EcuFlash - first findings and explorations...

[earlyapex]

Forgot that I hadn't posted this on socal evo yet. :angel:

Some of you might have seen this on the other board already but I figured I would post it here too.

These are my findings after spending about 3.5 hours on the dyno exploring EcuFlash.

The free software can be found here: http://www.openecu.org/index.php?title=EcuFlash

The cable to use it can be bought here: http://www.tactrix.com/

Unfortunatly I picked a really bad day to mess with EcuFlash on my car since it was about 90F+ on the Gruppe-S mustang dyno. :shock: But, it was a good learning session to get myself more familar with EcuFlash. I spent about 3.5hrs and about 25 dyno pulls messing around with EcuFlash. Very cool piece of tech.

I zeroed out my EcuPlus piggyback. 0 timing changes, 0 fuel changes. Only thing I kept on was knock compensation for safety and I also used EcuPlus to log all my pulls.

First off, I tweaked the Injector scaling and also the injector battery voltage compensation since I run 720cc injectors.

I did about 4-5 runs to 4000-4500 RPM just to make sure AFRS where in check. I also monitored my fuel trims at idle and cruise to make sure the LTFT / STFT where in spec.

The car ran pretty lean the first 2 pulls with no fuel and timing changes. Around 11.7-12.4 AFR. This was to be expected since the stock fuel / timing settings are well, for a stock car. Mine isn't stock. ;)

First thing I noticed with the EcuFlash fuel tables is that the AFR numbers in the table do not match up with what the cars actual AFR output. These are meant for a bone stock EVO and even then I don't think the AFR numbers would match. This is a very important thing to know. You cannot go into the maps and input 11.1 AFR if that is your target AFR to tune. Your car will run bloody lean. Basically ignore the numbers and think of the whole map as a matrix that you can slide rich or slide lean. Smoothness counts here just like any other method of tuning.

So I basically richened it up globally and did a couple more pulls. I started to see that a Flash is ALOT more consistant run to run then a piggyback is. The car was still running a bit lean on spool and in the mid range then became pig rich up top. Sounds like what a stock evo does right? ;) I think my baseline after getting the AFRs in the safe range was approx 253whp/234trq. This was with about a 11.5-11.6 on spool and peak torque going to about 10.2 AFR up top.

Then I started doing full pulls and tuned for about 2hrs. :lol: Once I got my AFRs up to a nice strong and very consistant 11.1-11.2 I started messing with the timing tables. With the tables at stock I was running very very low timing, about -1 to 1 degree advance at peak torque and about 16-17 degrees up top.

I slowly added a degree of timing at various places in the RPM band and worked my way up to getting about 5 to 6 degrees advance at peak torque to about 18 to 19 degrees advance up top. At this point the car and the room was just way too hot and full of dirty air to continue tweaking. The car started knocking and the TQ and HP refused to advance and on some pulls even dropped. I decided to call it a day, or night at this point. :lol:

Here is where I left off... to be continued of course. ;) Please remember it was just reallly really hot (90F +) and the car refused to make any decent trq numbers because of it. Hell, I am suprised I made this much HP! The curves are really the thing to look at here.

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/dyno_chart01.jpg

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/dyno_chart01_AFR.jpg

Overall I am very very happy with this piece of tech. The car is much much smoother now then with the piggyback and I am sure alot of that has to do with properly scaled injectors. The car is also much more consistant pull to pull. Once I got my AFR locked in, the AFR and the plot of the AFR was rock solid pull after pull.

I still have a bunch of playing to do with this before I am 100% satisfied and I also want a day that isn't 90F on the dyno to really see what EcuFlash can do number and power curve wise.

One big thing I noticed on the drive home is the AFRs actually got leaner on the street, which is usually the opposite of what has happened to me before. The AFRs hit about 11.8-11.6 on 3rd and 4th gear pulls which leads me to believe the loads changed. So I need to continue tweaking the car to at least make it safer in my eyes.

Here are my stock and tweaked Fuel and timing maps from today. Noticed that the target AFRs on the maps do not match the actual AFR output of the car like I noted above.

stock maps:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/fuel_timing_stock.gif

Tweaked maps:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/fuel_timing_modified.gif

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Ok did some ECUplus logs today. Did a couple pulls with the exact same tune I rolled off the dyno with last night and a couple pulls after I adding some fuel via the ecuplus piggyback since:

A. I don't have a WinXP laptop to run EcuFlash on yet so reflashing with tweaked maps wasn't an option.
B. I wasn't comfortable running 11.5-11.8 AFRS on 91 octane.

So it's a bandaid for now until I can reflash the car again.

Here is a log overlay of before(same tune as last night) and after (adding 2 to 3 points of fuel via EcuPlus). Notice the timing is almost exactly the same on both runs but the AFR on the before is much higher.

