Transitioning from a more than 20 year old platform that is no longer supported to something younger and still supported.
AEM EMS Series 1
The first really affordable complete plug and play line of Standalone Engine management to cater to roda cars and include normal everyday things for road cars. My journey started with the AEM EMS Series 1 as it was introduced to the IS300 platform by Toyomoto and later adapted by, then, “Turbo East.” It was a plug and play unit utilizing a patch harness, wired to run in tandem with the factory ECU. Factory ECU controlled Throttle, Gauge Cluster, OBD functions, Cruise Control, Traction Control, Fuel Pump, and the VVTi system. The AEM would control, Fuel pulse, Ignition, and trims within those. I got used to tuning the system over many years and eventually the AEM EMS Series 2 came onto the scene.
AEM EMS Series 2
This was an upgraded platform with more robust hardware but ultimately the same layout, same everything. I was able to unplug the Series 1 and plug in the Series 2 and it all worked fine. The Software did have some significant changes, the crank and cam triggers programmed in the S1 did not start the car when i went to the S2. Some tuning elements got better, others got worse. But the stability of the system was much greater making it ideal for me. Over the next many years I utilized this ecu and its plethora of inputs and outputs to implement Full Sequential Ignition, PWM fuel pump control, VVTi control and a plethora of relayed switches to handle VVTi, AC clutch, boost control strategies, and a hardware MAF clamp that didn’t affect the fuel gauge. Many years went by and there were elements I found a hard time living with; drivability, inconsistency, and phantom issues that I could never pinpoint.
The Search
I searched and searched for an ECU to replace the AEM and to match what I had considered “must haves” the price tag was far more than I was willing to spend. I needed more than 6 Outputs, 6 Analog Inputs, 6 coil drivers, 6 Injector Drivers, 2 knock inputs, PWM capabilities on at least 3 outputs of up to 1kHz frequency.
The list included Link ECU, ECU Master, AEM Infinity, Haltech 2500, MS3Pro
The nice to haves included electronic throttle control with Cruise Control. These two elements threw the search off. The AEM Infinity ended support and discontinued the product, and going straight to Engine Lab was a good bit more money. MS3Pro also a leader but no ETC threw me for a loop but the expandability is amazing. I thought for sure at some point the prices would come down, but they never did. I was browsing options and I saw a post about EMU black incorporating cruise control in the latest software update so i started researching more. The only box it didn’t check was the PWM of 1khz (Which it is capable of doing, but the software won’t allow it?!?) The need of this is to reduce the noise of the fuel pump in PWM control, but it will work just fine. Price is reasonable, lets go.
ECU Master USA Black
