AFC vs tuning

JTaken · Post by **JTaken** » July 24, 2006

I don't know much about this kinda stuff, but am trying to learn.

Does an AFC (Air Fuel Controller?) do pretty much the same thing as getting your car tuned. If I'm correct in this assumption, I'm trying to decide whether or not taking my car to a shop and getting it tuned is a good idea...or buying an AFC for about the same price...

Post by **kotomile** » July 24, 2006

You use an AFC to tune your car. So pretty much it's not either or, it's all or nothing.

CivicSpoon · Post by **CivicSpoon** » July 24, 2006

Depends on what stuff you have done to your car. If you're boosting or going with a fairly big NA build, then get it tuned. If you just have some basic bolt-ons and some mild cams (or something like that), then the AFC will be fine. The AFC does basically the same thing, but it's really only good to a certain point. And a good engine management will make your car a hell of a lot more reliable and give you more power over an AFC. Because you can do far better fine tuning, instead of just a few certain points.

JTaken · Post by **JTaken** » July 24, 2006

I'm capable of boosting around 15 psi. Its a 97 GST with the big 16g turbo (evo III if i recall)...has cams, 600cc fuel injectors, the engines bored out, port and polished....has some things done...

and i was told that i should tune before i turn my boost up (i have a turbosmart mechanical boost controller and its turned all the way down)

so...would an electrical AFC due the job alone, or would I also need to goto a shop?

Also, my friend does tuning on his bike, and he said it had preset maps that he just, for the lack of a better term, uploaded to the bike. Is it this way on a car as well?

Help is appreciated.

Post by **kotomile** » July 24, 2006

Okay, you USE an AFC to tune, it is not plug-and-play. The S-AFC (which I assume might be the one you're talking about) still needs to be tuned to be effective. The better method is a standalone ECU, which would then also need to be tuned, but is a larger investment.

Your friend with the bike has a setup where someone has already performed the tuning on another bike with the same or similar mods and then saved and shared the file with others to upload to their bikes (upload was the correct term fwiw). This method CAN work but it's better to do the tune on a dyno using your car. What if the tune you upload was done in a different climate? Different altitude? On a different octane? You can't be sure what you're getting using the upload method.

oldhondadude · Post by **oldhondadude** » July 24, 2006

unless your doing a full build, you don't need a stand alone system. instead of a afc, save your money and get dsm link.