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/logs/day_after_ecuplus_tweaks/ecuplus_log_before_after.gif

Here is a log of just after

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/logs/day_after_ecuplus_tweaks/ecuplus_log_after.gif

Here is a street dyno comparison of before and after, again keep in mind the timing was almost exactly the same but the AFR is richer by about .2 to .3. I gained HP and TQ by just richening the car up a bit:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/dyno_ecuflash_06_03_06/logs/day_after_ecuplus_tweaks/ecuplus_dyno_before_after.gif

[earlyapex]

And here is my current power mod list incase anyone wants to know:

HKS 272 intake/exhaust cams
HKS adjustable cam gears (set at +1/-1)
Denso 720cc injectors
MR metal BOV
Dejon Tool MBC (set at 1.6bar peak, holds approx 1.3bar)
Espelier 2.75" downpipe
RRE rallycat
Vishnu sig series 3" catback
Walboro Fuelpump
Zeitronix Wideband with display
Ecuplus piggyback (used currently for logging and knock control)
OpenEcu.org EcuFlash

and a whole bunch of monitoring, handling and grip mods ;)

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So I got my hands back on a WinXP laptop today to make some tweaks to my maps.

I basically smoothed out the Fuel Map, richened it up a bit since I was running a bit too lean for me to be comfortable and I also smoothed out my Timing maps:

Before (my tune from the dyno on 06-03-06):

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/evo_tunes/me/06_10_06/DynoTune_map06_03_06.gif

After (today 6-10-06):

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/evo_tunes/me/06_10_06/StreetTune_map06_10_06.gif

Street dyno comparison (looks like the changes made a difference):

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/evo_tunes/me/06_10_06/streetdyno_compare06_10_06.gif

[superman105]

Hey very nice work
can you post a copy of the map up as I would like to see what number you have put in for the injectors and idle

tks man

[DTunedEvoX]

Awesome, and very detailed ... Brilliant! I only wish my tuning capabilities werent so limited =P

[leaveit2bevo]

what do you think the big diff in tq is between your flash and ecu+ on the dyno? was it the heat?

[earlyapex]

what do you think the big diff in tq is between your flash and ecu+ on the dyno? was it the heat?


Yes, for sure. I am going back on the dyno this weekend to tune it a bit more and also do a 100 octane open track tune again. Should be much cooler temp wise.

I'm actually expecting more trq then my ECU+ tune because I am already running a bit more timing in the torque peak area and midrange... safely. If you look at the last ECU+ street dyno sheets I posted above my torque is back up.

[earlyapex]

Hey very nice work
can you post a copy of the map up as I would like to see what number you have put in for the injectors and idle

tks man


I would love to, however, I actually cheated a little and got them from a local tuner. I wish to respect his work and not distribute it.

[earlyapex]

ECUflash part2:

Well sorta...

I thought this weekend would have been cooler on the Gruppe-s dyno then 2 weeks ago. Boy was I wrong.

Hot as hell is the only way to describe it.

I got back on the dyno today to fine tune my 91 octane tune with ECUflash. Turned out that I didn't need to do a thing to the tune after my last round of street tuning. The tune is solid as a rock. Super consistant pull after pull even in a 90F+ room filled with stuffy exhaust fumes and less air flow then you would get on the street/track:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/061706/91octane_consistency01.gif

So I went straight to working on my open-track 100 octane tune using ECU+ on top of the 91 octane ECUflash tune. More boost, a little bit more timing and 11.5 AFRS, consistant again:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/061706/100octane_consistency01.gif

The car is a freaking torque monster now with 100 octane, 25psi spike dropping to 20 psi up top, check the torque curve difference between 100 octane and 91 octane tunes:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/061706/100vs91_01.gif

These are all ECU+ dyno charts that where done off logs from the car on the gruppe-s mustang dyno. I will get the actual mustang dyno print-outs later, Mike and I where in a rush to get home.

I will also try and do some actual street pulls with ECU+ dyno soon, they usually read a little higher with the additional airflow. I also can't wait to see what the car will do on the dyno on a cooler day.

Monday is Thunderhill and I'm going Z06 huntin' 8)



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[DTunedEvoX]

ECUflash part2:

Well sorta...

I thought this weekend would have been cooler on the Gruppe-s dyno then 2 weeks ago. Boy was I wrong.

Hot as hell is the only way to describe it.

I got back on the dyno today to fine tune my 91 octane tune with ECUflash. Turned out that I didn't need to do a thing to the tune after my last round of street tuning. The tune is solid as a rock. Super consistant pull after pull even in a 90F+ room filled with stuffy exhaust fumes and less air flow then you would get on the street/track:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/061706/91octane_consistency01.gif

So I went straight to working on my open-track 100 octane tune using ECU+ on top of the 91 octane ECUflash tune. More boost, a little bit more timing and 11.5 AFRS, consistant again:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/061706/100octane_consistency01.gif

The car is a freaking torque monster now with 100 octane, 25psi spike dropping to 20 psi up top, check the torque curve difference between 100 octane and 91 octane tunes:

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/bryan/mods/EVO/dyno/061706/100vs91_01.gif

These are all ECU+ dyno charts that where done off logs from the car on the gruppe-s mustang dyno. I will get the actual mustang dyno print-outs later, Mike and I where in a rush to get home.

I will also try and do some actual street pulls with ECU+ dyno soon, they usually read a little higher with the additional airflow. I also can't wait to see what the car will do on the dyno on a cooler day.

Monday is Thunderhill and I'm going Z06 huntin' 8)



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Damn so the combo is really working good together ... Ever think of perhaps doing the 101 map as a flash? and just flash back and forth accordingly? Good job Bryan!