Nissan 240SX - Adding Reliable Power - Tech

In the S-chassis world, the SR20DET has become the de facto engine swap for anyone looking to add more power to their 240SX without breaking the bank. The swap is simple, effective and offers plenty of opportunity for further power upgrades.

The average SR swap with intake and exhaust puts out around 200 whp, which isn’t bad at all, but the hype and excitement wears off after a couple of months. All of a sudden, you’ll be left wanting more, as is the case with the owner of the S14 in this article.

He wanted to add more power without affecting the reliability that he’s been used to day in and day out with his pretty basic SR20 setup. Other than a Power Enterprise air filter and a GReddy Ti-C exhaust mated to a Megan downpipe, the S14 SR20 was all stock.

There are countless mod paths that can be taken here to extract more power, but we find too many people focus on upgrading the turbo or adding cams before addressing the single most important concern: engine management. That new turbo may give you a great seat-of-the-pants feeling, but in reality, it’s not being used to all of its potential without a proper tune — especially when you’re still running the stock 370cc fuel injectors. That’s downright dangerous.

It doesn’t look like anything fancy, but this box houses the potential to extract every last horsepower out of your engine.

It doesn’t look like anything fancy, but this box houses the potential to extract every la

To combat the problem, we’ve seen people upgrade their MAFs to 300ZX units and add some 550cc injectors that should theoretically increase airflow and fuel by the same amount. A less common option is an old Super AFC that alters airflow signals to the ECU, all in hopes of trying to save some bucks while still making more power.

We’re here to tell you that we’ve tried it all, and nothing compares to a programmable EMS, not even the mail-in ROM chip tuning. If you want to drive your car hard, then get a proper EMS; in the long run, you’ll be saving yourself lots of money and headaches. Make the initial investment up front, and you’ll never regret it later.

That’s why the first thing we did was install AEM’s newest EMS Series 2. The original EMS was highly successful, and the Series 2 brings all of the same great options found in the original but with many new refinements, such as user-adjustabile knock-sensor frequency, 12-channel injector and 8-channel ignition outputs, 1MB of internal data logging (versus 512KB on the Series 1), the ability to adjust four camshafts for continuous variable cam control, and much more. At its core, the AEM EMS still allows full fuel, timing and ignition control, plus electronic boost, traction and launch control. The list goes on and on — simply put, if you want to be able to fully tune your engine, then the EMS Series 2 is the way to go.

The AEMTuner software has many new features built in, like the Support Pane, which provides the user with a detailed explanation of what functions are and how they work in the software.

The AEMTuner software has many new features built in, like the Support Pane, which provide

To help maximize the new features on the Series 2 EMS, AEM has also released its AEMTuner software. Perhaps the biggest addition to the program is the Support Pane feature that not only explains what an item is, but provides info on how the item works with live links in the text. It’s like having a teacher guide you through functions of the system inside the software. For example, if you don’t know what Knock1 volts means or how to set it up, the Support Pane will provide all the necessary information. It’s an invaluable feature for novice and even professional tuners.

Other nifty new features include calibration comparison. Now it’s much easier to compare two different maps within the program. Conflict detection has been added to help eliminate assigning multiple outputs to the same item that can cause timely delays during tuning. There’s a lot more to this software that would take this entire article to write about, but thankfully AEM has made a great video explaining the AEMTuner at youtube.com/watch?v=bkGrq8ACyR8.