Tuning and APEX'i Settings

E-Manage would have been a wiser choice but the APEX�i gear is working great for me. You could save A LOT of money by going E-Manage and is also easier to set up.

Here is another website forum that presents everything done to my Galant.

TST Journal (Tri State Tuners)

Here is the best explanation of my fuel/ignition/mapping setup based on the mechanical upgrades. You will need EGT Gauge installed, OBD II Data-Logger and wideband AFR to accomplish everything faster and safer for a good tune.

Starting with the fuel system; I am running a 255lph fuel pump regulated by an Areomotive FPR (rising rate) set to 52psi of fuel pressure. I am using Lucas 450cc/min (at 52psi fuel pressure), High Impedance injectors. The �solenoid design� behind high impedance injectors is designed to operate at battery voltage (10-14volts). Allow me to elaborate.

[Injector design � Injectors work much like a speaker in the aspect of the electro-mechanical movement. A coil of wire is wound around a needle that is highly responsive to electromagnetic force. When voltage is applied the needle lifts up and allows fuel to pass through the injector. Much like a speaker, the impedance of the devise can have a large effect on how it performs. With injectors the impedance is the amount of windings controlling the pintle needle that allows fuel to pass through the injector (or coil that controls the amount of force behind the �throw� of the pintle needle). The more windings in the coil the higher the resistance or the more winding on the injector the more voltage it takes to operate. There are definitive pros and cons to high/low impedance injectors and they are as follow;

Low impedance � Low impedance injectors operate at 2.5-4.5 volts, needing resistors (or resistor pack in our case) to cut the voltage down. The idea behind this is for the pintle needle to be lighter and having a faster response on the injector, based on signal sent by the ECU (with less windings on the actuator coil). Fuel control is very accurate because of the speed in response, and work at a very fast pace for high revving engines (like 12000 RPMs). The only draw-back is the amount of fuel pressure behind the injector can have an effect on the efficiency of the pulse-width of the injector. A Rising rate FPR will be needed and possibly some compensation on the higher revs due to the increase in fuel pressure. Most are rated for a specific duty rating based on a base PSI rating, which should not be run past the designed duty rating. It could cause the injector to have too much of an opposing force and decrease injector efficiency. Overall if you plan on more than 250hp with your Galant, I would choose these injectors (just for the fuel economy).

High impedance � High impedance injectors operate at battery voltage or around 10-14 volts. The principal behind high impedance is the durability; the actuator coil has many more windings than low impedance and also a heaver pintle needle. With all the weight comes a major disadvantage of sloppy control over fuel delivery where the injectors �timing� is concerned and needs compensation for the weight of the pintle needle due to running at higher voltages. Voltage is another major concern because of the �reaction time� when the voltage is fluctuating due to the other systems functioning on the same circuit. Special attention to making sure the injectors �battery voltage compensation mapping� is on key where idle and injector �dead-time� while at cruising speeds. {Low Impedance injectors are in my opinion easer to �tune� in.} BUT, for the force applied behind this �solenoid design�, one can run high fuel pressures without MUCH effect on the pintle needle having a resistant force. I specifically use these because I do not rev over 6000 RPM, the durability factor, less likely to clog, and no resistor box. There is NO USE for high-impedance injectors if you intend on running 9000+ RPMs on the engine.]

KEEP IN MIND! When you do flash the Galant, all of the learned settings gained over a certain period of time will be lost. So when you first start the G the ECU will be doing all sorts of learning with variables that are at a wide range. This can throw the AFR all over the place on the first few runs. After time the ECU will lock down on a stable learned pattern, but it takes varying the driving style along with running the factory systems (AC, headlights, and defroster). Think about all avenues of engine management and what may be effecting your changes. A lot of times the G is just being a bitch at learning but will settle after a few runs. You will probably run into stall-outs, so don�t do this shit on the turnpike�

I was fortunate in being able to tune in all of my fuel modifications while the G was still NA. This allowed me to calculate the amount of boost I was planning to run, against the stock flow of the NA engine. Anyway, the injectors (and high flow fuel rail) were dropped in, the fuel pump was installed and this is where I had to �dial in� the injector�s new size in ECU Flash. The actual figure should be 10-40cc less than the actual output. It is imperative that 100% duty rating is NOT used to the injectors some sort of buffer from one of many reasons that they are unequal in output (variant fuel pressure, +/- 10cc duty �rating�, used injectors from DSM�)

The fuel pressure at this point should be at stock PSI, where you want to get the G idling correctly. The car should be able to idol AT A COLD START having the correct Injector size setting! There will probably be some changes that SHOULD be made to the Injector Battery Voltage Latency Compensation table to tune the injectors for a HOT engine where you are in closed loop.

