SEE ALSO SAFC INSTALLATION PAGE:
Well, you have installed your SAFC and it works great. The turbo crowd has always desired more out of the SAFC. Boost related fuel adjustments have always been sought after. You can in fact dial in the SAFC pretty well with throttle points. It does take a while, but you can do it. I was able to setup the non boost fuel adjustments and WOT fuel adjustments with a decent linear range in between. The problem I ran into however was on hills or heavy load. In these situations you run into partial throttle (~25%) but still are making at least 5 psi. This may be OK, but if you are aggressive on your low throttle settings, it can be a problem.
Inspired by a Talon owner, I wanted to setup the SAFC to adjust by boost instead of throttle. After having done this, I noticed that the characteristics of the throttle reading by boost are very similar to actual throttle position. However, now the reading can account for changes such as free flowing exhaust mods, hills, and other things that would raise boost at an otherwise identical throttle position.
How is this done? Simple, we already have a MAP sensor. The sensor operations from 0-5 volts (roughly) to see everything from high vacuum to ~14 psi. Applications over 14 psi will require a different MAP sensor, which I will talk about later.
Installation:
SAFC tuning will be similar to before. Now, you can adjust by boost and RPM. Boost will appear on the SAFC as throttle %. Before doing any adjustments you should leave all adjustments to zero and use the monitor mode to watch the characteristics of boost according to what throttle % will be shown. After this, you will understand how tuning can take place. If you are unfamiliar with SAFC tuning, please wait till you are familiar before performing this mod. You have 2 choices for tuning. You can tune from the lowest throttle reading (vacuum) to the highest throttle reading (full boost). In between will averaged in a linear fashion for each adjustment point. This may not be ideal as you might not get the fuel adjustment you want at say 3 psi since it averaged for you. So you will need to play with and understand the averaging part. If you want more refined boost tuning, you can set your low throttle point to something near zero vac. This way the fuel adjustments start when you hit the point at which tuning is really needed, zero and above (positive boost). Most figures in vacuum are corrected by the computer anyway.
For those with 550s, you may want to start at high vacuum (the lowest voltage reading). This way you can set very aggressive lean conditions for when not at boost and try to save a little gas. Note that anything more than 25% lean may throw out an error code. Also always remember that any amount that you lean, always advances timing. Please be aware of what you are doing.
3SGTE GEN II Stock Sensor
Pressure Reading | Voltage | Throttle % |
Idle Vac | 1.4v | 26 |
Zero Vac/Boost | 2.5v | 65 |
7 psi | 3.45v | 90 |
9 psi | 3.7v | 100* |
* - 100% will always be the highest reading you encounter, which was low boost in this test.
Note: Other Toyota MAP sensors such as MA70, and ST165 will have slightly different readings.
Gains:
This mod may not give you more HP. It will give you a greater tuning ability if used properly. It will help fill in "holes" that were previously left between boost/non boost transitions. Tuning will be a little more on and off this way, but I feel that more power and a smoother power curve could be attained. This is only a theory.