Element
Engine Management System
Complete control under all conditions!
Stand-alone
systems have been around for many years but the difficulty in
finding good tuners, lack of tech support, poor base maps, difficult
installations, and expensive price tags have kept them out of reach
of the average consumer. Nativo
Performance has
teamed up with Element Tuning & Hydra to deliver a superior engine management system
exclusively for your car.
Systems that piggy-back the factory
ecu for engine control can become tiresome tuning.
Hesitation is a common theme caused by rough transitions as the
two switch control from the factory ecu map to the piggy-back
map. With modern day “dynamic” engine management systems that
widely vary ignition timing and fuel tables, piggy-back systems can
often be difficult to tune as it is nearly impossible to stabilize
the ecu over a wide range of conditions. Knock under throttle
lift and transitions from the factory ecu map into the aftermarket
ecu map can be difficult to tune out without severely limiting
performance under all conditions.
Element
Tuning has revolutionized the stand-alone ecu with
plug-and-play practicality, excellent “stage” maps, an affordable
price tag, and technical support second to none. We have
listened to your needs and have addressed them with the release of
our ecu.
Modern 3D Tuning Interface:
Window’s
based software with easy to use pull down windows and easy to read
displays. 3D mapping allows you to quickly spot holes and
rough transitions in your mapping. Analog style gauges are
easy to read quickly and deliver critical information needed while
tuning.

Large panel view option allows you to
see more of the 32x32 mapping zones for real time tuning.

Wide Range Mapping
Zones:
Often aftermarket engine management systems lack
resolution with only 10 or 16 load sites for tuning fuel and
ignition timing. This often leaves you using the same load
site to tune a large range of boost pressures.
A 32x32
mapping area gives you 32 load sites for boost and vacuum, allowing
a wide range of fuel and ignition timing tuning. Partial
throttle, high boost, lean run conditions are a thing of past.
Complete control under all conditions!
Tuning
Convenience:
Standard Windows navigation is intuitive and
quick for tuning. Tired of having to stop and upload
changes? With Real Time Tuning and Tracking
(marks exactly what load site the ecu is using) you can now make
changes on the fly.
The Offline Tuning feature allows
you to make changes to your map without a connection to the
ecu. Extensive data logging allows you to review your tuning
in comfort, make changes to the map, and upload them to the ecu when
it’s convenient.
Fuel
economy:
Closed-loop fuel control utilizes the
factory o2 sensor for superior fuel economy under light load.
This monitors the specified AFR and automatically adjusts fuel
metering to unsure the specified AFR is met. For instance, if
you want to run a 14.7:1 AFR under vacuum cruise conditions, your
map would look like this:

The ecu will automatically adjust the
injector pulse width to maintain the proper AFR of 14.7:1 and will
apply long-term fuel trims during the drive
cycle.
Automatic Fuel Tuning:
You can enable
the ecu to perform a closed-loop operation of the entire fuel map
with the Auto Tune feature. In this mode the ecu
will automatically adjust fueling to achieve the desired air fuel
ratios set in each load site. For instance if your goal is to
run 14.7:1 under vacuum, 11.3:1 up to 12 psi, and 10.9:1 at 18 psi,
the ecu will automatically adjust the fueling to meet this
criteria. The ecu will then apply a “long-term” fuel
correction and automatically correct your main fuel map so that the
“long-term” fuel corrections are kept to a minimum.

This feature requires the option
wide-band o2 sensor which plugs directly into the unit, requiring no
additional and expensive hardware. The closed-loop operating
range is adjustable for when it is not optimal to run closed-loop
fueling.
Large Fuel Injector Compensation:
Even
basic modification to car will push your stock fuel injectors to the
limit. Larger fuel injectors can often cause your car to
stumble pulling up to traffic lights etc as your factory ecu was not
programmed to handle this. We’ve added control for:
Injector response time in ms over
voltage
Minimum injector pulse
width
Injector phasing over 16 rpm ranges
Run low impedance or
high impedance injectors without the need for a ballast Individual
Fuel Injector Trim

Individual Fuel Injector Control:
Subarus in
particular are known to have problems related to a lean running
cylinder. Often fuel rails are recommended but they only
increase overall fuel and don’t address the problem of uneven air
distribution to various cylinders. We’ve added individual
injector trim allowing more fuel to be injected to the cylinder
that’s running leaner than the rest.
Anti-Lag and Launch
Control:
Used primarily for racing applications these can
dramatically decrease ¼ times and reduce turbocharger lag.
Less sophisticated versions of these systems can cause excessive
exhaust gas temperatures and lean run conditions.
We’ve added
both a fuel map and an ignition map that allows you to tune
specifically for when this option is engaged. You get the same
32x32 mapping resolution as your regular fuel and ignition
maps. Complete control under all conditions!

