Hey guys -

So after my poor FD has been somewhat neglected and one foot in a paint job, it was time to get it running awesome for Deal's Gap Rotary Rally.

A few months back I swapped out the igniter and my HKS Twinpower for Xavier Borg's new IGN-10XB. Figured it was worth doing a re-tune so I started from square 1.

So, I'll go through the process to (somewhat) document how this works.

1. Got my LC-1 wideband hooked up to the Datalogit box, configured the LC-1 to output from 10:1 AFR to 18:1 AFR.
2. Got a stock PFC map and loaded it into FC-Tweak. In FC-Tweak I set up my car - what mods, IC location, air temp sensor location, the 10XB, etc. Ran it through FC-Tweak until I got a clean map with no errors.
3. Loaded the map into the PFC and turned off my boost controller. Hooked up the laptop and warmed up the car then did a 20 minute drive of low load/ very low boost. Noticed the car was a little rough in areas but it drove OK.
4. Ran the log through FC-Tweak with Autotune, it modified the map based on the results. Loaded that into the PFC and BAM, car drove WAY better at low load and around town.
5. Logged the car at spring pressure (about 8-9 psi) - again a little rough but Autotuned it and all good.
6. Repated for my low boost setting (12psi) and high boost (14.7psi).

Guys, this works awesome! After a few drives logging the car drives awesome, power is insane, and my AFR's are solid and safe. This is such a great tool and really enables most people to tune the car themselves, the program does a lot of the heavy lifting for you and advises where you have problems and helps you fix it.

The autotune also checks out your logs and ONLY uses what is good data. If the log isn't useable it will warn you as well - like if it's too short, if you aren't logging data fast enough, etc.

I HIGHLY recommend FC-Tweak, it really changes the game on the PFC.

Dale

 

Ai is coming after everyone's jobs

 

I have seen the FC-tweak name come up many times but i have never tried it or even went in detail to learn more about it but let me ask you a few questions if you dont mind me asking.
Does the FC-Tweak have its own datalogit style communication box or are you still using the FC-datalogit box?

If it's using its own box (assuming it stays connected on the car):
are you able to add additional sensors and scale them accordingly like the FC-edit?
are you able to datalog without a laptop hooked up?

I am not on the Power FC anymore but it is a platform i greatly enjoyed over a period of 15-16 years and every time i changed the power fc for a "better" ecu i have always regretted it, with the only exception this time

Thanks Dale.

 

100% agreed. It is absolutely phenomenal. It is a combination of modern high tech AI with decades of old-school rotary wisdom. My car runs absolutely flawlessly. Tune wise anyway lol. I am not running an o2 sensor and still my cruise is in eco afr. Xavier is my savior lol. If it wasn't for FC Tweak I may have sold the car a long time ago. There isn't anyone around me to tune this thing and if there was I doubt they could tune it 75% as well as this program. Anyone with a PFC should have this program period.

 

You need a Dataloggit to use it, right?

 

Yes

 

So is it different than a modern ecu's closed loop tuning features? Those use logic but wouldn't call it AI. Is this program something better than normal closed loop tuning on a haltech for example?

 

I am sorry, but honestly I never tuned on anything else. I couldn't answer that. I haven't ran an O2 sensor for a long time and never tuned with one.
Dale may be able to help with that one. The tuning with this program is insanely easy. I would call it logging, verifying the cells, and hitting a couple buttons for the whole map. Extremely quick and extremely accurate. Extremely safe if you are careful while logging and making sure your setup properly to accurately log.

 

I too have been using FC Tweak the past year and cant recommend it enough. It's very easy to use and works extremely well. I had to start a new map from scratch a year ago and after each minor modification, can easily retune the car quickly.

Regarding what's needed and the process. Yes you need a datalogit and wideband. Process is that you drive and log session. As Dale mentioned, start with low load, no boost and try and go through the RPM range. Take the datalog and import it into FC Tweak. FC Tweak will take the good data points(removing bad data points) and adjusts the fuel map specific to you car. FC tweak has multiple options for fuel tables to choose from that target different AFRs. IE conservative will target 10.5 AFR with boost verses aggressive that targets 11.2 AFR . You then go to low boost, low RPM and repeat. Then higher boost. Effectively street tuning the car yourself.

You also have the option to creat your own target AFR fuel map if you wish. The software also tweaks a lot of things that some people overlook. Coolant, fan settings, ignition dwell/timing, etc.

Xavier has done an amazing job with the software and continues to update it. Anyone that has an FD with a power FC/datalogit and wideband needs this software.
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FYI- You can download a free version of his software to see all of the features. Check it out. If anyone has questions, I think there are enough users on here that can answer questions.
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ive been using it for about a year as well, and my car has never run better. its great
i've been a really bad tuner too, i just go for a drive and then load the log in an hit A for Autotune and then enter until its done, lol

 

As stated, this is in addition to the Datalogit and FC-Edit software. It's not a real-time tuner, you do log then tune.

