I was flicking through a Japanese Hyper REV magazine and noticed that one of the tuners had a 20B in their FD being powered by the FCon V-Pro 32bit.

I have some limited experience with this device as a piggyback unit on a MKIV Supra, but have never heard of it being used in a standalone appication. Does anyone have any info on this? Does it have a universal/flying lead type harness available or would one have to make a harness by splicing a Cosmo and FD harness together?

The unit is priced quite reasonably at between $1100-1400. I am making a choice in ECU's soon so any feedback here is appreciated.

 

Only the HKS dealer can program the F-con V Pro. I guess this could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

Here is a list of F-con V Pro dealers who can answer your technical questions:
http://www.hksusa.com/categories/more.asp?id=1933

 

it is true. The Fcon Vpro Gold is a standalone, non car specific computer. You have the HKS dealer program it for whatever car its going into. How they ran a 20B with it I dont know....

 

Interesting...the HKS-only tuning thing sounds like a nightmare though. Looks like I will go for either the AEM Universal or the Motec M48.

 

It is entirely possible that it comes with JC Cosmo parameters. If not, a generic 6-cylinder setup would work, although split timing and/or turbo sequencing may or may not be possible.

No, the nightmare is when people with no tuning skills think that they can buy an EMS off Ebay and tune it themselves with just a wideband O2 meter, lol. I can totally understand why HKS only allows professionals to tune their EMS. I can only imagine what kind of drain stupid questions and blown engines put on an EMS marketing chain that caters to the general public.

Of the Motec models, I have only verified that the M8 series is capable of split ignition timing. This was due to a software change a year or two ago, and I am not sure if the other models also received this capability. I do know of several NA 20B race engines that ran just fine with an M48 and simultaneous spark plug firing prior to the new software update, but a lot of the people on this forum seem to prefer to have split timing capabilities. I am sure that your Motec dealer can go over all the details with you, and the new M600 may also be a good option. Please post in this forum if you find out whether the M48 or other models can run split timing on a 3-rotor engine, as I like to keep my FAQ up to date.

Also, if you research the AEM unit, please post whether the EMS needs to be configured for a 20B at the factory, or if this modification is possible at the user level. This issue is that it originally comes with only 5 ingition outputs, and an aux output needs to be configured for the 6th ignition output required for running split timing on the 20B. The last word from AEM was that this was going to be a factory mod, but there are rumors that this is something the user can perform.

 

roger that...Me and sillbeer both use the Motec M8 and it works like a champ

 

Turns out the latest Motec M600 also is capable of split ignition timing. The tech's I spoke to at AEM were unclear on whether or not this was a default option or whether it required factory modification - their estimated price for the Universal EMS was $2800-3000 which puts it up in the M600 range of $3400.

I learnt that F-Con Vpro IS capable of split timing and has 6 ignition outputs fully configurable by default. There is a $250 universal unterminated harness available. However, the problem still remains that there is no software available other than that provided by "Power Dealers". SP Engineering here in Socal says that to do any Fcon work they must first inspect my wiring work @ $150/hr, and then an additional $200/hr for tuning and setup (that doesn't include dyno time).

The Haltech E11 also looks to be a good candidate at this point also.

 

Thanks, I updated the 20B FAQ.

LOL, it appears that I am not the only person who can't get a straight answer out of those guys. BTW, it sounds like they just don't want to sell you an EMS for some reason, because the RX-7 Store sells the AEM PNP for only $1450, and there is no way that a reconfiguration of an aux output should double the price.

That may not be so bad, depending on how long it takes them to perform the work. Do they know what they are doing, or would you just end up paying them big bucks while they learn how to tune a 3-rotor engine?

Professional Haltech tuning isn't cheap, either.

 

Hah, well their quote to wire the Fcon in was $12,000. That's twelve thousand. They've never done one before and the guy didn't sound too clear on what it was even.

I'm guessing to use the AEM PnP I would just use a 13B harness and just create some extra wires for the additional pinouts for ignition and injectors from the back of the box? For some reason I like the idea of starting with a new harness...

I can tune the Haltech myself and know several people in the area also.