I thought I’d share my journey down the AEM path with Prime members that may be considering the same route.
Several months ago I read a very enlightening post from someone that had just purchased new wheels and what transpired when he decided the car needed to be lowered, etc. This is a similar documentation.
I’ve wanted an NSX since I first test drove one in 1991 and now I have two. I bought a 1996 NSX-T last June and immediately started down the path of no return. First it was the headers and exhaust, then wheels and tires, lowering it, well…you know. I ended up buying another one, a 1992 with low miles and most of the stuff I planned to put on my 1996 had already been installed, so it made sense to buy that car and sell the ’96 (see post in 'for sale').
The ’92 came with Comptech everything, was very clean and had low miles. It ran absolutely perfect, and was considerably faster than my other NSX and so natural tendency is leave it alone and drive it right? Wrong!!!
I had been following all the posts on Prime discussing AEM tuning, horsepower gained, dyno charts, etc…and decided that I wanted to join the club and upgrade to a “high-boost” configuration and get AEM as well. The first thing I did was post on Prime looking for a tuner in my area, and I received several tips from members in Florida. I contacted one individual that works with a tuner that “has had over 200 successful AEM tunes”, ordered the AEM unit and set a date for tuning. The AEM unit did not come in soon enough for the first appointment, so it was rescheduled, and 10:30 the night before I was about to drive two hours, I got a call from the guy telling me his tuner had some concerns about working on my car – we both decided it may not be a good thing I go ahead with the tune…I’ll leave it at that.
Throughout this whole process I was in contact with Curt Jung, Realtime Racings tuner and brains behind Peter Cunningham’s NSX, a friend of mine, and one of the original developers of the CTSC system while he was employed at Comptech. If it had been feasible, I would have brought him to help me with the tune.
After getting my purchased AEM, I PMed a couple people on Prime and was referred to another shop with great credentials. I called the place, set up an appointment and made the two-hour plus drive. I ended up sitting at the shop most of the day while my car cooled down, and the decision was made to install a new 1:1 fuel pressure regulator and the Comptech high boost injectors that I had just received back from having calibrated at RC engineering. Then, when I get the high boost pulley, “tuning would be a simple process to update with the higher boost”. The car was finally put on the dyno at the end of the day, and after about an hour and a half of running and tuning it, a final pull was made showing about 289whp. I mentioned it seemed a little low from what I had been reading, and the tuner told me boost was only 2.8lbs, so it was about right.
I left the place and could tell right away – seat of pants – that the car felt flat and weaker than when I first got there with the factory ECU. It was getting late, and had I not had a two plus hour drive back, I would have returned. I called first thing the next day and the guy was out of town. I finally talked to him about a week later. He told me he kept the tune very conservative – that’s why the car felt flat. After a week of posting on Prime and looking for the cause of the low 2.8lbs of boost, he told me that actually it was 4.5lbs.
I decided not to go back there.
I google up dyno shops, now thinking that bringing Curt Jung to me is sounding like a better idea. I contact a local shop and find out the guy sold his dyno to a very good AEM certified tuner “that tuned the Corvettes that race at Sebring”. I’m in luck!!! I set-up a tuning appointment because I can hardly stand to drive the car the way it is running. A week goes by, I show up at the shop, which is very clean, and the tuner walks out to my car with his laptop to make sure “he can hook it up”. He tells me his computer loaded with AEM software “can’t communicate with my AEM unit – and if I leave the car for a couple days, he’ll see if he can make it work”.
See ya.
The next morning I visited my local Espresso shop and noticed a Honda Civic, lowered, body kit, intercooler exposed…you get the picture. I asked the young lady that worked there who’s car it was – and she said “mine”…she also did all the work on it. She’s a “gearhead” and I’m explaining my story. She says, “I have AEM and I have it tuned by a guy locally”. She calls the guy up, and I explain what I have and he says “no problem”. He also invites me to visit his shop before I bring the car. I drive about a half hour to the shop and find a place run by this guy and his Dad – been in the parts business for about 30 years – and he does the mechanical work and tuning. He owns a 500whp plus turbocharged stock block Civic that runs the quarter in the high nines. He also has done development work for RC engineering on their high output injectors. I trust the guy, and decide to leave the car, as there are some things he wants to change, relocate the MAP sensor, add an AEM dual wide-band Uego, install my high output Walbro pump, remove the boost-a-pump, and finally he convinces me to upgrade my injectors to RC 550’s which, thanks to the guys at SOS, I had the next morning.
When everything was installed, I drive down to do a little “street tuning” get the idle set, starting program right, etc. He also finds that the tune that I had previously done had the timing severely retarded – which is why the car felt so flat. We then set an appointment at the dyno shop. The dyno is about 10 minutes from my house and is owned by a guy that campaigns a turbo Mustang that won a big National event this summer, running the quarter in the 8’s on radials!! I’m starting to see a pattern develop with these turbo cars and AEM tuners. Having the team of both of them was a luxury.
After about two hours of tuning, finding the problem with the retarded timing, and a number of dyno pulls we ended up with an SAE corrected 352whp and 246.5 ft-lbs of torque. – and a very linear A/F at about 12. With a short-geared 6-speed and 4:55 final gears, I can now say “I’m done”…no really.
As painful as the process was – and expensive – I am very satisfied with the results. I learned a ton about the car and how much tuning is available with the AEM system. The only two things I have left to get are the AEM serial gauge (19 gauges in one - running off the AEM) and a lower temp fan switch and thermostat recommended by the tuner. Feel free to PM me on any details of my endeavor.
