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Old 10-21-2015, 09:32 PM   #1
TouchMyHonda
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Talking My experience with Shiv & his products at Open Flash Tablet / Open Flash Header

I have been in this “tuner game”, half of my life. I have always worked with small, light, high compression 4 cylinders Hondas. I have experienced almost every single best case B18 Honda NA engine set up you could have wanted. I went through 4 motors, too many to count dyno pulls, and have tried all the best combinations of virtually all “bold-on’s”. My last set up netted 240WHP with an OEM setup B18 block, with OEM bore/internals, a street duty Portflow head build featuring “JUN3” cams. Car had 13:5 compression, and only ran on E85. I HAD BEEN SPOILD WITH HAVING LITTERALLY (one of) THE BEST HONDA TUNER IN THE MID-WEST, HANDS DOWN!

Now I don’t wrench at all, but I have learned how to feel a car out, and to literally pick up on any noise / feel from one. It’s crazy, but I can pick up on the slightest change and typically pinpoint what’s different, good or bad. I thank this to my years of experience around these super talented tuners, and driving one single car for 400K+ miles which saw so many different tuning setups from everything related from the engine to the chassis. I had been through so many different dyno sessions, tunes, and chassis/engine tests, that my butt dyno is HYPER sensitive and accurate.

Yes…. I know. This is a review for Shiv and not to be my life story. However, knowing some of this about me will, help you understand why I feel the way I do about the Open Flash Tablet team / Shiv the mastermind himself. Because, I have spent years with some of the most talented mid-west track drivers, engine builders, and tuners, I VOWED TO NEVER E-TUNE any of my cars. The day came when my 11 year long, almost half a million mile Honda relationship ended. In the middle of this transitional time, I began my BRZ ownership.

Now the reason I went with a BRZ (Twin), is because it is literally the closest thing to a late 80’s-late-late 90’s modified Honda. It’s not quite an S2k, its more of a RWD Integra Type R. Anyone who comes from a similar background will agree. Honda has really lost its way, when I have to buy a Toyota/Subaru to find my next “hondaish” car. My plan for this car was to literally be a weekend toy, and to be a TRACK (road course) ANIMAL. The only real problem I had with BRZ ownership is that no one near me in a reasonable distance had a reputable reputation for tuning Subaru’s….. WOMP WOMP.

I thought, “whatever, I’ve done the fast 4 banger thing. Let’s just do all the possible drivetrain, suspension, and brake upgrades possible” (my signature is very out of date). Well I literally did do all of the possible chassis upgrades, with some of the best options possible for all performance aspects of this car, with the exception the motor. I did many of the mods I have at same time, and many of them separately. I had taken the car to a handful of local tracks in between many of the changes I had added. I was not only able feel the positive changes with each round of changes, but saw how positively my lap times had improved. The lack of a tuner locally to help me, and my fear of E-Tuning had kept my engine totally stock until I learned about Open Flash Tuning. A local here had his tablet, and had been running a bone stock car with Shiv’s off the shelf OFT E85 tune. This local was a somewhat acquaintance, we knew many of the same tuners here in the area.

This sparked my interested to at least investigate, while remaining extremely skeptical. One night this local picked me up and let me drive his car. The feel of the car/motor was actually pretty close to what I would expect a mild “bolt-on / tuned / (maybe even small cam)” Honda engine to feel like. It was exactly what I was looking for; regardless that it was still nowhere near as fast my last car, I FELT LIKE I HAD HUGED AN OLD SOUL MATE. That power band / feel was like putting your favorite pair of jeans on (or some shit that you can relate to, insert that here). However, knowing what I know and with my experience, I was still pretty skeptical.

When I actually when to investigate, I found out that Shiv is also the guy who had started another brand of tuning software and products, Vishnu Tuning. I first learned about Vishnu Tuning 6-7 years ago when I was shopping around for a (at the time) new 335I. The crazy thing he was doing, and the massive number of people using his products in the BMW world was impressive back then. To this day, many of Shiv’s BMW clients are still running his off the shelf solutions and pushing 400+-WHP depending on setups. Also, this isn’t just Shiv’s other brand/products. He has been doing this for years with other auto-makes. I felt like I was reading up about an old friend, not to get creepy and weird.

What had finally pushed me over the edge of going full blow OFT/OFH crazy was when this local took his car to my old genius Honda tuners dyno for a baseline. This local’s bone stock BRZ, which simply an OFT and the OFT E85 map, put down 198 to the wheels. After talking with my old tuner about his thoughts, I was sold. I picked up an OFT and OFH the next week. I only had and still have the intentions of using 93 octane due to lack of track availability of E85.

