W3SI • View topic - My review of the Greddy E-manage (long)

G-ELL · **Posted:** Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:05 pm

The e-manage is a little more than your usual "piggy back" air/fuel controller. It tunes using the same parameters as just about every piggyback on the market (throttle position and RPM), but it does so much more.

There are extra hookups enable datalogging of almost every ECU feature making tuning really handy as all the info you need is on 1 screen. There are also a few open ports for extra stuff like a greddy pressure sensor.

The ability to control timing makes this device really powerful as you're able to combat the added advanced timing issues that come with adjusting the MAF signal. This makes the controller able to tune really large injectors. Definitely a big step for those of use who don't want to go with a full standalone management.

The ability to datalog boost, view it as a graph, and compare it to all the other ecu data really makes it easier to understand what's going on with your motor. This way you can keep an eye on other things that are going on and not just the boost gauge.

When it comes to tuning, I like to keep things simple. I don't care for lugging around a bulky laptop, nor any pretty big blue displays. I like to keep my controllers hidden in the glove box or center console so people passing by my car with it parked aren't aware of their presence. I'm also big on keeping things stock looking. The fewer buttons/knobs, the better to me, however the less control you have, the more inaccurate your tune.

I love the ARC and MAFT (old version) for all its ease and how well they work for how little effort you put into them. However, there's still room for a little more improvement. Don't get me wrong, to the average joe, they do just fine. You bring me your car, and I can probably tune to where you'd be very happy, BUT I'm incredibly picky when it comes to my own vehicle. I want the smoothest idle, the best throttle response, and as close to perfect a/f ratio as possible. Unfortunately, 5% increments are just too braud to get those. I also hate having to reach over and lean out the low knob to get my car to start when the motor is warm sometimes.

The last couple weeks I finally able to tune a vehicle using this device. My initial thoughts of the device was it was a glorified overpriced SAFC that works on a laptop. Honestly, it's much more than that.

We get the injectors & fuel pump installed in TTAngle's (or BoostPrincess, which ever you prefer) car the weekend before last. We made sure there was no boost leaks prior to even starting the car. We knew the injectors were good and the fuel pump was new to eliminate those variables. The car was in perfect mechanical condition prior to even purchasing everything. Eliminating every variable possible prior to installing your tuning device makes tuning a lot less of a headache.

The first thing you do before firing up the car for the 1st time is set the base correction. This is something I've never seen before in a tuning device. You enter your stock injector size (360) into the labeled text box and your current injectors (550's in this case) into the next one and hit enter. This already setup a rough base map for you to go off of. In this case, it's 360/550 = 65%. Everything is already leaned out 65% for you. To my amazement, with everything left at 0, the car started and ran!

One other very nice feature of the e-manage is something called the trace feature. All you're looking at is a table of boxes with some numbers typed in them. This overwhelms the newbie tuner as it's easy to get lost and hard to keep track of what you're actually doing. The trace feature highlights the exact cell the e-mange is using at that moment so you know exactly which cell to adjust your tune. No more looking at the rpm and throttle position (which can be view in another window thru the e-manage)and guessing which cell you need to change.

Tuning takes time and lots of tinkering. Like with every piggyback, you make a setting, the ECU compensates for it, then you have to redo that setting back and forth till you find a happy medium. Fine-tuning in 1% increments makes everything a lot smoother. Adams car runs noticeably smoother than mine. The idle is a bit steadier and there is no throttle stutter like in my car.

I will say that without a doubt, with the e-mange being one of the only notable differences between our cars, I can tune his car to be more powerful than mine. The added timing control means we can advance the timing which alone give the motor more power. Specifically in the lower rpm band which will give the car lots more low end torque (which just feels great) and less boost lag.

I'm sold on this tuning device and with the future add-on of speed density tuning (throw away the stock maf) I may just sell my ARC and pick one up. Once again, I don't like the idea of lugging around a laptop, but what's nice is, once you get the car tuned, you can leave it at home.

I'd still recommend the MAFT or ARC if you're new to tuning as they are the easiest devices on the market. The SAFC and AFR can be had for cheep too and also work very well, but are a little more difficult to figure out.

My review of the Greddy E-manage (long)

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