Here's my question. I have an '89 Nissan Maxima that I'm fixing to drop a modified Vg30et into. I have the JWT ecu but am fixing to purchase a romulator to run the engine instead.
I have already downloaded several turbo programs and standard VG30E programs (I hope for VG30E!) for the Live Edit software. I'm becomming more and more familiar with this tool. My questions are all similiar and need the help of the 3rd gen turbo guys on this. 1) What is the stock J30/3rd gen max Maf good for (12-14 psi)? 2) If I can run the stock maf, then where can I locate the data for Live Edit so it can read my stock max maf (Max/z31 maf not on list)? 3) Would it be easier to just upgrade to the Z32 maf and use the Live Edit z32 settings already available? 4) I can locate a used z32 maf, the question is, where do I obtain the information to wire in the maf to my stock wiring? This re-wire does not concern me as I've already re-wired my stock maf previously and am familiar with working with this harness (I had to lengthen the wire as I relocated the maf in the engine compartment. No problems in the 3 years I've had this done, so figure I did it right . ) Thanks for all the help and support from this community!

 

Wow... you asked alot of questions there. Ill try and do my best, and i may not answer them in order. First off, I personaly ran the Stock MAF up to about 10 psi (271 WHP). When i hooked a Volt meter up to that i found out that it was MAXED at this point however that never gave me any problems my AFRs were always good. Next... Regarding the Live edit and The Maf, As long as you load a program into live edit that is made for your stock MAF it will not changes those values (VE table and the K constant) however if you do click on somthing in the "select a new Airflow meter" box things will go wrong. This worked great for me and im sure it will for you. If you do want to switch to a z32 maf you may have to do it like i did.. when i went and clicked on the z32 maf option in live edit... it didnt work, car didnt even run. so what i had to do was download a z32 BIN file go into it with a Hex Editor, then Cut and Past the VQ map into our maxima maps.. after i did this and set the K value to about 180 it ran MUCH MUCH better. therefore i knew i was doing somthing right.

When you do start getting the car running turboed i would recomend useing the Stock Maxima map to base all of your tuning off of. For me this worked great. Perferably the map that came out of the Ecu you have the chip in, althought that most likely will not matter at all. when it comes to editing the injector values in liveedit the best way is to use the Editor that is built in... i know it will say that you have 370 cc injectors stock however there is a way to change that so it says 180.... Kinda weird how you do it but it must be done every time you want to modify injector sizes. First you must open a Bin file, then you go into the injectors tab and type in 180 into the box that say "Recalculate for this size". then you reopen the Bin File, this will reset the "Factory size injector is" area to 180. then you can type the new injector size into the "Recalculate for this size" box and it will change everything that needs to be changed in order to theoretically make the car run identially to what it did on the smaller injectors. This feature doesnt just modify the K value and injector response time it also rescales the TP (theoretical pulsewidths) in the maps for the larger injectors with Shorter TP.

I am very sorry if everything i just said was hard to understand but its 1 in the morning and im bad at writing what im thinging to begin with.
There are a few others on this board that are also very good with this so they might be able to explain better, but at least i tryed.

Jeremy

my $.02
Also feel free to PM me if you have any direct questions.
good luck

 

Also... The Z32 MAF is a direct plug and play for our cars.
The JWT ecu will not work with the romulator... you'll need to get a stock ecu and get it socketed "where the chip would go" then plug the romulator into that.
It's awful confuseing to get started like Jeremy said. I had alot of help from Bernard that visits and helps us guys here on the board alot. He's a Nissan ecu hacking god.
Anyhow... your on the right track all of us 3d gen turbo guys can help...
~Scott

 

Great feedback, much appreciated! I've been in touch with Bernardd. I also appreciate you alot as well Scott/Boosted. I understand that the JWT won't work. I wouldn't WANT to use it with the Romulator, that would be $600 down the drain. I plan on selling the JWT once everything is set up. I'm only going to use the JWT (alone) if I can't get the Romulator to run the car properly, I'll switch the JWT back in. I'm planning to use the Ecu in my car now, that's why I've been looking to get a stock program for my VG30E so I can mess with my engine that is in it now. If I blow it or do some damage, no big deal. I've got an extra VG plus the VG30ET I'm building. My engine now has 190k miles and smoking, so now loss.
In reading several write ups and trying to educate myself, I read one write up that stated that things inside the Max ecu had to be changed...two resistors had to be removed and a potentiometer installed? So, this is inaccurate? I just plug in the Z32 Maf and install a z32 bin file for that maf, that simple? Sounds great! I'll go ahead and start looking for a z32 maf and may start play with it even in my VG30E through messing with the Live Edit. Thanks guys!

