Evo8Guy

So I would love a little guidance through the tune process. I’m going to buy a grimmspeed ebcs and need to know the next step into tuning my car.. it’s an 05 Evo 8. I have kelford 272’s and 1000cc injectors still to install as well. I was surfing the evoscan.com site, and I’m lost lol. I was told by a good friend I need tephramod to control it electronically. Just need some guidance because I do need a tune and want to do it right.

Fox_IX

If you plan to do it yourself you'll need a Tactrix OpenPort cable. This will also allow you to datalog to see what changes need to be made. Before you do any tuning get a wideband oxygen sensor and wire it into ADC so you can log it.

You don't *need* tephramod, but it's a really nice ROM with some cool features. If you want to keep things simple the stock rom works fine.

What exactly are your goals? Are you going to take it to a shop and have them run it on the dyno to tune it? Where you going to street tune it? Are you going to be tuning yourself or hiring someone to do it for you?

Evo8Guy

i might try to do it myself first , and if proven to difficult I have a few shops I can take it to. I just want to make sure I have the correct hardware so if I need to take it somewhere they can tune with no issues. goals are maybe 400 as of now.

Biggiesacks

Just to keep it really high level, learning to tune your evo well is going to take hundreds of hours of reading and experimenting with the car. If its something your willing to put the time into then pretty much everything you need to know has been covered and re-covered in this subforum. You just gotta read and read and read. Make a bookmark folder and start bookmarking the good info you find. Start with the stickies and work your way from there. The super basics are ECUflash for tuning, Evoscan for logging*. There are many ROMS that will work on your evo, the community has standardized around a handful of ROMs because it makes less work for the devs. So regardless if you are going tephra or not you will want to move to one of these standard ROMS 94170015 for example. The main reason being is that the way ecuflash works is it uses a definition file with addresses for the information you want to change to tune, and the standard roms have the most well defined definition files publicly available and usually are the most currently available from mitsubishi for a given market.

Before any tuning though you need to get your logging up to snuff. As Fox mentioned you will need a wideband, and I would also add at least a 3-bar map sensor. The Evo X map sensor is direct bolt in, but does require some changes to the ROM to work properly so a bit of research will be required on your part to make that work. If you want to do direct ECU boost control ( a MRFred Ecu mod) then it will require at least a 3 bar. This is not required as you can tune the 3-port BCS to work off of load like it does stock but its a nice feature.

This stuff is jut the tip of the iceberg though, there are MANY things you need to get a good handle on before writing your first modified rom to the ecu. If a ton of reading and sifting through BS for gold doesn't sound like fun, or a good use of your time you should take it to a pro.

* If you get an openport 2.0 then it can do stand alone logging to an sd card without needing evoscan or a connected computer, but setting it up is harder then checking some boxes in evoscan.

Abacus

iTrader: (9)

Congrats on getting an Evo and starting the tune process.Its a great platform and will make alot of power. Here are a few older links that may help.
https://www.evoscan.com/ecuflash/Mer...UIDE-V1.7a.pdf

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ec...-ecuflash.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ec...ming-maps.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ec...upermerge.html

Is all the maintenance up to date. Timing belt kit,plugs,a good 5-40 or 10-40 oil.
Boost leak test, compression test, fix any rattles you have. 18-20psi Wastegate preloaded 1-2 turns. Fresh plugs gapped at .018-.022 depending on boost levels. AFR and boost gauge.

You want some good injectors with your goal in mind. ID1300 will make around 500whp on E85 for example (evo ). You want them scaled well. MAF tuning is easy, SD tuning is some trickery but can be good enough. Most people target (when WOT) 12.5 AFR for less then 15psi boost, then 11.2-11.6 AFR over that. Some fuels can be run leaner but a dyno is a good place to test that. A small plug gap will make it easier to ignite certain fuels or a fatter mixture.

These engines make power with boost, not smashing timing into them. A chassis dyno is a great place to test timing and boost curves. You can quickly and safely look at the graph and see whats taking place. Don't get carried away with adding timing /boost. No reason to run it to 11 all the time. You want repeatable results, and a safety margin for more weight, hot days, bad fuel etc.. EDIT, you can also take some tuning classes.

It also would be a good idea to get with a build adviser and explain your goals. Plenty of Reputable shops out there can steer you in the right direction and have proven recipes. A Reputable tuner will also have a really good base map and that could exceed what you're able to do. They have figured out the quirks and driveability issues with large injectors on the stock ecu. This hobby gets expensive but you have a 10-25K investment you want to take care of with the right choices.

Hope this helps.

Evo8Guy

Thank you Biggiesacks for that very detailed and thorough outlining of how to start the tuning process. I'm for sure wanting to get into it and learn for myself as well. I will look at the forums and read a lot lol.

Fox_IX

Also, if you don't know any tuning methodology I highly recommend checking out some of the tuning courses available online such as EFI101 and HP Academy.
Figuring out how to make the changes is half the battle, knowing what to change and when to change it is the really tricky part. It's very easy to throw yourself into a loop and spend hours of table changes all to find out you're not hitting fuelling targets because of some other circumstance, etc. Spend some time getting comfortable with the process.
-Set Constants (Injector Scalar, Deadtime, etc )
-Set Targets
-Tweak fuel map to meet targets
-Tweak ignition for maximum brake torque or MBT without knock
-Tweak boost control as needed
The process above is dangerously oversimplified, but it should point you in the direction of where you should be going. Be sure to datalog everything, and if something feels wrong, let off IMMEDIATELY.
As you become more advanced and find a methodology that works for you, you can look into advanced tuning such as transient enrichment for drivability, MIVEC tuning, and things like speed density and pressure target boost control.

As mentioned previously, there's a ton of resources available to you, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you run into a specific issue that can't be answered by searching.
Best of luck in your journey! I'll never regret learning how to tune, it's quickly grown from a fun hobby to a big passion for me so I always get excited when I see new guys getting into it!

Evo8Guy

This all very helpful. yes I've been on top of all maintaining, Still a few other things I want to cover, like preventative maintenance. Have done a lot so far IE; front cv joint axles, rack and pinion, brakes and rotors, coilovers on all 4 corners, new oil pan. Still have a few things to do still. But mainly getting information now and getting more knowledgeable on the tuning so when I do take it somewhere professional i'll know a good amount of info and make it easier to explain what I want. going e85, so I will be getting a 455 walbro, and I have 1000 cc injectors and hks cams ready to install. i'll do it all at the same time one I have a everything I need to do the tune. thank you for all of the great info and I will be looking it over to get more familiar with tuning. I've owned another evo before, had it off showroom floor all the way to 115000 miles. tuning then was easier lol or I just didn't get into it like I am now. trying to be better the second time around.

Evo8Guy

I'm glad you guys are so knowledgeable! lol like I said I want to get the most knowledge this time around so I do it right, it was done right the first time but I wasn't really involved. this time I want to be. there is a lot of info out there and ant chance I get I want to learn. wish you guys lived close to me haha.