I have a Greddy Twin Turbo 350z... however, its lacking the E-Manage. I have used and tested the E-Manage in enough cars to know that it is not what I want for our shop car 350z. Especially since we are in the process of building an extreme motor for it on the side, and we would surpass its potential for this car immediatly.

I wanted no piggy backs, I want to do it right from the start.

The only way to do this is with a standalone EMS. However, standalone EMS's have their drawbacks. It has become the latest trend in these modern cars to use a standalone, and adapt it to the factory wiring as much as possible and retain the factory ECU to control its other functions. This is no new idea, the hard part typically being to fool the stock ECU into thinking its still actually running the motor. If you can do this, you have a car that the emmissions computers will plug into, and the stock ECU will be right there to say "hey, everything is all good here, no testing needed". The trick is doing this perfectly, so there are no DTCs (Diagnostic Trouble Code) stored in the ECU, no CELs (Check Engine Lights).

Other reasons for retaining the factory ECU, other than emmissions testing, is obvious. You want everything to work, gauges, drive-by-wire throttle body, etc.

There is a solution that has been popular in Japan for a long time now... by HKS. Its called the FCON V-Pro. Its designed use is to be installed in cars like these and keep the stock ECU. HKS even makes install harnesses for many makes and models, as a matter of fact, I am informed that they have just released the harness for the 350z, so it is now a plug and play. THIS IS NOT A PIGGY BACK. The FCON V-PRO takes complete control over your engine.

It gets better. Add the optional MAP sensor and AIT sensor, and the MAF can be removed. This is fantastic. The MAF is not so much of a physical restriction but it really is a tuning restriction... if you want to be more friendly you can just call it a huge pain in the ***. Of course, you can work with them... but for simplification and ease of tuning your car, its very handy to convert to Speed Density (MAP x AIT x Assumed VE).

Price isnt that bad, MSRP is $1395 + almost $300 for the sensors to eliminate the MAF, and another $495 or so for the 350z harness. This sets you around $2000 for a final engine managment solution. The price is very competitive.

At the MSRP of $890, HKS sells a wideband / knock display unit which is beautiful. I dont have the details yet, but I believe you can wire this into the V-Pro so you can get the wideband datalogging integrated with the EMS datalogging. I will see, I have one on the way.

Does anyone want to verify for me that this V-Pro is the system that was used in the Jun 350z? I dont know for sure, but I am almost positive I read that.

So on the way I have:

HKS FCON V-Pro http://www.hksusa.com/products/?id=1965
Pressure Sensor, Air Temp Sensor, 350z Harness, sensor bungs http://www.hksusa.com/categories/?id=1967
HKS Knock Amp (wideband + knock) http://www.hksusa.com/images/?id=1751
HKS EVC http://www.hksusa.com/products/?id=1651

I am really excited to get the system in our 350. I am expecting great success using this tuning system and our fuel pump and line system to obtain an EASY 450rwhp until we are done with the new motor, which we will be installing with a goal of 800rwhp, this year.

With the success that we will have with our shop 350z, we will be putting together a tuning and fuel system kit. It would be for in-house installation only. Basically we will mostly likely build a kit that duplicates what we have in our car here. It would probably have twin fuel pumps, upgraded lines, return line, regulator, FCON system, injectors, etc.

Wish me luck, I will keep everyone posted.

-Charles
CJ Motorsports

 

I am assumimg this unit has the ability to be laptop tuned....does it come with the software or does it have to be tuned by a licenced HKS dealer.

 

yes, this is a complete stand alone that is fully tunable via laptop.

However, the software is not supplied with the system. The software is only supplied, by contract, to the exclusive HKS Pro-Dealers. We were just approved yesterday as the 4th Pro-Dealer currently in the USA.

-Charles

 

sounds fantastic, but... I won't buy engine management I can't tune myself. I definitely understand HKS's motivation for keeping the software restricted to "HKS Pro-Dealers," but it hurts people who know what they're doing. I'm not really willing to go find an HKS Pro-Dealer every time I want to change the settings on my ECU.

At this point, I'm 99% sure I'm going with an Electromotive TEC3. I won't get the 350Z harness, but I'm handy with a soldering iron and heatshrink wrapping, so I don't expect the final product to be too bad.

