going standalone info and advice

[oren hughbanks]

So I want to get away from AFC setup, and I know everyone raves about link. I would love a link setup and I cruise the classifieds religiously in search of a used setup. A good friend of mine who I trust greatly, told me not to go with link. I guess it was just his personal experience with it, but he recommends going full blown AEM ems. I don't have a huge amount with standalone systems. I like the idea of getting rid of all the stupid factory 1g maps. AEM. Looks like a good solid unit but it's very expensive also
My question is, does anyone have experience with greddy ultimate emanage? I have a few friends who run that, but I don't know of any DSMs that do. You can find older emanage blues, for about half the cost of a AEM. I know it's not pinned for a dsm harness but could u repin it? Or make a jumper harness? Any ideas or thoughts

 

[StarFawkes]

Advice? Don't do it. I just dealt with the woes of a standalone for two years and finally switched to Link. Link is just so simple and effective. And cheap. If you want my AEM series 2 let me know, its for a 1g.

 

[bastarddsm]

Stupid factory maps? Lol are you a senoir level controls engineer? The factory ecu structure works very very well. My cas has basically a stock ecu file thats been adjusted for bigger injectors, a 2gmaft, and a bigger timing map. Nothing major. Yesterday I went 10.99@130 on a stock block, and it weights 3200lbs. I'd say the factory ecu works just fine.

The greddy emanage is a piggyback just like the AFC.

The most cost effective trouble-free setup is link.

Following that is any of the many private followings, dsm-ecu, jackal-ass, the evo8/flashable 2g ecu. Those are all cheaper, but the learning curve is very steep.

The AEM is more costly, and a very very steep learning curve.

 

[oren hughbanks]

Haha no I'm not a senior control engineer. I guess I'm from the world of jeep Cherokee and it also has a OBD1 setup, but no maf and with a map sensor. It's such a simple reliable setup.
I would love to be able to successfully bypass my FIAV, and get my car to idle like stock with the bigger injectors. I dont like how it has a warm up fuel map, and normal map, I just want it simpler. I don't think speed density is a option for me since here in Az my altitude is 5k feet, and our closest dyno shop is 1k feet . That is a huge difference and with so many mountains there's always changing elevation. Since my car is used for a daily (when it's working) I just want a reliable setup[DOUBLEPOST=1411417060][/DOUBLEPOST]

Advice? Don't do it. I just dealt with the woes of a standalone for two years and finally switched to Link. Link is just so simple and effective. And cheap. If you want my AEM series 2 let me know, its for a 1g.

I would be interested tell me a little more info on it

 

[jbeaton9292]

No experiance with emanage but i do have with aem ems and ecmlink. I bought aem first and figured it shouldnt be to crazy. WRONG! I couldnt even get the damn thing to start and idle. Its not very user friendly at all. After relizing it wasnt going to work for me i posted it for trade for link v3 full. I had it packed up and shipped a day later for v3 full. I got link and put it in turned laptop on and started reading. After about an hour i went to the car hooked it up and set up for injectors and maf type and bam fired right up and stayed idling. Granted the tune was not good but i could cruise around some if needed. After playing with it for about another hour car idled awsome and out of boist felt great! I kept playing with it daily and about a week later i was making pulls without knock and running 17psi out of a fully built car. The car had alot more to go but timw came where i unfortunatly had to part ways with my baby!

So in the end i say go link its an amazing tunning option and very very user friendly, and if you have issues there is litterly thousands of people that are willing to help every step of the way and get your car making some power!

 

[StarFawkes]

If you want my AEM series 2 let me know, its for a 1g.

I would be interested tell me a little more info on it

It's dead and AEM wants $75+shipping just to look at it. That's about all I can tell you.

 

[oren hughbanks]

How much were u looking to get for it? I just can't afford to go link, Atleast until I can find a good deal on a used one

 

[jbeaton9292]

How much were u looking to get for it? I just can't afford to go link, Atleast until I can find a good deal on a used one

If you cant afford to spend 400$ on link you should leave the car alone because a timing job costs that

Also if you dont know how to tune aem deffinatly dont buy that because to to get it tuned is gonna be around double what link costs a friend of mine paid 1100$ for an aem tune on a dyno this was for a 650hp car but still not cheap

 

[oren hughbanks]

There's a shop down in Phoenix called UMS tuning they r a great shop for dsms, a full tune with dyno time runs 600 to 800. Something I'm willing to pay to have it running tip top and safely on 91. My build is way too far past stock to turn back now, and I can't find any link setups around 400, but I'll keep looking

 

[Mello]

I like my AEM. Been rocking it since 2002. Its a series 1 but their really isn't much different between the old or new series 2. AEM is not simple but has way more features than link; but most people will never use all the capabilities of the AEM. A lot of folks on here like to compare link to the AEM but this really isn't a fair comparison as the AEM can do much more than link can. I have a separate maps for second set of injectors, run traction control, and on speed density using a VE tuning strategy and have no problems with elevation changes. Have to deal the tail pipe sniffer emissions which have never been a problem. I have a 95 and federal law only requires OBD I compliance. I would run link on anything 1996 and newer if emissions are mandatory where you live though. Since I do my own tuning & don't have to consider the extra expense. Lastly, you don't need a dyno to tune the AEM if you know how to use all the data logging and math functions in their software. My car is it's own dyno. By the time I added up all the supporting expenses the AEM wasn't really anymore than the other options. My AEM has never let me down. Car runs just fine from below 0* up to 105+* rain, snow sleet or shine. Cruise from 2000ft all to the top of our mountain crest somewhere around 10000+ft. People cant tell I'm even using a full stand alone when I need to give someone a ride, they just think it's stock. The only problems I've seen people have with the AEM have been user errors. I guess I've said enough.

