AEM EMS and UEGO (tuning qurstion)

[youngmanvr4]

When and after i get my vr-4 i'll start modding it...heavily. And theres a point is modding when the stock ecu reachs limitations. So i have been look and researching about the AEM EMS and the UEGO wideband. So with that i have some questions.

First, just like the Apex'i S-AFC; the AEM EMS suggests that you do all the tuning on the dyno. Why? I know that its not safe to drive and play with toys at the same time. So is there anyway to tune on the road (when not many people are on the road)? Other then your own and others safty will it hurt your engine to tune on the road? What does the dyno have that the road doesn't?

Second, as you should know the vr-4 has two O2 sensers. So since it has two O2's will i need to get two UEGO's? Or can i just use one UEGO to watch my AFR? The AEM EMS does have two AFR inputs ,just to let you know.

Something i didn't think of before. I will get a EGT so one of two things. Can i just use one of the O2 senser holes to put the EGT in and the other for the UEGO? Or should i just use one of the holes for the UEGO and leave the other O2 senser in and just weld a bung in for the EGT? Open to suggestions.

[youngmanvr4]

Or sites that i can find info on would work too.

[Igovert500]

I personally don't know too much about the AEM EMS, other than it is a standalone replacement for the ECU, rather than a piggyback like an A/F controller or something of that nature. Because it is a complete replacement, the ability to tune it is far superior, and it can do so much more than multiple piggybacks. However, the EMS is reportedly a major pain in the ass to tune, it is extremely recommended that you have an AEM tech come and tune it for you. The only person I know on this forum who has one in their 3000 is talskinyguy, so you may want to PM him with more specific questions. I asked him awhile ago regarding it, and he said that due to the price and such it isn't really worth it unless you are going to go crazy modding it. For BPU modifications, and even turbo upgrades piggybacks work fine. But if you are going to push it and end up spending all that money on piggybacks, then it would make sense. He had said that with the plans he had, it just made sense to buy it for his setup. I'm not sure what your future modding plans are, but I hope that helps a bit.

As far as the UEGO, I am not even familiar with that, so I can't be much help.

And in regards to dyno tuning, it is usually recommended for a few reasons, one being safety, 2nd being that the dyno can record all the things that need to be taken into account, and it can produce hard numbers. With road tuning, it is much more trial and error, especially if you don't have a datalogger, it can almost be a shot in the dark sometimes, as you aren't recording valuable information.

[talskinyguy]

Yes you can run dual uegos(AEM makes a dual controler), infact thats what im doing. The prob I ran into is that wideband sensors are supposed to go at least 36 inches from the turbo, which would place them in the downpipe after the 2 banks join together. I put mine in the stock locations and have already fried one of them. The other one is on the way out.
My sugestion, and what im going to do next, is to put on o2 sensor in the downpipe right before the cat.

Im tuning on the road, the dyno just offers the ablity to tune for max power. Other than that most people just tune for certain A/F ratio's.

For the EGT question, you can pretty much skip out on that if you want. You can read knock and A/F ratio so who cares about the EGT. Its pretty much the poor mans wideband.

[talskinyguy]

2 Things

The difficulty of the AEM is very overrated, everyone told me I wouldnt be able to tune it, I had it driveable in around an hour of trying. Since then I have been doing all the tuning myself and its doing great. That being said, if you dont have a somewhat advanced knoledge of engines and how they work(esp performance engies, turbo, or supercharged) then I wouldnt recomment tuning it yourself.

As far as the data logging, the aem has it built in, or you can log on the laptop that you are using to tune it.

[youngmanvr4]

Well i'm not saying i know everything about cars and engines but i do know alot. I just have never tuned before. I know that with the Apex'i S-AFC you try to hear how lean or rich you are by the exhaust and you just play around with the controller till you get it right. With the EMS what do you watch for and how to you play around with it till you get it right? What all has to be done? Like what tables do you go to? How do you adjust your AFR from the EMS?

Like i said...i dont know everything...but i do know alot. So i dont think that tuning it myself will be that hard as long as i know how to get in to the system and where to go and when. I would think the manul would would give me what i need to know.

I plan on modding almost everything i can on the car. So thats why i'm thinking i may want to go with the EMS. Also what i want to be is get it running so that way i can drive it daily and also be good at the track. And at the same time get to know the system better then when i plan on going to the dyno and tuning it there. If they let me i'm thinking i'll tune it myself but if i were to but the system and not know how to use it yet then that would be dyno time that i'm paying for. Do you understand what i'm saying?

[talskinyguy]

You sound ljust like me, you should do fine with the EMS. You just watch the A/F ratios and adjust the fuel map. You can type in new values or use the + and - keys to adjust the amount of fuel. It is shown on the map as some arbitrary number, but you just add to or subtract from those numbers to increase or remove fuel. Its fairly simple as long as you dont get intimidated.