AEM makes good stuff... but it's ENGINE MANAGEMENT... it's not a plug in and enjoy solution.
The only thing you get from a computer like this is the ability to program your engine computer yourself.
AEM is considered a BETTER product than a lot of what's on the market because they work with better quality sensors (which are not included with the computer) and they allow you to adjust more parameters.
OEMs program their computers for a good balance of fuel economy and power while leaving in tolerances for differences in altitude, fuel quality, temperature ranges etc.
cars sold in the US are programmed to run in the dead of the Alaskan winter or the heat of a Texas summer... Adding and programming an AEM computer on a vehcile with a stock engine, you wont see many gains, and if you do, you're likely reducing the OEM tolerance to various environmental factors.
If you rebuilt the engine and slapped a turbo on there, then the AEM (or similar product) would not only be beneficial but somewhat required to compensate for what you've added.
Keep in mind that to properly tune one of these yourself you'll need to use a dyno and have BOAT LOADS of experience, having someone else tune it for you usually runs about $500 on the low end.
popular tuner vehicles are cheaper, and you can get pre-mapped programs that work well. For instance I got a Cobb Tunning Access Port for my WRX which reprograms the factory computer, it was $600 and I could download programs from their website already setup for different modification configurations, that they did on someone else's WRX. I'm putting an LS1 in my 240sx and I can send out my factory computer and for $125 get it retuned to my specs since that's an even more popular platform. Since the VX market is small and the need for something like this is miniscule you're looking at 100% custom. You're probably looking at upward of $3000 after tuning, and that's if you can find a shop with an AWD dyno willing to tune for you (most shops wont tune car's they're not familiar with) and the end results wouldn't be all that impressive.
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You could totally build up the factory VX motor, though I'd be weary of the transmission and TOD system being able to handle much more than stock power, even the equivalent 5 speed and transfer case from the trooper isn't all that strong past stock power.
Honestly IMO if you want power you'd be better served swapping for a more developed platform.
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Engine management at it's core is really quite simple...
1. there are a f-ton of sensors that track pretty much everything, position of the pistons within the engine, the temperature of the air going into the engine, the pressure of the fuel in the lines, the oxygen level of the exhaust, etc.
2. all that data is compiled buy the computer and then it decides how much fuel to put into the cylinder...
that's pretty much it... it's a really fancy computer for measuring fuel. some also determine when to fire the spark plugs too, and REALLY fancy system have 2 settings for the valve timing and the computer determines if it should be one or the other...
there's lots of books on the subject if you want to read more, I've got a couple I've been looking into.
and if you're really into it you can even build your own engine management computer from scratch... look into a computer called "megasquirt" it's an open source engine management system and a lot of amateur race teams use it... really if you know what you're doing it can be quite competitive with systems made by companies like AEM... you can even buy pre-built megasquirt systems for a few hundred bucks...
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Originally Posted by twistedsymphony
