NISTUNE or Power FC?

[judasentinel]

Get ready for the latest buzz in the Nissan Tuning World.

Nistune is making headlines and is proving to be at least as capable as AEM EMS or Power FC, from opinions I have read. Anyone has any experience with both?

Which is better? And why? And please dont say Power FC simply because you have used it, while you have little idea about Nistune. I am sincerely looking for informed points of view to see if Power FC and AEM EMS are still worth 3-4 times the investment on something like Nistune that can still perform most, if not all, functions, of either one of them.

Skym, mate, I know you have a bit of info on this. And I have followed what you have said on Nistune website, AND on various other boards and no one seems to deny that Nistune is amazing. But the mental block of people against tuned chips and the power of stock ECUs seems to run counter to what I have learned. Can you please shed some light?

Others like Venom Motorsports and ZTune in BC are both involved with Nistune, from what I have learned. Mike (ZTune) can you please comment too?


And Matt (spank110), I am sure you can add your valuable insights here too.

My sole purpose here is to share the facts about Nistune and if it is really as good as any other standalone, then we should all go for it, for less than 1/4 the price of an AEM or PFC.

[DeviantRebel442]

i am interested to hear about this aswell..

kinda thinking of nistune, power fc, or greddy emanage...stuck and cant decide...maybe this will put me over the edge

[mcfly]

the pfc is not even in the same league as nistune or emanage
I would love to run a microtech on my gtst if i ever did something over stock.

[Rumble32]

nistune looks pretty awesome, probably better than emanage(which is garbage) ultimately if i had the choice, i would just save up the cash and get a standalone like aem ems or equivilant. you can do so much more with it.

[Skym]

Don't quote me on this.

With ECU's you look at -

Application :- street, drag strip, racetrack.

ECU Speed :- faster allows it to run multiple features like traction control, boost control + ignition, fueling at the same time. Also reacts to critical situations quickly. This is important in high hp applications.

Resolution of the ignition, fuel maps :- more adjustment points allow for smoother looking power, torque curves and supposedly are able to tune closer to the point where engine detonates to extract more peak hp.

Alternative correction maps :- for different situations like drop in air temp, etc under competition or road use.

Reliability :- how is ECU mounted (brackets, etc) to prevent from damage under competition use. Also is it a sealed unit that protects ECU for temperature problems like wet weather, etc.

For competition use you look at the inputs, outputs for wheelspin sensors, etc. Also replacement sensors for TPS, CAS, etc and datalogging to assess traction control settings, etc. Also can change the ignition system for maximum reliability.

Motec ECU has the above and is a fast ECU + lots of inputs, outputs (extra sensors, digital dash, etc) and can run on a 4000hp+ Nitro burning motor (proven to work with high hp motors). There are different levels of this Motec ECU with less or more functions that suits different budget levels, applications, etc.

For street use, Power FC, Nistune will work. If your going to race and need the extra sensors, datalogging to finetune and get a quicker laptime or quicker 1/4 mile time and better reliability by replacing troublesome factory sensors, Motec ECU is a proven solution. The Power FC has the same functions as stock ECU, but Power FC has internal boost control feature (instead of using AVC-R) thus I gather has a slightly faster ECU to work with this extra feature. Also Power FC has a hand controller to view ignition maps, sensors, etc.

Motec, AEM ECU use a similar ECU chip, etc, but I gather it's the software, where they are different, with Motec being better. AEM had the CAS problems, which they have now fixed with a new CAS disc, CAS settings. But Motec ECU has no problems running on factory cars with the same CAS.

Also Motec ECU or similar spec ECU needs more time to setup features, so cost's more to tune. That's probably where Power FC or Nistune would be better, cost wise. Power FC has a autotune feature for idle, which saves time in setting up idle. I think E-manage has something similar. Motec ECU can be used on different motors by changing the adaptor loom. Buy once, use on different cars (if you decide to upgrade or buy another car).

If you can get past not knocking the chip on side of circuit board (E-manage ECU), should be an ok ECU.

They all have there positives, negatives. It's cost with some ECU's and features, map resolution, speed, etc with others.

[tokes]

I wouldn't go so far as to say AEM EMS and Nistune have similar capabilities. The AEM has many more features and much high tuning resolution than Nistune, which is still just a stock ECU.

Nistune is buckets cheaper than an AEM EMS, which is what makes it so nice for DIY people. It's very easy to make changes for different MAF's and injectors, remove speed cut, things of that nature.

Want to read and clear any trouble codes or just have an accurate gauge display?


Changing the map for different sized injectors takes all of 15 seconds and 4 clicks


And changing MAF's is easy with a list of 20+ MAF's, everything from Ford Lightning/Cobra MAF's, to RB20's and the common Z32 maf's


I really like Nistune, and it's about half the cost of a PFC.

