A good tune for less than 1000$

[moort]

Hi everyone, I am in the process of finishing up my first sr20det project. The last thing that I need to do to finish the engine work is choose a good and affordable tune. My first three picks are; AEM EMS series one, enthalpy ECU tune from Enjuku or JWT tune. This is my first sr20det and I would love to get some personal experience stories on these tuning products so I can make a smart and informed choice when it come time to buy.


Car Spec: s14 sr20det, Garrett T3 57 trim, 550cc injectors and n62 MAF.

[lexlaxlux]

search search search.

your best bet is going with a flash tune ecu. R.S. Enthalpy: Nissan ROM Tunes, ECU Reflashes and Dyno Tuning. Tampa Bay, Florida. (http://www.rs-enthalpy.com) or JIM WOLF TECHNOLOGY, INC. / NISSAN PERFORMANCE / NISSAN RACING /INFINITI PERFORMANCE (http://www.jimwolftechnology.com) you dont need a standalone for your current set up unless you plan on racing/400hp+, its a complete waste of money.. your going to pay for a dyno day and tune on the spot which will cost you over 1000... if your looking for something just write down your specs and flash it man, its your first swap so just go for a base/specific tune.

[whitey240]

Have you checked out NIStune yet? It works great and is customizable like AEM.

[moort]

Thanks for some great suggestions so far, I have tried to do some research on the web and on Zilvia, however, there are not any current data supporting that one tune is better than the other. I have found one posted made by Enthalpy 6 years back that his tune provided a better response and whp, however, that was over six years ago and from a bias source. So I guess my questions now is; Is JWT worth the extra 200 dollars as in comparison to Enthalpy, how is both company customers service (very important to me), and how does Nistune fare in comparison against both Enthalpy and JWT.

Thanks for everyone help so far.

[4x4le]

I would not have a jwt tune period so I would vote no to it being worth the extra money. Im not necessarily voting for an enthaply tune either but if you had to filp a coin between the 2 I would hope for it to land on enthaply.

Anyways I am an avid NIStune user/ dealer so I am a little partial to it but it is defenatially my vote.
I have tuned many different setups (some odd balls too) and I have yet to see its limits. Granted no one has brought me a 1000hp capable car and have me try to get them that with nistune but I have successfully tuned some powerfull cars with ease.

With you being able to get a package for your car for $500-600 or even less if there is a near by tuner shop with the cable and software for nistune already, you can surely get your car tuned for less than $1k total.

Nistune vs a jwt or enthaply tuned ecu is you can actually have your setup custom tuned for your exact car instead of sending off a mod list and having someone guess what will be best for your car.

You can achieve the best tune this way. Safest, most power, best fuel economy, best idle and drive ability ect.

[240sxspeed]

if you want it to run all the way right go aem or haltech platinum sport 1000 or 2000 im running 2000 its a bit excessive haha but the car will run and drive like a stop car until u mash the pedal haha just my opinion ive been running stock bottom end on a verified 556 on standalone for a about a year now and she is strong as hell go map also get rid of maf it was never intended for turbo cars good luck on car and finding a system and a tune for under a grand though

[moort]

I would not have a jwt tune period so I would vote no to it being worth the extra money. Im not necessarily voting for an enthaply tune either but if you had to filp a coin between the 2 I would hope for it to land on enthaply.

Anyways I am an avid NIStune user/ dealer so I am a little partial to it but it is defenatially my vote.
I have tuned many different setups (some odd balls too) and I have yet to see its limits. Granted no one has brought me a 1000hp capable car and have me try to get them that with nistune but I have successfully tuned some powerfull cars with ease.

With you being able to get a package for your car for $500-600 or even less if there is a near by tuner shop with the cable and software for nistune already, you can surely get your car tuned for less than $1k total.

Nistune vs a jwt or enthaply tuned ecu is you can actually have your setup custom tuned for your exact car instead of sending off a mod list and having someone guess what will be best for your car.

You can achieve the best tune this way. Safest, most power, best fuel economy, best idle and drive ability ect.

After doing some more research and calling around some local shops I'm inclined to agree with everyone that has suggested Nistune so far. However, the only authorized workshop that I have been able to find (NIStune - Realtime ECU Tuning (http://www.nistune.com/ordering-distributors.php)) in my area is a guy that work straight out of his house. Is this typical of a Nistune workshop? and should I really trust an expertise of someone that work out of his garage? The workshop I'm referring to is AAA Hiperformance Auto in Plano, Texas.

[4x4le]

if you want it to run all the way right go aem or haltech platinum sport 1000 or 2000 im running 2000 its a bit excessive haha but the car will run and drive like a stop car until u mash the pedal haha just my opinion ive been running stock bottom end on a verified 556 on standalone for a about a year now and she is strong as hell go map also get rid of maf it was never intended for turbo cars good luck on car and finding a system and a tune for under a grand though

Run all the way right? Nissan ecus are more than capable of controlling the iacv and making them run and idle right.

