AF piggyback tuning

Has anyone/is anyone giving any thought to future tuning devices? I'm looking into what I want to get in the future and am still unsure as to the route I want to take. Not being able to datalog for knock is already pissing me off, and I havn't even started tuning yet. (for those of you with the 94+95 hybrids, there is now a datalogger that you can monitor knock with, but 96-99s are still SOL)

At this point, I don't think I wanna go with a standalone like AEM ECU, as I kinda feel it would be a bit overkill (and the whole fact that I don't want to charge $2000 to my card unless I'm getting turbos out of it) On the other hand, with all the piggybacks..they might just add up to that amount.

So anyway, some options I'm considering...not in any particular order:

1) Wideband o2. Pretty much 100% necessary. Without being able to watch knock...I want to be watching something in realtime.

2) E-manage...an advantage to this is the timing control and there is alot of tuning ability at many specific rpms. On the other hand I'm not sure I want timing control as it is another parameter to deal with.

3) Maft paired with SAFC II for finer tuning...paired with the WB 02, I think this would be a potent combo if I went with DR500s or 15Gs, but if I go DR650s, E-manage maybe the way to go.

4) EGT gauge probably would be a good idea as well...safer the better...


So yeah basically, I'm flipflopping as always. I know there are other options, I don't know too much about some of them. Anyway, just wondering if any of you had opinions on which you bought/would buy and why.

I think I'm going to go E-Manage if I end up doing turbos, I realy like the price and expandability (sensors and stuff like that). Timing is a good thing to be able to adjust and moniter.

Ready for the ultimate answer to all of your problems

Buy a 94-95 ECU, and cut the wires to the pins that the 94-95 doesnt use, you can download a pinout from www.aempower.com or www.stealth316.com

You will now be able to log knock and get the "best" timing maps of any of the gens. Its a rumor about the timing maps, hence the quotes.

the hybrid datalogger is great.

I have the e-manage and its a great tuning tool. You can have the timing zerod out and you dont have to worry about timing as a parameter, but being able to manipulate timing, especially with fuel injector upgrades, is definitely a plus.

You know I never even thought about swapping the hybrid ECU in. Any potential problems/conflicts with swapping that in a 96? I'll look into that.

Otherwise I think E-manage will be the way to go if I go with 15Gs or bigger.

Thanks for the replies.