Exploring fuel management options

[charles greene]

Before I start, I want to say my power goal is 400-ish hp on pump gas. It is my daily driver for the time being, so I don't want to have a lot of downtime if possible. Below I've listed my concerns and questions about my current setup.

Alright, alright. So I just bought my 2nd DSM, a 98 TSi AWD and the PO has performed some modifications to the car. 3" turbo back exhaust, 16g, 800cc injectors, etc. however the mod that made me create this thread is the GM maf blow thru setup. Now, being familiar with 3000gt's, this is a good setup for moderate power increases and a tad more fuel than stock. I've done some reading and all of what I've gathered is that it's also a decent setup on DSM's given the correct setup.

I was thinking that dsmlink would be a better alternative to the blow thru setup given all of the information and proven nature of the setup on a lot of DSM's. Reason being is, the PO had told me a friend of his street tuned it a few months ago, and while the car runs pretty good 95% of the time, it still has quirky little things that happen sometimes. For example, if I do a full throttle pull in 3rd/4th/5th gear and let off for a stop sign, when I'm in neutral and idling it wants to choke up and die unless I give a small amount of throttle input and then it perks back up to 900rpm and stays there unless I redo the process. Just little stuff like that.

I do have a NASTY boost leak and I know exactly where it's coming from, which very well could be part of the issue. There is a SS j-pipe installed, and where it bolts to the turbo it is SMOTHERED with orange permatex over the regular gasket. To me it looked like a quick fix to a not so perfect fitting j-pipe? Idk, but I believe I have a leftover gasket from my previous DSM that I'll try and put on this weekend. Sorry for the long start, just want to explain exactly what's happening.

So would dsmlink be a far superior choice to the blow thru setup, or would I just be wasting my time with it for my power goals?

 

[EvilGST]

I'm using ECMlink with speed density making roughly 400whp and the car drives 100% stock around town without any kind of hickups at all. I found speed density far easier to setup than I expected. It also drives far better than I expected.

 

[charles greene]

Here's a picture of the aforementioned gasket

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And evilgst, thats what I've heard about speed density and ecmlink. Guess there's a reason why it's so popular

 

[Dstarperformance01]

This is all true but that's not the only option.
If you want to be able to fine tune whenever you want then link or AEM will be what you want. If you don't want to tune or have time to tune then you can get a EPROM chip burned and get what you need with a plug and play. @bastarddsm can help with this. It's all about what you want and want to spend and time to spend on it as well. There are a few options out there.

 

[bastarddsm]

Being that this is a 2g, I'd probably sway you towards ecmlink. Just because there isn't as much dev work going on, on the 2g code AFIK.

If you want to keep run the gm maft, i would strongly reccomend ecmlink or at the very least a chip burned for your injector size. I would also try and get the baro and IAT locked in the chip, as that is a great source of instability in the tune while running a MAFT.

 

[charles greene]

Ah okay, seeing as how this will be my daily for at least a year, it would make more sense to me to just run an EPROM chip for my injectors. Kinda hard to find time to work on anything working 45+ hours a week. Lol

 

[FBHO87]

Another option you could consider is megasquirt. Granted it's a little more involved, however there is a good source of help from users like what you have similar with dsmlink. I have used megasquirt for a 420a project and will be using it in my supercharged jeep wrangler as well.

 

[bastarddsm]

There is no reason to ever put a megasquirt on a 4g63 dsm. There is just too many hacks involved in using a megasquirt on a dsm.

 

[Mikey851]

What do you guys think about Haltech? I keep hearing good things, but I keep hearing those good things from people who are associated with selling Haltech .

 

[too_genecide]

Research Ecuflash since you stated that you have a 98. You should have a flashable ecu and all you need to start tuning is an openport 2.0 cable, evoscan and ecuflash.
Ecuflash is a free download
Evoscan is about $25 if I remember correctly
Openport 2.0 cable is $160 I think

 

[AlmightySo]

For the dying after throttle, is your BOV recirculated? & if not do you have set to vented in link?

 

[boost97gst]

You can run ECMLink, stock 2g MAF and flow 52lbs/min of air. I have done it. It was smooth as silk. No need to change to SD if you don't want to
52lbs/min is actually a lot of power(tuned properly of course).
I would say Link, no question at all. It will do everything you need

 

[bastarddsm]

^ exactly. There is almost no reason to ever ditch the factory ecu and a 2g maf, weather you are running a afc, chip, link, or flash. The stock setup is extremely versatile, and has unmatachable robustness.