PEMs for the ECUs
 

This Wedensday I took possession of the PEM moduels from JDS (John Speake). These allow you to basically run what is like a flash style load onto the EZK and LH ECUs. That means you can reflash the tune at any given time without ever removing the ECU or chips out of them. The PEM stores the data and it is secure for something like 10 years. Each PEM has a battery inside the chipset.

The biggest advantage is being able to simply plug into the diagnostic socket of the car and have full access to LH and EZK in the SAME session. This means one can remap fuel and ignition together. Before this it was a "get it close enough" scenario where you iterated back and forth between fuel and ignition. My interior finally looks complete (it used to look like a messy electronics lab).

Tune on the fly, flash and go! :D The 928's ECUs are now every bit as accessible as any modern system ever was. Proper engine management is the key to maximising (I dropped the "zed" in honor of Mr. Speake) power from your hardware and providing miximum longevity to the engine.

Nice pieces that are worth every penny. John and Niklas should win an award for creating these tools...they are worth every penny spent. Hopefully they will come to one of the major North American shows sometime soon so we can meet them in person. I've been to John's place in Cambridge, England twice now...he's a really nice guy (an incredibly intelligent person too). Working for a UK based company allows me the opportunity to swing by John's place every now and then. Though this year I'll likely only get to go to Germany (darn it ;)).

Don't tell Colleen...but I love PEM!!!

Thanks for your kind comments John - I hope you can drop by again soon !

These tools will work for an 83 US right?

What's the cost?

No. The shark tuner is for 85-95 LH-based cars. And the PEMs are for use with the 87-95's.

Cost is ~$2,000, but check John SPeake's site for details.

My 83 has an LH module doesn't it?

Doesn't matter, i wouldn't pay 2g's for it anyway.

You have an L-jet (A.K.A. barndoor) which is very different.

US is L jet til 85, Euro til 84. You don't need to own the Sharktuner, just know somebody that does, pretty much the same as a typical dyno tune session and chip burning except you don't need the dyno, just a bit of driving time to fill the map tables.

The L jet is a much more basic controller, and I think the "chip" is soldered to the board instead of socketed.

Until the engine has some moderate modification I don't think there is a lot of tuning gain possible. L jet I think you can just crank in some timing with the distributor.

Best way is to use an MAF converter...the change in throttle response is pretty amazing.

My shark runs a 13.6 quarter mile, so it would probably be useful to optimize the mapping. It develops way more power than a stock 83(i beat a friends stock 83 US by 12 car lengths in a 1/4 mile run) Thanks for the input guys.

That's fast for a NA 83...I assume that is a Euro?

No, it's US...and a 4 spd auto to boot.

To give you an idea how fast it is, i beat one of the posters from Rennlist (Lance) 83 Euro with a 65hp shot of nitrous by 2 1/2 car lengths in a full 1/4 mile drag race. My best timed run was 13.67@102.9mph. The car is actually a good couple hundred pounds lighter now than it was then too.

Much speculation abounds what's been done to the motor. I suspect it's a stroker, but having never met the original owner, who knows. I'm not about to take the motor apart to find out, but it has the correct 83 US engine code of M28/20.

There is some device I think used by circle track guys for tech inspection that can show the displacement and CR via sparkplug hole.

The 928 is a big powerful V8, which makes me think a lot of them may be running around WAY out of tune and down on power. A Euro that has been federalized could be way down and still seem great.

Sniper whats your car weigh with you in it?

Now? Probably 3100lbs with me in the drivers seat. I weigh about 155.

I took out a loooot of stuff. Changing the factory exhaust to a no-cat 3" straight pipe really saved a ton of weight. I yanked the AC system, the air pump, the clutch fan, cruise, rear wiper, belly pan, all that jazz.

When i first got the 928 i put a timing light on it and advanced the timing about 8-10 degrees and it made a GIGANTIC difference in power. It felt like i put a 50 shot of juice on it. Seriously. My ex-partner had a beautiful white 85 928 at the time, and we were both amazed by the obvious difference in power. My 83 was significantly faster than his 85 US too.

The 4 speed with limited slip REALLY launches hard. I doubt that a 5 speed would get the launch the AT cars do because of the 928 5 speeds wheel hop issues.

I can launch at 2200rpm and it's like the car is fired from a gun. Almost no wheelspin at all on 245/45/16s. 928 4 speeds with the LSD are VISCOUS out of the hole. It pulls 1st to just shy of 60mph, 2nd to just shy of 100mph, and 3rd takes me way, way, way deep into shiit-eating grin territory.

Here is a video of it. In the beginning of the clip i go from about 5mph to about 70mph in 6 seconds of elapsed video time.- in the rain. Definitely a turn up the sound clip. With the 3" off-road Borla XR-1 custom exhaust, it sounds like a no holds barred race car. I friggin love my 928.

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AT weighs about 100 lbs more than the manual doesn't it?

Not really sure. If you add in the clutch ass'y and extra pedal, z-bar weight, etc, it's probably pretty close. A manual flywheel is also typically much heavier than an automatic flex plate too, but then again, an auto converter holds a ton of fluid.