N/A Piggyback

I know I've asked around a little bit about this, but it was always in the planning stage of the piggys, when they were only intended for Turbo apps...

Anyone who makes a piggyback or ECU out there planning on making one for the N/A crowd? Not sure if you'd have it yet or not, but projected gains or whatnot from advancing timing, adjusting fuel levels and whatnot? Any details would be much appreciated. =) Especially prices and whatnot.

Discuss! =)
 
An N/A piggyback would be exactly the same as a Turbo piggyback, no? The only difference is, you will need a fuel map suited to your needs. :cool: I don't think any of the piggybacks out there fully support chaging the timing maps, however. For that, you would need a full standalone.
 
The modern performance one will work... Of course, who knows with that crazy thread in the FI section. The Haltech E6X can work for you as a piggyback. You can splice into fuel/timing and let the ECU do the other housekeeping.

I imagine tuning the engine NA will yield some decent gains. It seems to run too rich, and you can probably advance the timing some to get some gains.

Chris
 
You can only retard timing with the Modern Performance unit, if I understood correctly.

If that doesn't bother you, then it's probably pretty good your needs.
 
The Haltech E6X which is technically a standalone allows timing as well (obviously, being that it is a standalone :) ) but can be used as a piggyback by cutting the ignition and fuel wires and plugging into E6X. The Haltech F10 is fuel only.

The E6X can be had for around $1k, and is an excellent choice.

Chris
 
Hehee... Yeah, I need something that could advance timing and whatnot... Retarding timing would be useful under boost or NO2 usage or whatever... But personally, if I'm going to run N/A, I want to set it up to take full advantage of the timing, so I can run 93 octane and actually get some use out of it.

I wouldn't mind some replies from vendors, too. =) Perfworks? Anyone? Hehee.

Basically, I want something with a set of variable that I can set up, and do a turnkey thing... Just have it run... Even if it's giving more or less stock info, I could bring it to a dyno and get it tuned properly for using higher octane, and advanced timing and all. Downtime is a bad thing for me. =) Hehee.
 
DooMer_MP3 said:
The Haltech E6X which is technically a standalone allows timing as well (obviously, being that it is a standalone :) ) but can be used as a piggyback by cutting the ignition and fuel wires and plugging into E6X. The Haltech F10 is fuel only.

The E6X can be had for around $1k, and is an excellent choice.

Chris

IMO the E6X isn't an excellent choice overall...it is a great system, but the biggest problem to me is the hellishly ancient software...As far as I know there were only a handful of the tuners in the U.S. that know how to properly tune one with Haltech's software...let alone a private owner...Beware though that this is the main cause of a lot of ignorance...Float around other boards and you always run into backflippers saying that you won't gain as much power with a Haltech as what you will with an EFI or TEC-III...That is s***, and the people saying it are usually thinking the EFI and TEC systems are much better becuase they cost about 3X as much (You could spend $120,000 on a Mareli Maneli F1 controller and still not gain any more than what you would with an E6X properly tuned)...Any modern standalone properly tuned will yeild similar power ratings on the same street built engine's, and people getting less gains with haltech's is caused by the lack of tuners that know how to use the confusing DOS like sofware...The differences run deeper, only applying usually to what it can control as far as accesories and the like...or when tuning ridiculous one off racing engines with 12,000 rpm redlines or 40psi of boost...So with that said, if Haltech ever releases a windows based software system that works with their current standalone's they will be great for the everyday street driven vehicle...

Look into Link-electro's Link engine controller...It is a full standalone for about $600, works with almost every cars factory triggering (ours is still being worked on), and is much less of a wiring headache (they utilize factory harness adapters that illiminate as much as 90% of the total wiring) and is comes in to about $250 cheaper overall (the adapter boards are not included and cost about $80)...It doesn't have quite the resolution of the E6X, but still meets most of our NA needs...and the software is very easy to use and figure out...

They do make a Link2 controller that is closer to 1 grand when said and done...but if you are only looking for tuning on a more or less stock engine, the advantages of the link2 are probably not enough to justify its higher price...Both completely replace the stock ECU, and both control fuel and timing 100%...
 
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turboge said that you'll need to tune your fuel maps which take the longest... then tuning your timing takes but an hour. it's definitely doable... the first thing we need to figure out is the a/f ratio for the NA motor. once that happens, tuning should be relatively easy if you know what you're doing. i don't... it's all turboge.
 
The easiest by far is to find a standalone that can use "high load closed loop" by means of a wide band O2 sensor...You simply set a desired A/F target point for all the rev scales, and you are done...the rest is tuned itself...and timing, like you mentioned, is always safer and simpler to deal with to a certain point...

None of the systems mentioned in this thread so far will incorporate learning abilities or high load closed loop...AEM's EMS plug and play systems do it with flying colors...but they are not available for FS's yet...and they just get more expensive from there...This proves beneficial on mildly built NA engine's becuase most bolt-ons don't change the target needed A/F ratio...they incorporate more air or better breathing, which changes the math needed to get that A/F ratio...but the learning ability of the controller changes what is needed to get back to that target A/F ratio...you don't really have to mess with anything until compression is messed with or wild cams...

