The not-so-offical EVO 9 ECU tuning thread
Originally Posted by joshd
Yeah, I think I saw that thread, thanks meanmud. I went up there last year to have Shiv tune my then brand new 05 STi. That tune ran strong for over a year, and now that I have a IX, I'm ready for the Shiv treatment again. TT is about a 3-3.5 hour drive each way from D.C. ... a bit long but doable if it's my only option.
- Josh
- Josh
I have a few others from the DC area that are interested; vrooompsh, puckadog
Maybe a little caravan
Well here's the real question 
The STi put down 290whp/315wtq on the TurboTrix Dynojet with Shiv's catted TBE and Ecutek reflash. Will the IX be able to beat it with a reflash alone?

The STi put down 290whp/315wtq on the TurboTrix Dynojet with Shiv's catted TBE and Ecutek reflash. Will the IX be able to beat it with a reflash alone?
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From: Danville/Blackhawk, California
Originally Posted by joshd
Shiv -
Just a few questions
- How many IX's have you done now?
- What kind of variances have you seen between them?
- Are you ready yet to do mail order flashes on the IX?
- How much will you have to detune the mail order flash compared to the results in this thread (93 octane)?
- Is a Mid-Atlantic stop possible on your World Tuning Tour 2006?
Thanks,
Josh
Just a few questions

- How many IX's have you done now?
- What kind of variances have you seen between them?
- Are you ready yet to do mail order flashes on the IX?
- How much will you have to detune the mail order flash compared to the results in this thread (93 octane)?
- Is a Mid-Atlantic stop possible on your World Tuning Tour 2006?

