i was just wondering if the ecu upgrade does anything over than what a piggyback system like emanage can do. is there a benifit to getting both or are they basically the same thing? this is of course excluding the raised rev limited that the jwt ecu can give you.

 

Besides a raised rev-limiter there is no point of a ECU over a standalone or piggyback unless you don't wanna mess with any of the tuning yourself. Now that the emanage ultimate is out and it might be possible to change your own re limit, the ECU is less and less attractive. You really didn't need to start this thread, you could've just went to the websites of the companies making these gadgets and read all about it there. They have websites for a reason.

 

people forget about the perfect power smt too.

 

basically what dave sz said. an ecu would be better if you didn't want to deal with tuning.

 

sorry to bring back an old thread. is there anybody here that has a JWT or TS ecu (non-Lspec) and is also using an AFC?

 

im lookin to tune my 4th gen 3.5 swap i have a stock ecu what should i get

 

I have a JWT ecu (SC program) and SAFC. The last time I dynoed (two weeks ago), I did some back to back runs with no SAFC corrections and adding in about 5%. I made better power over a wide rpm range with the zero correction run. The reason is that adding fuel (increasing maf voltage, actually) results in ignition timing being pulled. Nevertheless, I was surprised it made such a difference.

 

SM: have you ever thought about sending your JWT in and having them reduce the timing retard? From what I understand, JWT over retards the timing thus you loose a lot of power and you are running way too safe timing.

 

would u need timing advance if u had a force inductioned or mallfinder throttle body/00vo setup or 3.5 in the 4thgen?

 

Maybe their timing is on the conservative side, but that is how I like it. I don't need my daily driver holing pistons from being at the ragged edge of detonation/preignition because I'm trying to eke out the last few hp.

To put things into perspective, I'm laying down 365 hp with a lowly V1 blower, and I still have a smaller pulley to go to if I want. Not too shabby, I think, and a very good part of this is that I have no worries of burning the engine up on the dyno stand or during a streetfight on a hot afternoon.

Someday I'll retire the Maxima from daily driver status. At that time I'll start playing around with the timing.

 

But didn't you say in another thread that after upgrading to intercooled setup that you were loosing power that can be run safely because your timing is too conservative for the cooler charge that you get now.

 

That is true, but rather than change the timing, I will just run the smaller pulley and increase boost. Or, take the intercooler off and go back to a non-intercooled setup.

The point I was trying to make, though, is that although JWT gets a lot of criticism for conservative timing, you can't argue that they offer a worry-free approach to tuning that still results in pretty impressive power gains.

 

From the reading about timing retard I've been doing over the past couple days whilst worrying about my own you can cause problems by retarding timing too much, such as pushing your EGTs way up.

I'm not suggesting that JWT is doing this because Stephen you have the most well monitored and thorough setup I've seen on a maxima, but it is something new that I learned and thought I'd share since this is a timing discussion.

 

Sorry to throw the thread off track but its a timing related question. With an Emanage Ultimate, it can pull timing but compared to a J&S Safeguard, it pulls the timing automatically before it senses detonation?

 

The J&S safeguard retards timing AFTER it gets a knock signal. The good thing about it though is that it doesn't retard timing across the board. It retards timing on a per cylinder basis by knowing which cylinder fired last.

 

The bad part about J&S is that there first needs to be knock before it starts to work or is teh amount of knock so little that no damage occurs?

 

Knock on one combustion cycle won't do any real damage. Repeated knock is what's dangerous, and the J&S SG prevents that.

I don't know of a product on earth that can pull timing before knock is detected.

 

Yes, too much timing retard will increase EGTs. I have a friend who tried to set the timing of his four banger (might have been a Pinto, or a Chevette) without the help of a timing light. He got it to where it idled nice and smooth and went for a drive. When he got back he smelled something burning and opened the hood. His exhaust manifold was glowing red hot.

 

can a 95 get a piggy back system? i was never sure and this seems like a good thread to clarify. if you can, then what is good for a timing advance?

 

Yes. Currently, only the SMT unit has been proven to advance timing. The eManage Ultimate is supposed to do it but GReddy still hasn't gotten it to work with our engine.

 

the SMT-6 works (up to 8 degrees timing advance) but from what i hear the SMT-7 has not released a firmware upgrade for out POS crank sensor, same as the EU.
for now the only ECU/fuel computers that work with the maxima are the regular E-manage, smt-6, Safc2, JWT and TS ECU's. Also 2000+ maximas can have a 17deg. timing advance done through the Consult 2 on the stock ECU.
am i missing anything?