SAFC vs. E-Manage

[Zero]

Any reviews on the above topic?

 

kindly advise on workshop that does it too.

[Chromas]

I have the SAFC2 installed in my ride. You can check out my postings at:-

http://www.mycarforum.com/forum/Aftermarke...SAFC_2_P941736/

 

I like the SAFC2 as it allows me to easily tune the car to how I want it.

[Zero]

Hi bro,

 

thks for your reply.. .have been following your mentioned thread quite closely.

But just want to know what it can be tune in comparison to emanage as there are

more people saying that emanage is more powerful than SAFC2.

[Chromas]

I think e-manage might be better, but it's tougher to tune. Well, at least that's what some others have feedback to me as well

[BMW320i]

SAFC 2 is a cheaper option.

 

Would recommend Unichip over E-manage if yours is TC.

[Turbonetics]

i think the e-manage can advance or retard the timing....

but the SAFC cant....

[Chromas]

I see... interesting to know...

[Zrun]

Personally, I'd not use UNICHIP due to the high costs and they never tell you how their chip tunes your system and you cannot tune it yourself.

 

E-manage can do everything a piggy back can do, it can power aux injectors, retard/advance timing, boost map, and manage any TC/SC system you want.

[Slowpoke156]

The reason why they cannot tell you how they tune is to prevent you from trying to fiddle with the settings yourself. Unichip dealers are required by virtue of dealership to be responsible for the tuning and hence users are not allowed to tamper with the chip. I know of a lot of owners who screw things up in their aftermarket electronics then act blur and return to dealer.

 

Bsic E-Manage only alters factory injector duty cycle by up to 20% at 5 rpm points, which is at best, still a darn joke. Only with additional cost options will you get access to 16x16 ignition and fuel maps which are the basics you will need to tune any car. Strange why they left it out of the basic package.

 

And lastly, E-Manage has wiring diagrams mainly only for Japanese cars.

[Zero]

haha.. mine is n/a only.

[Zero]

wow... interesting... but who wants to retard it?

[Zrun]

The advertisement says 20%, but I am able to tune the MAF signal up to +-50%, but how much it translates to duty cycle is unknown.

 

E-manage alone sucks (5rpm points). With support tool to connect to laptop, you can do the 16x16 map, and you can set your own intervals on both axis, even as low as 100rpm. Due to the large support, there are many clone harnesses and cable you can buy cheaply, and you open yourself to the all the features of e-manage at a low cost.

 

Regarding UNICHIP, does it guarantee that they will fix your car if UNICHIP causes your engine to fail, since they are the only one that fiddle with it? UNICHIP tries to differentiate themselves from piggy back systems, but I cannot get any clear answers how much better are they compared to other piggy back systems. Some basic questions are, is it possible to tune close loop operation? If not, tuning WOT only is a simple matter that any tuning device can do (splitsec, safc, e-manage).

 

One good thing about UNICHIP is that it comes with the ECU harness so that you can just plug and play. That alone is good enough for many people to pay the premium.

[Zrun]

I'm not touching my timing, because it is dangerous to have bad timing, and not realizing it.

 

Advance timing is for NA cars, retard is for turbo or supercharge, when they go to high boost they want to retard timing to prevent knocking.

[BMW320i]

Actually, Unichip can perform all of the above function as well and its coupled with boost controller module. The unichip's ignition, fuel mappings have more that of the e-manage and e-manage requires to spend extra per module.

 

Maybe its time you change tuner. My tuner allows the customer to sit in the car and observe the tuning process and even teach the customer how to tune via laptop while on dyno.

 

And yes you can tune it yourself if you have a laptop.

[BMW320i]

Unichip is a closed loop.

 

If I were you I'll screw whatever piggybacks there are and go with the Motec, Autronic or ECUtek.

[BMW320i]

haha.. mine is n/a only.

 

Depends what kinda mods your after. I've seen 12 secs cars running on unichip. If your looking to do heavy modifications such as turbos as big as VF22 or TD05 FMIC 750cc injectors and boring cylinders etc. Than you'll need a top of the range replacement ECU.

 

SAFC would be the budget way of squeezing power while piggybacks are slightly more expensive than the SAFC 2 because you get to play with other settings that Mr Zrun mentioned.

[Zrun]

Yeah, with e-manage it is "possible" to tune close loop, but generally it'll be overcome by the stock ECU adaptation. So, there's not much point in that, I wonder how can UNICHIP get around that? Unless UNICHIP hack the ecu to go into close loop all the time.

 

E-manage is one box with all modules built in, except that you may need to spend more $ to get the wirings and laptop software. For my case, I bought used and the last person has everything..

 

One more thing is that e-manage supports realtime logging/graphing. So if you have EGT or wide band o2, there are hacks to wire it to e-manage and then log.

 

Some people already created software hacks to communicate with e-manage to display a virtual gauge if you have car PC. That's what I like about e-manage, because of the wide support and hackable.

Edited June 14, 2005 by Zrun

[BMW320i]

Actually the ECU overwriting the piggyback is still a myth. Not sure about E-manage but the Unichip users whom I've asked who dyno once in a while report no changes.

 

The most inspiring story I heard was a guy running a Motec tuned by Steve from AVO (Australia) running the high 13s solely on ECU mod.

 

Time to change to full replacement ECU