When is DFI actually needed?

[1of1035]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading a few thing on the car. 45a is in and alky,72's,double pumper,FMIC and a 3800 stall are also coming. I'm probably going to use the ME or ME-R chip for 72's. Would DFI be helpful in this case or would it be overkill? :confused: Nice site by the way :cool:

[CraigWatson]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading a few thing on the car. 45a is in and alky,72's,double pumper,FMIC and a 3800 stall are also coming. I'm probably going to use the ME or ME-R chip for 72's. Would DFI be helpful in this case or would it be overkill? :confused: Nice site by the way :cool:

Well, I'm don't know much about ME and ME-Rs but I'd guess around mid 10's a DFI/FAST would start to make a difference. Of course, people have gone faster than that with stock set ups.

[JayC]

I agree.. I have several guys running mid 10s with stock ECMs around here but much faster than that, unless they have a fixation with the stock ECM, I generally recommend moving on to an aftermarket engine management system.

[Bruce]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading a few thing on the car. 45a is in and alky,72's,double pumper,FMIC and a 3800 stall are also coming. I'm probably going to use the ME or ME-R chip for 72's. Would DFI be helpful in this case or would it be overkill? :confused: Nice site by the way :cool:

Which DFI do you mean?.
The VI is primitive, IMO, and not turbo specific. What really makes it easy to use is the limited amount of tuning you can do with it. With so few adjustments, it's hard to mess up, the down side is the tune is rougher. So for a day to day street car, it just lacks the refinement of the oem one.

The new ME and Translator stuff is very well refined, and use the stock ecm. Both have 72 PPH programs that work really well, from what I've seen.

For me, I do alot of traveling, so having a spare ecm is just something I deam necessary, which gives the oem stuff a huge advantage. Plus at times I have to drive around campuses, and in the hot summer, having a car that idles well, and has good drivibility is critical to me, so the extra time in tuning is again worth it to me. For a car that's just driven to the track on weekends or trailered, the idle and drivibility aren't as important.

The MAFless ME's have been in the mid 9's so there is not going to be any huge difference in which works best. Just a matter of which you want to play with. And that's mostly about ego, and funding. The really new DFI stuff has some nice options, but they get really expensive. And that leads to just thinking about which is really most cost effective. For the $2K difference between a new DFI, and a ME, what else could you be doing?.

[1of1035]

Well, we're hoping to get mid-low 10's out of the car. Its a daily driver and will continue to be one. I'm going the ME so I can keep the MAF which I was told will help keep better street manners. I was thinking a gen6 or 7 batchfire.

[Bruce]

Well, we're hoping to get mid-low 10's out of the car. Its a daily driver and will continue to be one. I'm going the ME so I can keep the MAF which I was told will help keep better street manners. I was thinking a gen6 or 7 batchfire.

There are lots of old rumors floating around.
MAF or MAP is about immaterial, both are good. The downside to the oem MAF is that they're no longer made, which can be troublesome. There seem to be a fair number of folks happy with the MAFless ME's, and the new Translator Plus for 72s seems really nice.

[1of1035]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I'll just stick with the stock ecm for now and go with ME 16pos and the trans +

[Scott231]

Aftermarket ECUs are never needed until you can prove that you cannot get your chip/stock ECU to provide adequate Air:Fuel ratios for the power level you want AND/OR you can prove that you cannot get your stock ECM to make your BIG injectors idle acceptibly nice.

If you desire to have an all-in-one package to more easily tune an engine without a dyno handy and you desire the ability to make changes quickly without having to re-burn chips (and thus re-installing a chip), then it is time to step up. :cool:

[Bruce]

Aftermarket ECUs are never needed until you can prove that you cannot get your chip/stock ECU to provide adequate Air:Fuel ratios for the power level you want AND/OR you can prove that you cannot get your stock ECM to make your BIG injectors idle acceptibly nice.

If you desire to have an all-in-one package to more easily tune an engine without a dyno handy and you desire the ability to make changes quickly without having to re-burn chips (and thus re-installing a chip), then it is time to step up. :cool:

OK, then I guess the solid number would be faster then Mark Jackson's 9.5 that he ran with his MAFless ME. Oh wait, he says he might have even more in the car, so maybe we need to make that say a 9.3? <g>.

With the Extender extreme, or ME neither reguire reburning.
And, from what I've seen, both have outstanding fuel curves.
I've run literary hundreds of DS runs of some fast cars, and know what it takes fuel curve wise based on these runs, so with the ecm bench I can duplicate what the engine is doing and then read the curve of chip and see what's going on, so I'm not guessing, in saying any of this.

The old claims that the aftermarket ecms used to make just aren't as universally true as they used to be. Though I guess to some, turning the A/C on and off, and having to tap on the gas pedal is more difficult the keystrokes on a keyboard. <g>

[Turbo Archie]

I'd put a DFi on a 14 sec car, but thats just me. :joint: