[kmn5]

Is the traction control is worth it, just to get the AEM EMS?
I'm on the fence now,
cause been having major igintion problems
see thread
http://www.supraforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=371693

at this point I was considering the AEM, just so I can ditch the ENTIRE stock ignition system and run with the 97+ ignitor and coil packs.
but some people suggested I work fix the stock system first,
at this point it's not fixable as I've tried justy about everything
only thing left is to bypass the stock wiring and run new wire for the whole ignition system; figured since I'm already doing that might as well convert to coil packs.
But aside from this issue, my (NA-T) hp doesn't really justify.
I have 440 injectors, V8 maf, wlabro, etc.. the turbo is on the small side TE04..
so I'm figureing best possible potential is around 400rwhp
and piggy backs are sufficent for that level of power.

Only other benifiet deciding if I should get the AEM now is getting the added bounus of traction control, as most of our NA/NA-T cars lack traction and LSD.

smaller benifit would be realeasing the BOV external, since the AEM uses a MAP sensor

keep in mind, I can offset my cost of the whole system by selling off my AFC2, V8 MAF, stock ecu, coil, distributor, AVCR (already taken out) MSD 6BTM (already out), etc...
also rewiring the system for coil packs would be easy then rewiring the existign system, and the coil pack direction have already been documented by WhiteBlaze and Neostreamsupra. If I rewire the stock system I'll have to figure out were all 5 wires to and from the ignitor route too; so there will be research time involved.

what are your thoughts?
thanks

 

[WhiteBlazze]

If you want traction control, wether NA, TT, NA-T, whatever...the AEM is not the best solution. The AEM is setup more for straight line drag situations, not track or daily drivers....least not yet


Look into the Racelogic Traction control system. Best for daily use and can be configured and setup for track/drag use as well

 

[kmn5]

yeah I've seen Race logic (about ~$1,000) , but it cost almost as much as an AEM ($1500) and all it does is traction and nothing else, My budget can prolly swing for one, but not both, I can't see dumping 2.5k into the car. That kinda money, I'd rather put towards the next car. just my opinon.
Honestly I wanna get a 2nd car like either an STI wagon or EVO8 MR, just for the all around weather handling/winter car and reliable stock setup
thanks for the aem info

 

[WhiteBlazze]

Costs money to play with the big dogs man.

 

[kmn5]

True. I just think it's more practical to have two cars instead of dumping all my money into one. Plus my car has no cargo room, and it never goes out in the snow......
I used to ski, and I'd like to take that up again (used to have a 2G AWD DSM, ran 12.2 back in 1996 on street tires, yeah thats nothing today, 1/4 of the factory cars can do that now, but 10 years ago it was fast) It went everywhere regardless of the weather and the hatch had decent cargo space. And it looked pretty good back then.
If only the sti's or evo's were coupes, I would have made the switch already. Never bene a fan of 4 doors

 

[Ravan17]

no lsd in na cars? i have an lsd...atleast i though i did, i spin both tires, here is the thing with traction....in my opinion u just have to be able to launch ure car right w/out spining ure tires.....much....b/c my NA-t, i just got the AEM put in, i made 450rwhp, i spin the entire first and second gear from a dead stop on street tires, with AEM's anti-lag and 2 step, bye bye traction, although the car seems to accelarate alot quicker even while spining at 10psi from dead stop, i love the AEM, and i think it well worth it, but not just to get traction, thats just my opinion though.

 

[Ravan17]

wait i do have one question though, i have the 3.5 bar map sensor in my NA-t with the aem, so i can just pull my Lexus v8 maf off? i dont need it anymore right? i can just disconect it and put a straight pipe to my intake?

 

[kmn5]

wait i do have one question though, i have the 3.5 bar map sensor in my NA-t with the aem, so i can just pull my Lexus v8 maf off? i dont need it anymore right? i can just disconect it and put a straight pipe to my intake?

YEAP! :bigok:

hmm is the maf still wired into the ecu???
is it getting the signal form your Maf still or already switched over to the MAP sensor?
or is it pulling from both ??

you can get rid of the MAF now, if the 3bar map is wired in correctly

 

[Stringer Bell]

Yes, MAF is no more needed, your IAT (Intake Air Temperature) sensor will need two wires from the MAF plug in order to work properly...

 

[kmn5]

from looking at the AEM website
it says the ECU has a self tuning mode, where you enter in the target air/fuel ratio, and it will automatically adjust intself for that (provding you have wideband, which I do)
I'm guessing this feature doesn't really work, cause I see posts all the time from people requesting basic fuel maps, and issues with tuning.
Not to mention the sought after professional AEM tuner....

 

[DaveH]

The auto-tuning only has a small range of adjustment, you have to have it relatively close before you can use auto-tune.

 

[motorheaddown]

Kmn5,

Here's my take on the matter of traction control.

I have both the AEM and the RLTC. In my case, I need both. My driving sucks, and the RLTC compensates for my in-ability to pedal the throttle to get the car to hook up. Plus, the car puts down well over 600rwhp, and the AEM won't efficiently put power to the ground because it doesn't monitor wheel spin. It does, however, attempt to equate wheel spin to engine speed versus vehicle speed. Unfortunately, I have not tried setting it up because the RL works so well.

