Super AFC Tuning Tips

Purpose
The Air Flow Converter takes the pulse (frequency) from the Mass Air Flow meter and
either speeds it up or slows it down at different RPM points to make the ECU run the
injectors either richer or leaner. All by itself, it can only give you a little more bottom end
power by leaning out the mix some. If you try to richen the top end you will just hit fuel
cut (100% fuel inj. pulse) sooner.

One use is to cut out the restrictions in the lower half of the MAS (leaner) and then use
the AFC to richen things back up. This gives some benefits similar to the VPC without
the strange idle problems. If you have a 90-94 Eclipse, an excellent use is to convert to
the MAS from a 95-99 Eclipse. The wiring connector is different but can be swapped to
the 95-99 plug. The wires are the same. The calibration of the 2G MAS is different but
the AFC will allow you to compensate for it.
The best use for the AFC is to install larger injectors (runs richer) and then adjust the
AFC leaner to compensate. This also raises the point where you hit fuel cut since the
ECU sees less air flow (lower frequency Hz).
Installation is simple, and only requires tapping into 5 wires and cutting one to intercept
the air flow signal. This is all done at the ECU. There are 8 RPM adjusting points to
adjust the air flow + /- 50%. These points are user defined within a 1,000 RPM band so
that you can get finer control in certain areas if you need it. The rpm points come pre set
at every thousand rpm from 1,000 to 8,000. The graph is highlighted for the rpm range
you are setting.
The Super AFC also allows for two different maps according to load. It makes the load
calculation based on the Throttle Position Sensor. You choose what is high and what is
low. We normally set it for 30% low and 80% high.

Initial AFC Tuning (Low)

While in neutral, try revving the engine to the exact RPM settings on the AFC. Hold the
RPM, and then start playing with the setting for that RPM. Listen to the exhaust. Start on
the rich side, the engine will likely sound very "smooth". Slowly work your way lean,
you'll start to hear misfires (popping sounds). A good point is probably where things just
start to pop a little but are pretty close to "smooth" (rich). Watch the O2 sensor voltage or
A/F ratio meter. Normally the voltage will swing back and forth between .2 and .8 volts
at idle and part throttle cruising. . As you adjust leaner, the ECU will compensate back
richer. Slowly click down leaner so that the LEDs do not come up. You will then see the
O2 voltage come back up slowly. This is the ECU re adjusting. Keep going down until
the ECU can no longer bring the A/F ratio back up to swinging in the middle LEDs
(.2-.8v). From there richen that rpm point back up about 10 percent. That should put you
pretty close to 0 to 5% fuel trim at the ECU.
Next repeat the same thing driving the car on the freeway. Hold the car at the rpm that
you are going to set. Note what percentage you are beginning with and slowly go lower
until the ECU can no longer richen things back up. Go richer about 10% more and
compare that with the compensation percentage that you started with. You should be
fairly close.
When you get things too far out of whack, you will most likely get a check engine light
code for Fuel Trim. It just means that the ECU was trying to adjust things to get back
between 0.2 and 0.8 volts and couldn't. Don't panic, this is normal. Try to figure out
where you were too lean or rich and fix it up. Re-set the ECU and see if the code re-
appears.

Initial AFC Tuning (High)

The higher rpm ranges on the AFC are probably the easiest to tune (if you have an EGT).
Use 3rd & 4th gear and go for long runs & watch your EGTs... If the temp gets over 900
Celsius in third gear, you are too lean. We've found that above 5,000 rpm, the settings are
typically set very similar to each other.
The 2,000 to 3,000 rpm ranges are more tricky because you rarely stay in those RPM's
for long & the EGT really won't help you. They'll likely be a little leaner than the higher
rpm settings. The 4,000 and 5,000 RPM settings are the most important for maximum
power and safety. Typically that is where you first punch the throttle when racing and
also where the rpms fall back to when you shift.
Try to borrow a digital volt meter meter for your first major tests to prevent against
grossly lean situations.
Ultimately it comes down to a lot of fiddling around over time. When cruising around,
note the RPM's you are at and when you stomp on it, and pay attention to the next two
thousand RPM's (it's important to concentrate on RPM ranges and not just overall
acceleration...) You start to pick up on when the car is being held back by timing (lean) or
if it's running fat. The exhaust sounds a little different (softer) & the power delivery feels
different too.

