Tom N

Trying to decide if it would be really worth talking the car to Z-Fever and having a rom tune done.
The car is fairly stock.
Has a S15 swap with the T28 BB turbo and 480 injectors, a fmic, boost controller, 255 fuel pump, turbo back exhaust and if I do the tune I will swap the stock maf out for a Z32 maff.
The rom tune for a S15 is a bit more that a s13/s14.
Whats the consensus on doing this at this time? Should I expect much from it with the car fairly stock?

Gil14

Here we go again. Bottom line is...... If you dont wanna spend alot of money on AEM, do it. The only argument some people make is reliability. I personally know people who are tuned my Martin and have had the car 5+ years with no issues at all. There is more piece of mind with AEM. To do it the RIGHT way go AEM but your looking at over 1k, which is why most go ROM tune. Either way yes you will see sufficient gains when you have the proper tune for your set up. Not sure if an s15 cost any more than an s13/4. That is probably the only unbiased post youll get on this topic lol

Tom N

I agree about the AEM. if I was going crazy with this car like I have with my dsm's I would get the aem and just tune it myself. I have always tuned my own cars. But this car is just a nice everyday car with a little kick. So I figured just a good rom tune would suffice.
I will be getting another one to go a little crazy with and it will get a AEM.
I am not looking to make this a debate about standalone ecu vs rom tune. Just curious if others with experience with these feels a rom tune would be worth the $595 + $75 extra for a S15 when the car has such minimal mods.

Gil14

I would say if you want to up the boost then yes. If your happy where your at now i wouldnt personally spend the money. Im not very familiar with s15 set ups, im sure someone else who has more knowledge will chime in. Im currently building my first SR motor so im still learning alot of new things also. Do you have an electronic boost controller?

Tom N

No EBC, just a manual boost controller.
Best I can tell the S15 and S14 long block is the same. The differences are the S15 has 480 injectors vs 370 and it comes with the T28 bb turbo. But I think some S14's also came with that turbo. And the Eco is different. Not sure if the S15 Eco runs a more aggressive fuel or timing map that the S14 or if its just a different ecu cause of the bigger injectors. They both use the same maf.
These motors are new to me also. I am a long time DSM guy that's trying something new.

Empire

There is absolutely nothing that an AEM tune gives you that a proper ROM tune doesn't.

Tuning an AEM yourself, while a bit better than just a safc and a wideband, still isn't as good as someone like Martin is going to be able to tune your car with a rom tune.

as far as the comment about reliability, again, that has to do with HOW it was tuned, more so than the equipment used.
IF, you are comparing a well done AEM tune to say, a mail order, "off the shelf" style rom tune, then I can see how the AEM could come out a head. But even then, it is a difficult argument to make considering a canned tune by someone with as much knowledge and experience as Martin, is designed purposely to be well within the margins of safety.
But, the flip side to that is, if you are tuning your AEM by reading the computer displays as you blast up and down the road, versus putting the car on the dyno and leaving the tuning up to a professional such as Martin, then the argument would be made that the professional tune is more safe and reliable.

Martin isn't your run of the mill tuner. People like me can only hope to know as much about tuning as someone like Martin has forgotten.

IF, you are highly knowledgeable when it comes to tuning your car with an AEM, AND you are the type that wants to "fiddle" with your tune yourself, then, I could justify spending the money on the AEM.
I personally would highly recommend the megasquirt platform if you were going the stand alone route, but I see the value in it.
However, if you are just wanting the end result, as in, you just want the car tuned, then getting the ROM tune is the way to go. Especially if you aren't planning on making any major modifications in the near future. There is the initial price of admission, getting the "chipped" ECU, but after that, you're just looking at an hour, maybe two, of Martin's time with your car on the dyno to tweak the tune.
On the dyno, you are in a controlled environment. Martin is going to be able to see warning signs of any issue LONG before you would notice anything on the street, so the engine would be more safe. Since Martin is so experienced, his initial set up isn't going to be too far off. It won't be like shooting in the dark, hoping you are within a safe tolerance.
When he does a tune, he is re-writing the entire fuel map, and many times, spark timing maps too.
He isn't using a piggy back to trick the Ecu to do something different or anything like that.

As for gains, it depends. He was able to take a 100% stock, Nissan Titan and without doing any modifications to it, tune it and get over 50 more HP, more torque, and better fuel economy.
the stock tunes are already on the rich side, and the stock timing is pretty conservative, he'll be able to optimize both to get the results you're looking for.

So, if you are talking about a ROM tune from some random tuner schmuck, versus an AEM, then yeah, I'd lean heavy to the AEM.
If you are talking about a ROM tune from Martin, versus pretty much anything else, it is really hard to justify the "anything else"

I would highly recommend talking with him and seeing what he suggests, and what you could expect out of a tune. I've had him tell me that it wouldn't be worth the tune for certain set ups since the gain wouldn't be that much.

BluRRboSi

For such minimal mods, an aem is not needed. While there are benefits to a plug in and live updates on the fly, the cost will outweigh the gains with the mods.

If you plan on highly modding the car soon, obviously hold off...

Coming from someone with 6yrs aem experience.

Rom tune it.

Gains... that needs to be discussed with martin. I rent z fevers dyno weekly. Ask for results on setups like yours. .. there is a shit ton of graphs in their library.

Billy

Tom N

This car will remain a DD car with full amenities. If I planned build it up and try and make high hp I would get a standalone and tune it myself. I don't want or need a AEM in this car.
I don't have the means to rom tune the car myself so I am going to just let Martin do his thing. He says the car should see around 310hp to the wheels the way it sits.
We shall as its getting done next week. Just waiting on a board for the S15 ecu to come in.
Honestly I'm more interested to see what the power under the curve looks like after the tune. Peak hp is easy to make.

Empire

Make sure you discuss that with Martin.
He can tweak things to get the kind of results you want when it comes to those kinds of things.

Tom N

I've already told him what I want but I would hope I never had to tell a quality tuner how important the power under the curve is.