Toan at PTuning
 

I'll be getting a header soon and a stage 2 tune. As I'm sure some of you are aware, the way the tuning with an off-site tuner (Visconti I believe in my case) works is that a log is emailed to the tuner who then returns the updated file. This repeats until everyone is satisfied with the tune. For right now this is the route I'm going, but I see folks raving about Toan and what he can do with the FA20.

My question is, has anyone gone this route and then gone to see Toan afterwards? Any power differences? I know @nataku has, but tuning a turbocharged engine is a whole different animal.
@ptuning care to chime in?

I went from stock avo kit with base map, to avo kit with boost controller/injectors/map and dyno/street tune by Toan. Can't really comment on what you are asking about but my car runs perfect right now

I have the Stock Tune and it works out great

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...k+ptuning+tune

Its just like tuning any other part whether its with a Turbo or not, look at thresholds and make sure all the numbers are safe. If you want local tuning Toan knows what he is doing and has been a tuner for 7+ years. Its a safe bet if you want local

From what I have heard and read a dyno tune compared to e-tune is night and day. Think stock tires to star specs

I'm confused. Do you have a turbo or not? Also my "e-tune" was just the AVO base map. There were some issues with it because of the level of my exhaust mods, Toan did excellent work sorting all that out.

I agree with the above post. Nothing can compare to live dyno tuning. It's definitely worth doing it that way if you want a tune, and you should get in on the group buy deal if they still have one going.

NA cars with bolt ons aren't affected nearly as much as FI cars

No turbo. I'm trying to figure out where my best bang for the buck is tuning-wise. Brady will be installing it but I'm trying to figure out who I want to do the tune. Either have the tune done via email or take it to Toan and have it done in person.

^

In person is the only way IMO unless you are santa clause in the north pole and have no other option

Look at some of the threads that show etune vs a dyno. The one I'm thinking of is a Visconti tune but please don't let that change your mind lol

There was also at least one of a FBM turbo

You're getting your money's worth with a live dyno tune. An e-tune, however, is still definitely better than no tune at all. It just can't compare to an actual dyno tune. :thumbsup:

You can't tune tip-in acceleration enrichment, optimize cam timing, or diagnose certain problems unless the car is on the dyno. This is especially true when you start upgrading the port injectors. You need to be able to seamlessly transition back and forth between the DI and PI, since the factory fueling scheme requires you to do so. Not getting this injector blending done correctly will result in a car that has issues starting and/or stumbles upon throttle tip-in.

You're paying for your tuner to show up for work, rent and electricity for the shop, and wear and tear on the dyno (this gets very expensive for us). These items include bearings, 02 sensors, etc. We'll also eventually need to replace our four knurled rollers at $1,700 a piece. :(

This may scare some of you too, but I'd say that greater than 80 percent of the FI'ed cars that we get in for dyno tuning with customer installed parts have one or more issues. These include: Incorrectly installed boost controller, boost leaks, vacuum leaks, exhaust leaks (causes AFR reading issues), rod knock, poor vacuum at idle due to issues with the engine, bad or improperly installed fuel pump, bad/loose knock sensor, phantom knock (caused by exhaust rattles, etc), bad coils, bad MAP sensor, bad MAF sensor, one bad injector, bad turbo, sticking BOV, incorrectly plumbed or torn wastegate diaphragm, wrong WG spring, incorrectly gapped plugs, wrong plugs, wrong gas octane, old gas, flashing issues, and the list goes on and on.

These are only a few of the things that are better diagnosed on the dyno while viewing a live feed of boost, AFR, etc. If there is a major issue, you can abort the dyno pull. Doing this on the street through datalogging alone may result in having to flatbed your car home or to a shop. I'm not trying to scare people away from an e-tune as this may be the only alternative for people in certain areas. We may very well have to offer some sort of e-tuning service for our turbo system too.

Also, for those that don't know, I probably logged close to 1000+ dyno pulls/flashes before taking on the first paid customer. This includes pump gas tunes, 400+whp WMI tune, and even SD speed density tuning on our turbocharged shop car. :burnrubber:

- Toan

I have been reading up some of the differences between ECUtek, BRZedit and OpenFlash. I understand that switchable maps is not an option with BRZedit, but it is with ECUtek. Is it possible to switch to the factory tune on the fly?

I have also read that ECUtek "locks" the ECU from being read. What exactly is being locked? I assume anything having to do with modifying the tune without ECUtek software is what is locked out. DTCs can still be read, the stock tune can be flashed over in case of trade-in, etc. Correct?