 

[oren hughbanks]

Thankyou for the awesome response. ! That's the info I needed. A good friend of mine, a guy I trust driving my own dsm. He saved up forever and bought a AEM and bypassed link without a second thought. I'm not in any way shape or form saying link is a bad product, or anything like that but I want something that absolutely would not let me down. My car is a 91; and I have zero emissions up here where I live. I guess that makes up for their being no E85. How did u repin the AEM for your harness? Would I be able to get rid of my FIAV and still keep normal start up and idle? I'm familiar with how to read a data log , right now I have to do a chameleon routine and try to watch three gauges at once. I'm all down to learn how to tune myself I love a challenge. And are u currently running speed density? I would like to do that cause I see a Holset turbo in my future.

 

[jbeaton9292]

There's a shop down in Phoenix called UMS tuning they r a great shop for dsms, a full tune with dyno time runs 600 to 800. Something I'm willing to pay to have it running tip top and safely on 91. My build is way too far past stock to turn back now, and I can't find any link setups around 400, but I'll keep looking

you can buy link brand new from their website for 425 its not link full but it will get you running as you need and then when you get another 145 or whatever the difference is where as aem is double that price[DOUBLEPOST=1411445621][/DOUBLEPOST]by the way you dont need speed density to go to a holset turbo. also you said you like aem because you dont want to be let down, well you might want to rethink that as your gonna need the car towed to a shop to have it tuned. where as with link i can promise you that you will be able to get it running and driving all on your own. if you think looking at your gauges is datalogging wait till you start reading a real data log its not a gauge its a graph and a bunch of lines everywhere. its not hard to read just alot more to pay attention to then glancing at your gauges.

 

[1990dsmkid]

They no longer sell the lite version so its like 545 for full or nothing unless you are upgrading from lite.

 

[jbeaton9292]

They no longer sell the lite version so its like 545 for full or nothing unless you are upgrading from lite.

did not know this as its still on their site a if they sell it

never mind they must have recently changed it or i found an old page as i searched up link v3lite when i found it

 

[oren hughbanks]

This is getting intense! I appreciate all your guys input honestly I'm glad I've gotten this many responses. How is the customer service from ecmlink? I've read a few threads where it works great at first, then your laptop will stop reading it all together and u can't even get it to load. I would hope they would help me out even if i didn't buy it originally from them ?

 

[bryanwheat]

This is getting intense! I appreciate all your guys input honestly I'm glad I've gotten this many responses. How is the customer service from ecmlink? I've read a few threads where it works great at first, then your laptop will stop reading it all together and u can't even get it to load. I would hope they would help me out even if i didn't buy it originally from them ?

If you own link than you will have access to their forums with all the tech help you could ever need. The tech advise is far better than you will ever get with aem. As far as what you are talking about with the fiav, that is not computer controlled. It is easily bypassed, even though i am not 100 percent sure why you are so against having that along with cold start enrichment. It kind of sounds like you have been talking to someone who hasn't used it and is biased. I would highly recommend link over aem for someone just getting into tuning. It will go a lot further than you are probably thinking.

 

[daniel dee]

I went from DSM link to AEM EMS to solve problems.
eliminated phantom knock .....AEM was modified to use the knock sensor in a different way and is able to gauge intensity of knock.
Idle recovery....I run alumium flywheel and lighten crank....rpm justs drops and dies...AEM has the ability to adjust and catch this rapid rpm drop.
I run staged injectors....not sure if DSMlink can do this.

The main thing I didn't like about DSM link it uses the factory short long term memory thing drives me crazy making my part throttle tuning disappear because it is not inputted into long term memory. (which requires steady 2500-3000 rpm for ten minutes for each adjustment,,,very hard to do in a city.)

 

[jbeaton9292]

This is getting intense! I appreciate all your guys input honestly I'm glad I've gotten this many responses. How is the customer service from ecmlink? I've read a few threads where it works great at first, then your laptop will stop reading it all together and u can't even get it to load. I would hope they would help me out even if i didn't buy it originally from them ?

I never had connectivity issues. I got mine second hand and tom from link was very happy to help i asked him a few questions via email. Great company! Now with aem yes there are things you can do with link you cant, will you ever use them features um doubtful there was nothing on link i was like man wish i could do this instead. Aem is a great product for people who are advanced tuners and are trying for world record times. Peope are using link to get 1000whp cars.

