When is EMS a good idea?

[Rdizzle]

Knowing that i will be buying TRP's turbo kit when it comes out and putting it in an engine capable of withstanding high boost, will i have the choice of running a stand alone or do i HAVE to? I know in the future it is a necesecity, but right now i don't see me having the 2000 dollars for one. I would be able to get a complete fuel system and turbo computer and an advanced ignition controller for 650. Would this be fine to be in upper boost or should i wait until i have an EMS? What is the highest boost anyone here has run with just ignition control and a fuel computer? Thanks.

[97camryman]

Well its never a bad idea, you could blow up a fully built 5sfe on 7 pounds of boost off a t3/t4 if you were advancing ignition timing and running lean. But with a really good tune I have a friend who is pushing 322 wheel horespower on a honda single cam motor with stock internals. He is running a really really good tune though. Basically you gotta pay to play and its better to build a motor to take twice the abuse you are ever going to throw at it just in case. Look into megasquirt though its a cheap do it yourself software tuning platform that is extremely versitile and is extremely capable. It takes some know how but it can easily outperform thousand dollar standalones when it is used by a good tuner. Good luck!

[camryfour]

Megasquirt.info <--Lot of info on it here. Around 200-300 for the DIY Kit, and it supports up to 21 PSI on the "normal" kit. Not bad for being cheap.

[Rdizzle]

Wow, thanks. Never knew about that. Some ?'s, how easy is it to tune, will the obdII system hinder it and would it be a better choice than getting a turbos speacilaties fuel managment computer and a ignition control box or just getting a haltech computer?

Thanks for the great advice guys.

[camryfour]

How good a setup is really boils down to who is tuning it. Like 97camryman said, with the right tuning it can outperform even thousand dollar equipment. The reason it is cheap is because the user pieces every bit of capaciter, resistor, etc. together. Not only that you have to tune it also. There is so much info and help on Megasquirt, I would say it is very worth your while checking it out. The programs used to tune Megasquirt also are pretty much straight forward (they had the "not so experienced" EFI tuner in mind). A lot of people use these kits as "stepping stones" to understand how the EFI system works. But like anything else it just takes a lot of research.

[ECale3]

Originally Posted by Rdizzle

Wow, thanks. Never knew about that. Some ?'s, how easy is it to tune, will the obdII system hinder it and would it be a better choice than getting a turbos speacilaties fuel managment computer and a ignition control box or just getting a haltech computer?

Thanks for the great advice guys.

If the fuel controller can't tune timing you'll still want a timing controller.

Stand-Alones are very capable and allow every aspect of the car to be tuned to your preference, but it'll mean a bunch more time dyno tuning, which means lots more money. Plus the units themselves are more expensive.

It mainly comes down to what you want out of it.

[Rdizzle]

Well the turbo fuel manager controls every aspect of injection since it even has a MAP sensor and even acts as a turbo timer. I figure that is at least as good as apexi units people are running. And a webber ignition control box allows you to control every aspect of ignition. Would these two together be worth the money? Assembled megasquirts are only 400 bucks and come with harness' but do you think this would be able to tune a forged 300+hp engine? Same question with the seperate components as well.