggyback systems and Stand Alone is that you have many more options and flexibility. For example, a piggyback fuel computer can tune say 10 separate points along the RPM range, while a Stand Alone may be able to map 32+ seperate load points along the RPM range. It's like trying to cut a tomato with a sharp knife compared to a hammer, you'll be able to tune the vehicle more precisely with a Stand Alone.
Examples of Full Stand Alone Engine Management Systems would be AEM EMS, Nistune, [to an extent] Apex'i Power FC, SDS EMS, etc.
-Mainichi Tuning
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