Anyone in ca. Tune adaptronic????????

[spf_lexus]

I have a fully wired adaptronic e420c into a 1st gen LS400 and am looking for someone who has the balls and the know how to tune this box. I am at my wits end with my current builder/tuner who has had my car for the last 6 months with only the basic connections soldered to show for it. David phan has uploaded the most current firmware/software for the e420c. The person I just decided to pull my car away from has zero computer literacy skills, and operates at the pace of a snail.


I am willing to drive from north LA to the mexico border to have this taken care of.


I will buy you a keg of whatever brand beer on top of the tuning charge if there's someone's out there...



Sean French

 

[stevechumo]

Sean,
Check this place out: http://home.earthlink.net/~spchurch/. They're in Torrance and according to the website, they may know stuffs.

 

[spf_lexus]

Thanks Steve, i'll give them a call. I am so furious about this guy, I could have accomplished more in the last 6months than he could w/ my meagar tuning knowledge. In fact he told me he went to school at AEM for 2 years so I figured this would be routine, but the guy can't turn on a laptop and check e-mails. This guy spent the knole day today supposedly figuring out why my laptop wont detect USB. it works fine and it works 100% of the time I try to mess with the software, soooooo pissed off right now. It's so close tho I figure I may be able to pull this off. If the wires are done correct, then it can't be that far off..

 

[cribbj]

I'd suggest contacting Mitch to tune it, but since he's not familiar with the Adaptronic, his tuning bill is liable to be at least as much as you paid for the ECU.

As an afterthought, if the 3-4 of you that own this ECU all pitched in & hired Mitch, it would probably be much more affordable. And once he figured out the first one, and tuned it, the next 2-3 would be a doddle.

On the other hand, he might know where to get a used AEM, and if he installed that, he could have your car singing and dancing in a couple of hours. Of course you'd have to come up with a patch harness for your LS, but there are a couple places that could probably do that.

That Adaptronic seems like it's a great product, but it's got no support here in the US. Who are you going to call when you're stranded on the freeway, and the car won't start?

If several of you out there in Cali own this ECU, then one of you probably needs to bite the bullet and learn how to tune it. There are some good courses on "general" ECU tuning - Ben Strader's EFI University is probably the best known. Check out his website: www.efi101.com

 

[spf_lexus]

Looks like tomorrow i'm towing my LS back to my parents house. Gave this guy 1 last shot and he said the entire day was spent dealing with other customers and more fumbling with my perfectly good laptop.

 

[spf_lexus]

Cribbj-


I just decided 10minutes ago that I am going to "bite the bullet" and do this myself. It has all wires soldered as per Cobber's instruction list. I am getting live feed from my toshiba + serial cable and thanks to david I have the latest updates too. there can't be too many grimlins to track down. Also, I just finished a heavy electrical class at my university and feel confident tackling this thing. All i want for x-mas is this engine running so this year I will be my own santa...

 

[cribbj]

Go get 'em tiger, hehehehe

But seriously, if all we've heard about this Adaptronic is true, it shouldn't be too bad to get going, particularly if you're running it in piggyback mode with your regular ECU, and all it's doing is fuel and spark.

By the way, I found these guys: http://www.boundaryengineering.com/enginemanagement.php during a search for Adaptronic tuners. They're in Indiana, which isn't quite as far from you as Australia......

 

[Lextreme II]

Shawn,

You are welcome to tow ur car to my place but since my garage and carport are taken, I have no place for it. Otherwise you are always welcome here. I am off tomorrow and perhaps we can play with it.....

 

[Cobber]

Latest Adaptronic update includes VE tuning mode.

It's now even easier to street tune. You just need to tick the VE box, enter your engine size and injector size (injector size will be dependent on fuel pressure so you may have to work out your injector size if you re running non standard fuel pressure). Then go to the map tab and select convert map to VE then just fill the entire map with 80% and go for a drive.

Go to the Adaptronic website for the latest firmware and software V2.000

I will have a play on the weekend and update the street tuner guide next week time permitting.

 

[stevechumo]

I always thought the Adaptronic is the completely standalone. Anyway, the EFI company is also in Southern Ca and you can give them a call if you want to go with EFI. http://www.efitechnology.com/engcontrol.html.

 

[spf_lexus]

Cribbj-

I can't afford to tow this thing anywhere, Indiana is way too far, needs to stay in socal.

David

I just bought the AAA extended range plan, good for 100mile tow. If you want I can meetup at tim's before I pull the trigger and pull it out. If the fuel pump function is all it is I don't see why we can't make it turn. Gotta remember the pump was working just fine before the updates so i'm guiessing a small tab needs to be ticked inside the software?

Cobber-

I need to take some close up pics to get a better idea of whats what.


