Dee

The marriage between me and Hondata is about to end! I will have $1400 and I am willing to add another $500 for street worthy standalone. I'm looking at a Power FC right now because the Datalogit software has been released for Hondas. I do not want to reiwre the entire car. AEM is outta the question since their base maps suck and the nearest AEM tuner is 7k miles away. Please post a comment with your suggestion.

SDS don't even mention that to me!
TEC III has good features but I haven't heard much about it.
Haltech ... I don't want to rewire my car!





[Modified by Dee, 8:39 AM 9/24/2002]

Dee

oops.. setup is:
Custom T4/T3 boosting 10psi on a stock B18C block but the 84.5mm B18C boosting 1.3bar will be finished soon.

rjardy

Not to many suporters of the Power fc, i think it may be because its all metric and how it reads a/f ratio is kinda funny (13:1 = 1, or something like that) I dont think that allot of people know much else other than Hondata or EMS. Power FC sounds cool to me!


Rob

SoulSurfer

Why do you say their base maps suck?

rjardy

well EMS base maps do suck from what i hear, allot of people cant evan get there cars started let alone running on a base map. Very lean from what i have heard.

Rob

SoulSurfer

Isn't the whole purpose of having any EMS to tune?

rjardy

Yes, but you need to get it driveable to get to the dyno. with minor adjustments people have it working fine, i think art got his going by himself if im not mistaking, but Art is on the ball with all this so..............
but yeah i dont think that ems is bad at all. sorry to get so OT

Rob

Dee

If somebody has a good base map I will go with the EMS but you need to remember that I live in Okinawa, Japan and there isn't a shop here that knows US standalones. Dyno time would cost me about $100/hr since I would be tuning instead just doing a power check. A power check is $50 for two dyno runs. If I can get a good base map I'll just take the car down to the local wharf and use deserted areas to get in a couple of good datalogs. The process would be: (wharf datalog/adjust) x 10 followed by (dyno+ datalog/adjust) x 2 and then I would go back to the wharf. There are 2 dynos on island. One is accurate but doesn't have an AF readout while the other one is run by an HKS authorized rip off shop that constantly gives non inhouse tuned cars shitty dyno sessions.

I can get a Power FC from AP Engineering with an adapter for OBDI cars and the controller for $1000. I think the datalogit software from down under is in the $200 range.

So far my choices are P-FC or AEM . This a daily driven beater so I'm open to any opinions.

rjardy

Honestly, in your situation, i would go with the power fc and get the hand held comander for adjustments. Its much more popular in Japan. You in the military stationed at kadena by chance?


Rob

Dee

The hand held would only use for quick changes. Major changes would be made in conjuction with the Datalogit program. I'm actually leaning more toward AEM since they have all the Hondata features plus more. I'm just waiting for my money to arrive!

Arturbo

For the record, i didnt get it running by myself. It was Joe (falcongsr) who got it running and tuned.

Dee

Art... I might be hitting you and Joe up with a couple hundred questions soon

SiRkid

hmm, aem isnt so bad... i mean it is some work..but i fired my car up with the base map untouched and it wouldve been able to get to the dyno no prob...it did run pretty shitty but nothing some screwing around couldnt fix (and attempting to convert hondata to aem) and im sure if you really needed it bad enough you could get a decent map from someone.too bad there are no honda guys making a library like blkmgk(on aem board) did for the supra guys...they are set!
aem is really sweet! you can adjust almost anything... all you need is a laptop(or pc ) you can datalog to your computer (if its with you) or set it to log internally and you can just download the information later
in your situation, power fc might make more sence but i guess its up to you.if you feel you can tune yourself.. and do a fine job.. id go with the aem, if you feel you need help...go power fc

Dee

I've been jacking around with this Hondata for a year and all installs on my car are performed by yours truly so I'm not afraid to tinker with the EMS but I don't want to be stuck without a ride because of a shitty base map.

boomslang

Go for the EMS over the Power FC. Much, much, more powerful.

What's wrong with the Hondata?

boosted hybrid

I have my plug and play haltech for obd-1 cars for sale right now. The system has been used for 6 months, and I have a 720, 440 and 240cc maps worked out for it. It has a converter harness that allows you to convert from the factory obd-1 plugs to the haltech box interface. If you are interested email or IM me.