On the street, the RL is a life saver. I don't run big rears on my car, but the RL allows the tires to put down exactly as much as the tires can take. If I go to a bigger rear wheel footprint, there's no additional tuning. The RL will automatically use less injector cut.

On the flip side, the AEM does a masterful job of controlling almost all aspects of the car. The fuel and timing are pretty easy to setup, and you can configure the sensor inputs to just about anything. Not many EMSs will let you do that. For example, I was able to convert the ignition to distributor-less wasted spark by setting up Hall sensors for crank/cam position. That allows me to run aftermarket TT cams "as-is" without going the regrind route.

If I had any complaints, it's that the AEM only has one alternate setup for fuel and spark. For example, you can't run turbo anti lag AND meth injection without using some other table to control one or the other. Unfortunately, that "other" table could be your nitrous table, and then it's difficult to run all three together (i.e. anti-lag, meth injection, and nitrous).

The AEM traction control might be all you need. I read through their documentation, and the theory makes sense. However, I have found that the AEM requires a rather large learning curve. I've had mine for over 3 years, and I'm still learning new things. I think that's what makes it fun and interesting.

Just my $0.02.

-scott

 

[WhiteBlazze]

^^ Ditto on DaveH's comment.


Also, not ALL widebands are compatible. I had 1 attached to a customers car which would not work with the AEM very well. mainly cause the signal rate from the wideband was to slow for the aem.

 

[kmn5]

^^ Ditto on DaveH's comment.


Also, not ALL widebands are compatible. I had 1 attached to a customers car which would not work with the AEM very well. mainly cause the signal rate from the wideband was to slow for the aem.

it wasn't a Zeitronix was it?
(with my luck it prolly is) :sad:

 

[motorheaddown]

I would only use auto tuning to setup cruise in the vacuum section of the map. There's no way I would rely on it to tune boost. For that, boost comp is easiest to setup.

-scott

 

[kmn5]

My driving sucks, and the RLTC compensates for my in-ability to pedal the throttle to get the car to hook up.
-scott

Scott you are one honest/humble guy
I think everyone and their grandma thinks they are much much better drivers then they really are. I used to be a great driver (only cause my dsm was AWD, and it can compenstated for ALOT, lol )

thanks for the info tough


I'm trying one more thing on my ignition woes, and if that flops,
I'm getting the AEM and converting to coil packs

thanks everybody for the replies :bigthumb:

 

[kmn5]

btw: if the AEM has 2 fuel maps configured,
is there a quick way of switching from one to the other
(ie button or swtich wired to some kind of signal wire to the ecu; like some boost controllers have to quickly enage the scrambleboost or overboost feature)
Or do you have to pull out the laptop and go in through the setup software?

 

[braddman]

Question, how hard is the racelogic traction control to install?

 

[motorheaddown]

btw: if the AEM has 2 fuel maps configured,
is there a quick way of switching from one to the other
(ie button or swtich wired to some kind of signal wire to the ecu; like some boost controllers have to quickly enage the scrambleboost or overboost feature)
Or do you have to pull out the laptop and go in through the setup software?

Here's what works for me regarding lo/hi boost control and respective fuel and timing.

I set up one map for both conditions. First, I set the map to run boost comp (i.e. fuel automatically added/subtracted linearly as a function of intake manifold pressure). That permits quick and accurate tuning of the boosted section of the map by making just a few good pulls at moderate boost levels. I also prefer to tune the fuel running open loop O2 - meaning I don't allow the O2 feedback circuit to zero out errors in my target AFRs when setting the base fuel map. Once the fuel looks good at say 14psi, I'll make a pull in the low 20s to insure the VE of the motor hasn't changed as a function of boost. If that looks good (i.e. AFRs ~11:1), THEN I'll turn on O2 feedback. However, I'll set the +- adjustment to a small percentage like +-5%. That's to protect against O2 sensor failures that could drive the fuel mixture inadvertently rich or lean because the O2 sensor is registering erroneous AFRs.

With the open fuel set for 11:1, I use different O2 feedback targets based on pump gas or race gas. Up to 16psi, the AFR targets are set to 10.5:1; above 16psi, I set the target to 11.5:1. Therefore, the fuel map supports both pump and race gas. It's the O2 feedback that drives the AFRs to the pump gas or race gas targets.

For timing, I pull timing in the pump gas section of the map. It kind of looks like a valley in the 3-D ignition map. In the race gas section, I create an elevated "plateau" of advanced ignition knowing that race gas will permit a more aggressive tune.

The final setup, is boost control. You can set up a hi/lo boost switch that merely changes your boost target with a flip of a switch without having to re-adjust the map. And Wa-la, you have one map that serves both your pump gas and race gas conditions without carrying the laptop around all the time.

-scott

 

[motorheaddown]

Question, how hard is the racelogic traction control to install?

It's not too difficult. However, you'll have to "T" into the ABS wheel sensors and redirect all injector wires to the RL unit. Then, it's just a matter of downloading the Supra-specific data file and setting up the wheel size. You may also have to reset the reference wheels (i.e. fronts) and drive wheels (i.e. rears) after everything is configured.

-scott