 

Chris:
Change the vq map address to 7a70 and the injector size to 180 in the config file BEFORE you load your binfile into live edit. In the airflowmeter leave the value 4. This ensures that the tp scales will be changed correctly when you adjust for larger injectors. Open the afm tab and select the z32 then commit to changes, save the binfile. Open the config file again and change the airflow meter to 7. Save the change and reload the config file and the binfile. Now enter your new inj size and click on the rescale button. After that you'll have to fine tune. I've found that setting the k value at about 2500rpm with the entire fuel map filled with 0's, and the o2 disconnected or disabled and shooting for a 14.7 afr works the best. You'll most likely have to take some fuel at idle to get it to 14.7 (if that's what your engine likes). If your using 370cc inj from the z32, use the latency value for that injector. You'll also need to make sure you're not going off the map by doing some column tests.

Scott: Stop it already. There are many more with much greater knowledge than I have. I just happen to like sharing and helping out.

*really really embarassed*
Bernard

 

Bernardd, Thanks for your inclusion of assistance as well! I need clarification of what are you addressing? Is this describing how to run stock VG30E with stock Max afm? Or is this what I need to do to run stock VG30E with Z32 afm? Which config/bin files are you referrencing. Scott sent me a Max config file but it still says VG30ET at the bottom of the Live Edit screen. Do you mean the VG30ET config file?

I also assume that based on a previous discussion we had, that I should use the 88t bin file to run stock VG? Really don't know what the difference would be in configuration between VG30E versus VG30ET is anyway given same engine with different base compression. Regardless.....

How about this. How about I get a couple of you guy's addresses and come up on the weekends for planned visits and you can just charge me for shop hours! : ) I will get it, but please......for now, just talk to me like I'm a MORON....PLEASE!!!! I really feel embarrased becuase I do 95% of work on my car myself and I'm not used to having this much trouble figuring my car out. This is the "final frontier" for me in tuning, I guess it's primarily the intangeable aspect of programming that causes me the most frustration! Give me a ratchet and 10mm any day!

 

Those are the changes need to run the maxima ecu with a z32 maf. The stock vg30et config file (that's the file you load into live edit to tell what binfile you're working with) has different addresses for the data I pointed out so you have to change some things. You can name a config file whatever you want, it's just a text file pointing the live edit software to the appropriate addresses for viewing. PM me if you want to chat sometime.

 

Chris,
Dont worry, it will all seem very confusing at first. But in time you will understand it. When i got into it i was rather lost also. Bernard and Scott got me throught it and in time we will get you through it. now i just wish i was better at answering questions.....

Jeremy

 

Thanks guys! Bernardd, I printed off your directions and completed what you directed. Thanks! Everything is comming up fine on the Edit program. I will begin locating a z32 Maf and install. Then I will get the Romulator and get everything working.

*One question Bernardd that I've not figured out. The example of Live Edit shows a full graph on the right. My graph is cut off by the right of my screen and moving it over still shows 1/2 the graph missing. There is no expanding it to show the entire graph. No big deal, just curious if this is right? I'll take you up on your chat offer at some time. Hats off to you and everyone else who has helped, especially Scott.

 

From the sound of it.. there might be an error or somthing in your program. Thats great that you seem to be understanding it all well. good luck

 

I've got a full graph on all the pc's I've used live edit on. I have no idea why it would do that. Maybe uninstall then reinstall? Sorry I honestly don't know. You may want to join the ztech forum and look for a fellow that goes by cb drift. He wrote and should be able to help you out.

 

I'm using it on my Gateway Laptop I got for (early) Christmas. I have reinstalled it 3-4 times during my "exploring" of the program and making errors. I had previously failed to install the most recent version and did so only last week. The graph changed in appearance in the current version, yet it did not expand. No matter, it may be my screen resolution or something on my laptop.