Dee

Other than some major communication problems with Hondata (the company) there isn't much wrong with my 4b. When I have problems I have to email other 4b users or wait a couple weeks until Hondata decides to send me a half assed answer. In the year or more that I have owned my Hondata I never said anything negative in a public forum because I knew that negativity would only add more time to resolving whatever issues that may have been at hand. I will not go into detail but I have been asking about one problem since Feburary and I have yet to get an answer. I realize Doug and his crew are extremely busy but if they are not going to be available for extended periods of time they need to atleast post info on the website/message forum or send a mass email to the 4b users. Everytime I have a probelm it seems to coincide with a vacation, an illness, Hondata tuning an ECU for a high dollar user, or something of that effect. Since I finally got tired of the constant but seemingly feasible excuses or blatant ignoring of my emails I asked Doug if there was some reason why I wasn't getting adequate support. Doug's reply 4 days later was something to the effect of: "You are a crappy customer so please return the ECU and I will refund your money." Once I get my $1400 back Hondata can have their beloved stutter box/burner/emulator that is built to break and all the manuals & software. It wouldn't logical for me to pull the ECU and then have to walk or catch a bus to work for 3 or 4 weeks while I wait for Hondata to return my loot.

I think I have been a good customer because I have always tried to get people to look at the Hondata ECU's with an open mind. Even when people made ECU comparison post I ALWAYS replied VERY honestly and positive about the Hondata setups. Several people actually bought Hondata's because of me and there are 5 people and a shop here in Okinawa that wanted to purchase 2b's, 3b's and 4b's but changed their minds because I couldn't adequate responses from Hondata. All but one users has either bought shop a tuned HKS F-CON V or Power FC since they are too lazy to tune their own cars.

I'll drop you an IM later about the Haltech but I'm not buying anything until the money issue is settled with Hondata. I should get atleast half of my money back before the Hondata interface box and assorted gear is shipped so I can purchase something else. This is one of the moments when living in Japan sucks donkey *****!

Sorry to vent guys but I have been getting 250~270 kilometers per tank of gas for way too damn long and when a full tank cost $50 buying gas tends to get a bit expensive after a while.

SiRkid

Bnjmn

Is there an Autronic following over there at all? ninesecrx is running and SM2, I think. My vote would be for the TEC 3, but I've had years of imprinting from the late 80's and a number 83 and 84 Nissan GTP Electromotive IMSA cars...
I talked to a local shop that does TEC 3 installs and they said Electromotive will have something like a TEC 2.5 out in 3-4 months....

Ben

turbopanda

Hey Dee..

checked out Link Engine Management? Plug'n'play - full standalone. They even have a distributor/tuner in Japan

check out this link: http://www.link-electro.co.nz/Dealers.html

My teg and Civic have used their engine management.. works great, never had any problems with them.

For the newest Link products, check out the link in my sig..

b00stedbyFastrax

how long the datalogit software has been released in japan? i am using the power fc and have been waiting for the software to be release.

SIK IN DA HED

thats a VERY interesting story there, dee.

ive heard good things about the power fc. you would probably have more luck with it in japan. a few of my homeboys with turbo integs and nissan 240 sr20dets use em.

hondaswaper

I have a Speedpro sequential injection with wideband option for sale includes all sensors and harness setup for 4 cyl honda. In my opinion it is the best ecu for your application and is very easy to tune and learn the software unlike most of the others. I have multiple programs that I could give you with it so it won't be hard to tune it. Many of the fastest cars run this system like Venom and Lisa Kubo. Just let me know if you are interested and we can work something out. Later

civic disobedience

I am buying the AEM myself, my tuner say he's had nothing but problems with hondata, don't know what the maps that come with it are like since I haven't gotten it yet, (few more week$) but I can say that I have heard much good about it, and not just from the guy selling it to me....

Quaalude

I would get the EMS and a wideband O2 like the FJO or Techedge and do your own street tuning. Then bring it to the dyno for fine tuning. The EMS has a lot of features; i.e. knock control, 2 step rev limiter, boost control, datalogging etc. etc. I tuned the EMS myself and have it about 90% tuned. This is the first standalone that I have messed around with. Granted, I have a engineering background that has help me understand the principles behind it but I also downloaded all the manuals from the EMS forums and have read them and use them as a reference.

The base maps are alright. The main thing is getting the car to start but if you adjust a couple of the startup tables then you can get your car running. I wouldn't tune the EMS without a wideband O2 though.


[Modified by Quaalude, 4:24 PM 9/24/2002]