BRZedit and boost. (also wondering BRZedit vs ECUtek with boost)

[DarrenDriven]

Originally Posted by NickFRS

...there are still issues like 2k rpm jerk and no power on start. Or stutter at 2kish RPM's. It's just getting to the point to where I fear for my engines life. But we shall see after my next visit...

Yeah, I am pretty disappointed with the drivability of the car. I recently took the car back to PRE to have some issues resolved (low RPM knocking, 6500 RPM power cutoff) and they updated the tune -- removing the FFS and launch control that I never used a single time. I was a little surprised that they retuned the car without even putting it on the dyno... seems to me that the only way you could do it correctly would be to witness how the engine is responding in real time.

Now I have almost no power below 2000k (not that I am trying to race it down there, but you need some power just not to kill the car) and I can feel surges of power up the RPM range as I keep the throttle constant.

I am happy with how the car feels up top now, but it seems like I shouldn't have to sacrifice drivability in order to have that.

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by evan

Things have changed quite a bit since mid last year:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1016142

Eat your vegetables..

that was prior to ecutek opening up to the rest of us, or even letting us see what it could do. we make the best call we can with the information available at the time, and at that time that was how i felt base on what information was then available. you're right, things have changed a lot since then.

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

Yeah, I am pretty disappointed with the drivability of the car. I recently took the car back to PRE to have some issues resolved (low RPM knocking, 6500 RPM power cutoff) and they updated the tune -- removing the FFS and launch control that I never used a single time. I was a little surprised that they retuned the car without even putting it on the dyno... seems to me that the only way you could do it correctly would be to witness how the engine is responding in real time.

Now I have almost no power below 2000k (not that I am trying to race it down there, but you need some power just not to kill the car) and I can feel surges of power up the RPM range as I keep the throttle constant.

I am happy with how the car feels up top now, but it seems like I shouldn't have to sacrifice drivability in order to have that.

you're correct, you should never have to sacrifice anything at all when tuning one of these cars for boost. every car i've tuned drives as good as or better than a stock 86. this of course assumes you have a decent MAF, because without that it's pretty hopeless. you can tune around a bad MAF, but it's pretty much impossible to make it perfect. Luckily i've only seen one car with a MAF bad enough to impact drivability, and those kits have since been revised to fix the problem that was causing the issue.

it's just a time-consuming process to make it happen, and most aren't willing to put in that time (i spend an average of 4-8 hours just drivability tuning a car on the street before we ever get into boost). it's also not technically feasible to do via e-tuning without serious liability concerns for the tuner (it requires a certain level of restraint that most tuner's can't trust their customers to employ lol).

if you're car doesn't drive better than it did the day you bought it, and the car is mechanically sound, it's not the car's fault.

[DarrenDriven]

That's what I thought... but I just don't feel like pestering the tuner over and over and over to get it right when I think that it should have been right the second time.

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

That's what I thought... but I just don't feel like pestering the tuner over and over and over to get it right when I think that it should have been right the second time.

you paid the money... it's his job to make it right. pester away lol.

[nelsmar]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

That's what I thought... but I just don't feel like pestering the tuner over and over and over to get it right when I think that it should have been right the second time.

Originally Posted by jamesm

you paid the money... it's his job to make it right. pester away lol.

My tuner was lazy and you can see where that got me...

[evan]

@jamesm.. Tune us, Save us from all those before us who did our ECU wrong. Surely you are planning on selling your ECU services..

Eat your vegetables..

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by evan

@jamesm.. Tune us, Save us from all those before us who did our ECU wrong. Surely you are planning on selling your ECU services..

Eat your vegetables..

i can't comment on that at this time . suffice to say i'm a licensed ecutek tuner already.

[NickFRS]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

Yeah, I am pretty disappointed with the drivability of the car. I recently took the car back to PRE to have some issues resolved (low RPM knocking, 6500 RPM power cutoff) and they updated the tune -- removing the FFS and launch control that I never used a single time. I was a little surprised that they retuned the car without even putting it on the dyno... seems to me that the only way you could do it correctly would be to witness how the engine is responding in real time.

Now I have almost no power below 2000k (not that I am trying to race it down there, but you need some power just not to kill the car) and I can feel surges of power up the RPM range as I keep the throttle constant.

I am happy with how the car feels up top now, but it seems like I shouldn't have to sacrifice drivability in order to have that.

This.... I'll let you know how Tuesday goes Darren...

[Ironsquid]

I heard eggs were good, I ordered them at Waffle House. They sucked, I did not like them. Therefor all eggs are crap and I'm switching to grits because my cook suggested it.

[stockysnail]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

Yeah, I am pretty disappointed with the drivability of the car. I recently took the car back to PRE to have some issues resolved (low RPM knocking, 6500 RPM power cutoff) and they updated the tune -- removing the FFS and launch control that I never used a single time. I was a little surprised that they retuned the car without even putting it on the dyno... seems to me that the only way you could do it correctly would be to witness how the engine is responding in real time.

Now I have almost no power below 2000k (not that I am trying to race it down there, but you need some power just not to kill the car) and I can feel surges of power up the RPM range as I keep the throttle constant.

I am happy with how the car feels up top now, but it seems like I shouldn't have to sacrifice drivability in order to have that.

Sounds like what my car feels like, thus me taking it to Drift Office instead. Results on that decision hopefully later this week.

[evan]

@vgi.. The reality is that I spent an assload of money (and time!) on Ecutek before BRZedit. Started with Toni. Bought two locked tunes, cable and license. Toni was not very responsive and his tunes were subpar. Switched to John and bought two tunes. John was not very responsive and his tunes were subpar. All the time, my local tuner warning me that e-tunes are not very good and that it is better to dyno tune locally. (This was before Ecutek opened it up for anybody to be able to tune themselves. How nice of them..) Local tuner uses BRZedit and I now know to use the tool that my tuner prefers. That's how I ended up with it. Although I don't have a problem with Ecutek (I was one of the first in my area to buy into it), I'm not going back now. Financially, it makes no sense. If I do change, I'm just going to spend extra and go Motec. @jamesm is not local, otherwise I would challenge him to build a better tune.

On a slightly related note: My experience on this platform, between all the shitty vendors and scam artists has been utter crap. If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have skipped on the platform and bought something better established. I had a lot of fun with my old f-body and none of these issues. To be honest, this will be my last import.

Eat your vegetables..

[jamesm]

Etunes ony suck when you do it wrong. It can be done right, just no one does them that way. For now .

[pixel67]

Originally Posted by jamesm

Etunes ony suck when you do it wrong. It can be done right, just no one does them that way. For now .

I agree with you on this. The technology exists for e-tunes to be just as effective as in person tunes, especially if it is done on a dyno, but i have yet to see this utilized effectively.

Simply use remote desktop application like logmein to establish remote connectivity between the tuners PC and the PC connected to the vehicle. Use your cell phones "speaker phone" to open up verbal communication with the tuner. The tuner can control Ecutek just as if he were sitting in the passenger seat during dyno runs. New files can be built on the local pc and tried in real time.

If the tuner is PC tech savvy enough, and most should be, then this is an effective way of handling the process vs the current "flash the car, do a run, email me logs, let me review them when i have time, mod the tune on tuners pc, and send you a file that you have to load back on your own PC and then on the car, repeat ."

The remote desktop process would greatly reduce the amount of dyno time needed on a remote tune, at the cost of the tuners time because it requires a dedicated block of time for the work be done in one contiguous session and during working hours.

I would happily divert the money that would go to dyno time at the shop and give it to the tuner if it means a better tune can be had with less total tuning time...