I've been watching these video's like my daily sitcoms at work.. My manger thinks I'm learning and/or running new financial reports hehehehehe but im not!

I'm just getting into the Ecu Tuning and started learning more and more about ecuFlash OS. I do have a Cobb AP, but it was a gift from a family member who previously had and Exo X and no longer does.

Hoping to Connect with you Mike and the rest of fellow Evo Tuners to learn more!

 

Not saying its impossible, just thats theres a learning curve. It takes time to learn how to do it, not to mention do it really well. If its a project car that doesn't get driven all the time then sure by all means have at it, if you screw it up at least you know you can go about your daily life and come back to it later. If its a daily driver I wouldn't chance it, unless you know what you're doing. Last thing OP wants to do is brick his ECU or worse severely damage his motor. I my self have been getting into learning how to tune a little bit. I'm not touching my X for now though, I have a IX as a track car that I'm learning on. Our last race of this NASA season is at the end of the month and we don't pick up again until October, so i'll plenty of time to sit and and mess around with it. But I have my X tuned by a professional so I know everytime I get up and go to work it'll run without a single issue.

 

Not much of a difference. Some of the tables will be different, but the concepts are the same. I even point our Subaru customers to those. A lot of what he goes over are the general uses of the software. It's with an older version of our software, but the most noticeable difference is the addition of a car icon in the top level menu where you need to make a vehicle selection before starting the read process.

Agreed. You could also consider working with a tuner remotely to get a base tune as a starting point. That should be pretty affordable and get you started in the right direction. You'd want to have a wideband O2 sensor if you're going to work with a remote tuner, but you should probably have a good wideband no matter what solution you choose if you're going to start pushing your engine past stock.

-Mike
Tactrix

 

I see. Yeah I understand the risks and I know it's not something I'll be able to master in one weekend. I was hoping to go slow, and learn the ins and outs of tuning. Plus having a great and helpful community such as this makes it much easier!

So your IX is self tuned? How for you personally, how difficult was tuning it? After tuning your IX you don't feel confident to tune the X?

Also another question. On the Cobb Accessport V3 they have the 'Stage' maps you can download and flash on your evo. Those are pretty safe right? Is there any equivalent to that for the Tactrix? I've been looking at Gunzo's maps specifically.

Yeah boss it's just an excel tutorial!

Thanks Mike. Do tuners use the Openport as well? Usually am I supposed to supply my own or will they use theirs?
Also, on your website you say that the Mitsu 5-9 Evo needs the reflash adapters. So I don't need the adapter on my X? Thanks again!

 

We're just a two person company with backgrounds in software and hardware, but we aren't professional tuners, so we don't provide any modified ROMs.


Absolutely. There are many professional tuners that use our Openport hardware and EcuFlash software to tune. If you're working with them remotely, you'd have your own Openport, do a read, email that stock ROM to them along with your list of modifications, they'd send back a modified version of it which you'd upload to your car using the Openport again. Generally then you'd log some runs and send the logging files for them to review and use as a basis for refining your tune. If you're working with someone local to you just once to do a tune on a dyno, they'd probably have their own Openport. An individual Openport isn't locked to a vehicle so a tuner can have just one and use it on many cars.

 

Tuning isn't nearly as hard as everyone makes it out to be, but learning how to do it and do it right is very time consuming. I learned how to tune my car after getting a "pro tune" because the "pro tune" I got was garbage. After going through that, I don't think I'll ever let another pro tuner touch my car.

Here are the things you need:
1.) Lots of time and patience to research and learn. Read through Merlins Tuning guide and also watch those videos that were already posted. I watched them several times before I ever started messing with the ECU.
2.) A Tactrix cable
3.) A wideband gauge. Don't do any tuning without one!
4.) Ecuflash- tuning software
5.) Evoscan- Logging Software
6.) Virtual Dyno Software - Free to download. Use it to see if the effects of the changes you're making.

Learning to tune is by the far the greatest investment I have ever made into my Evo. Once you learn how to do it yourself, you're not limited on when you can change your set up and add new parts.

 

Thanks again Mikey! I think I will pick one up and try it out myself!

Thanks Ian! Most people have the wideband gauge read from a test pipe or hfc or down pipe right? Is that the easiest way?

 

Bungs on the test pipe work fine but the closer you can get to the turbo the better.

 

Do the reading, take a log and get familiar with whats happening. Then make little changes. Remember that what you log might not line up specifically with the maps you will see in ECUFLASH but after a change you should start putting it together. Putting more timing in is very dangerous because these little buggers ping from the factory. Retarding the timing will only cause loss of power and a bit more exhaust heat. Fuel changes are vary variable between car makes but I suggest don't go above 11:1. I have seem so many so-called professional tunes and what a bloody mess they have made. A professional tuner in Melbourne spent hours tuning a mafless system without having a map sensor attached. Heed the warnings and do be careful. Look closely for knock and tune it out.

 

The longer I have my car and the more I learn (doing little things to the evo and performing preventative maintenance on my dd), the less I want someone else touching my cars.


I still have quite a bit of time before I plan on tuning but I might just try to learn as much as I can and hopefully do it myself when the time comes.

 

So on the DP would be best right?

Thanks! How do you recommend to "look" for knock? I'm assuming the car will throw a code?

Nice! What have you done to your Evo so far?

 

Not a whole lot. I've only had it for a couple months and I'm waiting as long as I can to mod but it's getting harder not to. I've done simple things like an oil change, drop in filter, learning how to detail, installed mudflaps, swapped some wires for my daytime running LEDs, and just plasti dipped my wheels (black base coat with copper metalizer).

Learning as much as I can at the moment.

 

Not to thread-jack or anything, but could you use the cobb maps on ap as a good starting point? I've had an access port for a while now, gone from stage 0 to stage 3 with all the necessary bolt-ons and never had any problem with the cobb maps. However, I know that I could squeeze more out of my car by getting a tune. So would it better to start by modifying the cobb stage 3 tune that I have? Or should I re-flash my stock tune and start with that instead?

 

You have to setup your Tactrix or use Evoscan and a laptop to log. It's another area that you need to get your head around. I have spent a lot of time working out the Tactrix for logging and it's great. They won't let me on the track with a laptop floating around. I log the basics like Load, speed, tps, wideband, timing and knocksum then look through the spreadsheet and you should start putting it together. Where you see knock being logged you need to identify what's happening at that point eg load, timing and air/fuel ratio them make minor changes. Take another log and look for improvements in the logged data. Don't tune by the seat of the pants. It can be misleading.