Thanks,
Josh
- We've tuned maybe a dozen EVO IX. All of them in-house, on our dyno. Some of them had 10+ hours of mapping time put into them. There was a lot of new stuff to learn with the IX.
- Variance is very small. Vitually all of them make the same power to the wheels, withing 2-3whp. In fact, we tested on that had a downpipe and a test-pipe the other day and it also made about the same power as a stock car. Pretty unusual.
- Yes, we can do mail order flashes as of the New Year.
- I really don't expect to detune the mail order flashes signficantly since my custom tuned maps are already quite conservative. Maybe 5-10whp. No more.
-I'll be coming back to NJ and GA within the next few months. There is also talk of another TX trip as well.
Hope to see you!
merry xmas,
shiv
Last edited by shiv@vishnu; Dec 26, 2005 at 11:41 AM.
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From: Danville/Blackhawk, California
Originally Posted by cij911
Shiv -
Hey I just got an 06' MR and would like to boost HP over the 350 whp / 350 wtq level? What modifications beside TBE and Flash are available for the 06 / MIVEC? Haven't the Japanese modifiers been playing with MIVEC for awhile, do they have cams yet?
If you are working on pieces, when do you think they will hit the market
??
Thanks !
chris
Hey I just got an 06' MR and would like to boost HP over the 350 whp / 350 wtq level? What modifications beside TBE and Flash are available for the 06 / MIVEC? Haven't the Japanese modifiers been playing with MIVEC for awhile, do they have cams yet?
If you are working on pieces, when do you think they will hit the market
??Thanks !
chris
shiv
Shiv,
So is it safe to say that it would be prudent to wait before buying any aftermarket parts for the IX? Did I read your prior statement correctly in that it stated that there was little difference between a downpipe/testpipe equipped car and a stock one?
The reason I'm asking is because I've been starting to shop for exhaust solutions, and if you're implying that it really isn't going to make a great difference, I'd be just as happy leaving the exhaust alone and waiting for something more substantial....... Please, any hints would be greatly appreciated.......
Thanks,
Tony
So is it safe to say that it would be prudent to wait before buying any aftermarket parts for the IX? Did I read your prior statement correctly in that it stated that there was little difference between a downpipe/testpipe equipped car and a stock one?
The reason I'm asking is because I've been starting to shop for exhaust solutions, and if you're implying that it really isn't going to make a great difference, I'd be just as happy leaving the exhaust alone and waiting for something more substantial....... Please, any hints would be greatly appreciated.......
Thanks,
Tony
Originally Posted by shiv@vishnu
- Variance is very small. Vitually all of them make the same power to the wheels, withing 2-3whp. In fact, we tested on that had a downpipe and a test-pipe the other day and it also made about the same power as a stock car. Pretty unusual....
merry xmas,
shiv
merry xmas,
shiv
-Adrian
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From: Danville/Blackhawk, California
The ECU is mapped so that with addition mass airflow (for a given engine speed), the less advance the car runs. So while VE improves with the addition of exhaust upgrades, the ECU responds by running less and less optimally. I also suspect that, compared to the VIII, the MIVEC makes the car a bit less sensitive to backpressure. Exhaust systems will indeed help the cause but only if the ECU is mapped appropriately. Pretty neat stuff...
shiv
shiv
Shiv,
Sorry to be so full of questions, but does the term "additional mass airflow" mean at the intake side or the exhaust side? I've already ordered a drop in filter since I didn't want to go with an intake and I'm going to leave it alone after that until you are able to divulge more information about what you have cooking......
Thanks,
Tony
Sorry to be so full of questions, but does the term "additional mass airflow" mean at the intake side or the exhaust side? I've already ordered a drop in filter since I didn't want to go with an intake and I'm going to leave it alone after that until you are able to divulge more information about what you have cooking......
Thanks,
Tony
Originally Posted by shiv@vishnu
The ECU is mapped so that with addition mass airflow (for a given engine speed), the less advance the car runs. So while VE improves with the addition of exhaust upgrades, the ECU responds by running less and less optimally. I also suspect that, compared to the VIII, the MIVEC makes the car a bit less sensitive to backpressure. Exhaust systems will indeed help the cause but only if the ECU is mapped appropriately. Pretty neat stuff...
shiv
shiv
Is there any way I could coax you into posting a few of the stock ECU's timing/RPM/load maps? I think that would be kinda cool. Obviously not any tuned maps.
Anyhoo ... keep up the good work.
Originally Posted by shiv@vishnu
Hi josh,
- We've tuned maybe a dozen EVO IX. All of them in-house, on our dyno. Some of them had 10+ hours of mapping time put into them. There was a lot of new stuff to learn with the IX.
- Variance is very small. Vitually all of them make the same power to the wheels, withing 2-3whp. In fact, we tested on that had a downpipe and a test-pipe the other day and it also made about the same power as a stock car. Pretty unusual.
- Yes, we can do mail order flashes as of the New Year.
- I really don't expect to detune the mail order flashes signficantly since my custom tuned maps are already quite conservative. Maybe 5-10whp. No more.
-I'll be coming back to NJ and GA within the next few months. There is also talk of another TX trip as well.
Hope to see you!
merry xmas,
shiv
- We've tuned maybe a dozen EVO IX. All of them in-house, on our dyno. Some of them had 10+ hours of mapping time put into them. There was a lot of new stuff to learn with the IX.
- Variance is very small. Vitually all of them make the same power to the wheels, withing 2-3whp. In fact, we tested on that had a downpipe and a test-pipe the other day and it also made about the same power as a stock car. Pretty unusual.
- Yes, we can do mail order flashes as of the New Year.
- I really don't expect to detune the mail order flashes signficantly since my custom tuned maps are already quite conservative. Maybe 5-10whp. No more.
-I'll be coming back to NJ and GA within the next few months. There is also talk of another TX trip as well.
Hope to see you!
merry xmas,
shiv
Can you give an approximation of what type of whp/wtq I might expect to see with the IX and your mail-in ecutek flash on the TT dyno (stock exhaust)? I'd just like to compare against my STi that did 290whp/315wtq there with TBE+flash.
The stock IX already feels almost as fast as the tuned STi ... with much smoother power delivery. I would guess that it's maybe only 20-25whp off of the tuned STi as it stands

I'm also wondering about boost control ... does the Ecutek flash alone control boost to your satisfaction, or do you also recommend some sort of MBC or different boost control solenoid?
edit: by the way, some props definitely should go out to the Ecutek folks for providing a great tool for the tuners. They seem to have come to market extremely quickly with the IX reflash too ... pretty impressive given what I'm hearing about the complexity of the ECU. I had their software on the STi and it performed flawlessly ... better than stock drivability and reliable performance day after day. Of course it's just a tool though ... it's all about what you do with it