I was able to experience using just the OFT stage 1 EL tune for a few weeks, and also installing the OFH and using the stage 2 UEL tune for about 2 months with only the header as a power mod. I am pretty competitive when on track and needed more some more push. So I talked with Shiv’s buddy/employee Robert about what I was planning to do, which was to order a FULL exhaust (Perrin 3inch resonated cat back, 2.5 inc OP, and catted DP from Motiv), with a Perrin 3inch intake. He suggested that I have Shiv do remote E tuning for 93 (since most track I do to don’t have E85 locally). He said this was only $195 bucks, which is DAMN cheap. The experience with gradually adding mods to the engine, while using a few OFT off the shelf tunes, and then doing about 12 back and forth E Tunes tweaks with Shiv, was an absolute blast! Working with Shiv has been an absolutely pleasure, and doing these mod over this entire summer, with SEVERAL thousand miles / SEVERAL track days, gave me the ability to use my super butt dyno senses to really feel things out. My ass sure did sense all the changes, and like all the feels. ALSO, THE CAR HAS BEEN DEAD NUTS RELIABLE! It’s run around the track FAR smoother with OFT tunes then it had ever with a stock motor/tune.

First, the tablet is definitely an old piece of technology. HOWEVER, is the most useful tool in terms of data logging and monitoring your OBD2 sensors you will find for our platform. I have literally spend hours and hours trying to find a better “digital display thingy” for these, and nothing comes close to the amount of things you can read with an OFT. ((Please don’t say some shit like, oh get the P3 garbage display, or the joke of a Greddy Infometer. Both are cool(ish) but unpractical and lack almost everything you will come to love about the OFT)) The only reason I wanted to find a different display for the OBD2 readings, is that I don’t want to endanger my OFT from getting stolen, while having my original tune saved it. Also, I have had bad luck with Torque and those DAMN Bluetooth things. Using Shiv’s table it’s easy, and I truly enjoy it. Also, once you flash to the tune you want, it is not necessary to leave the tablet in the car.

Secondly, the OFH is insanely cheap for how quality the piece is. I have had close to a dozen (or more) different headers for all my Honda engines, and the quality of the OFH is on par with the all of the best quality headers I have owned, and this was WAY cheaper then all of my headers I have had in my day (SMSP/HYTECH/ETC.). The welds are great, the flanges are nice and thick, and I have not had one single issue in about almost 8-10k(ish) miles and TONS of track time all summer.

Third, the actual performance gains from the off the shelf stage 1/2 tunes are REAL. However, these performance gains are all in the USUABLE ranges of your power band, where OEM just flat out sucks. YOU WILL LOVE THIS ON TRACK WHERE IT COUNTS. Also, daily driving will really change for the better as well! If you think that using the OFT tunes, or any other 86/Twin tuners tunes will make you MAD CRAZY FAST, then this is the wrong car for you in the first place. Shiv’s off the shelf tunes, will net you so much more USABLE power, and some top end power. At the end of the day with a relatively stock 86/Twin with an OFT stage 1/2, you will creep away from a stock tuned, and stock motored 86/Twin. Where you will shine over an OEM tune/motor, is how the car feels, and the ability to access useable power where you didn’t have that before. We all know how crap the stock tune is before 5k-5.5k…. ugh.

I was really enjoying my off the shelf stage 2 tune, before I started my remote tune with Shiv. Working with him on the back and forth was easy and quick. I had even been VERY NEEDY in between track days to have him do quick data log turn arounds. He is simply a great professional, and has totally changed my mind with E-Tuning. THIS MIGHT UPSET SOME PEOPLE…. But with my full exhaust and intake on my 93 E-Tune, I will pull away on other tuners E85/Flexfuel tuned cars with comparable mods. I’ve only experienced this on track and not on the street as of yet. However, I could catch other Twin on a straight, including every single E85/Flexfuel tuned car I’ve ran into, which is at least 5 this summer. So far, no NA Twin (and any supercharged Twin(s)) has been able to keep up, shake me, or pass me on a road course that I have been on track with locally…. And I have kept my local lead that much further with some OFT/OFH love. Virtually ALL of the other guys have much more track experience/seat time, and comparable mods.

I don’t think I will drag you all though anymore of my thoughts, but I wanted to post this up for the doubters, naysayers, or people really interested in knowing more about the OFT / OFH. (I don’t do the grammar things good, so I don’t want to hear it!;0)

~Touchmyhond
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Old 10-21-2015, 10:09 PM   #2
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Did you dyno before and after etune?
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Old 10-21-2015, 11:03 PM   #3
TouchMyHonda
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I have not yet! If I had to guess, I'm between 205-210whp.
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Old 10-22-2015, 10:17 AM   #4
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tl;dr
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Old 10-22-2015, 01:01 PM   #5
TouchMyHonda
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tl;dr
I followed your build thread for a long time. I enjoyed reading your mod updates. I know you sold your car a long time ago. Do you feel like your ghosting here is due to some, "unfinished business"?
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Old 10-23-2015, 09:57 AM   #6
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I followed your build thread for a long time. I enjoyed reading your mod updates. I know you sold your car a long time ago. Do you feel like your ghosting here is due to some, "unfinished business"?
It wasn't that long ago, and I am still interested in further development of the chassis, engine, and tuning. I can see myself buying another one in the future.
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