Hi guys,
I'm not a "Honda guy" but I've been tasked with installing a AEM EMS in a 00' S2000 race car.
The car had a 2.0l engine which now has a large hole in the side of the block. A 2.2l crate motor was purchased and installed in the car. I recieved the car with the original 2.0l factory ecu in the car which the motor would run on but not well, along with the AEM ECU and associated literature.
The AEM was a plug and play unit, so I intalled it and uploaded a base map provided by AEM. The engine fired right up and idled even better than on the stock 2.0 ecu. I then (next day) put the car on a chassis dyno and proceeded to tune the fuel and spark timing. This is were the problems arose.
I did a short run up to 5500 rpm on the base map and saw that the fueling was slightly lean so I increased the base map to get the fuel in the 12.5-13.0 range. At this piont the engine was only making around 100 ftlb/tq and 124 rwhp! I then turned to the ignition map which I found was set a a very conserative 24-25 deg of advance. I bumped the total advance to 28 deg (baby steps) and did another run. Gained 2 rwhp. Continued to increase the advance to a total of 34 deg with not much gain in rwhp, fuel curve still looking good though the rpm band.
As a reality check I popped the factory ecu back in and did a pull. The factory ecu made almost the identical rwhp and torque.
The motor is supposed to be stock, the only add ons that I can see are a Toda header with staight exhaust and a cold air intake. It seems like the engine isn't breathing so I checked the intake for obstructions. The only other thing that I can think of would be cam timing but I don't know how that would be off if this was a complete crate motor.
This thing is missing a good 80 rwhp and I don't know where it went, any ideas?

 

so it was only making the stated hp and torque at 5500? or was this at redline? i would be pretty scared if i took my car somewhere to get it fixed and the person that is tuning it is asking for help on a message board...

 

how new is the motor? was it broken in?

i would do a compression test.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikelr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I did a short run up to 5500 rpm on the base map and saw that the fueling was slightly lean so I increased the base map to get the fuel in the 12.5-13.0 range. At this piont the engine was only making around 100 ftlb/tq and 124 rwhp! ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you are only reving it to 5500, I don't see the real problem. The S2k probably only makes that much power under VTEC.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LSHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

If you are only reving it to 5500, I don't see the real problem. The S2k probably only makes that much power under VTEC. </TD></TR></TABLE>

good point. i didn't pick that out...

full power is made in the higher rpms.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dkim48 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so it was only making the stated hp and torque at 5500? or was this at redline? i would be pretty scared if i took my car somewhere to get it fixed and the person that is tuning it is asking for help on a message board...</TD></TR></TABLE>

true, bu this guy is probably better than some of the mechanics ive had to deal with at honda, who dont even know what kind of oil to use.

do a dyno run in vtec then look at the numbers. if the engine was making 240hp at 5500, there would be a crazy amount of power at redline

 

i installed a VAFC and didnt have the correct wiring, so my VTEC solenoid was not properly hooked up. i took it out and raped my car to 9k and the difference without VTEC is night and day. take it past 5500 and see what you make.

 

Maybe I was unclear in my description. The first pull was below 5500 rpm, at that piont I didn't even really loook at the hp #'s I was more conserned with the A/F ratio. Once I got the fueling to a safe level I ran the motor up to 8500 rpm, that is where I started to look at the HP and noticed it was seriously low.
Since making my first post I have done some diagnosis on the problem and found that #4 cylinders coil pack was not functioning. So I was running on 3 cylinders!
I did notice a lumpy (STi Scooby) exhaust note, but I thought that was being caused by the Toda header and the semi-staight exhaust. The motor still rev'd very smoothly. Not ever hearing the motor run on all four I had nor frame of reference. I was given this project by a exotic car dealership, thier mechanic installed the new motor and they had even run it at the track afterwards. The lack of performance was attributed to the OEM ECU not being able to run the 2.2l motor. Obviously there was more to it. The coil is on order and will be in on Monday, then it's back to the dyno for some tuning. I bet with the mods on the motor (or lack there of) the AEM isn't going to be able to make much more HP over the stock ECU. You can be sure that I'm going to compare them.
I wonder if the dealership is going to be pissed when they find out that all the car needed was a coil pack and not a whole stand-alone ECU to make the car run right!

 

Replace the coil pack and use the MY2000 ecu.

t'll lean out the A/F and help the 2.2L motor make more power than the stock '04 ECU with the 2.2L. Make sure to have some fuel cut-off at 8700 RPM though....the 2.2 wasn't designed to run at 9k prm like the 2.0 (actually, the 2.0L was designed to take 10,200 jaunts in stride).

Then put the AEM EMS back into the box and instant message or email me. I'd be interested in buying a used EMS.

 

i agree the numbers sound low....

just curious though..... i did not see it stated, but what type of dyno are you using?

mustang,dyno jet etc.?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cmdr430 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i agree the numbers sound low....

just curious though..... i did not see it stated, but what type of dyno are you using?

mustang,dyno jet etc.?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

It was running on three cylinders.