Traction control AEM style.

[Russ M]

Finaly got a chance to do some more tuning on the traction control. If you read some of my previous posts you would know that while I had it working, it didnt really stop wheel slip just reduced the time spent slipping. My car is naturaly asspirated so controling traction is a bit more tricky than say a turbo car or nitrous car where you can just reduce the amount of power easily.

Now I went about it a whole new way, AEM didnt feel it would sound very good on the street due to popping and banging but I decided to try anyways. And all I can say is WOW.

Basicly I made it do ignition cut percentage wise when it senses slip, and it worked mirracles. Full power shift 1st to 2nd and all I get is a little rumble out of the exhaust and NO wheel spin. No popping no banging just a little rumble, and that is exactly what happens every time it senses wheel spin.

To those of you that have an AEM unit, I will be more than happy to tell you what to adjust for a good setup on radials(pilot equivalent). If you have better traction or alot more power than I can tell you what a good start is.

 

[v10kingsnake]

very interesting russ, but make not mistake about it. your statement regarding tuning this fornaturally aspirated being harder because you could just detune the power adders output independently of the rest of the car is false. naturally aspirated your maybe at 450-500 at the wheels right, try tuning the traction on a tt that puts out 1500 ponies like chads. yeah you could detune the turbos on chad car to say 800 to the wheels which is a drastic reduction over his current race tune, but he still has to control those 800 ponies now. which is wayyyyyyy more than the average naturally aspirated viper. just my .02 did you do the install on the aem yourself, is it just a matter of pluggin it in where the factory 3 harnesses go. have you dyno'd before and after yet. what are you future intentions with your car cause the aem is not cheap and until i see solid gains that amount to many free ponies on a stock setup, i would researve the right to buy one for only the massively altered vipers out here. i would love to be able to hook this baby up tune it professionally with airfuel on a dyno, and find at least 60 rear wheel ponies to justify the cost, otherwise spend double that cost and get the roe which comes with the vec 2 which is nice for the cost.

 

[Russ M]

The problem with a street driven car on radials is that traction unlike race track with slicks is difficult to obtain. My race car takes alot less effort to control spin than my street car.

Vipers being torque monsters are difficult to control as AEM found out when we did the initial traction control on my car. They were very happy to find out that the ignition cut worked wonders on my car. This is the reason why I said it is more difficult to tune(poor wording). Meant to say more difficult to find a way to do it because your options are very limited.

I have done all the before and after dyno passes, do a search and you will see what I gained. It is very substantial on a mild mod car. Something like 16rwhp and 40rwtq with timing being at factory levels due to CA 91 octane limitations.

I did install the unit my self, and it is just plug and play, the only other thing you need to do is install the wide band O2 sensors which the unit comes with. Total time about 45min-1hour, and the tunning was done by AEM initialy.

The VEC2 which you are talking about may be a good unit(I have no experience with one) but comparing it price wise versus an AEM unit is pointless. The capabilites of the AEM unit are far about and beyond what that system is designed for.

And since you asked why? Well a typical set of viper headers will cost you about 2k. For that you get a leaner running car and about 15rwhp and about the same torque. The AEM unit give me that and more for a bit more cost, not to mention unlimited future potential as well as dual wide band O2's, traction control, nitrous control, cooler running car by far, etc, etc....

 

[RedGTS]

The AEM unit give me that and more for a bit more cost, not to mention unlimited future potential as well as dual wide band O2's, traction control, nitrous control, cooler running car by far, etc, etc....

Knock sensors are very nice to have too.

 

[V10 MOJO]

who is currently offering the best price on the AEM at this time? is there a group buy rate?

 

[Russ M]

Last I heard DC performance was doing good deals on them. Horsepower freaks and Heffner are some others that come to mind.