Expert Review: Plug-and-Play performance for the FRS/BRZ with Vishnu Openflash Tablet
 

Everyone knows the FRS and BRZ are short on power; this is not a new complaint. Luckily there has been an explosion in bolt on modifications, such as the ARK Grip catback exhaust, Borla headers and Takeda cold air intakes which are popular mods to try and increase the power output from the sports car that many have deemed “slow” by today’s current standards. Adding bolt on modifications is a great way to customize your car, and make it truly yours. The issue? With more free flowing and efficient parts, the stock ECU or “computer” doesn’t know what to do-and the hp gains you should be getting from your new parts is almost non-existent. Back in the day, issues like this could be overcome with more ghetto mods, such as resistors, map clamps and piggy-backs. Luckily, you no longer have to trick your car trying to maximize the most from your mods, and we have much safer and efficient means of tuning. ECU Tuning, or ECU Reflashing.

One the cars computer is tuned, it can see all the necessary parameters and inputs from the sensors in the engine to keep your engine running safe regardless of elevation, gas quality or air temperature. There are a few ways to tune your car, one of them is going to a “tuner” or “tuning shop” that specializes in custom ECU flashing and tuning. The only downside of tuning your car this way is seeking out a local and reputable tuner for your car. Going to a tuner can sometimes be troublesome, time consuming and expensive when just trying to tune for basic bolt on mods. The easier method of tuning (which applies to most car enthusiasts with bolt on parts), is using a hand-held flash tuner. And today, we will be using the Vishnu Openflash Tablet (or OFT as you may find in this article or forums online).


The Openflash tablet is a GPS sized hand-held tuning device that allows you to tune your car in your own driveway based on the mods you have. Don’t have any mods to your car yet? Don’t worry, the OFT provides benefits that even a stock car can use…but more on that later. Tuning with the OFT is super easy to use (on-screen, step by step directions), and it only takes a few minutes of your time to flash your cars computer. First, you plug the OFT into your OBD II plug, located where the center console and plastic under the steering wheel meet.


Next, turn the key in the ignition to the “acc” position, so the car has power but isn’t running. Follow the on-screen instructions, and the OFT will make a copy of your stock factory tune (which protects you if you ever need to go back to the stock tune, for any reason). Next, you get to “flash” or re-write the cars computer with a new tune-each one customized to make the most power from the mods you have. Included with the OFT are “Canned” tunes. A canned tune is one that has been made with changes in the tune based on other cars with the same mods. Canned tunes are created after a tuner, in this case Vishnu has tuned other cars with various mods, and they come up with a custom tune that will work with a variety of cars. This is a very safe and cost effective way to tune, and will get you 80-90% of the potential power your mods can give you. Once your car has been reflashed with a new tune, you can unplug the Openflash tablet and have fun knowing your car has been safely tuned and is making the most power it can with your bolt-on mods.


Besides tuning your engine, the OFT can be used for switching between tunes (such as pump gas and e85), data logging, engine monitoring and code reading/clearing.


And remember when I said even a stock car can benefit from the Openflash Tablet? The tune that comes with the FRS and BRZ from the factory/dealer is lacking in a few areas. The idle is the first and most notable one. Have you ever noticed when you’re sitting at a stop light, the engine idle fluctuates and almost seems like the car is about to stall? The OFT will help this by providing a much more stable rpm while idling-so no more feeling like you’re in a car that’s about to break down. The next change in tuning for your engine is rather huge, and will definitely have an effect on the longevity of your car-The Direct Injector Seal Update. Under certain driving conditions, there can be detonation in the engine, and it damages the seals of the direct injector system. Over time, this can lead to expensive repairs needed to your car, and most likely your warranty will have run out, and you’ll be left to foot the bill. Luckily, the tuners over at Vishnu Performance are aware of this issue, and have included this tuning fix in every single one of their tunes!

With that said, I personally run the Vishnu Openflash Tablet on my FRS, and have done so over the past 10k miles. I have had nothing but fantastic results from it, and the OFT has allowed me to maximize the performance with the mods I have. When I’m feeling like a race driver or heading to the track, I can fill up my car with E-85, flash the ECU and enjoy great gains in hp/tq without bolting on anything-all I did was fill up my gas tank with E85 and flash my ECU. Or, when I pick up future mods, such as a new Front Pipe from Berk Technology, I can flash a different tune and take full advantage of my new modification!

http://blog.modbargains.com/wp-conte...n-progress.jpg

Nice! :thumbsup:

Excellent review! Thanks for sharing. Subbed for future future feedback(s). :thumbup:

So who else is running an open flash tablet? I'm sure there are a ton of guys on this forum who do. How do you guys like it so far?

