Why OFT?

[tennisfreak]

So I am curious as to why OFT is so popular.

I've read a lot of threads and watched a lot of videos and I know its easy and reliable

BUT

The gains from it are not very good.

I've watched multiple videos of before/after tunes using Open Flash and it appears that even with headers/exhaust the gains are averaging ~15hp to the wheel.

I'd expect more like 20-30hp for a headerback and tune.

Are my expectations too high or is it just a matter of using EcuTek and getting a custom dyno tune?

[ermax]

You don't have to use a canned tune on the OTF though. You could get a custom tune too.

[PuslarBrrrz]

Because its cheap, easy and proves gains. The gains are plenty on E85.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

So I am curious as to why OFT is so popular.

Are my expectations too high or is it just a matter of using EcuTek and getting a custom dyno tune?

The former. The only thing that makes more significant power in a headerback arrangement NA is a catless header and to a lesser degree a catless FP. You might get an extra 1-2 WHP from an OP and the same from a CBE.

BUT

With that OFT, you also get a free e85 Tune (good for ~e50-e90). So if a person has that in their area, then they unlock that lovely extra power for nothing. To me, this is what makes the OFT a bargain for NA owners.

[nocoolname]

It's easy to use and quite a bit cheaper than an ecutek setup. For NA, which most people are, it provides enough options to get close. If you're going for every bit of NA power or forced induction, most of the time ecutek is the better option, however the OFT is pretty good with some supercharged setups and the SBD kit utilizes the OFT as well.

I would be very curious on a dyno comparison of an OFT flash tune with a couple of tweaks to the MAF curve and load compensation tables through street tuning vs an ecutek e-tune with a few revisions. I bet it would be very close...

[Luftwaffel]

People like things to come easy. OFT is easy. You plug it in, you push Read, you push Write, you flash your tune, and you're done. At some point you plug it into your computer too, but most people are going to equate that to plugging your phone in to copy some music over.

ECUtek is more involved and requires a little more effort to get going for most people and it doesn't have the pretty package that the OFT does. It doesn't log to a nice little box with visual gauges, and you have to have a laptop in your car if you want to do anything with it.

All that being said, yes, you can custom tune on OFT, but the thing is, most people aren't going to want to do that themselves. The only person that's going to tune you on OFT is Shiv, which as good as I know his tunes are, I seem to remember he's kind of slow, probably because of his workload.

ECUtek isn't that much more expensive if you're planning on getting a custom tune from the start, and it's the only thing most tuners will use, because they don't want to have their work stolen and can lock the tune. My tuner on the other hand, who actually provides you with an unlocked ECUtek tune, won't use OFT because it doesn't have the custom mapping that ECUtek affords for additional functionality and safety features, especially when FI.

[Lickwid Apex]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

So I am curious as to why OFT is so popular.

I've read a lot of threads and watched a lot of videos and I know its easy and reliable

BUT

The gains from it are not very good.

I've watched multiple videos of before/after tunes using Open Flash and it appears that even with headers/exhaust the gains are averaging ~15hp to the wheel.

I'd expect more like 20-30hp for a headerback and tune.

Are my expectations too high or is it just a matter of using EcuTek and getting a custom dyno tune?

For as little as this car weighs, 15hp is a pretty healthy leap. When paired with a catless header that gutless feeling your old FRS had would have felt worlds better. The little valley we call the torque dip is smoothed out significantly.

I'd say your expectations require a little real life experience.

#stirspot

[Tor]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

So I am curious as to why OFT is so popular.

I've read a lot of threads and watched a lot of videos and I know its easy and reliable

BUT

The gains from it are not very good.

You don't get anymore gains from an OFT tablet than you get from an Ecutek cable. It's a device for flashing the ECU.

A tune is what will give you a performance increase.

The OFT is supplied with base tunes that you can use if you desire, or tweak them yourself or let someone else do it. The software you use to do this is called RomRaider.

So in the end your car is tuned with RomRaider and flashed with OFT.

Ecutek is not supplied with any base tunes, so you have to tune the car from scratch or let a tuner do it.

You can also use Tactrix to flash your car and tune with RomRaider. Or use other software like EcuFlash or BRZedit.

I'd expect more like 20-30hp for a headerback and tune.

NA, you get max 10-15 hp from a tune on pump gas and close to zero would be due to the headerback.

20-30hp on pump gas is realistic with a quality aftermarket header and with a well dialed in tune (with or without a change to cat-back).

Both above goes for Ecutek ProEcu as well as RomRaider.

[steve99]

Here is link to variois tune systems for these cars.

OFT is just a flash device, for Naturally adpirated csrs you can get same results with any tine system. Custom tuning on any sysyem will get you a little more power


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106068


Your adjusting same tables with all tune systems naturally aspirated

[Chimera]

I've run both systems now, just throwing in my 2c, my car starts much more reliably in the cold (~30F) on ecutek with a FF kit than it did on OFT e85 tune only. This is almost certainly just an effect of the tune, not the platform. As far as power they seem about the same. OFT is definitely easier to use.

[Breadman]

because i like the logging, the odb2 reading, and until i got FI i dont feel like paying for ecutek. when i do i can just sell it

[Lincoln Logs]

I've used both ECUtek and OFT prodcuts, there are advantages for each platform. For most people the ease of use for OFT wins hands down. To have a single device responsible for flashing, logging and even clearing codes it wins and is my personal choice for my cars. Another bonus, if you are savvy with tuning, OFT is OpenSource and provides base maps to dial in your project more.

[S. Snake]

Love the OFT for its simplicity and obvious uses as a flashing. diagnostic, etc device, The real worth lies in its good off the shelf tunes totally worth the 500 bucks especially if your car is your mildly modded NA daily like mine. Now with that being said that does not say Ecutek should be totally off your radar, for example when I get my FI kit I'm going to use the Ecutek to load my CARB tune while continuing to use my OFT occasionaly to monitor stuff like AFRs and oil temps. I'm going to keep both because they are great tools to have on this platform. Lastly if I were going to do E85 I would only do it on the OFT if I lived in a state with an ABUNDANCE of E85 stations to keep my car on 100% E85 all of the time. Where I live now they are few and far between so personally I would run a quality flex fuel kit on an Ecutek tune so my car knows what blend of corn juice its running on and can adjust accordingly to give me the maximum safety and performance. Sorry for the wall of text.

[Jasonb]

For me the OFT is worth the money. Resale value is good too, if you decide to try it and decide to move on. With a JDL catless UEL header and stage 2 tune, there was definitely an increase in power, and a flattened out torque curve.