Hey All,

As I am finally getting around to tuning my UTEC I decided to play with the TurboXS Stage II map, since it matched my cars upgrades. I am running a TBE, Walbro 255lph fuel pump, AVC-R Boost controller set to 19psi, and the UTEC with Tuner.

After loading the STage II map I utilized the services of Perfection Motorsports here in Hillsboro to help me safely tune the UTEC with the stage II map. We had some knock issues at the low RPM's, but this was expected since the map is tuned for 93 octane and I am running 92 octane gas. After about an hour or so we got all teh knock tuned out and adjusted the fuel map to keep us at a safe 11:1 afr. I would like to note here that we didnt have to make any drastic changes. Just add a bit of fuel here and there and reduce timing in the problem areas of knock, which seemed to occur mostly between 2k and 3k rpm's and then a little at around 5k.

So now that the stage is set I pulled the car into Perfection Motorsports Dynapak dyno. If you have never heard of the dynapak its probably one of the best Dyno's out there for consistency and tuning. I dont want to get into explaining why so just do some interent searches. Anyway, what we found was very interesting. Using the stage II map we pulled from 3k to redline in 4th gear and put down 251 whp with 300 ft/pounds of torque. This was just weird. So we pulled again. Same numbers. Next I switched the map to stock ecu and pulled 269.5 whp with 270 ft/pounds of torque. Now I dont have the print out scanned yet so let me explain what is happening here.

In the lower RPM's, from around 3k to 4.5k the stage II map is actually about 5 to 8 whp more then the ECU. The extra pulling in the car that you feel is all that torque being put down in the low RPM's as well. After 4.5k the stage II map has a peak somewhere between 5 and 6k in HP and sharply drops. The stock ECU continues to gain in this range and peaks more around 6800 rpms. Now I dont know if TurboXS claims that there maps give a WHP benefit or not but I just thought I would share my experiance. Whats kind of neat about this map is it shows how you can focus on a ton of low end torque and power but then give it all up at the higher RPM's for safety or what not. Since i am going to be running my car on the track, not 1/4 mile full track, alot I will be spending a lot more time with Perfection Motorsports to get the car tuned more for my driving style. Ill get the Dyno plot scanned and post it up here for all to see.

Later,
Chris

 

So you are not working w/ PDXtuning anymore?

 

Well....
Truth be told I had a bad experience with PDXTuning. Even after a few road tunes and really varying dyno runs I was getting really frustrated. Later I found out that the dyno had a problem but was fixed awhile back so the dyno issue has been resolved but PDXTuning never made any attempts to try and ensure I was happy and that the car was running properly.

One thing I have found in this industry is if the tuner is super secrative its a sign that the they may not know what they are doing. My car ran like poo for several months and everytime we talked about setting up a tuning session it never happened. I always got left out as so to speak. This really really bugged me. Looking back one thing that was obvious with the UTEC was it wasnt ready to be put on an EVO when it first released. It was very difficult to tune and driveability was very hard to get. All that needed to be said back then was that I needed to wait a bit for new software updates. I would have been fine with this. Instead I got "My driveability issues were normal for all piggy back users." something I of course found not to be true riding in several Piggy Back ECU cars without any of these issues (stalling, jerky ride etc).

So.. needless to say I have been trying to learn things on my own and was getting close to scheduling a trip down south when I ran into Perfection Motorsports. They have proven tuning methodologies that apply to more then just a WRX. This was really important to me because our cars dont run like a WRX and they require a different feel in the tune. Granted, if you properly understand EFI tuning this shouldnt be a big deal but in this case it was. It takes sometime to understand a new vehicle, and in the case of piggy backs, to determine what the stock ecu likes or doesnt like. You have to spend time understanding what the stock ecu is doing first before you can go making radical changes to the map. Knowledge is power as they say. So far in my experiences with Perfection Motorsports they have really taken time to show that they understand this and they are going the extra mile to ensure that I am happy with the tune and to educate me on what the changes are. They also provide great information on upgrades and show the same enthusiasm towards my car as I do. This is a nice change for me since most of my experiences with tuners were full of Ego's and even worse, unwarranted ones.

 

I'd look at the air/fuel and timing differences, that will reveal why the ecu is stronger. With 92 octane, you should be able to run slightly leaner than 11:1. That's what I run on 91 octane. You should be able to get 11.5:1 and 20psi of boost without knock.
I'm running 11.15-11.25:1 with 20psi on 91 oct without knock.

 

I agree with bishiboy. And usually a good timing map gives you good torque, while leaner AFR usually gives you more HP. And most people are running 20-21 psi all the way to redline... a gain of 2 psi should give you about 20 HP.