Also, there is nothing wrong with mafs. They are not restrictive and as long as your accounting for all of your air there is no trouble. Most of the time when people have trouble with them they are putting their bov in a bad spot, not tuning the ecu to realize that if the throttle petal is released the engine does not require fuel regardless of air flow until the rpm is X low and even then it only requires Y fuel. Basically you make it mute or ignore the maf.
The other way people arnt accounting for air is they run some of the dumbest atmospherically vented crankcases. You should (almost) always have a contained crank case ventilation system.

Now if I were to go standalone, you have the one I would go with though, but in all honestly dont think I will ever see the day I will have a car that actually needs a standalone. They are honestly rarely actually needed for peoples goals/reliability but are still a good option if the only shops near you know how to tune one and havent messed with anything else.

I prefer mafs. Pressure does not equal flow, so why only tell your ecu how much pressure is in the intake manifold instead of how much air is flowing through the engine? Pressure is very temperature dependent as well, yet air flow will stay very close to the same regardless of temperature.

Turbo cars were never meant for mafs? You should call up Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Mitsubishi and let them know. I wonder if they didnt know this......

After doing some more research and calling around some local shops I'm inclined to agree with everyone that has suggested Nistune so far. However, the only authorized workshop that I have been able to find (NIStune - Realtime ECU Tuning (http://www.nistune.com/ordering-distributors.php)) in my area is a guy that work straight out of his house. Is this typical of a Nistune workshop? and should I really trust an expertise of someone that work out of his garage? The workshop I'm referring to is AAA Hiperformance Auto in Plano, Texas.

Glyen at AAA was the 1st person to become a Nistune dealer in the US. He is who I purchased my nistune setup from that is is my drift car several years ago before becoming a dealer myself. He started out doing it to help out the z32 guys in his area. If I remember correctly he has a very good job or is retired from one but it was something to do with micro electronics. I would be more inclined to trust someone that has been dealing with nistune from day one (like him) and someone that is doing it for nothing more than his love for nissans (like him) other than to make his living. It would be less likely for someone like him to try and talk you into a bunch of stuff you dont need like many shops will. If there is something you need and he tells you to get something chances are he dont sell it so you could trust that too. I think he takes you to a local shop for the dynoing though, make sure he dont try to send you away with a street tune, but Im pretty confident he uses a dyno. I dont have my own dyno either, I just use a local one.

Our shop is similar but not totally home based.
Im rarely at the shop, Andy uses it mostly to build engines, do engine swaps and 5 speed swaps and it isnt open to the public. The ecus are actually mostly all modified at Andys home. He may not go to the shop every day, but he will always go to sleep and wake up at home. The ecus go to his home and he can do all the installs there so why drive to do them?
Id trust AAA, he has been in the game longer than any other NIStune dealer. Although he charges, he does it for the fun of it and to help out the community.

[mattsil80wis]

I have had both JWT and Enthalpy tunes in my car and i would suggest them to everyone...both have great customer service (email and phone) with fast responses...just make sure you let them know everything that is in your setup aka a mini build list (turbo, maf, injectors, pistons, compression, etc)

if you think they just tune off guessing your totally wrong...both have been in the business a very long time and know exactly what they are doing, plus you can datalog your car send them the info and they can send you a retune for your car personally

i would say nistune would be my answer if you wanted to tune your own car and be able to change your setup, but for the ease and simplicity i would go with JWT or Enthalpy

[4x4le]

What made me decide to get into tuning was detenation killing my first sr. It was running on a jwt ecu. All of the correct mods were sent to them in order for them to correctly tune the ecu. Everything was setup correctly on my engine as well such as base timing, tps voltage, correct (bkr7e) plugs and gaps, clean maf ect. The engine suffered much detention an blew ringlands on 1 piston and bent one rod on a different cylinder.
Other than just knowing now than mail order tunes are not the way to go because it is really tough to get right due to all of the variables still, I also have the old jwt tune saved on one of my laptops. The load scaling was setup all wrong and so was the rpm scaling. After 6800 rpms it dont care how high you rev (limiter was set to 8k) it isnt going to add any more fuel or add/pull any more timing. And where the load scale was at, after 14 psi it wouldnt pull any more timing either. What a joke for a tune that was supposedly going to get me around 400whp with a 2871r.

Now this is several years later, they may have gotten better, but a large majority of our customers are people with the 2 mentioned pre tuned ecus wanting that board out and a nistune board in. We have a very large box full of these boards. We already sold one box to someone. We dont know what he did with them but if he is re selling them hopefully they will just come back to us again lol.

[codyace]

There is no doubt that a custom tuned setup can potentially be the best for any car, for anyone to deny that is pretty ridiculous. However at the same time, there are HUGE discrepancies between tuners and or school of thought with how to tune.