Good luck with the HKS FCON, Charles. I look forward to hearing about how well it works out.

 

azrael: i definatly understand what you are saying. I am also glad that you understand HKS' decision to keep it real.

However, keep in mind, there are other devices that could be included for end user adjustments. This way if small changes are made down the road, they could accomodate them. But for any major tuning, a Pro-Dealer is required.

It sounds like you got your end taken care of, but this is a very good option for someone who just wants their car done and doesnt want to have constantly tinker and tune it.

I am expected to catch a lot of flak (sp?) for offering this as a solution. I know everyone would like to be able to tune their car. The fact remains that 90% of people in this industry are not qualified nor have the proper equiptment to tune their car properly. The people that this rule applies to, who have the awareness that its a lot easier said than done (properly), have no need to have any adjustment control at all. Its just like buying a pretuned JWT ECU for your fully built twin turbo 300ZX... works like a charm and you never need to screw with it... for as much HP as you could ever want.

My goal is to provide a tuned fuel system capable of 800rwhp that would require no later adjustments unless there were major changes to the engines volumetric efficiency.

-Charles

 

I'll trade you my heads for this Good luck.

 

Just want to check. The stock ECU is still there controlling the ancileries correct? If it is then it's still a *type* of piggyback to me but I know what you mean.

FWIW Apexi will have a plug in 350Z solution out this year similar to the PowerFC but you retain the stock ECU for the ancileries. Sounds similar to the HKS solution.

It should be a good year for the Zed as the big names finish their development cycles.

 

apsilon: i disagree the FCON V Pro is a standalone *engine management system*. The stock ECU may be in the car, but it is not managing the engine

 

Piggyback = a system that alters sensors to trick the ECU into sending out the appropriate engine control signals or alters signals that originated in the stock ECU.

Standalone = a system that has total control of all engine management. Does not rely on ECU to provide anything.

 

WoW this is great news. I was not aware HKS made had an adapter (harness) for the FCON for the 350Z. As a former supra owner, I for one know that the HKS FCON is a great engine management sys. Thanks for the info. All we need now is some one to make a 550+ cc injectors kit with Fuel rail.

 

Is the 350z harness/adaptor the same for the G35 Coupe?

 

wow phunk this sounds great... i will be following this closely to check up on updates periodically.. good luck w/ everything!

 

Ecu connectors are different between the 350Z/G35coupe/G35 sedan. I would expect the connector not to work unless it is a splice into the 350Z harness. Then you could just find the appropriate wires to attach to even with different pin positions.

 

I'm sort of on the fence on this one as it's sort of a category of it's own. Perhaps that's the best way to put it? It's clearly not standalone as the stock ECU is still there but it's not a piggyback in the traditional sense as the stock ECU no longer has any say in running the engine.

Either way there's fun times ahead

 

I was under the impression that the G35 and 350 used the same harness, this could prob be clarified by any of the ECU tuners though.

Robin

 

phunk...quesiton about your current setup: How are you controlling the 440cc injectors with either the eManage or a TS Reflash?

 

im not... stock injectors are in the car. once we install the FCON we will put in 720cc or larger injectors.

 

The TS reflash will not remap for the 440's at part throttle so I assume he is using E-Manage. THat's what I do. As for the FCon V Pro, it has it's own ignition and fuel drivers on it so although it uses the factory sensors and factory ECU to control basic functions, the ECU control over timing and fuel are nil, since it assumes control completely. They also have a F Con V S which I think is just a piggyback. I have not looked into it too much.

 

Harness might be the same because the sensors are the same....but the ecu pin locations are entirely different between the 3 cars...even though they have the same motor.

 

What I'd like to have is an EMS that would replace the factory one after I get something like a supercharger. I had a Prelude Turbo with an Apexi AFC and I wasn't that happy with it. When it was really hot out, my car ran rich and lean when it was cold. I have to readjust when the weather chnaged.

I beleive cars like the 300zx, Eclipse GST, etc can handle boost and extra boost a lot better than a NA ECU. It's such a PAIN having to fool the ECU so it doesn't sense boost and put up a CAL.