What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, VPC, etc.
 

Hello all,

I need honest, personal experiences with Electronic add-ons to tune and data-log my 94 Talon TSi. I am new to DSM's, but not tuning Turbo cars via EPROM reprogramming. With my 1990 Turbo Grand Prix I had a software program that I could re-burn the settings on the EPROM and then go play with the car with another logging program. Rather a pain in the @ss because any changes you wanted to make you would have to go back to the EPROM station and reburn the info to the chip...which also meant pulling the ECM box each time...blah blah blah! ;)

I have been drooling over the "new" DSMlink for the 1G platform and it looks like something I could really grow to understand and use to my benefit. I just want to make sure that if I spend $565 on something...that there wasn't something out there for $100 or more less that would have worked just as good and been just as good of a tool!

Any and all opinions would be welcome as long as you use some type of tuning electronics! :)

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

Your best bets are either the DSMLink or doing the exact same thing you did with your Turbo Grand Prix and break out the EPROM burner.

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

Bust out the burner! That's how I do it. There are a few programs out there to mod the code for you. Cheap. I need to put my ECU back in it's place still. :D

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

It is funny you said that because my wife said...why pay someone to do something you can do yourself! My answer was...because I am older and have a few more $$ in my pocket! :D

Tuning myself is fun because you really get to learn about what truly makes my cars tick. But I had two fatal motor failures ( = $6000 ) when I played with my Turbo GP's and in all honesty I would rather buy something that makes that margin of error much less to begin with.

I was looking at DSMTuners and found a pretty in-depth thread about DSMlink and the other tuning abilities out there. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/show...hlight=dsmlink

I would really like to hear everyone's opinion of the pros and cons! :)

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

The dsmlink is far better than an AFC. The next step after that would be an AEM. You are looking at double the price for the AEM though, so the DSMlink is a good compromise.

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

DSMLink is the middle of the road for tuners. It is very easy to use and you can make serious power with it. BUT it is still tied to the factory ecu which does have it's limits. AEM EMS is the top dog for DSM tuning, but you have to be patient and take the time to tune it right.

Go the DSMLink.com and read the abilities it has and it maybe it's all you would want. I'm happy with mine.

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

From what I understand, the DSMLink memory board now allows 1G owners to get things setup in DSMLink and then not be required to always have the laptop in the car. Am I correct?

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

You can do that with 2G DSMLink, the difference is that when power to the ECU is lost, all the settings are retained in the 1G version. If power is lost on the 2G version it reverts back to the default settings that were burnt when the chip was purchased.

Re: What tuning tool to buy? DSMlink, AFC II, etc.
 

This is true, but once you get your basic settings all dialed in (injector size, MAS/MAFT, idle rpm, etc.) you can have a chip burned to match them. So if you did loose battery power, your basic settings would still be there. You could keep driving it normally until you got to your lap top to reload your timing and WOT fuel tables.