Steve-

It's a full standalone unit. Engineer of Motec engeneered this box. Right now I'm planning on giving this a good try and would like to use major tuning house as a last resort. They tend to charge $100/hr.

 

[stevechumo]

Church Automotive tuning charges about $425 for a complete tuning session including dyno. If you pay someone to tune for $100/hr, you'll probably have to pay the dyno session separately which is at least $100/hr.

 

[Cobber]

Sean,

Close up pictures of what?

Send me your base tune and I will have a look at the fuel pump settings.

PM me and I will send you my email address.

 

[spf_lexus]

Hey cobber I was referrinng to the way my loom is spliced. I remember he was trying to have it run as a piggyback w/ the stock running the trans and accessories.

I'll have my car home tomorrow and i'll send you a mesage.


Steve-

Thats actually a reasonable price. If he can fully tune the computer and maybe a single pull on the dyno i'll look into this.

 

[stevechumo]

According to him, he can tune most ECU as long as you have the software and some instructions for it. He has his own dyno machine, so you'll save big bucks if he can tune for you. From what I read on his site, he can tune Greddy, AEM, Hondata, PowerFC, Split Second (Damn, I still have a brand new Split Second for the SC/LS that controls 8 additional injectors, and I should have gone with it), APEXI, Mega Squirt, HP Tuners, Uprev Osiris...etc. If he can really tune that many, man! he must be really good. I understand choosing a tuner is critical, but you really gotta think out of the box.

The nice thing about this tuner is he'll be there when you need him, and he's not like other tuner that will not be there when you really need his help with the problem on your tuned car.

I don't know him that much, no comission from him. LOL. I only spoke to him 2 times over the phone.

 

[cribbj]

I chose my first tuner based on recommendations of others, then when I met him in person he mentioned all the big HP cars he had tuned, plus all the ECU's he was "certified" to tune, including the AEM, MoTeC, Haltech, etc. All this was intended to impress me and reinforce my decision to use him, which it did at the time.

Unfortunately, after the first tuning session, when my car wouldn't idle and still ran like doggy doodoo, I realised he really didn't know the AEM that well, and after checking with MoTeC, I found he wasn't "certified" by them, nor had they ever heard of him.

What I realised then was that he was probably a jack of all ECU's, and a master of none. It wasn't until I met Mitch Pederson and saw what he could do with the AEM that I experienced the difference between a jack, and a master.

Anyone with heavy experience in tuning can probably get into the software for a "new" ECU and make the car run, but it's knowing that ECU and all of its functions that'll make the difference between a car that just runs, and one that runs really well and is a pleasure to drive.

 

[spf_lexus]

Steve-

I have saved the tuner's info and plan to give him a call when I get free time. To be honest it's very unlikely that I can have this car fully sorted out before Jan 11th so in all fairness I am getting it towed home, and this upcoming summer break will be my time to shine. I hate to let it sit another 4 months but it needs to be done right. that list of ECU's is impressive. Definenly seems solid.


Cribbj-

I think we are slowly crossing paths lol. I was "drawn in" by this guy Tim who went on and on about how he used to build for Shelby in the 70's and how he was trained by AEM's 2yr tech school etc etc. What really made that last claim fall through was how this guy can't look up COM ports inside my Laptop. How can a reputable tuner not understand compter basics? lol it makes me laugh out loud every time. I am about to drive up there in an hour or so and i'm just going to let it be clear, "so you'v spent the last 4 months time finding the same com port?". It speaks for itself, every time I call I get a studdering run around about a computer this... and a computer that. I guess I need a proactive tuner... not a reactive tuner.

 

[stevechumo]

... What really made that last claim fall through was how this guy can't look up COM ports inside my Laptop. How can a reputable tuner not understand compter basics? lol it makes me laugh out loud every time. I am about to drive up there in an hour or so and i'm just going to let it be clear, "so you'v spent the last 4 months time finding the same com port?". It speaks for itself, every time I call I get a studdering run around about a computer this... and a computer that. I guess I need a proactive tuner... not a reactive tuner.

He only needs to spend 30 minutes by typing in "how to look up computer comports" on Google or Wikipedia and a whole bunch of answers will come up. LOL.

 

[cribbj]

Yeah, it doesn't bode well for the rest of his tuning capabilities if he can't get the PC talking to the ECU. Sounds like he needs to call in his 12 year old kid or grandkid for some tech support.

 

[spf_lexus]

sadly thats me haha. I just wrote down the steps to get the dang COM ports identified and e-mail addresses for the adaptronic crew. How hard is it to locate control panel---> hardware ---> device manager ---> COM ports tab lol? I decided to give the guy till next friday, only because it has no chance whatsoever to get finished sitting in my garage. The guy has never tried asking Adaptronic questions so I suppose it's worth a few days more. I get replies from Rob within the hour.. usually in 15min.