Air fuel ratio's are pretty easy to mess with on a stock engine, mostly that you simply employ a generally rich setting and lean it out from there...But squeezing the most power safely is where it gets difficult...So with that said, it is more or less simple to get a standalone controller to get your engine running well enough to move the car around, but extracting more power (the point of the investment in the first place) proves to get taxing...And it changes with mods made...
 
ok, so let's say i get cams and cam gears... will this high load closed loop standalone be able to self tune?
 
yea, a standalone with a wideband o2 used to pick desired afr would be great.



tonkabui, i would assume it would adjust for any mods you could do as long as you gave it a desired afr. If you are adding more air, the standalone would add more fuel. Like our stock ecu does in closed loop.
 
paulmp3 said:
yea, a standalone with a wideband o2 used to pick desired afr would be great.



tonkabui, i would assume it would adjust for any mods you could do as long as you gave it a desired afr. If you are adding more air, the standalone would add more fuel. Like our stock ecu does in closed loop.

yeah like Paul said...Our stock ECU does it at light loads...the target A/F ratio is set pretty much at 14.7:1...which makes mega good emissions...But we don't have a stock wideband O2 sensor from the factory...and our current sensor (this is only pertaining to the first O2 sensor before the primary catalyst, although the second one is pretty much the same) can only detect changes very close to stoichiometric...and for reasons beyond the scope of this post, fundamentally and engine requires a richer mixture once the load increases...hence the reason ours clicks into open loop...A wide band O2 sensor can detect changes over a much greater scale, and with much more precision...which makes them much more expensive...You can preset a target mixture level, and the engine controller can create the fuel math to get to that mixure in any situation based on the readings of the unburned hydrocarbon content of the sensor...

A quibble with this system can be safety though...by design and O2 sensor only recognizes up to stoichiometric...in which cases only trace amounts of oxygen are left in the exhuast gas...that is the restriction...a 14.7:1 A/F ratio refers to a stoichometric amount of fuel and air for a complete burn (14.7:1 is rounded down...there is never just one molecule of gasoline involved in a complete combustion engine cycle, and there is no such thing as 14.7 molecules of O2...so the number of molecules is rounded down for both proportianetly until the number 1 is in the ratio...This is the reason that most refer to this ratio in terms of "moles" or the total molecular wieght of one molecule in grams... So look at it like 1 "mole" of gasoline, and 14.7 moles of oxygen)...The O2 sensor, narrow band or wide band, usually cannot recognize a mixture leaner than 14.7:1...becuase there are no unburned molecules left in the exhuast...So you can see why that could be bad...The ECU would treat a 14.7:1 mixture no differently than a 20:1 mixture (which could be caused by a faulty injector or large air leak), and not trim in more fuel for safety...All that could cause an expensive grenade...and the problem is that this could occur at idle, in which case the ECU thinks a 14.7:1 ratio is fine, which it is at idle more or less, but anything much leaner than that at any condition is not good...All of this is a problem with closed loop mode in general though, and the same problem could occur while using both Open and closed loop operating

So in some cases hardcore tuners look at high load closed loop as an easy way out...There are some various other sensors incorporated, such as knock sensors, that can prevent catastrophic engine failure with high load closed loop...but since closed loop is a negative feeback system (looks at conditions after the combustion process, and makes changes accordingly...rather than adjusting fuel math before the burn starts)...A lot of tuners regard it as less accurate...IMO it is an easier tuning system to deal with for everyday owners, but for a hugely built racing application Open Loop may be a more accurate form

Sorry for all that s***...Just trying to explain some of the tuning "terms" to people browsing this thread, that may have no idea what we are talking about...

So Tonkabui, yes high load closed loop can self tune with pretty much any mods made as long as your required fuel mixture is never "richer" than what the wide band O2 sensor can recognize in the exhuast gas...Which pretty much will never be an issue with an FS...
 
Whats the word on the AEM plug and play for our cars? Are they working on it?

As for software. s***, I'm surprised somebody hasn't hacked something together for the Haltech. I wonder how much money I could make by making some windows based software for the Haltech. I could just keep the real DOS window open, and send inputs from my Windows GUI to the DOS window :). Of course, buggy code could cost me a fortune in bad motors/lawsuits :).

Chris
 
I don't know what AEM will do...They just started on the Miata, so the protege is going to be awhile if ever.

Link is the only company I know of that is seriously going to work on an engine management deal that will be a plug and play set up.

Miata's first, of course, but the Protege is soon.
 
any ideas on how much power these things will give us NA people? theoretically of course...
 
tonkabui said:
any ideas on how much power these things will give us NA people? theoretically of course...


Um, more than 2 and less than 100...:p

No, I don't know. I think the Miata GRM has made about ten extra using the Link on their N/A set up.
 
Results might vary...

You might make more. However, you might make less.:(
 
Well, it's not 10, perse... It depends on what/how the tuning is done. But an ECU will probably end up costing 800 - 1500 dollars, total.
 
tonkabui said:
so now comes the big question... how much is it for those extra 10 ponies?

There is no reason to buy a standalone if you are not going to further modify the car...It would be a pretty expesnive investment for gains along the lines of a decent header...But with NA all the mods work together, and without proper tuning you probably never beat 140whp....With a good standalone the ceiling is realistically more around 180-90whp...but obviously with much higher compression and more aggressive cams + the standard slew of bolt-ons...

But as rich as we run stock...I wouldn't be suprised to see more like 20whp with perfect tuning...doubtful that it would be that high but if someone did gain that much I wouldn't s*** my pants in confusion...
 
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