The Project Pad

I am considering a project that would require standalone management and have started reading up on what that would entail.

I have long thought about putting a v8 in my 94 Cabriolet that I have done a ton of work to. It's already a 5speed, I have replaced a bad 12v in it once already, I have replaced the interior with a nicer later version, just got late euro cab bumpers painted and installed, and I just bought some nice wheels for it.

I also managed to snag a 93 V8 with 125k miles in non running condition for $400 right after Xmas. It turned out to be a bad fuel pump or clogged filter (I changed both at the same time and the car started right up). The engine is leaky as hell but seems to run well. The rest of the car is a bit of a mess so I don't expect to put tons of money into it.

Anyway, from what I understand, if I were to do this swap I would have to lose the distributors and use coil on plugs - potentially with early A8 heads. Hence the need for standalone.

I've been reading a book on engine management while on vacation (Engine Management, Advanced Tuning by Greg Banish) and I can't help but wonder how much I could learn and benefit from VEMS in my S6. I am currently running a K26 billet from Hank and tuning from Marc. I believe that Marc puts in somewhat conservative base maps for the package since he can't dyno every car - which makes perfect sense.

What kind of gains are there to be made on the S6?
Also, is my above approach to the ABH into the cabriolet sensible?
Thanks

I bought that book and another similar to it and read both on vacation as well. I don't really have much else useful to add because I am also relatively new to VEMS. hahah

No need to use ABZ heads unless you want to. Just use block off plates for the distributor holes (034 used to sell these, might still).

If you're on stock rods there's really not much to gain without losing reliability and potentially losing a rod out the side of the block. If you were on tuning from other companies I'd say get VEMS asap due to some other companies being kinda skimpy in the power department. At least when it comes to chip tuning...


I really shouldn't talk anyways since I put VEMS on a totally stock 3b.

lorge1989 wrote:I bought that book and another similar to it and read both on vacation as well. I don't really have much else useful to add because I am also relatively new to VEMS. hahah

It's hard to read with this view...

alxdgr8 wrote:No need to use ABZ heads unless you want to. Just use block off plates for the distributor holes (034 used to sell these, might still).

Cool. I see them on their site. Thanks

pilihp2 wrote:If you're on stock rods there's really not much to gain without losing reliability and potentially losing a rod out the side of the block. If you were on tuning from other companies I'd say get VEMS asap due to some other companies being kinda skimpy in the power department. At least when it comes to chip tuning...


I really shouldn't talk anyways since I put VEMS on a totally stock 3b.

I'm not planning on increasing boost or anything beyond what Marc has set up. Just thinking that it might be cool to mess with (a great opportunity to learn how to do this) and maybe even something I could buy now for the s6 and pull out (replacing the chipped ECU) when I do the V8 swap on the Cab later on.

I would rather learn on a V8 than an I5T... its a bit harder to blow up an N/A engine...

Grillage wrote:

lorge1989 wrote:I bought that book and another similar to it and read both on vacation as well. I don't really have much else useful to add because I am also relatively new to VEMS. hahah

It's hard to read with this view...

off topic, where in the carribean is this?

I was in St. John. The house was on the north shore in upper peter bay. That view is looking back toward St Thomas

Grillage wrote:I was in St. John. The house was on the north shore in upper peter bay. That view is looking back toward St Thomas

nice, i basically lived on tortola for a while, been there 12 times or so. Been to st john to visit friends a few times. Love it!

Yeah, St. John is nice. Here's the view I had the other way, Tortola in the background...