[Skym]

Do you know if the tuning software will run on a hand held device like this iPAQ PDA for features like gauge display??? -

http://www.blazt.biz/products/images/ipaq_incar.JPG

[judasentinel]

Interesting question, Skym. I'm thinking that any platform capable of running an operating system that the Nistune software works on, should be able to run it.

Peopl say that Nistune is no AEM or for that matter PFC. However, I wonder what it is that you cannot do with Nistune that you can with AEM or PFC, except maybe controlling NVCS (on RB25DET/Neo) or knck reporting (which is already a built-in safety feature in stock ECU).

For anyone who does street driving with their cars, Nistune seems to be much more cost-effective and competent to tune a car for both track and street use.

And Nistune is NOT a piggy-back system. A stock ECU is also a "standalone" ECU, with a chip or with Nistune in it. So, we should not consider it to be the same as Emanage (blech!!) or SAFC or whatever.

Stinky always used to say I remember that the stock is more capable than what people give it credit for, and after reading up on Nistune, and using his modded chip, I do not disagree. I think for 90%+ of members on here, Nistune would probably be a much much better option than ANY piggy-back system. It is cheaper, more effective and you can tune your car much more than you would be able to, with swine-backs, lol.

[Skym]

For cost, Nistune is a better solution. If tuning software works with iPAQ PDA, then would be similar to Power FC (except maybe speed of ECU chip, onboard boost control that Power FC has). Boost control can be done with an external boost controller like AVC-R or Greedy Profec B.

I gather the main problem with stock ECU is low resolution maps, slower ECU chip on some stock ECU's and lack of inputs, outputs, datalogging, etc. That's where the other ECU's like AEM, Motec, Link are better when used for competition use.

[tokes]

You could probably load the nistune software onto an iPaq, but I would prefer the keyboard/mouse interface of the computer for actual tuning. I can see it as being effective for logging, but for how often you actually need to TUNE your car I would rather use a laptop.

FWIW, you can datalog using nistune, and you can use some widebands with a serial output to log wideband against all your other values from the ECU as well.

[kelaog]

Cool, I like the look of nistune!

[falcon]

i am interested to hear about this aswell..

kinda thinking of nistune, power fc, or greddy emanage...stuck and cant decide...maybe this will put me over the edge

if you want an Emanage PM ME!!... I need to offload my NEW blue ASAP!


/shameless plug

[falcon]

can this datalog, and do you need to flash an eprom or something to make the ECU changes perminant? Or is it like PFC where you make a change and it automatically becomes perminant.

[judasentinel]

can this datalog, and do you need to flash an eprom or something to make the ECU changes perminant? Or is it like PFC where you make a change and it automatically becomes perminant.

Not only can you datalog, but you also dont need to have a chip in your ECU.

Nistune is a daughterboard - a small circuit board that has the capability to store data. It is smaller than the knock sensor board in our RB20DET ECU (that circuit board that sits on top of the part where the chip is). This daughterboard is connected to a laptop and you can see all the settings of your stock ECU, tune and modify them, and store them back on to the daughterboard, which is connected to the socket where the stock chip used to be.

To simplify, it is a re-rewritable chip in your stock ECU, that can take on new tunes as many times as you want. Just like PFC, if you wanna put it that way. No need to keep a laptop connected. Once you make a change, you press the BURN button and the change becomes permanent on the ECU. And since you can save around 3 different maps on your laptop with its tuning software, if you dont like the tune on your ECU, just load another map and burn it on to your ECU.

[Skym]

Tokes, thanks for answering my question.

Most modern car ECU's like on Holden Commodore, Mitsubishi EVO 9, V35? Skyline are reflashable. These reflashable ECU's can be retuned by plugging a laptop into consult port and making adjustments via tuning software that's installed on the laptop.

Here's the Mitsubishi EVO 9 version (ECUTEK) -

http://www.torqueperformance.co.nz/mitsubishi.php

A bit more about ECUTEK -

http://www.torqueperformance.co.nz/ecutek.php

Basically Nistune board modify's older generation ECU's, so they can be retuned, similar to new generation ECU's. It eliminates plugging in an emulator to retune real time and changing the chip everytime you retune ECU .

Here's the Nistune website if you want to have a look at the Nistune daughter board -

http://www.nistune.com/

They have a installation PDF, so you can see what needs to be done to RB20DET ECU to make it retuneable -

http://www.nistune.com/docs/NIStune_Type_2_Hardware_Install_Sheet.pdf

When I mean datalogging, I mean onboard datalogging. I think there's 512kb on the AEM ECU.

With Motec ECU there's -

Outputs like digital dash (replaces factory dash, like on racecars), etc.

Inputs like wideband 02 sensor, wheelspin sensor (traction control), driveshaft speed sensor (engine revs vs driveshaft speed to detect a slipping clutch), etc.