Hey Jurrian,

I've run OFT Stage 1, Stage 2 e85, and now the Phantom Supercharger tune and love it. Waiting on Stage 2+e85+Phantom ESC. Running off the shelf (OTS) maps that are tuned for performance and safety has been great. The e85 tunes cover ethanol mixtures from e50-e90 without a flex fuel kit. There's a review from someone on the board that has run OFT e85 for over 30k miles with no issues. Shiv is constantly adding features and more logging channels. Most exhaust products are supported, and for FI, the OFT supports Phantom ESC, Vortech SC and now SPD Turbo.

I will eventually make the drive to Vishnu to get dyno tuned. Till then, the Vishnu OTS maps are awesome. The functionality is good for probably 85-90% of owners and the price has not been touched.

How's that?

This is helpful as I wasn't really sure how this open flash tablet worked.

Me neither! ;)

Thanks for the write up ModBargains!

Great, concise write-up. It answered a lot of questions I had! A few more for you (or anyone else):

1) How does one get the OTS maps? Do they have to email Vishnu every time, or is there some sort of username/password-protected repository of tunes?
2) How quickly are new maps released for new parts? e.g. - does the new FT86SF catted-UEL have a map?
3) For the DI seal issue, didn't Toyota release a TSB to fix that for earlier ('13) cars and '14s already have that update applied?


Thanks,
Jyn

Cool. Never done any kind of tunes on a car before so had no clue how it worked.
This looks much easier that what I pictured in my head.

Would have been cool if there was some kind of dyno comparison on the review to show the gains from a tune (specific to the reviewer and his vehicle).

1) The OTS maps come pre-loaded in the OFT. After you install the OFT (read the stock ECU), OTS tune files will automatically be generated (see video on front page of www.openflashtablet.com). Then just select what OTS file you want (Stage 1, Stage 2 UEL, Stage 2 EL, Stage 2 UEL E85 or Stage 2 EL E85) and you're off.

2) Map releases/updates come regularly. We don't necessary have OTS maps for every single header since that would be impossible. But our OTS maps are carefully calibrated to work with a wide range of mods.

3) All OTS maps have the latest DI seal fix applied in them. Along with add-ons like Launch Control and Flat-Foot Shift.

Cheers,
Shiv

The regular map release updates always give me something new to look forward to. They keep getting better and better

I've had the OpenFlash combo for a good part of this summer and it transforms the car. It adds much needed torque in the dip, increases the response and is dead easy to use. Free updates are always welcome and soon we will have 91 and 93 optimized maps.

So far, very happy with my purchase :)

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Good review, this is one of the few mods that I actually will consider doing even though I will be keeping the car stock.

Worth it just for the Launch Controls :). That and the magical sound when you hit over 4k :)

nice review. exactly what i had experience with

Can this be detected by the dealer after returning back to stock. I was leaning towards the Unichip for the lack of detection.

No dealer cannot detect after flashing back to stock. First time you use it, you will dl and save the original flash for this very reason.
I've used stg 1 on a stock car and now 2 with mods. Its a must have for either application.

Love my OFT! Cant wait for the Phantom ESC E85 tune :) We love you shiv

Are the tunes out of box tuned for 93 Octane or 91? Will be running with a drop in filter and catback exhaust. Most likely would use the Stage 1 tune.

91 only right now.. but Shiv will have 93 ready when 2.0 hits.
You will be stg 1 with the mods you mentioned.

Would the tunes on the OFT work for high altitude areas like Colorado? Given the elevation here, how safe would the stage 2 map be? I have the Perrin header back exhaust and will have the FT86 headers in a week or two.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61294

Totally safe


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Thanks!

Do you think it will be safe to run 93 gas? Most gas stations around me don't offer 91.

For sure. Its safe to go higher in octane. Just don't go lower than 91.

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I'm still "grey" on the notion of the OFT auto-loading compatible OTS files when it's connected to the car and reads the OEM and after-market configurations.

My understanding is that the OTS files are pre-set configuration files based on a certain and specific setup. Like one file is for cars with a EL Header and using 91 gas, another would be for a UEL Header and using e85, and so on.

So then I imagine for folks, such as myself, that have a combination of items (I have TRD Exhaust and Intake and Crawford BPB and use 93 octane.), the OFT would detect the items, hunt through the OTS files available and return the list of files that are most relevant.

BUT...I would NOT expect there to be a specific OTS file with my EXACT set of configurations, so maybe the OFT offers up a list of several, close but not exact tunes???....Like; One OTS file has a tune for cars with TRD Exhaust, another for TRD Intake and then a 3rd file is for Crawford BPB. So then it's up to me to do some trial-n-error and test the different tunes until I find the one I think works best (if not exactly perfectly tuned for the configuration I have).??