Optional
Fuel Maps:
An auxiliary fuel table allows the user to
create a race gas map based on the main fuel map. The user can
lean out the AFR on this table to an appropriate race gas level such
as 12:1 to increase power which can be activated via a simple
grounding switch.
This auxiliary fuel table can also be
utilized to create a conservative fuel map based on the main fuel
map. The user can richen the AFR on this table to an
appropriate pump gas level such as 10.5:1 to increase safety margin
which can be activated via a simple grounding
switch.
Safety:
For when things go wrong and we
all know they can when racing, a backup fuel and spark map can be
triggered to come online. For instance if major knock events
are recorded the backup maps can be set to kick in and drop your AFR
from 11.2:1 to 10.5:1 and a less aggressive ignition map can be
utilized. The backup ignition and fuel maps have the same
32X32 resolution as your main maps.
Sixteen points of knock
threshold adjustment for extremely fine adjustment. This
allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the knock system over 16
ranges of RPM. The amount of timing pulled per knock account,
the maximum retard, and additional fuel compensation is user
defined. Other knock control systems just retard your ignition
timing which can sometimes make it worse as it causes exhaust gas
temperature to increase dramatically.
Sensor feed back
compensation:
Coolant temperature: This uses
your factory coolant temperature sensor and allows you to globally
adjust the fuel and ignition maps to compensate for 16 ranges of
coolant temperatures. The benefit is to add extra fuel and
adjust timing for when the car is running outside of normal
operating temperatures such as when coolant temperatures are really
cold or really hot.

Air
intake temperature: This uses your factory MAF sensor for
temperature ranges and allows you to globally adjust the fuel and
ignition maps to compensate for 16 ranges of air intake
temperatures. The benefit is to add extra fuel or adjust
timing for when the car is running in a wide rage of temperature
conditions due to seasonal changes or desert
weather.
Exhaust gas temperature: This requires
an EGT sensor for exhaust gat temperature ranges and allows you to
globally adjust the fuel and ignition maps to compensate for 16
ranges of exhaust gas temperatures to aid in lean run
conditions. The benefit is to add protection against motor
meltdown due to excessive egts by adding fuel to cool things down.
(Coming soon)
Knock:
Sixteen points of
knock threshold adjustment for extremely fine adjustment of knock
amplitude. This allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the
knock system over 16 ranges of RPM. The amount of timing
pulled per knock account, the maximum retard, and additional fuel
compensation is user defined. Other knock control systems just
retard your ignition timing which can sometimes make things worse as
it causes exhaust gas temperature to increase
dramatically.
If large amounts of knock are recorded, a
backup fuel and spark map can be triggered to come online for
safety. For instance if major knock events are recorded and
exceed user defined levels, the backup maps can be set to kick in
and drop your AFR from 11.2:1 to 10.5:1.

For cars
with noisier race engines the engines knock raw voltage amplitude
can be data logged to correctly determine the “knock
threshold.”
“Tip in” or “Transition”
knock:
Often sudden changes in throttle position cannot
be quickly picked up by the MAP sensor such as when shifting or lots
of on-off throttle situations such as road racing. Many
piggy-back type ecus only use MAP for tuning and will experience
knock under these conditions. To combat this, the “Throttle
Pump” map adjusts fueling based on TPS at various rpm points so
there is no need to excessive retard the timing map.
MAF
Sensor Limitations:
High hp Subarus often max out the MAF
sensor requiring “large” MAF housings which can cause fuel
metering and load calculation problems. Element allows
you to run speed density alleviating these issues and opens the door
to run larger turbochargers with 4” inlets.
Running High
Boost:
The factory WRX MAP sensor is really only accurate
to about 22 psi so included is a built-in 3 bar map sensor that
allows tuning for up to 30psi.
Closed Loop Boost
Control:
This allows you to set boost targets over rpm
which will reduce fluctuations in boost level due to atmospheric
conditions. Other boost settings allow you to control how
accurate or fast you want boost response. This type of boost
control system is optimal for those parts of the country that
experience a wide range of weather conditions.
Complete
Rev Limit Control:
A user definable “soft” rev limit
slows the engine down before the abrupt “hard” rev limit allowing
for smoother rev limit control. An adjustable “launch” control
rev limit is great for drag racing and “flat foot”
shifting.
“Dwell” Control:
Burned out coil
packs can be caused by improper or the lack of “dwell”
adjustment. The “dwell” adjustment allows for the tuner to
prevent coil over-heating but allow for string spark a high rpm to
prevent misfires.
Atmospheric Blow-Off
Valves:
The Element ECU converts your MAF sensor metering
system to speed density which uses MAP and IAT compensation for its
tuning platform allowing you to run vent to atmosphere blow-off
valves without the bucking, part throttle hesitation, and rich
conditions associated with MAF sensor controlled engine management
systems.
High lift Cam Compensation:
Many are
upgrading there engines with higher displacement options which often
require high lift cams, large fuel injectors and large turbochargers
which can cause a rough idle. You can now perform a simple fix
by increase idle rpm by about 100 rpm to clean things up with full
control over idle speed.
A “Zero TPS Vacuum” control map also
allows you to specify a vacuum setting for the ecu to read when the
throttle is closed to combat fluctuating vacuum readings cause by
“big” cams. This allows for smooth delivery of fuel and a nice
clean idle.
Variable Cam Timing:
Cam timing can
be controlled and adjusted for optimal performance with two,
variable 24x24 maps.
“Staged” Maps:
If this all
sounds a little overwhelming then our wide range of “stage” maps
exclusive to Nativo Performance’s customers will get you up and running
quickly.
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