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Jim Wolf Technology Engine Control Unit
Last but not least, was a reprogrammed ECU from Jim Wolf Technology. With all the upgrades this car had been given, it was time for the glue that’d make it all work together. Clark Steppler from JWT was the mastermind behind the tuning of my ECU, making changes to the fuel map so that the engine would run leaner at wide open throttle. The air-fuel ratio was changed from the stock 11:1 to about 12.8:1. As a result, this leaner mixture produced more power. The Jim Wolf Technology ECU S4 program ran more part throttle spark advance, eliminated spark retard under throttle tip in, ran more spark advance in general and a lot more advance past 7000 rpm.
Since this was a racecar, JWT also had the ECU programmed so that deleting the AIV and EGR wouldn’t adversely affect the way the car would run at part throttle and idle. There were also a few tricks added to ensure a more stable idle with camshafts. Most importantly for a racecar, the JWT had some programmed tricks that helped reduce my chances of overheating. The stock Nissan ECU had some quirks in it that caused the engine to melt down in a detrimental cause and effect cycle. When the stock ECU detected knock or overheating, it drastically retarded the spark. It was able to retard the spark to the point where the retarded spark actually contributed to the overheating problem. This in turn created detonation and more overheating which resulted in the ECU pulling out even more timing. This circle can continue until the engine is shut off or the motor burns down. And in my case, it burned down. This programming glitch was probably the result of some engineer trying to build a failsafe into the stock program, a failsafe that went a little too far in its overzealous attempt to save the engine. The JWT ECU limited the amount of retard that the ECU was able to add under these sorts of conditions to the point where the vicious cycle was broken.
