Self tune, or tuner?
 

That's the question I'd been asking myself for the last few days.

I've had an ecutek licence for a few months, left over from the sc I was running. Never gave a lot of thought to getting an NA flash, mainly because I was a bit suspect of remote tuning.

No local tuner had the ecutek tuner licence. So this relaxation of the ecutek software made me think I'll now be able to have a go myself, or get local help.

But then I thought, is it better for me to take the risk self tuning, or take the risk and use a remote tuner. I chose the latter.

I looked at the main players and their reviews/feedback, and ended up trying FA20club.

I'll refrain from reviewing the tune just yet (it's not a bad thing, I just want to put it up once I've gone to the track in a few days) but I'm already happy with the choice I made.

For the pittance these guys charge, for an experienced tuner that know these motors and tunes very well, I would urge those that are considering self tuning for financial reasons to reconsider.

I'm sure there will be those that will still want to, and hey I have no issue with that, I'll even applaud you for taking it on. Me, I'm one of those guys that pays someone to paint my house when it needs painting, because they'll do a better job in less time. There's certain satisfaction in doing things yourself, but sometimes it's not worth the hassle for what a pro charges.

FA20club have been excellent to deal with and it's all been very painless and straight forward. Does the car make more power, yes. Throttle response much improved. Car also cruises better now.

I'm absolutely kicking myself I've done 3 circuit days and 2 drift events without this flash; after now experiencing the product and service; and just how easy it was to do.

How does that work exactly? Over the cell phone; via PC??

Thanks for your original post and taking time to answer my question

I enquired via this forum. Asked some basic questions. Then rang and got things underway. Because I already had a licence and cable, Toni just needed my licence / dongle number (tune is secured to it) quick run down of my mods or lack there-of, and the ecu version I had, which is simply found by pinging the ecu.

10mins later he emailed me a tune. I flashed it on. Took car for drive and took a log. (He sends a document explaining how to do this, very easy) Sent log back. 20 mins later I had a revised tune that was much better in every way.

Just a case of rinse and repeat as you add a new mod. I'm cutting out the second cat tomorrow and welding in a straight piece in its place.

It is seriously simple. I was worried it would be a hassle, it really wasn't.

Appreciate the feedback Mike. We still have more more adjustments to make but at least youre making progress for the weekend.

Thank You for explaining this to me and sure does sound like a worthwhile investment.

I paid for a tune and it pretty much sucks at low rpms.

when will someone make an ECU with a "learning model" based on drivers input?

i wouldn't suggest that anyone should ever self-tune for the purpose of saving money, because you won't. i've put more gas through my car learning than i would have paid for a tune.

you should do it because you try it and you like doing it. it's a hobby. if you don't genuinely enjoy the actual process of doing it, then you will inevitably fail. the reason is because it takes a cubic shit ton of time if you're starting from nothing with little practical experience tuning cars (like most of us, myself included), and it's not 'fun' by the usual definition. most would say it's a pain in the ass, making tiny little changes then doing some test and another change and another test, it's a lot of damn work.

at the same time i think that just about anyone given the time and energy could pick it up pretty quick and do a decent job tuning their car from scratch. it will just take them a long, long time if they do it properly. there are long understood and accepted best practices to adhere to, and if you do you'll be fine.

so you shouldn't do it, unless you are very, very interested in it and willing to spend a lot of time with a pissed off wife wondering why you're driving around the block. the 'better faster cheaper' route will always be paying someone you know is great at it. but if you really wanna learn and are interested, you should give it a shot, because it's awesome lol.

fwiw the new ecutek stuff basically removes any barrier to entry as you guys can experiment on your own then just flash back your protune when you feel like it. best of both worlds. same with oft for n/a guys.

:laughabove: The most important factor

I originally offered Mike an open map but he refused based on the points he listed above.

I'd get another tuner. Mine is better than stock across the rev range.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That's the way I'll go most likely. Don't trust local tuners as most of them never worked on FA20 and generally don't bother touching NA cars. Masters of adding boost :)

I just need to complete my exaust with headers and then will start looking for a tune. FA20Club is my first choice now.

I would read a bit more, before chosing fa20club

You will regret this .
I bought tune from them and that is my only mistake about moding this car
I would find other good ecutek tuner or go for OFT

Just a public service announcement here...

I haven't kept up with all the various threads about FA20club, Visconti, Vishnu, etc. But I've been in their shoes. And I've also been on the other side, about 10 years ago, when I initially paid people to tune my projects.

When you're talking about any kind of professional service just keep in mind that somebody somewhere is going to have a bad opinion about a job. Maybe the work really was sloppy. Maybe the situation was beyond what the tuner's expertise was, and he got in over his head. Or maybe he underestimated how much time was involved. Maybe the customer had very high expectations and couldn't be satisfied, like the customer at a restaurant who will complain about anything. There's always a risk involved when you get a new tuner, a new lawyer, a new doctor, a contractor for your house. Nobody out there can ever spend as much time on your car as you can unless you hand them a blank check.

It can be a difficult decision to make. My best advice is ask yourself--what is the risk, and what am I willing to lose? The more modified your car is, the higher the risk of something going wrong, but the more time required to get the job done. Are you willing to risk your engine?

Are you willing to risk your engine with somebody else at the helm vs you running your own show? I eventually came to the conclusion, after a long journey, that for a big project if anybody's going to screw my car up it's going to be me. But know thyself, as the saying goes.