I am thinking about getting either the upgraded ECU or a SAFC.

The main reasons I am leaning towards the SAFC is ease of tunablity ( if that's even a word )

If I change things, I just have to dyno tune, not send my ECU in and spend more money and have more down time

Or maybe BOTH is an option.


And yes I plan on going to 300z injectors in the next 6 months or so

 

Lot's of good discussion about tuning these days.

Getting the ECU makes life easier, until you start exceeding the hp limit that the program is designed for. At that point you need to have the ECU reprogrammed (along with getting a 300zx maf).

Since you will be subject to JWT's conservative engine timing, you will no doubt have a safer setup than if you tuned with fuel pressure and safc, but you might not be able to get all the power available in the engine.

An added bonus with the ECU is the raised redline.

I'm not sure what having both the ECU and safc gets you, except maybe the ability to do some fine tuning.

Since you're turbo and not SC, I vote for ECU or both. As for me, I think for now I'm going to follow Matt's lead and stick with the stock ECU and tuning via fuel pressure tweaking and safc.

 

Stephen- thanks for your thoughts .. and yeah LOTS of discussion on this issue.

I am trying to PLAN better, from now on. So maybe I will only have to do it once or buy one item, instead of buying 2 worng items and then finally getting the correct 1

 

i look at it this way - which one in the immediate future will benefit me and my car the most? on your car im guessing what 10-30 more hp with the safc tuned? how much gain would you see with the ecu?


i picked both

 

I say B, but I chose D.

 

Thanks carl.. and from arthur ( dyno guy ) he thinks 20 WHP accross the board, is a "safe bet" on the SAFC with proper fuel management

ECU... is unknown, but I am currently running a 96 ECU so that is why I thought about it

Kev I think you and carl are gonna win.. BTW WHO would I sell it to ???

Jane?

 

I know going turbo on a max is custom. The way I see it is to go in standard order of operation (intake, exhaust, ecu, etc, etc)
In this case unless the ecu can be customized for the higher fuel flow and engine managment, I don't know what use it would do.
Here's a thought for you. Z's from 90-95 were all able to purchase ECU's however our poor 96's w/ OBD-II were not. There is a guy in canada that broke 11's (on stock turbos) and dynoed over 400rwhp W/OUT and ECU. it really turned peoples heads regarding having an ecu and it's true function.
If the ECU programming stays the same regardless of what upgrade, I would say, get an AFC, borrow an org members ecu to see on the butt dyno if there is any upgrade.
Although I put down to get both. If the ecu doesn't have a turbo program, just get the AFC and get the chip at a later time but then you'll be wasting your money tuning it a second time.
Hope this helps a little.

 

Here's something to think about:

JWT hasn't done many turbo Maxima ECU's. Sooooooooooooooo....... how will they know what's best for you? They even screwed up Matthel's fuel map.

 

I'm under the impression that they do have a lot of experience with VG30DETT's and other turbo'ed Nissans, so that's a start. But maybe their unfamiliarity with the VQ is why they're so conservative with timing.

Why they screwed up Matthel's fuel map? I dunno. I got the impression from reading that thread that they just didn't care about tuning Maximas.

 

That I did not know.. well tehn SAFC only for now...

 

Raising the Rev limiter, if you do that Id get the injectors to feed the car the necessary fuel on the top RPMs and then DYNO tune it with the SAFC.

 

Actually JWT has several turbo maxima ECU's, however they are all pretty much pre- OBD-II. They have turbo programs for the VG30DE, VG30E, L28/L24E, VG33E. What they offer is basically plug and play, all you need to do is plug in the ECU and the car should run fine. It won't make the most power but it will run without major issues.

 

Why not run the greddy emanage? Not only does it allow you to alter the fuel curve, but you can adjust the ignition timing curve also. Then it will allow you to upgrade your fuel injectors and run better than with a SAFC. A V6 with 370cc injectors @ 4 bar fuel pressure should have enough flow for over 400whp. I've seen the emanage go for around $300-400 so it would be a bargain compared to what the SAFC does.

 

Has this been confirmed for Maximas?

 

StephenMax, check your PMs

 

 

MONEY... and the only person I know of trying emange on a maxima is mardi.

A buddy with a turbo IS 300 has it and he loves it, but it's not a maxima

I am looking at a SAFC for a decent price.... and I can upgrade injectors, more boost, anything and a simple dyno tune is all I need.

Emanage will do more, but for now more is not better for me

 

So with the SAFC and that Timing SafeGaurd device would it handle the 300tt injectors? And will the stock MAF handle 400 or should we go ahead and get a 300 MAF? Yea I know I'm still tinkering with my setup.
I think I just found a new harness.

 

Going to a 300ZX maf would require a JWT turbo ECU program, right? I am under the impression that a 300 maf is not plug and play like the injectors are. But maybe there's a way around that.

Mardi, are you listening? Are you still with your oem maf or did you go to a 300 maf?

 

What ever you do man.. Buy my SAFC ;-)