- Josh
Last edited by joshd; Dec 27, 2005 at 05:41 AM.
Wow. May have been the aftermarket exhaust that was installed on the car too.
I have seen the exact opposite here. The EVO9's appear to pick up even more than the 8's did with exhaust work.
We built a BR330 for a customer, he took the car untuned after the package was installed. We baseline the cars stock, the add the hard parts and dyno them again. Then we do the re-tune.
Anyway, he took his car untuned as we didn't have the flash software for the EVO9 yet. He came back a few weeks later and we did another base pull to see where the car was before we did the tune. The power had risen 16-18 whp. I was shocked. I asked him what the heck he did to the car. He said, "Put the offroad pipe on." That is an unusually high change in HP for a car that wasn't touched, that is what prompted me to ask him.
Anyway. We all seem to get different results.
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
I have seen the exact opposite here. The EVO9's appear to pick up even more than the 8's did with exhaust work.
We built a BR330 for a customer, he took the car untuned after the package was installed. We baseline the cars stock, the add the hard parts and dyno them again. Then we do the re-tune.
Anyway, he took his car untuned as we didn't have the flash software for the EVO9 yet. He came back a few weeks later and we did another base pull to see where the car was before we did the tune. The power had risen 16-18 whp. I was shocked. I asked him what the heck he did to the car. He said, "Put the offroad pipe on." That is an unusually high change in HP for a car that wasn't touched, that is what prompted me to ask him.
Anyway. We all seem to get different results.
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
Originally Posted by davidbuschur
Wow. May have been the aftermarket exhaust that was installed on the car too.
I have seen the exact opposite here. The EVO9's appear to pick up even more than the 8's did with exhaust work.
We built a BR330 for a customer, he took the car untuned after the package was installed. We baseline the cars stock, the add the hard parts and dyno them again. Then we do the re-tune.
Anyway, he took his car untuned as we didn't have the flash software for the EVO9 yet. He came back a few weeks later and we did another base pull to see where the car was before we did the tune. The power had risen 16-18 whp. I was shocked. I asked him what the heck he did to the car. He said, "Put the offroad pipe on." That is an unusually high change in HP for a car that wasn't touched, that is what prompted me to ask him.
Anyway. We all seem to get different results.
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
I have seen the exact opposite here. The EVO9's appear to pick up even more than the 8's did with exhaust work.
We built a BR330 for a customer, he took the car untuned after the package was installed. We baseline the cars stock, the add the hard parts and dyno them again. Then we do the re-tune.
Anyway, he took his car untuned as we didn't have the flash software for the EVO9 yet. He came back a few weeks later and we did another base pull to see where the car was before we did the tune. The power had risen 16-18 whp. I was shocked. I asked him what the heck he did to the car. He said, "Put the offroad pipe on." That is an unusually high change in HP for a car that wasn't touched, that is what prompted me to ask him.
Anyway. We all seem to get different results.
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
this has me puzzled a bit with your power-packages; The BR 330 - seems to me that putting on a TBE on a stock IX gets you close to 330bhp - especially if you're seeing 16-18whp from those simple bolt-ons?
Not correct meanmud. First the BR330 packages don't get a full turbo back. They keep the stock cat in place. The 16-18 whp gains was from bolting in an offroad pipe in place of the stock cat, the customer did that.
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
Originally Posted by davidbuschur
Not correct meanmud. First the BR330 packages don't get a full turbo back. They keep the stock cat in place. The 16-18 whp gains was from bolting in an offroad pipe in place of the stock cat, the customer did that.
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com
sorry; I guess I mean someone who purchases a IX and adds a TBE w/test pipe - will get close to a BR330?
Originally Posted by meanmud
David,
sorry; I guess I mean someone who purchases a IX and adds a TBE w/test pipe - will get close to a BR330?
sorry; I guess I mean someone who purchases a IX and adds a TBE w/test pipe - will get close to a BR330?
330bhp with an 18% drivetrain loss = 270whp, which is what we're seeing on Dynojets.
The BR330 package on IXs is getting them closer to 330 WHEEL HP, not crank HP. Hope this helps.


