VTune??

[Hotwire]

At a guess I'll say thezone had EcuTek type four fitted/tuned by Sean at S&J Automotive here in Adelaide (given his location and signature). Sean is a very well respected tuner and has been tuning subaru's for many years. I have my car serviced and worked on by S&J, but Im just not sure I can justify the cost of EcuTek tuning.

Here is the info from their website:

Liberty 3.0 R spec B

Public demand has encouraged us to give this beautifully appointed non-turbo 6 cylinder a tune-up. The three main complaints from owners of these prestigious sports cars are:

Throttle hanging on after lift off.
Surge at full throttle.
RPM limiter is too violent.
The issues above are easily rectified with an EcuTek type 2 re-map, an extra 15kw through the mid range plus 10 in the top end are also appreciated by any enthusiast! Cost for all of this is $1775 including 4wd dyno tuning.

However, the above cost is for ECUtek type 2, type 4 is higher again so I dont wanna know what thezone has spent!

[chiangstar]

Why waste your time with this when you can get real gains from a trusted and well tested tune - aka - ecutek. no legal issues there.

ps +22kw atw on my 3rb

I'm not trying to be a smarta$$ here, i genuinely dont know the answer to this question... if you do the ecutek tune, does that have any affect on the cars warranty? when i had my MY05 vtuned, Vin told me that there would be no warranty issues... but now with legal talk surrounding the matter, i dont know who to believe...

Simon

[Woodduck]

Im pretty sure a V-tune is warranty safe still mate. Thats why you dont achive as big of gains as something like a ecutek. The more KW you get out of a tune, generally the harsher the tune is...thereofre more likly to stress parts and more likly for warranty issues to arrise. So basically, for $270 Vtune, you get about 10kw, extreame drivabilitly and piece of mind Im not saying the ecutek is bad or anything, or im not saying that it WILL damage your car. Im just saying, for $270 you cant really beat a Vtune for bang for bucks!

[thezone]

Yeah and how much did that cost you thezone? Quite a bit more than $270 id imagine.

And plus, its not really all that much about how many more KW you get out of it. Its about the drivability. You could get a tune that give you X amount of Kw...but it doesnt mean that its going to drive well! My 2c anyways.

Fair point. I live in Adelaide and S&J Auto are about 5 mins drive from me so it was a no brainer. They have done a lot of R&D on all subbies with ecutek and the after sales service is awsome. I call in their anytime any tell sean i'd like it to drive a certain way. Without question he jumps in the car with his lap top hooked up and dials up whatever i want. He's never charged me for this. Your right it did cost a lot more. Actually i went nuts and spent about 6k all up. But i can tell you iv'e driven a few 3rb's and mine is wihtout a doubt the cream of the bunch(specially with my new badges!http://s373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/thezone525/?action=view&current=SPecband3rbadge.jpg).

I save so much money getting S & J to service my car that I can afford to get ecutek! Subaru are a rip off for servicing!


Here is a list of my modshttp://forum.liberty.asn.au/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3805

[thezone]

Im pretty sure a V-tune is warranty safe still mate. Thats why you dont achive as big of gains as something like a ecutek. The more KW you get out of a tune, generally the harsher the tune is...thereofre more likly to stress parts and more likly for warranty issues to arrise. So basically, for $270 Vtune, you get about 10kw, extreame drivabilitly and piece of mind Im not saying the ecutek is bad or anything, or im not saying that it WILL damage your car. Im just saying, for $270 you cant really beat a Vtune for bang for bucks!

S & J have good relationship with Subaru. Last time I went to an open night at S&J there were subaru reps there from the local dealer. Knowing S & J if a problem arose which could be atributed to the ecutek I guarentee S & J would come to the party. Thats how they've managed to get such a good name.

[Woodduck]

So wait...when you said you added 22KW atw...that was ALL your mods. So basically you paid $2K for 12kw which is what some people are achiving from a V-tune which cost $270.

[thezone]

So wait...when you said you added 22KW atw...that was ALL your mods. So basically you paid $2K for 12kw which is what some people are achiving from a V-tune which cost $270.

yeah sure you can look at it like that if you like. But I know who I'd rather have my car tuned by. I think you will find that ecutek has access to more parameters. Do some research on ecutek. Its a uk company that sepcailises in subaru. Not some guy you have to say the sercret word to speak to then travel all the way to Malbourne just to find out he doesnt know if he can legally mod the libs anymore!

You can't compare the two. Its like getting hsv to modify your commodore or joe the mechanic.

[Woodduck]

Im not saying that the Vtune is as in depth as an ecutek. And im not saying they are bad tunes or anything like that. A custom tune is always going to be better than a generic tune. All im talking about is your first comment

Why waste your time with this when you can get real gains from a trusted and well tested tune - aka - ecutek. no legal issues there.

ps +22kw atw on my 3rb

I wouldnt say that you got any more "real" gains that what people get from Vtune? And the legal issue isnt with the tuning of 3.0L engines. Its another issue completly. Im just saying, a Vtune is hardly a waste for the $270 it cost...

Oh and by the way, seeing as Vin is from the STi department at docklands, id hardly say its "Joe the mechanic". HSV is to Holden as STi is to Subaru IMO.

Anyway, obviously we will just havto agree to disagree. Its good that your letting people know that there are other options for tuning the 3.0 out there.

[thezone]

Cheers mate. No bad.

[Mystique]

I wouldnt say that you got any more "real" gains that what people get from Vtune? And the legal issue isnt with the tuning of 3.0L engines. Its another issue completly. Im just saying, a Vtune is hardly a waste for the $270 it cost...

Agree.

I went from 128 to 144KW (16KW gain) with the vtune. At $300, this is a no brainer.

[thezone]

Agree.

I went from 128 to 144KW (16KW gain) with the vtune. At $300, this is a no brainer.

That's awesome! Have you got dyno's to show us?

[smythie]

Only 2 pages back.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3521&p=99007#p99007

Here's mine for comparison



No mods apart from the vtune.

[thezone]

Cool. Interesting to compare.

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/thezone525/30LSIDRIVEb.jpg

[Egg]

Mines booked in for the morning so fingers crossed, see how we go. The only thing I have done is a set of Genome Sti mufflers. I just hope its a noticeable difference

[CreeR2]

How much did u pick up the STi mufflers for? And does it make a huge difference with noise cause I still want something pretty quiet....