Do I have the gist of it?

If so, how much of a learning curve am I looking at in order to hone an OTS file to my specific configuration?

Thanks!

Where did you hear that it detects your mods? These are off the shelf maps. The ECU does make adjustments post flash depending on what the sensors are telling it. But that is not the same as the OFT detecting your mods and dynamically changing the tables during the flash.

The OFT as delivered from Vishnu will auto detect your ECU CalID and load up the various stages available. As far as I know the crawford BPM map is still in beta and is NOT part of the maps that are auto generated.

Once you have done your initial scan of your ECU you will need to choose the appropriate map from the list of options to load on to your ECU. The OFT wont automatically choose the right one for you as it has no way of knowing what you have done to your car.

So the OFT gives you a list of tune files based on ECU CalID (not any kind of smart detection of stock/after-market add-ons), got it.

So then it's still a matter of trial-n-error to pick a tune file closest to your actual config, load it onto the ECU and test, then choose another that's close to your config, load THAT onto the ECR and test again...Repeat as necessary until you find the one that works best for you. Is that right?

Sortof. It shouldn't be trial and error at all. The "stages" are pretty well defined by Shiv. There are different versions of the stage 2 maps based on if you have EL or UEL headers.

Stage 1 tunes are for essentially stock vehicles with maybe a high flow panel filter.

Stage 2 are for vehicles with catless headers and there are UEL and EL map versions.

Stage 2 E85 tunes are for vehicles with catless headers and those running E85 ONLY and there are UEL and EL map versions.

Cat back exhausts/overpipes/front pipes dont really matter for the purposes of choosing maps.

The only exception to this rule is if you have a stock vehicle and plan on running E85 fuel, the Stage 2 E85 EL map has been tested as safe for stock vehicles. Just remember that you can ONLY run E85 with the E85 maps. If you need/want to swap back to 91 or 93 octane then you'll have to flash back to a non-E85 map.

All of this gets slightly more complicated once Shiv releases the v2.0 maps. Then there will also be 91 octane and 93 octane versions of each map.

So essentially you'll pick the one that matches your car and load that to your ECU and that's it.


EDIT:Just saw that you have Crawford BPB's. You'll have to download the beta map off http://openflashtablet.com/products/...ads/index.html for the BPB's and manually load up the map for that onto your OFT. Make sure you load the correct CalID and choose the correct fuel map. Then you'll flash that to your ECU.

Is the OFT any different than how the COBB AP works? I loved the hell out of my AP.

Never had a Cobb AP but looking at their web site

Probably pretty close, maybe missing a couple of features and screen not as hi res, but basicly same idea and same basic functionality

suggest you look at www.openflashtablet.com

Conceptually, the are the same. That is, a handheld device that doesn't require a laptop to flash your ECU and that can be uninstalled and then re-sold if needed. The differences boil down to details such as:

OFT provides unencrypted ROM format vs encrypted AP
OFT provides mode data display options (more channels simultaneously)
OFT is touchscreen vs AP buttons

If you like the AP, you will like the OFT

Cheers,
Shiv

+1000 on the unencrypted ROM's

anyhow back to work on V2.0 and stop posting :D

Does the stage 1 map for stock vehicles increase the hp or torque at all? If so by how much?

Read this

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29340

i will be getting my oft today or tomorrow. from what i have heard from @shiv is i can run the stage 2 el since i have full exhast and intake bolt ons. i will run this map and watch to make sure everything is in line. once i recieve my headers i will be running the stage 2 uel map then switching to e85. cant wait

Untill you get your headers installed run the Stage 1 maps for Petrol

You can run Stage 2 E85 EL map with stock headers but only on E85

When you get headers you can run stage 2 petrol maps (EL oe UEL depending on headers)

see post by @Malt above http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...8&postcount=30

He said Shiv said it would be fine ??

Not sure where he got that information but unless something has changed that I've missed, unless you are running E85 then the Stage 2 maps are strictly for cars with catless headers.

This isn't the first time I've seen people ask about running the stage 2 maps on cars with stock headers. Not sure why they would want to do so. The stage 1 maps offer a pretty nice bump in power and running stage 2 maps with stock headers and 91/93 octane doesn't sound like a smart idea to me. Then again, I've always erred on the side of caution. Personally I'd run the maps like they were intended to be ran and if I wanted more power I'd just buy what was recommended to run the more aggressively tuned maps. You're not going to get the claimed power output of the Stage 2 maps with that stock cat in place, so why risk it?