The AEM EMS truly is a plug-and-play ECU. Standalone ECUs usually require days of wiring, splicing and tuning just to get the car on the road with a rough tune. Tracing wires and splicing the harness sucks, is time consuming and just no fun. Thankfully, we can kiss all of that goodbye. With the EMS, just unplug the stock ECU and plug in the AEM. That's it. One of our favorite features of the EMS is the highly-developed knock control. Detonation is the enemy of a turbo'd car and great knock control means one less thing to worry about. With great support and an active Internet forum filled with EMS users sharing knowledge and maps, there's always somewhere to turn for help if it's needed. It's easy to see why the EMS is quickly becoming the benchmark that all stand-alone engine management systems are judged against. We can't say enough about how much we love that it requires no additional wiring.
Easy-to-use maps, user-friendly instructions, intuitive menus, tutorials, and everything else the EMS software offers are no help if you don't know how to tune. While anyone can plug in the ECU and fire up the car, the startup calibrations are not meant to be driven on and can cause damage to the engine if driven on the startup maps. This means that unless you've got a solid background in tuning, a professional must tune the car before it can be driven normally. That said, it's not rocket science and some people have learned to tune after installing the EMS, although that's not recommended.
EMS Unit, wiring diagrams and pinouts, aux EMS plugs, software, stickers, warnings and instructions.
Laptop, tuning experience, screwdriver, pliers, crescent wrench, zip ties and PC serial cable.
120 minutes
After the EMS was plugged in, the car fired right up and idled even better than with the stock ECU. After making a few pulls on the dyno and tweaking the fuel and spark maps, we had a nice steady AFR under boost between 11.0-11.5:1-a good range to be in with California 91 octane gas with forced induction. A quick glance at the dyno sheet showed some serious gains all around, with an increase of about 20hp and 20 lb-ft of torque across the board. What the dyno doesn't show is the greatly improved throttle response and drivability. We could have easily gotten another 20hp and more torque with more aggressive tuning, but the car has issues that need to be addressed before running more boost and more aggressive tuning.
AEM (EMS) Engine Management System
PEAKHP 200.0 / PEAKTQ 213.3
Horsepower Gain
1500 to 3500 HP range: 1 to 8
3500 to 5500 HP range: 10 to 28
5500 to redline HP range: 20 to 25
Torque Gain
1500 to 3500 TQ range: 6 to 12
3500 to 5500 TQ range: 10 to 27
5500 to redline TQ range: 9 to 19
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