Very good post and it hit the nail right on the head

 

This is completely untrue. Other forms did not DIE nor did EcuTek or Cobb stop developing product for the 8 or 9. Instead they have been trying to make a more user friendly product for those who value the work they have put into it. Unless we are there at THEIR facilities then non of us can speculate to how they are conducting their business. These are hard working guys that spend countless man hours producing a product that is stable and proven. I don't see a reason why they are not paid for their work as you are paid in your profession. Hypothetically if automation were to take over 80% of the workforce in this country..what would you as a laborer be worth? Even though it seems like a lot now, supporting a product and having a professional tune your ECU effects more than just your pocket.

 

I think the point of the post was pointing out that Hi-jack methods disappeared and everyone went to developing products that allowed us to flash the stock ECU instead. The real change was the advent of great logging software and the understanding of all the variables. Even that took a full year. None the less, most of the tuners continued to impact that scene by contributing their knowledge and understanding of the ECU to the community, and they also found a new money stream by charging lower rates to provide maps that users could flash on to the ECU themselves.

For those with great customer service, the users were then able to log data and complaints, and send it back to the tuner, and the tuner could make adjustments. It became an awesome system!

That is what I am looking forward too again. That synergy between the user and tuner which fosters great creativity, and excellent customer support. Its truly what separates your fly by night guy, and someone dedicated to the field.

 

i think that you are partially right here with one wrong,

the wrong: other forms of tuning have not died, ECUTek and COBB AccessECU technologies are thriving and even piggybacks like the UTec, or Vishnu products are still around, although not the best option IMO, stand-alones have their attributes and pitfalls as well.

You have to remember that majority of enthusiasts out there dont tune their own cars like you do and have to rely on someone else to do it for them. So what are their options? Well, Pay the tuner to tune car for them, right? Well look at the tuners, they will tune using anything you want them to, EVEN ECUFLASH, which is a freeware and eats into the ECUTEKs and the crew, but they still do it because the can charge for their tune and dyno time, which they should by the way.

With the license fee for ECUTEK being very cheap now, i would say if you are paying more than 200USD for it, you are getting ripped off, thats the only premium over using ECUFLASH, because you will have to pay for tune/dyno time using either method. However, i think that ECUTEK, actually gets a lot more granular in terms of what tables you can access v. ECUFLASH, (at least it does on the Subaru side) so there is def. benefit to pay that extra 200USD for a license and have a very competent tuner use the ECUTEK software to its fullest potential/

Then on with the AccessPORT, it offers unique set of capabilities as well, you can do you own reflash, it comes with staged maps, you get to display some sensor data, get 0-60 times, and a whole bunch of other stuff. You can also use this technology to get tuned by pro-tuner, or by street-tuner software to do your own tuning.

I think that most if not all of these technologies (approaches) will survive as long as there are cars that can be tuned, people willing to tune them, and customers willing to pay for the tunes.

Personally, I use the ECUFLash and i am now experimenting with some self tuning and one of the posts i read and re-read was one of yours so thanks for all of your work on that nj1266, eventhough you never replied to my posts or PMs about restrictor pills, but no worries I am kewl now,..

 

The sad reality is people want stuff done as cheaply and quickly as possible. Especially Evo owners. We are the worst cheapskates on the planet man.

 

Not true. DSMers are worse.

l8r)

 

yep, you got to love the " wonder garage system"...

 

 

Oh boy, Terry is in the House. This site is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Even once ECUtek becomes available, it still may not be the best tuning option for this platform. I feel like that $750 is a waste if I add an intake and some other simple mod and end up wanting a retune. I would rather have Ecuflash or a piggy back so I can tweak the car myself.

 

true dat

 

All i know is that it pays to be patient.

 

I guess it's only a problem if the customer is trying to hide the fact that their ECU has been flashed

 

Piggybacks are no good...flashes are worth every penny IMO and def worth it in the long run. Having the timing map, fuel map and other parameters adjusted is alot better and safer for the engine and to make power. It can also change with weather unlike a piggyback where it requires constant tuning.

EMS>Flash>Piggyback(mapclamp)

It doesnt matter to me honestly, i dont have to pay to tune my car i can do it myself and i've learned. So if i choose EMS or piggyback i will be fine, a flash you HAVE to pay to get tuned everytime you add a mod.

 

Anyone know the processor type that's inside the ECU?

 

I will not be the popular guy here, that's OK, though.

The flashing industry is a mixed emotion for me. I never bought the very expensive Tech Tom or Ecutek equipment. I had my good friend Al from Dynoflash do the reflash tuning for us. Say what you want about Al, the fact is I have never seen one of his cars blow up or had a customer complain about a flash he did for them. This is not a tuning discussion so I won't go into that further.

It was nice seeing Al and the passion he has for tuning at our shop a lot doing tuning days. We'd tune 15 or more EVO's over a 3 day period, it was great hanging out with everyone.

When the free flashing software showed up "everyone" became an expert and those weekends have completely ended. Were they good for business? YES, absolutely. Were they huge money makers for us as far as dyno rental and tuning went, NO actually. I rented the dyno to Al at a very low flat fee per car and he could take as long as he needed to do his tuning.

I still sell a good quantity of reflashes to be honest. Not like it use to be and it's not an income I miss to be honest.

Like I said, I never would have bought TechTom or Ecutek anyway. When the free stuff came out I got it and a cable. I still only use Al's tunes through the mail but do use the software at our shop when I have to do a tune. I also use one of Al's base maps which I pay him for each and every time to this day.

As much as the free software is really good and the logging software is too, I hope it is a LONG time before it comes available for the EVO X.

I'm sure my opinion clashes with many of the others but I wanted to give it anyway.

Understand that without it I am also at the mercy of other tuners too.

Oh, few other things. I agree, piggybacks are not a good idea and on our EVO X I will NOT go that route. I will wait for the appropriate software even if it holds us up on the build. I have no desire to hack into the wiring harness of the car.