Oh and ask people with aem how they like cold starts . They arent going to tell you your gonna wear out a starter fast as hell. Alot of people modify the cas to a 24t so it will start faster. I had aem ive used both never had my car running aem, because its picky for 1st startup i dont know how your supposed to tune with the car off but aemwants you to. The reason i know it dont start that great for cold start was my friend i bought aem from i watched him and another friend try to get the car setup. It even did this after he had force tune the car. Sorry not my cup of tea

 

[oren hughbanks]

Both good posts above guys. Why does the factory ecu have a cold start enrichment? I wouldn't think that dumping more fuel into cold rings wouldn't be good. And link is still modifying older technology. The chip is new, but everything else on that board is old tech . And that's the last thing I want to go out if I'm driving to the shoot out from Az. If you have link, how often are u guys pulling data logs and having to make adjustments?

I wanted to go to speed density with the Holset turbo to help with a larger intake. Then I can get rid of the 2g maf. With the AEM it Dosent effect the gauge cluster or anything like that?

Also on link if I wanted to have two maps, say one for pump gas, one for E85, does it have the ability to do that? E85 is not regularly available around me but if I bought some out of town would be nice to switch it over

 

[Mello]

Start up is a tuning things. I don't have start up troubles with my AEM. Just turn the key, no gas, vroom. My AEM doesn't start any worse or better than my stock 97 GSX. They are both about the same for startup. Also all EFI tuning schemes use warm up enrichment on cold motor start up & high idle. Just the FIAV is mechanical and not electronic so its something you can not control through an ECU. Honestly a better be comparison for AEM would be with Motec & Haltech than link.

 

[bryanwheat]

Both good posts above guys. Why does the factory ecu have a cold start enrichment? I wouldn't think that dumping more fuel into cold rings wouldn't be good. And link is still modifying older technology. The chip is new, but everything else on that board is old tech . And that's the last thing I want to go out if I'm driving to the shoot out from Az. If you have link, how often are u guys pulling data logs and having to make adjustments?

I wanted to go to speed density with the Holset turbo to help with a larger intake. Then I can get rid of the 2g maf. With the AEM it Dosent effect the gauge cluster or anything like that?

Also on link if I wanted to have two maps, say one for pump gas, one for E85, does it have the ability to do that? E85 is not regularly available around me but if I bought some out of town would be nice to switch it over

Link has a nice feature where you can add a ethanol sensor to the fuel tank and it will automatically adjust the fuel according to ethanol content. As as cold startup enrichment, it is there to help warm the engine up faster. Most every engine (even carburated engines) uses this. You don't need speed density to go with an hx35, you can run a gm maf or even a 2g or evo maf if you want to. I mean no offence, but by some of the questions you ask you seem like you need to learn a lot before trying to make any decisions pertaining to tuning your car. You will be able to do anything that you will ever want to link, i would for the most part quit listening to your buddy and listen to the people on here that have used both.

 

[oren hughbanks]

That's why I'm asking these questions to make sure I understand as Much as I can. We all gotta start somewhere right? And appreciate your guys input you have answered alot of questions. I'm still pretty new tuning but I'm trying to pick up as much knowledge as I can so I can start doing my own tunes

 

[Mello]

This was the best document I ever found & is what I studied to learn how to tune. I studied & read through this many, many, several times & still reference it occasionally. If you understand everything in this you will be able to tune on any system you end up buying.
http://www.aemelectronics.com/files/webhosting/AEM_EFI_Basics_V1.3.pdf

 

[jbeaton9292]

If your new and trying to learn to tune buy link its way cheaper and way easier to learn if you still feel that you want more after you learn link go aem at least then you will understand tunning and know what its going to take

As far as old tech your way off if it was like that people wouldnt buy/make the products literly thousands use link daily you have 1 person giving examples of aem over link with almost 30 posts here and most of which have used both and aem doesnt offer a flex fuel sensor like link so e85 to pump will be more difficult it can be setup to a toggle switch but link is as simple as just filling up and you dont even need to empty the tank first as it reads the percetage and accomidates tune to it

 

[bmxfelon420]

Unless you have a race car or are looking to run an excessively outrageous setup, I'd just go with link. Anything else is more trouble than its worth.

Do you wanna know how easy it is to use? I went from a stock engine to a 2.4 with a 1g head/intake and a GM maf. All supporting mods. All I had to do to set it up was hook the laptop up, change the injector size, press the gas pedal and tell it to calibrate my TPS. Then I ran a log on the drive home and tuned my cruising maf comp to within a couple percent by just right clicking the log and picking "MAFcomp adjust"

The car idles and runs perfectly. All i'd need is to fix my wideband and I could start to get the upper end of the map tuned.

For our cars, I honestly dont think i'd recommend anything else. I'd be more inclined to get a haltech rather than an AEM, especially if their new system is compatible with our cars. It runs on a ful CAN bus, which means the ECU can have anything you want. Adding inputs is as easy as adding an input module. So the setup has as few or as many things as you need.