4x4le's car is a great example of a well tuned and running car. However we can all point to countless other setups (whether it be Nistune or D Jetro or etc) that do not get anywhere *close* to even an off the shelf Enthalpy or JWT tune. Not to mention that another overwhelming amount of them don't have nearly the driveability, part throttle ability, nor general 'stock like' driving that the JWT and Enthalpy tunes have.

In the end, I think looking at the 'capability/ability' of the car is what should greater determine what the end user should get. If the user wants OEM driveability, not concerned with making the most potential power, and to literally have a bolt in and do burnouts solution, than a JWT or Enthalpy tune would be the way to go.

If the end user has a true project, and likes to honestly know the workings of the car, than a Nistune setup is honestly a fantastic solution (plus the learnign curve is much easier than some of the other options)

Ultimatly the tunable EMS can provide a much better end product, however only with the careful setup and tuning by the user or tuner. THe Risk to reward ratio is huge when it comes to those setups. Much like the Calum ECU's in the FWD world, you see a lot more headache (not from the ecu but from the owner/tuner) than you ever do with a Rom setup. End of the day, most people are too impatient for a 5 minute Youtube video, let alone tuning their car. Just trying to provide the other perspective on this. 4x4le has been a long upstanding member here and knows this stuff insude out, so don't dismiss either opinion. Form your own by being honest with yourself and the cars end goal.



O/P:
In the end, I wouldn't be hesitant to ever run a JWT or Enthalpy. At least on JWT's side, they have such an overwhelming amount of rom tunes and setups out there across all Nissan platforms, that I think we ALL can agree that if they were responsible for 'blowing engines' left and right, that they wouldn't exist...and by exist I mean ANYWHERE to the size they are. It's also hard to look past the ability of Enthalpy as well...they are the Florida gurus! With that sall said, if buying used I think we all can agree that it would behoove any owner to at least get a current 'retune' from Clark or Martin for the 75 or 100 dollars they charge. The amount of ROM tune Nissans.

[mattsil80wis]

i can understand being turned away because of the detonation, but 1 going bad out of a shit ton is not to shabby as a tuner. No tuner is perfect and stuff like that happens

not trying to put hate on nistune or you as a tuner just saying that ive had 10,xxx miles on my car with this wolf tune and no problems to date and know of a bunch of other ppl that have jwt and are happy

jwt mail order tune got me 403hp on a 2871r.64 right out of the box...kinda interested to see what a retune is gonna do

the thing i would be worried about with nistune is 1. pushing the limits in tuning the car (and possibly blowing it up and not being able to afford another built motor) 2. always changing the settings around

[xxoreolovexx]

personally i've been using an enthalpy tune on both my SR and my KA-T. Both work extremely well. All AFR'S are perfect, good power band, and decent gas mileage for what it is. I would contact him directly for a tune. just my .02

[4x4le]

i can understand being turned away because of the detonation, but 1 going bad out of a shit ton is not to shabby as a tuner. No tuner is perfect and stuff like that happens

not trying to put hate on nistune or you as a tuner just saying that ive had 10,xxx miles on my car with this wolf tune and no problems to date and know of a bunch of other ppl that have jwt and are happy

jwt mail order tune got me 403hp on a 2871r.64 right out of the box...kinda interested to see what a retune is gonna do

the thing i would be worried about with nistune is 1. pushing the limits in tuning the car (and possibly blowing it up and not being able to afford another built motor) 2. always changing the settings around

403rwhp on a .64? what were you revving to and did you have cams? And what dyno. Just curious.

[codyace]

403rwhp on a .64? what were you revving to and did you have cams? And what dyno. Just curious.

Same dyno as mine, similar/exact setup as well. I made same HP, and recently made 390 with added 4.6 gear and 19 psi (so we'll figure over 400 again with 20 psi)

Jim Wolf S3 cams
7850 RPM limit
Dynojet with a 1000 lb roller (aka: the 'load-less' monster)

[4x4le]

ah. Ok. I think I remember a thread where it might have been you and a friend had good results with a bench tune. Was his car the other one?

[mattsil80wis]

ah. Ok. I think I remember a thread where it might have been you and a friend had good results with a bench tune. Was his car the other one?

lol yes sir that was my car

[codyace]

ah. Ok. I think I remember a thread where it might have been you and a friend had good results with a bench tune. Was his car the other one?

I've had countless friends cars and my own stuff all run exceptionally well with the JWT stuff. Whther they be N/A or Turbo, it seems to always work well. Plus I also like how JWT integrates switchable maps for guys using water injection, or guys that want launch control. (Speaking this, does Nistune offer that ability? I'm certainly curious as that would be sweet!)

AsI said though, there is ZERO doubt that if you have the ability and knowhow, that going custom is the way to go.

Someday I'll go that route...but it will not be for a while...I've got no yearning for more power yet hehe.

[modulation]

+1 for Nistune.
Buy it once, never have to buy anything else.