Looking to see what resources are available to help better utilize my FC Commander when it comes to monitoring my FD. I want to properly monitor my vehicle, what values should I be monitoring heavily, moderately, lightly? What would those lower and upper limits be?

 

If you want to monitor your engine, the Power FC is.... marginal. Keep in mind it wasn't even cutting edge when it came out (at least) 20 years ago. It's real benefit is being relatively cheap and plug and play.

The exact numbers sort of depend on your car and the conditions.

Displaying air intake temperatures, boost, and water temperature on the commander are probably a good idea. Most of the other data it can show is basically useless (if you aren't a tuner), other than maybe top speed, if you have a JDM speedometer.

If you run the car hard, you will need more than just the PFC commander. You would do well to get some proper oil and water temperature and oil pressure gauges. That's pretty much bare minimum for a track car.

I personally would like to have a wideband AFR gauge.

Ideally, you would be have a better standalone ECU with all sorts of sensors, especially (dual) EGT, all being logged by the ECU.

 

Thanks for the input! I'm relatively new to FDs, wanted to gauge what values I should really be keeping an eye on and what those values are. I've got an APEXI intake and APEXI Exhaust with Apexi ECU. The long term goal is to get more reliable monitoring tools and engine management system but in the meantime working with what I've got. Mainly street driving nothing too hard

wondering since there are so many values being displayed on the commander, should these values be something I also look at (not a tuner, but wondering for curiosities sake?

Inj Duty Cycle
Leading/Trailing Temp
knock
Air flow

I'll look to see if I can install an AFR, Boost, Oil Temp/Oil pressure gauges

 

What modifications do you have?

 

Apexi Intake and Catback Exhaust, Power FC ECU, stock downpipe (lookijg to swap out to HKS DP), and stock twins

 

i think most people use coolant temp, and boost
knock is nice too, ideally peak value would be under 60 or so.

back in the day we used to have the 4th one be air temp, but its semi pointless, its going to be like 60c...
battery voltage would be, in theory good, but you'd need to be able to catch spikes and dropouts, and its not great for that.
injector duty is just the map values, so its not going to change unless you change the map
timing is like that too, its just the map value + corrections

it is handy to diagnose things, so it has its place.

 

I don’t disagree that there are other standalone ECUs out there these days that are more sophisticated, but for those modifications, and even for a few additional ones, the PFC is completely adequate. In you case, instead of “cheap” I’d call it “cost effective”, especially since you already have it. And I’d venture that the majority of us with mildly modded street driven cars are still rocking them for that reason.
IMO, things to monitor on your car would be:
* Engine temperature (the stock gauge is nearly worthless)
* Peak boost values (You have opened the intake side and might be susceptible to boost spike with a boost controller)
* IATs
* injector duty
* knock values (but to an extent these seem to be individual depending on the particular car. You may need to get an idea of what’s normal in yours)

FWIW I’m not a big fan of open intakes. They almost always seem to mean high IATs, especially with the stock IC. And if you move to a larger IC definitely get some type of boost controller, either manual or electronic.
Do you still have a cat with that exhaust?

 

Ditto this. The stock intake air temperature sensor is very bad. It is basically a coolant temperature sensor that gets heat soaked IIRC. I would recommend replacing that, especially if you want to monitor your intake temperatures. Drifting Jim on ebay sells a nice kit for it. Some call it the Triumph quick reacting sensor mod.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254462087716

-Peak Boost
-Coolant temp
-air temp

Would be the values I would be monitoring. Air fuel ratio is a must when tuning. I would recommend the AEM wide band and installing a bung when you buy your DP. It is used by everyone and simple to set up with the PowerFC. I may have a used gauge with a new sensor in my supply of parts if you are interested.

Otherwise I would not worry too much about gauges and sensors in the car. You will drive yourself nuts constantly watching the gauges and sensors like you are flying an airplane, especially that knock sensor.

 

If you have a datalogit box and wideband, I would invest in FC Tweak. To be honest, the power fc can show you information, but if there is a major event that goes wrong, your motor will be damaged before you even notice the numbers on the commander.

 

the DL-340XB box has been so good
it gives us the functionality that the Japanese tuners had 20 years ago

 

I do still have my cat with the Apexi Exhaust

 

thanks for the input, will look into switching to the fast read sensor! yeah ill try not to develop that anxious habit of constantly looking over at the gauges and panels, should just enjoy the ride!

 

Good. Some new owners are tempted to go the mid-pipe route, especially if the stock cat gets old. You then risk overwhelming the stock twin’s wastegate and boost creep can result. And you can’t control that with a boost controller. Besides there are hi-flow cats available and your car won’t make your clothes stink and eyes water with a cat.

 

I've got the downpipe and installed a bung for a wideband sensor to be placed, I've always wired the wideband sensor to be standalone gauge. How would I go about linking that into my Power FC as well? Would I need to adjust any map settings or details in the PFC to utilize the wideband sensor?