Best Piggyback for NA Street

[jdmhn8]

Swapping in an OBD-II 1UZ into my 96 4Runner. I hate to do all this work and not extract all the power I can get out of this thing.

Wondering what sort of box I should go with for light, NA, streetable tuning.

Been looking at the newer Apex Neo-AFC. Looks pretty decent, and offers more than the V-AFC I used to use on my Integra.

Was also considering one of URD's tuning devices, but their customer service is less than impressive.

Anyone have any other ideas? Is the Apex AFC worth anything?

 

[ruishy1]

i would go for an emanage blue at the minimum, but thats just my opinion, its all down to budget and future specs

 

[stevechumo]

There's not much to tweak out if your NA engine doesn't have cams, intake, or exhaust system. So the SAFC is good enough to tune for the fuel. It's known to gain 10 rwhp with the SAFC.

Other upper level piggyback ECUs are more likely used for tuning boosted engine. Keep in mind most piggyback ECUs aren't very helpful with a full tune on a stock NA because of their limitated capacity. Most piggyback ECUs can't advance the timing, so you don't really need a mid-priced piggyback when it can't advance the timing to make more power.

 

[jdmhn8]

Sweet. I was looking at the E-Manage and the AEM F/IC.

Dig the AEM more, but for $575, I think it's a little more than I need to spend just to get a few more horsepower out of some headers, large exhaust and intake.

I don't see myself ever boosting this engine in the near future. So for just basic bolt ons, you think the Apex has enough flexibility to do what I need it to do and get me some decent gains? Are there any known compatibility issues with V8s? Seems like a lot of these Japanese boxes are optimized for 4 cyl and 6 cyl.

 

[stevechumo]

If you're not looking to boost, then why would you make thing more complicated than it shouldn't be? I'm not an expert in tuning, but I had some on-hand experience with it. A Greddy or any ECU in its class is a little bit harder to wire (even though it's good), while the SAFC is only a couple of wires. However, check with your tuner to see if he can tune any of those on this 1UZ. I know for sure it can be done by a good tuner by the way. This 1UZ fires the injectors in a batch of 2 cylinders at a time, so from what I know, an ECU for a 4 cylinders can work, if the tuner knows how.