Ok, after that last thread, and you all were sayin just by changing fuel and resetting the ecu you can advance the timing(hard to believe, but what do I know..I come from a rotary background,lol). Now my ?, how much gains can be expected if I run 93 octane and reset the ECU? Noticeable or not, cuz if it aint, i'm not wasting $$$ on more expensive fuel,lol....

 

no you cant change the timing without any cams, the ecu resets itself at WOT so stuff like afc's and piggy backs are pointless also.

and from what ive read, the protege 2.0 runs best at 87-89 octane

 

FYI. You can't change the timing by putting cams in it either. Also, the WOT calibrations come from lookup tables as the car goes to open loop. That means that it is no longer using the O2 sensor to adjust fuel. It goes to set values for fuel and that are already programmed into the computer. If you ever get the car dynoed, have them graph the A/F ratio also. You'll find that our cars go dead rich at approx 3500-3600 RPM

 

Right Traveler, but what does the ignition timing do at WOT? Anybody ever look at that on the dyno? Imagine if the damn thing goes to look ups for timing too. You can be sure it's not running well advaned. Rich and retarded is a hell of a state. It may be a fine life style, but its a poor state of tune.

 

What about your E-manage Traveler? Is a system like that capable of providing new maps or overriding the stock ones during WOT?

 

WOT the hell does WOT mean?

 

WOT = Wide Open Throttle

 

I never finished installing the E-manage. My wife and I got into it about me spending a bunch of money on the car so I ended up selling it. I have seen the stock ignition curve from when my car was on the dyno. It's more of a stairway than a curve. The stock timing bumps up a couple degrees at set RPM's. Didn't hit the max advance until 5500 when it went to 30 degrees.

 

And yes, the E-manage will re-map the ignition timing. What it does is change the timing by adding or taking away from the factory map by the degree of difference that you set. If you want 2 more degrees than stock at 3000 rpm, then you set "+2" in the software at 3000 RPM. Then, if you want to set it at "+4" at 4000, you set that. It will interpolate the points in between or you can set it manually every 100 rpm. Same with fuel. I would have liked to try it. I even had the computer all set up out in the shop. But I got tired of fighting about it!

 

Traveler, when running on the dyno and watching the ingition advance, was it running wide open as one would assume? I think that if you saw a step function the ECU certainly wasn't adjusting timing based on rpm and MAP data, but on just rpm table values instead. Given the low end torque curve of the FS motor, 5500 is way too late to hitting max advance on a rich mixture. 30 degrees ain't bad, but by 5500 the motor's done anyway.

If you think your wife had a bitch about the the money you spent on E-manage, imagine my fights when I say the car needs a TecIII controller, new ignition and all new gages just so I can install those $600 cams. Good thing she thinks the new laptop is for work.

 

The ignition advance table looked just exactly like it was coming from tables at WOT. That's what we've been saying though. The WOT calibrations are straight from look up tables with only slight modifications for ambient air pressure I'm sure. Mine doesn't sign off at 5500 anymore by the way. I run it to 6500-6800 for really playing. The dyno says my peak is between 6250 and 6500 now so I usually rev just past peak for max accel. But then I've got a header, 2.25 to the second cat and 2.5" the rest of the way back.

 

Hmm...Could this explain why I sometimes feel the car accelerate in steps? It seems that when Im WOT, the car tends to accelerate with slight, but noticable surges every few hundred RPMs or so. I can't always tell, but I do notice it often.

 

Could be. The advance at lower RPM's is pitifully slow. It was only about 20 degrees at 3000 RPM if I remember correctly. Increasing in 2 degree steps every few hundred RPM to a max of 30 degrees at 5500

 

Thats funny...

 

if you dont know what your doing shell out the cash and have me do it just joking just be careful, dont want to f-up your precious mazda