If you want to know some more about it, this is a link to the latest version of the manual -

https://tinyurl.com/FCTweakManual

There's TONS of information in there even if you don't use FC-Tweak.

The Datalogit box has a number of ports to log external data (wideband, EGT).

Xavier doesn't make his own box, you do need the Datalogit or an equivalent.

Dale

 

haha, that's what makes the software great. It does the work for you.

 

the FC Tweak is just software, so you use the Datalogit hardware to connect to the PFC, and the Datalogit software to do the logging, and then you load the log into FC Tweak.
the FC Tweak does broadly two things, the Tweak part is that it will go in and look at your mods, and your map, and suggest things, for instance looks at the temp range of your thermostat, and suggest fan on and off temps

the second thing is that it can analyze a datalog, and then it will go in and change the map based on it. again broadly it looks at the AFR target map, and what your car did, and makes changes to try and get the two to match

 

Thanks for the clarification. I had seen in the past that there was a facebook page but i am not on facebook and the information i could get out of it was limited.
I kept an extra power fc in my drawer along with my datalogit so next time around with a power fc i am definitely using this.

 

It sounds to me that what FC-Tweak does for the PFC users is very similar to what any reasonably smart tuner and an analysis tool like MegaLogViewer (MLV) can do for any aftermarket modern ECU platform. But the big advantage here is the software and the logging platform (Datalogit) is designed for specific use with the PFC, and all the tuner "smarts" that a tuner would have to build into a generic product like MLV is already built in to the software -- a HUGE time saver there!

For example, I'm using MLV to refine the fuel (VE) tables in my Link G4+. To do so, I basically have to replicate my VE table in MLV, so that it can read the data log I export from my Link G4+ correctly. There are a couple of ways to do this, but the easiest assuming you already have a pretty decent VE table road tuned, is enable short term Closed Loop Lambda (CLL) corrections in the Link G4+ ECU for all conditions, drive often, logging data and make sure you're logging the CLL corrections (i.e., +/- X% corrections). Then MLV can histogram the CLL corrections for every cell in your VE table, and you can used those correction figures to update your VE table accordingly. It's a manual process, but it works and is very effective as long as you use lots of data logs and some intelligent configuration of the data filters in MLV to chuck garbage data (e.g., transients, overrun fuel cut, accel enrichments, engine still too cold, etc.). You can do similar histogram based analyses with MLV to tune other things like knock control (used to characterize your FD's "normal" noise floor when it's NOT knocking to inform your knock threshold settings for active knock control/prevention), among other things.

The point is the effort required to build histogram analysis tables in MLV is a tedious process and requires an understanding of tuning. FC-Tweak apparently does much of that tedious brain work for PFC users in one tidy & easy to use package.

 

Yep, agree with Pete it’s similar to MLV built for the PFC. 👍


Steve

 

Been putting my RX-7 back together for months now since picking the car up and making a bunch of updates, upgrades that have been going into it. The PFC was one of the changes that I needed to make since removing some of the air pump system and ACV. I contacted Xavier about FC-Tweak so I'll get the software and datalogit once the car is back on the ground. It's going to be a huge time saver since I am changing a whole bunch of systems at once. Great to see such good reviews of this.

 

You will love it

 

@DaleClark How the heck are you getting your logs to load to FCTweak to perform the auto tune? FCEdit outputs the logs as a .txt file and fctweak loads my map and tweaks it just fine, but wont recognize the log and keeps telling me "cannot proceed with auto tune, no log exists". Have followed the manual to a t.

 

So I found the best way is to NOT try and rename your files, use the default filename from FC-Edit. Also in FC-Edit there's an option to save dat files with the log, so whenever you save the log it will save the dat as well with the same name.

I did try naming the maps "dale April 2023" or whatever and had some oddness, not sure if it's something I'm doing or just something odd with FC-Tweak. Using the default file names made it super easy.

Also in the first screen when you pick what file you will work with the dat's that have an associated log file will be a different color (either yellow or blue, can't remember).

Dale

 

Save the log files(dat and txt)in the FC Tweak root folder. When you load FCTweak, it will show up as a new file in blue that you load and auto tune. If you are selecting your existing map, then you will get an error.

Let me know if you still can't get it and I will make a screenshot walkthrough for you.

 

Much appreciated guys, file names were the problem. I had renamed them. Xavier answered me in the google pfc group just now also. Both your map file and your log file names must match exactly and be in the same folder/location. I did not know this, must've missed it in the manual. Sucks. I set aside the day today to get some last minute tuning in before dgrr. The one session I got in had some issues and could not be autotuned. Have to try it again another day after dgrr.

 

I’ll be happy to help you out with it at DGRR!

 

Yeah, just log a few runs at the dgrr and auto tune it.

 

I will take you up on that offer. Would love to get some insight from you on tuning and/or logging. I had a good running solid tune until I went and upgraded the fuel system with a radium sump (different pump) and a dc power alternator, tune is now quite rich and out of whack. I just hope we'll find some dry roads at some point at this years event! Not looking great.