A retune of the ER34

Pic 1: Power FC Datalogit

I got the ER34 retuned again today. Basically need to fine tune some stuffs on the ignition map. I need to make some changes on the higher rpm thus arises the need to take the car up to high gear and high rpm. That means I have to go fast! Now, I do not condone speeding nor am I a top-speed freak but I had to do this to get the map tidied up. Yeah so there ya go.

I only managed to take the ER34 up to 6,188rpm on fifth gear before I ran out of road or had to slow down (way in advance!) due to traffic up ahead. The ER34 redlines at 7,000rpm thus there's still some room to go. As the stock instrument cluster only goes up to 180km/h, the actual speed thankfully can be viewed via the data logs. Now I can safely say the ER34 is VERY safe to run up on higher boost even on a hot sunny day. :)

ER34 On The Dyno (again!)

Ok guys. Following up on my post here about the retune of my Power FC, here is the video of the dyno run. Sorry man, can't help but tease a bit. Hahaha

The ER34 went through more than 30 runs on the dyno machine but I've only uploaded one of the runs; well, basically they are more of less the same anyway. Is the car a tad loud?

Oh yea, there's another video where massive flames can be seen spitting out of the ER34, but I think I'll just reserve that for another day. :P

Retune of the Power FC

Pic 1: ER34 strapped on the dyno machine

After my botched up crappy tuning of the Apexi Power FC (read here), I've gone to another tuner that would at least meet my expectations and would know what he is doing. In preparation for the retune of my Power FC, a couple of items had to be done. They are:-

1) Obtain bigger cc injectors
2) Fuel pump rewiring (read here)

I got Nismo 480cc injectors for the retune but those ran out of flow. We found out the hard way while road tuning the Power FC. A good 200km of distance travelled were wasted and the tuning had to be stopped. These lovely injectors were already maxed out at 6,000rpm. Sigh....

With much hesitation, I put up the Nismo injectors for sale; and it was gone in a week! With the renewed funds, I bought bigger 650cc injectors from Sard. :)

Pic 2: ER34 strapped on the dyno machine

So the ER34 were in a half state of tune for 2 weeks while I waited for the Sard injectors to arrive. No worries since I'm not going anywhere much and if I do, I never drove past 4,000rpm. Yes, this self-restriction is mighty hard to cope with. LOL :D

Anyway, with the Sard 650cc injectors, one can be assured that there would be more than enough juice for the ER34. After the injectors arrived and were fitted, the car saw another 200km of road tuning before being strapped on the dyno machine for another 100km of fine tuning.

On the rollers, the ER34 spend a good solid 2 hours plus to get the tuning right. The power and torque curve is now much smoother compared to my previous jagged edged piece of crap tune. My air fuel curve can be better but given the amount of effort spent, it's the best that my tuner can extract out of it. It’s running a tad on the rich side now.

Whilst power and torque went up, fuel consumption improved dramatically! In my previous crap tune, I got 220km out of the full tank of 65 litres. Yea, it really sucked. Felt like I'm driving a big block muscle car. WTF!

Now, I'm getting far better mileage. Still on my initial full tank of fuel, I've already clocked 300km before my refuel. And a third of it is hard runs on the dyno machine! Most definitely it will however drink like the "Thirsty Traveller" during my hill runs but that’s expected anyhow.

Pic 3: Tuning the Power FC

Preliminary feelings on the car is that it’s now much tougher to drive hard and throttle modulation is crucial during cornering lest it’ll be tailing out. I am missing my stock turbine responsiveness with its early spooling. :(

The HKS GT-RS is a responsive turbine as it spool earlier than bigger turbines like the 3037s BUT it's still a tad laggier compared to the stock snail.

But when the boost kicks in, it’s bloody frantic! The car is also spitting massive flames. Wild bonfires in the still of the night. Hahaha

I have a strong feeling that I'll be much slower when I tackle Frasiers Hill again. That has got to suck! :(

Anyone care for a video of the dyno run? Hehe :)

Pic 4: Took this pic while preparing for road tune


Pic 5: Power FC, Datalogit cables, HKS A/F Knock Amp, Innovate Motorsports LC-1 Wideband Controller, etc..


Pic 6: ER34 strapped on the dyno machine


Pic 7: Spinning wheels


Pic 8: Anyone wanna see the dyno video? :P

Apexi Power FC with Hand Commander

Pic 1: What's in the box??

With greater power comes greater engine management (sorry can't help it with this line). :P

Well not exactly greater power in my case but when one fiddles with the car more and touches on aspects that will affect air fuel ratio, fuelling, ignition timing, etc .... invariably the brain of the car would need to be tweaked to accommodate these changes.

Some opt for piggyback systems to trick the factory ECu to modify its parameters. Of course this works and would cost less damage to the wallet, but this also slightly inferior to a full remap of the ECU.

Pic 2: The unveiling. Hehe

Now this is where full-blown stand alone ECU replacement comes into the picture. Many regard the Apexi Power FC as the ultimate aftermarket stand-alone ECU for the RB series engine. The main reasons is pretty clear:-

- It utilizes the factory wiring harness. Just plug it in.
- Availability and access to many tuners (some even tune it themselves).
- Superior compared to generic ECUs as Power FC is engine specific thus items like cold idling shouldn't be much of an issue
- etc...

Of course there are other options out there with more mapping points like the HKS FCON VPro which has 32X32 load map versus Power FC's 20X20 load map. HKS FCON VPro is thus more expensive but the main issue with it is the availability of tuners as only HKS appointed dealers could tune the ECU. And tuning fees are sky high.

Pic 3: Apexi Power FC!!

The good thing about Power FC is that it comes preloaded with a base map tuned for basic modifications such as exhaust, boost controller and air filter upgrade. As such, you can just plug it in and drive away before more refined tuning is done on the dyno/road.

Below is a list of available functions on the Power FC for the ER34

MONITORING
AirTemp - Air Temperature Airflow
Airflow Meter Voltage
BatVolt - Battery Voltage
Boost - Boost Pressure (Bar)
Eng Rev - Engine RPM
IgnTmng - Ignition Timing
InjDuty - Injector Duty
Knock - Knock Sensor
Speed - Speed KM/H
WtrTemp - Water Temperature

SETTING
Acceler. - Acceleration Enrichment
Airflow - Airflow Meter Voltage Table
Boost - Boost Pressure
Cranking - Cold Start Cranking Table
Ign Map - Ignition Map
Ign/Inj - Ignition and Injection Temporary Adjust
Inj Map - Injection Map
Injector - Injector Latency
Rev/Idle - Rev and Idle Settings
Wtr Temp - Water Temp Correction Table

Pic 4: This is what's inside a complete Power FC set. :)

The Power FC can also be used to control boost via an optional boost controller kit. This kit consists of Map Sensor, Map Sensor Harness and a Solenoid. I already have the HKS EVC 4 installed thus would not require the boost control kit. Besides there have been not so great reports of this kit.

I have in my hand two (2) sets of the Power FC completed with hand controller. Yes it's not a typo, I have TWO sets of this ECU. You all know how rare it is since Apexi has discontinued it already. So if you're keen, shoot me an email via eujin[at]hotmail[dot]com. Ridiculously low price offers will not be entertained. :)

Only 1 set will be for sale as uhmm.... I'll need the other unit for my small project later on. :P

Pic 5: Power FC and hand commander


Pic 6: The ECU


Pic 7: The hand commander


Pic 8: My extra set for sale!!