Mark Youngquist
Several months ago I read a very enlightening post from someone that had just purchased new wheels and what transpired when he decided the car needed to be lowered, etc. This is a similar documentation.
I’ve wanted an NSX since I first test drove one in 1991 and now I have two. I bought a 1996 NSX-T last June and immediately started down the path of no return. First it was the headers and exhaust, then wheels and tires, lowering it, well…you know. I ended up buying another one, a 1992 with low miles and most of the stuff I planned to put on my 1996 had already been installed, so it made sense to buy that car and sell the ’96 (see post in 'for sale').
The ’92 came with Comptech everything, was very clean and had low miles. It ran absolutely perfect, and was considerably faster than my other NSX and so natural tendency is leave it alone and drive it right? Wrong!!!
I had been following all the posts on Prime discussing AEM tuning, horsepower gained, dyno charts, etc…and decided that I wanted to join the club and upgrade to a “high-boost” configuration and get AEM as well. The first thing I did was post on Prime looking for a tuner in my area, and I received several tips from members in Florida. I contacted one individual that works with a tuner that “has had over 200 successful AEM tunes”, ordered the AEM unit and set a date for tuning. The AEM unit did not come in soon enough for the first appointment, so it was rescheduled, and 10:30 the night before I was about to drive two hours, I got a call from the guy telling me his tuner had some concerns about working on my car – we both decided it may not be a good thing I go ahead with the tune…I’ll leave it at that.
Throughout this whole process I was in contact with Curt Jung, Realtime Racings tuner and brains behind Peter Cunningham’s NSX, a friend of mine, and one of the original developers of the CTSC system while he was employed at Comptech. If it had been feasible, I would have brought him to help me with the tune.
After getting my purchased AEM, I PMed a couple people on Prime and was referred to another shop with great credentials. I called the place, set up an appointment and made the two-hour plus drive. I ended up sitting at the shop most of the day while my car cooled down, and the decision was made to install a new 1:1 fuel pressure regulator and the Comptech high boost injectors that I had just received back from having calibrated at RC engineering. Then, when I get the high boost pulley, “tuning would be a simple process to update with the higher boost”. The car was finally put on the dyno at the end of the day, and after about an hour and a half of running and tuning it, a final pull was made showing about 289whp. I mentioned it seemed a little low from what I had been reading, and the tuner told me boost was only 2.8lbs, so it was about right.
I left the place and could tell right away – seat of pants – that the car felt flat and weaker than when I first got there with the factory ECU. It was getting late, and had I not had a two plus hour drive back, I would have returned. I called first thing the next day and the guy was out of town. I finally talked to him about a week later. He told me he kept the tune very conservative – that’s why the car felt flat. After a week of posting on Prime and looking for the cause of the low 2.8lbs of boost, he told me that actually it was 4.5lbs.
I decided not to go back there.
I google up dyno shops, now thinking that bringing Curt Jung to me is sounding like a better idea. I contact a local shop and find out the guy sold his dyno to a very good AEM certified tuner “that tuned the Corvettes that race at Sebring”. I’m in luck!!! I set-up a tuning appointment because I can hardly stand to drive the car the way it is running. A week goes by, I show up at the shop, which is very clean, and the tuner walks out to my car with his laptop to make sure “he can hook it up”. He tells me his computer loaded with AEM software “can’t communicate with my AEM unit – and if I leave the car for a couple days, he’ll see if he can make it work”.
See ya.
The next morning I visited my local Espresso shop and noticed a Honda Civic, lowered, body kit, intercooler exposed…you get the picture. I asked the young lady that worked there who’s car it was – and she said “mine”…she also did all the work on it. She’s a “gearhead” and I’m explaining my story. She says, “I have AEM and I have it tuned by a guy locally”. She calls the guy up, and I explain what I have and he says “no problem”. He also invites me to visit his shop before I bring the car. I drive about a half hour to the shop and find a place run by this guy and his Dad – been in the parts business for about 30 years – and he does the mechanical work and tuning. He owns a 500whp plus turbocharged stock block Civic that runs the quarter in the high nines. He also has done development work for RC engineering on their high output injectors. I trust the guy, and decide to leave the car, as there are some things he wants to change, relocate the MAP sensor, add an AEM dual wide-band Uego, install my high output Walbro pump, remove the boost-a-pump, and finally he convinces me to upgrade my injectors to RC 550’s which, thanks to the guys at SOS, I had the next morning.
When everything was installed, I drive down to do a little “street tuning” get the idle set, starting program right, etc. He also finds that the tune that I had previously done had the timing severely retarded – which is why the car felt so flat. We then set an appointment at the dyno shop. The dyno is about 10 minutes from my house and is owned by a guy that campaigns a turbo Mustang that won a big National event this summer, running the quarter in the 8’s on radials!! I’m starting to see a pattern develop with these turbo cars and AEM tuners. Having the team of both of them was a luxury.
After about two hours of tuning, finding the problem with the retarded timing, and a number of dyno pulls we ended up with an SAE corrected 352whp and 246.5 ft-lbs of torque. – and a very linear A/F at about 12. With a short-geared 6-speed and 4:55 final gears, I can now say “I’m done”…no really.
As painful as the process was – and expensive – I am very satisfied with the results. I learned a ton about the car and how much tuning is available with the AEM system. The only two things I have left to get are the AEM serial gauge (19 gauges in one - running off the AEM) and a lower temp fan switch and thermostat recommended by the tuner. Feel free to PM me on any details of my endeavor.
Mark Youngquist
