This day and age, if you spend 15 minutes browsing the internet you can find tax programs, photo organizers, web browsers, compilers and much much more - all for free.

Most of you probably know what I'm talking about. OpenSource development has sweapt into so many different fields of commerce and has truly improved each and every one. I've downloaded ECUFlash (a free, opensource program!), and am wondering if there are any free flashes out there that we can TRUST on our cars.

I know what you're thinking - "wow spend the damn money and buy a reputable flash"

I know I could do that, and probably will. But the question remains ... Is there any kind of OpenSource flash we can trust and use?

 

I got a flash for my g/f 06 WRX from a member on osecuroms.org and it runs nice.

 

I am pretty happy with ECUFlash so far.

 

Nope

Every car is unique. If you want an off the shelf flash get a dyno flash. The great thing about ecuflash is it allows you to tune your own car. Some of the tuners have been talking about making some base flashes available.

If you just want to plug an play, post up your mods and see if someone is willing to send you their map that has similar setup. Can you trust that tune? Probably not unless you have some good data logging. If you have the data logging you can find a map to use as a base, but you will most likely need to fine tune it to your car.

 

The Evo is a bit more tempermental then other cars with tuning, its more sensitive to variations in modification and therefore you won't find many "Safe base tunes" out there.. It'll happen but this explosion only started a few months ago so the base of users out there just isn't as large.

Plus Evo owners are generally ready to spend a bit to do it right, then hack together something that has a questionable origin unlike other cars that were very high volume and lower priced.

This is changing as the cars get into the hands of younger drivers and the cars get cheaper as they go through 3 and 4 owners..

but what remains is you really should do it right, the tools are out there, but the skills are more valuable.

Just like those other programs you see available, knowing photoshop doesnt make you an artist, knowing 3dstudio doesn't make you an animator, and knowing ECUFlash doesnt make you a tuner..

Since this car is lower volume than others out there, there are fewer of us with a very strong knowledge of these cars who would be comfortable enough to release safe base tunes. Even tuners tailor "through the mail" flashes for your mods and intended usage..