Tuning With O2 Sensor Voltage

The stock O2 sensors are not very well matched between vehicles. They will give
reasonably repeatable numbers run after run, but you can not compare your numbers with
that of another O2 sensor. There are a few O2 sensors that have instrument grade
accuracy but they run $800 and up. They also have a very short life span at that accuracy.
Oxygen sensor voltage output will also vary with the temperature of the sensor. High end
O2 sensors and their monitoring devices have complex circuitry to compensate for this.
The Blinky Light meters out there like Cyberdyne, Autometer, and EFI's Dual Meter are
perfectly accurate at reading the voltage from the O2 sensor and lighting up the proper
LED. The problem with them is when relying on them for full throttle tuning is that the
range is not fine enough. There is a huge performance difference between .90v and .96v.
Both of those voltages will light up the top most LED on these gauges. The LED based
gauges do have their purpose in tuning closed loop/part throttle at a glance. For more
accuracy, a digital volt meter is much better. For the best of both worlds, use the digital
A/F Ratio meter from Zeitronix
Bottom line is tuning with is fine with your own O2 and multi-meter but the numbers you
are reading really have no relationship to anyone else's numbers to within .02v.

High EGTs and Knock

If you are running too lean for the boost and octane you have in the tank, you will get
knock or pre-ignition. The knock sensor bolted to the engine block will pick up this
"pinging" sound long before you can hear it inside the car. When under higher boost,
there is almost always small amounts of knock. At these small amounts of knock the
ECU will continue to advance timing normally. At mid knock levels the ECU will hold
timing and if it gets too high or rises quickly, the ECU will begin to retard timing if not
pull it all the way back to zero. You can hear the exhaust note change when the timing
goes away. It will turn deeper , almost rumbly sounding. When the timing is retarded, the
ignition process happens so late that the flame front shoots out the exhaust port when the
exhaust valve opens and blows still expanding, really hot gas directly onto the EGT
probe. So internally the pistons are barely warm, but the exhaust manifold and turbo get
real hot. This is the reason we recommend not running EGTs higher than 900 degrees C.
That is the point that timing retard is usually driving the EGTs up. Not that immediate
damage is being done, it is just that you are no longer making additional power above
that temperature and there is no benefit to running there.
"I turned up my boost and the car does not feel any faster"
The power can drop off after a while when increasing the boost due to intercooler flow
and intake temperature. The trick is to find the lowest boost that still feels strong. You
might as well run just what boost you need to make power rather than stressing the turbo
and chance detonation on pump gas. Now with race gas it is a different ball game and the
max power point should increase so you will want to try turning up the boost another 2
PSI or more.
What kind of turbo and intercooler do you have? If you are using the stock stuff, then
your boost is limited by the turbo. The most you will get out of it is about 15-16 PSI
which is fine on pump gas. If you manage to somehow get more boost you are likely just
making hot air and making less power than you would at a lower boost since you are
pushing the turbo way past its efficient operating range.
If you have a 16G and a decent front mount intercooler in cold weather (50F) you can
make around 300 HP properly tuned. If you have a larger more efficient turbo, such as a
20G you can make even more power on pump gas properly tuned.

Fuel Cut
It's a nice cool night out and your Eclipse was running better than ever. You were
boosting a little higher than you normally do and BAM, the motor shuts off hard and
there is a backfire. You ease back into the throttle thinking you just blew up something
big. The car seems to run fine. Welcome to Fuel Cut.
You were just flowing more air through the MAS than the ECU was programmed to deal
with.
There are several possible solutions to fuel cut. The dime store FCD works fairly well but
is potentially dangerous and doesn't net consistent results. It doesn't really solve the
problem but is a partial workaround. The next solution is to get the Fuel Cut removed
from the ECU altogether via someone like Keydiver. This definitely does the trick but
still doesn't really solve the underlying problem of running lean. Ideally you should
install larger injectors and a fuel computer of some kind, like the AFC.
Fuel cut is caused by the ECU seeing a large airflow value from the MAF which works
out to roughly 100% duty cycle on the stock injectors. If you install 550cc injectors
which are 18% bigger than the stock injectors, then adjust the AFC to compensate for the
larger injectors, you won't hit fuel cut until you
make up that 18% airflow buffer. Ideally you should get the injectors, AFC and the
Technomotive ECU mods. This gives you safe, consistent fuel and allows you to run
ridiculous boost levels without running too low on fuel or hitting fuel cut.
Also an EGT is generally a good idea once you start running high boost levels or hitting
fuel cut. The ECU thinks you are getting close to maxing out your fuel system, and the
EGT can tell you for sure. It is an expensive item, but cheaper than an engine. Just get the
GReddy electronic gauge and mount it in the #1 or #2 exhaust runner. You will also need
it to tune the car properly with a fuel computer.