E85 Tune 2013 Scion FRS Questions

[Jack Carrigan]

First question: In CA i think e85 is heavily subsidized. So its 4.69$ for premium and 2.79$ for e85 near San Diego. That means e85 costs 60% of premium. With out a tune, i ran e85 for about 100 miles and i got 22.8mpg vs 30mpg. that is only 70% of normal mpg. meaning im saving money. Such savings would make it more attractive for me to make the switch to e85.

Second: this one I can google so just rough answers are fine. How much more power do you get? it is noticeable? I already have cold air intake and headers and catback on it. and my issue now is not very much power above 3000rpm.

Third: it was hard for me to find someone to even do the turn here. Alot would not touch toyotas. He quoted me 800$ plus 200$ for a license (another 180$ if I wanted to maps to go in between e85 and premium). And then 150$ for a fuel pump which I was going to install myself. is there a cheaper option? I am willing to drive to Phoenix if its like 400$.



Thank you in advance for your help.

[yzf219]

Originally Posted by Jack Carrigan

First question: In CA i think e85 is heavily subsidized. So its 4.69$ for premium and 2.79$ for e85 near San Diego. That means e85 costs 60% of premium. With out a tune, i ran e85 for about 100 miles and i got 22.8mpg vs 30mpg. that is only 70% of normal mpg. meaning im saving money. Such savings would make it more attractive for me to make the switch to e85.

Second: this one I can google so just rough answers are fine. How much more power do you get? it is noticeable? I already have cold air intake and headers and catback on it. and my issue now is not very much power above 3000rpm.

Third: it was hard for me to find someone to even do the turn here. Alot would not touch toyotas. He quoted me 800$ plus 200$ for a license (another 180$ if I wanted to maps to go in between e85 and premium). And then 150$ for a fuel pump which I was going to install myself. is there a cheaper option? I am willing to drive to Phoenix if its like 400$.



Thank you in advance for your help.

E85 is the biggest gain you can make horsepower wise if you wish to stay n/a. An aftermarket fuel pump is not necessary if you are n/a for e85.

Sent from my SM-G991W using Tapatalk

[fminicooper]

E85 will be noticiable.

I am running a tune in OFT (an pre-own device could be in $350/400), tune from wayne roms (wayneroms.com), at that time cost me 50$ (maybe today is more that that)

OEM fuel pump.

OEM Header gutted.

E85 only for track days since I do not have the flex tune (another ~400/500 in hardware). I do not like to have E85 filled the whole year. I do not mind for short period of times (3 o 4 weeks)

Hope it helps.

[Grady]

E85 without a tune give you nothing. You can do remote tunes, check with Counterspace Garage.

[bababooey]

from what I recall you could expect about another 10hp over the header & tune w/ e85. cant remember if it was wheel or crank, but reports of e85 quality can be inconsistent. meaning you could get a batch of e60, lowering potential power gains.

[EndlessAzure]

Originally Posted by Jack Carrigan

First question: In CA i think e85 is heavily subsidized. So its 4.69$ for premium and 2.79$ for e85 near San Diego. That means e85 costs 60% of premium. With out a tune, i ran e85 for about 100 miles and i got 22.8mpg vs 30mpg. that is only 70% of normal mpg. meaning im saving money. Such savings would make it more attractive for me to make the switch to e85.

Second: this one I can google so just rough answers are fine. How much more power do you get? it is noticeable? I already have cold air intake and headers and catback on it. and my issue now is not very much power above 3000rpm.

Third: it was hard for me to find someone to even do the turn here. Alot would not touch toyotas. He quoted me 800$ plus 200$ for a license (another 180$ if I wanted to maps to go in between e85 and premium). And then 150$ for a fuel pump which I was going to install myself. is there a cheaper option? I am willing to drive to Phoenix if its like 400$.



Thank you in advance for your help.

10 hp going from 91 to E85 with a tune.

You don't need a fuel pump for NA application.

You don't need to go to a shop in person, and don't go to random shops. Go to someone who specializes in Subaru (yes Subaru. You own a Subaru). Any tuner who looks at your car and thinks they're tuning a Toyota doesn't know jack about the car.

Delicious Tuning and CSG both have Subaru experience and offer remote tuning. Both work with the Ecutek ProECU tuning platform.

• All new: $300 Ecutek license + $300 Ecutek vehicle interface + $300 remote tune + $500 flex fuel sensor kit. You can buy the vehicle interface and flex fuel kit used, which can save you maybe $200. If you're going to go the tune route, it's best to have all of your engine power mods sorted and installed at once. Each time you change/add something, you need to pay for a re-tune.

An alternative is to use Openflash Tuner for about $450.

• It will come with "free" OFT tunes (including maps for 91 and E85) when you buy the vehicle interface tablet (like how Cobb does theirs), but the tunes are pretty conservative and don't often perform as well as custom Ecutek ones.
• However, the "free" tunes don't support flex fuel. You would have to buy a custom OFT tune for about $200, plus the $500 flex fuel sensor kit to make that happen.

[Qwimby1]

I would check availability of E85 in your area before committing to it. In some areas it's plentiful and in others almost impossible to get. I you make any long trips you might want to carry a couple of cans with you because you may not find it out on the road that's. That's the primary reason I went back to 93 octane. I also carry my Oft with me the car always.

[Dake]

Here's the blog post from way back when, where they did a bunch of variations on the same dyno on the same day. Also, the sidenote I like to point out - virtually no increase from removing the CATs.

They saw a 14HP bump with just the OFT E85 tune on an otherwise stock FRS.

I use the OFT myself - I just put the tune on in the summer and go back to 93 for the winter (because E85 is very hard starting in the cold - even the fifties). You can usually find someone selling their old OFT for $300-$400; just make sure it's been unpaired from their car. The downside is you have to manually swap back and forth vs the true flex fuel scenario, so if you take road trips, bring the OFT with you in case you need to swap back.

[softail]

I have a stock GT86 with Wayne mapping on OFT. I adjusted the MAF scale and knock correction. Before I liked the car for its lines, now I also like it for its engine, that's how it should have come out.

[Jack Carrigan]

Originally Posted by Dake

Here's the blog post from way back when, where they did a bunch of variations on the same dyno on the same day. Also, the sidenote I like to point out - virtually no increase from removing the CATs.

They saw a 14HP bump with just the OFT E85 tune on an otherwise stock FRS.

I use the OFT myself - I just put the tune on in the summer and go back to 93 for the winter (because E85 is very hard starting in the cold - even the fifties). You can usually find someone selling their old OFT for $300-$400; just make sure it's been unpaired from their car. The downside is you have to manually swap back and forth vs the true flex fuel scenario, so if you take road trips, bring the OFT with you in case you need to swap back.

I have the cats. And also headers and a cat back exhaust. I dont wont to deal with no cats and trying to pass smog in CA.

[Grady]

Originally Posted by Dake

(because E85 is very hard starting in the cold - even the fifties)

That is tune related. E85 tune in OFT is known for poor cold starting. A good ECUTec tune will start a lot better in the cold. Mine is fine down to freezing. Have not tried mine any colder I switch to the truck at those temps.

[Jack Carrigan]

Originally Posted by Grady

That is tune related. E85 tune in OFT is known for poor cold starting. A good ECUTec tune will start a lot better in the cold. Mine is fine down to freezing. Have not tried mine any colder I switch to the truck at those temps.

good to know, easy way to see if my car is already tuned. the guy I talked to said reguardless, should be retuned for 1500$