Once that is copasetic, get the car to idle! Run every sort of configuration you know how to run the voltage of your G up and down to make sure that the Injector Battery Voltage Latency Compensation table is set correctly giving differing amounts of voltage. This will ultimately be a bit of a pain until the ECU learns (fine tunes the amount of give/take of its sequencing, proportioning, and a spectrum of other variables to clamp down on a solid idle).

Now that my car is idling correctly I can get it on the road and tune in the fuel pressure. USING A WIDEBAND O2!!! Make sure that the AFR reflected in the mapping is APPOXAMATLY the AFR on the wideband. Take a screenshot of Open ECU High and low Octane mapping and print it out for a friend (or me if you live close) to cross-reference while driving. Raise the fuel pressure until the proper enrichment is met, although it will usually be RICHER in the data of the ECU AFR map (especially in the higher RPMs)! The AFR table may show an AFR of 8 while you were targeting 10 and is normal. While we are using our stock ECUs, the AFR is being referenced at such an astounding pace that a �aggressively rich� mapping will be needed and could be off as much as 2.0 AFR at 100% load (so if you want an AFR of 10g/O2, you might have to run the mapping to 8g/O2).

!KEEP IN MIND!
The factory ECU was designed to operate within a given frame of use and in my case it was far from performance, let alone how to handle boost from a turbo upgrade. The basic principal of how the ECU inputs telemetry from the engine sensors and outputs information to operate can be manipulated to perform WAY beyond the �factory� mapping, just do not expect it to correlate in the same way an EVO ECU would. (An EVO ECU swap is an excellent option for those that want complete ECU data and operation input/output correlation).

Make any changes to Open Loop 1&2 now if you want some extra protection. In short, there are 2 Oxygen sensors in my car. The settings for table 1 are for the �after-catalyst� O2 sensor to be disregarded based on a certain throttle angle, while settings for 2 are for the �pre-catalyst� O2 sensor to be disregarded based on throttle angle. The ECU will look up the AFR map target instead of using O2 feedback to determine fuel enrichment (where O2 sensors look for a 14.7 AFR). The more O2 sensors taken out of the �fuel equation� the more fuel will be used.

After this is all said and done, reset the ECU and frustrate yourself again waiting to see that the car re-learns all the new settings. All should be fine after 2 days or roughly 75 miles of driving. I have also had some bad experiences trying to get the car to idle correctly and stall out for the first 30 starts (and completely sucked). But I have a �cluster-fuck� of piggy backs and a retarded cam (no seriously, I retarded the cam timing with an adjustable cam gear). This put my power-band between 2500-4500 RPM where I like to shift a 5000 RPM for a smooth transmission shift and �exploit-ment� of being in the 2500 RPM band when in the next gear. I love the automatic transmission, but then again, I�ve never been in a 5 speed turbo Galant yet�

Current mapping with E-Bay turbo setup.

APEX�i Ignition Timing Converter Settings.

APEX�i Air/Fuel Converter settings.

APEX�i Actuator Valve Controller settings.

Create an account on Open ECU (if you do not already), I have a �user-guide� that I put together a while back. Just concentrate on the maps you need, I know I screwed up some of the explanations of some of the turbo mapping.

Open ECU Tuning Guide Compalation

Here is a copy of all of the ECU I dis-assembled and created definition files for many Mitsubishi vehicles. If you ever need a perticular ROM dis-assembled, please feel free to contact me via E-Mail.

ROM & XML files for Mitsubishi vehicles

You will have to be logged on to download it.

If you have any questions or corrections (because I have been known to be wrong) let me know.

It�s that easy!

Page 1 - Intro & Parts list
Page 2 - Fuel/Oil cooler/Knock sensor-light install
Page 3 - APEX'i ITC install/Oil cooler/Tweaks
Page 4 - Adj. Cam Gear/Turbo/FMIC/Coolers install
Page 5 - Random Pictures/Carbon Fiber/Modification list
Page 6 - Hahn Racecraft/EVO manifold/Meagan carbon fiber muffler
Page 7 - You are here! (Tuning concepts and APEX'i settings)