Austin's 463whp Flex Fuel Stock ECU Evo 8
Mar 3, 2015, 01:45 PM
#1
Austin's 463whp Flex Fuel Stock ECU Evo 8
So I was recently able to test FiTronic's flex fuel kit for the stock Evo computer. Austin had volunteered to be the guinea pig with his 03 Evo 8. We had built the 2.0L in the car for the previous owner so it had a good foundation for his home fabbed top mount 5860 kit.
Install is fairly straight forward, power/ground and one wire to an ADC on the ECU. There is some additional wiring for the Flex Sensor to the control unit and then the installation of the Flex unit as well.
Since Austin's car had been tuned on 92 before I had baselines to compare and make sure that nothing odd was going on. Making 400whp at 26.6 psi wasnt too difficult and I decided to make the change to ethanol. I pumped the tank until the light came one (about 3 gallons or so still in the tank) and then added 5 gallons of E98. I started the car and it idled at 13.7 where I had left it. As soon as ethanol hit the sensor and the supplied content gauge showed a change to E90 for a second and then as fuel mixed it steadily dropped to E58. The whole time the AFR refused to move as the patched software was correcting automatically.
Here is the dyno sheet showing E08 (92 octane), E70, and E83. I also tested at the E58 level but since the tune wasnt finalised at that point other than AFR was spot on from where I left it.
On E85 the car was running out of injector and pump and went lean past 7k, on E70 it was close enough to full power and really only varied because I hadnt set the timing interpolation any different. All in all the FiTronic kit and software patch was very easy to use and tune.
Install is fairly straight forward, power/ground and one wire to an ADC on the ECU. There is some additional wiring for the Flex Sensor to the control unit and then the installation of the Flex unit as well.
Since Austin's car had been tuned on 92 before I had baselines to compare and make sure that nothing odd was going on. Making 400whp at 26.6 psi wasnt too difficult and I decided to make the change to ethanol. I pumped the tank until the light came one (about 3 gallons or so still in the tank) and then added 5 gallons of E98. I started the car and it idled at 13.7 where I had left it. As soon as ethanol hit the sensor and the supplied content gauge showed a change to E90 for a second and then as fuel mixed it steadily dropped to E58. The whole time the AFR refused to move as the patched software was correcting automatically.
Here is the dyno sheet showing E08 (92 octane), E70, and E83. I also tested at the E58 level but since the tune wasnt finalised at that point other than AFR was spot on from where I left it.
On E85 the car was running out of injector and pump and went lean past 7k, on E70 it was close enough to full power and really only varied because I hadnt set the timing interpolation any different. All in all the FiTronic kit and software patch was very easy to use and tune.
Last edited by JohnBradley; Mar 3, 2015 at 01:48 PM.
Mar 3, 2015, 02:10 PM
#3
Currently we will be the only source of the kits. Another order is currently on its way and we still have some more testing to do but this is the first round of results 
Eventually we will have them on the shelf and ready to go though as well as adding them to the store.
Aaron
Eventually we will have them on the shelf and ready to go though as well as adding them to the store.Aaron
Mar 3, 2015, 05:32 PM
#4
Evolving Member
I'm interested to know more about the stock ecu flex fuel kit. For example: Those of us who have already have something like an ECA-2 is the entire kit required? I assume this utilizes a custom patched rom that can only be done via ER?
Mar 4, 2015, 07:16 PM
#6
Currently we will be the only source of the kits. Another order is currently on its way and we still have some more testing to do but this is the first round of results Eventually we will have them on the shelf and ready to go though as well as adding them to the store.
Aaron
Eventually we will have them on the shelf and ready to go though as well as adding them to the store.Aaron
Mar 4, 2015, 07:43 PM
#7
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Correct both English Racing and TSComp are the only two companies that offer these kits. My car is currently tuned by Tscomp and he has many cars lined up for Flex fuel as well English racing has a plethora of cars ready to be tuned and rolling on FiTronic! Please message either company in your area details! 
Currently we will be the only source of the kits. Another order is currently on its way and we still have some more testing to do but this is the first round of results Eventually we will have them on the shelf and ready to go though as well as adding them to the store.
Aaron
Eventually we will have them on the shelf and ready to go though as well as adding them to the store.Aaron
Last edited by Graphic; Mar 4, 2015 at 08:17 PM.
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Mar 4, 2015, 08:25 PM
#8
Correct both English Racing and TSComp are the only two companies that offer these kits. My car is currently tuned by Tscomp and he has many cars lined up for Flex fuel as well English racing has a plethora of cars ready to be tuned and rolling on FiTronic! Please message either company in your area details!
It is definitely a very efficient kit. I remember the AFR not moving either as Aaron described. The product works awesome, and is very accurate.
A nice benefit is the one mentioned also. A lot of setups will run out of fuel on a true e85 fuel, where as this, you could mix just enough to get your duty cycles back down and safe, but still almost make the same power.
Also good for mixing regular fuel in the tank when the car is being stored to keep it from building moisture / water in the tank.
Or if you're on a trip and you want to get more MPG just mix a lot more 92-93 in with your existing ethanol to increase your MPG.
Last edited by tscompusa; Mar 4, 2015 at 09:05 PM.
Mar 5, 2015, 09:47 AM
#11
Shortly and $650 retail for the control side. It has other features that are being integrated so it is more than just a Flex fuel device. There are engine safeties being built into it as well. The sensor is extra and not included but we sell those as well. I am also working on getting the price lower but since these come from Europe we are faced with some pretty high tariffs currently.
Mar 5, 2015, 04:06 PM
#14
Aaron I must be completely missing something here, what exactly does this kit consist of and what does it do? I was under the impression there was already a flex fuel patch for a factory evo 8 ecu (Not an evo 9), So what does product which adds $650 to a factory ecu do? does it include a flex fuel sensor as well?
Mar 5, 2015, 04:13 PM
#15
Aaron I must be completely missing something here, what exactly does this kit consist of and what does it do? I was under the impression there was already a flex fuel patch for a factory evo 8 ecu (Not an evo 9), So what does product which adds $650 to a factory ecu do? does it include a flex fuel sensor as well?
EDIT -
Controller and ECU safety:
- Controller reads ethanol content and temperature and converts that to ECU
- In case of sensor failure or any broken wire on system, system is commanded ECU to safe state:
- Drops boost
- Drops timing
- Adds fuel
- Lights CEL
- Safety function protects any system failure during wide open throttle pull, sensor failure during pull does not cause any harm
Display:
- Displays ethanol content and fuel temperature
- Controller communicates with ECU via OBD port using Mitsubishi MUT protocol, this means display can show any ECU variable on display
- Supports wideband controller's (like Innovate, AEM etc) serial interface and can display AFR. This means it can be your only gauge.
- Updateable firmware, it means product is not aging on software point of view, in case of new features it's always updateable
- Supports two (2) external 0-5V sensors like oil or fuel pressure and shows data on display
- Display can shows 1, 2 or 4 variable on one screen and this is (will be...) user configurable via serial link between PC and controller
Plug & play wiring kit with connectors:
- Sensor
- OBD port
- Power supply and ECU
What you need extra:
- Ethanol sensor and fuel lines. Nothing more.
Last edited by JohnBradley; Mar 6, 2015 at 09:07 AM.