Just got B4 tuned with Ecutek Type 2

[chadza]

Now before I start, I know not everyone is a fan of the Ecutek tunes in terms of their price, locking the ECU, limited tuneability etc.... I am fine with that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. If you live in South Australia and own a B4 though, you are rather limited as to how your car can be retuned. After heaps of research and looking into piggyback ECU's and getting someone to do it using OpenECU, I decided to just go the tried and tested Ecutek option at S & J here in Adelaide. Prime factors in my decision were that many people have had it done before and were happy, Sean really seems to know his stuff when you talk to him in the shop about it and he has tuned MANY B4's, not just subaru's.

So with that out of the way.....the good stuff.

IM ECSTATIC!

The final figure was 185kw atw.

Now in terms of modifications this is what my car has-

(MY02 Manual B4)
3" Y-pipe back exhaust (Ie from the end of the Y-pipe including a hi-flow cat and muffler) (on the car when I bought it)
Hyperflow Cold Air Intake
Walbro 255L/hr fuel pump
Hyperflow Oil Catch Can (on the car when I bought it)

For the Dyno run it had BP Ultimate 98 in it and the tyres were at 34psi. Temperature in the Dyno room was 18degrees.

The Dyno chart is here-

The Black baseline run was not my car. It apparently is a stock MY01 B4 Manual.
The Blue line is my car PRE-tune. Made 146kw atw.
The Green line is my car AFTER the Ecutek 2 Tune. made 185kw atw.




Now a few comments/observations.

Firstly- THIS WILL NOT ELIMINATE THE FLAT SPOT. That is impossible. Its a design of the turbo and exhaust systems in this car that is unable to be "tuned" around. If you want a car with a linear power curve, then a TT B4 is not for you.

I realise all of the gains in terms of power have been made while on the secondary turbo, but driving it on the road the car is so much different above about 3000rpm. The flat spot is still there BUT it is hardly noticable because its such a shortened rev band and its through this turbo changeover period at an earlier rpm. I am not fussed that there has been no power gain on the primary turbo because I have been more than happy with the shove it gives you driving around town at lowish rpms. Looking at the manifold pressure readouts (0n another chart) the same power is being made at on the primary turbo with the ecutek with about 3psi less boost. During summer when I am very conservative with whatever car I am driving, this will be ideal as driving around on the primary turbo will cause hardly any stress on a 40degree day.

As I only got the tune done this afternoon, and the weather has been WET I haven't really had a chance to drive that car hard for a longish period of time, but from what i an gather so far, the car feels the same on the primary turbo, but revving it out, the flat spot is dispatched with QUICKLY then it just TAKES OFF! It feels so effortless too in the higher rpm band, much less constrained.

So at the end of the day, I almost have 2 different cars in the one body. I have a "punchy" around town engine driving it on the primary, and then I have a more "serious" engine when I let the secondary come on board too! With the changeover between them reduced substantially.

[benvw]

thanks for the write up and great result. I'm getting mine done next week by Pulse racing with an open source tune. Will let you know how I go. I will be happy just to stop the car pinging.

[Spec B Wgn]

Chardon... it doesnt even look like you have a primary turbo ....

nice end result..

[Hotwire]

Chadza, how much is an ECUTek Type 2 tune worth? (as Im certain type 2 is required for the GT's also)

Who did you speak to about open source tunes before choosing to go with Ecutek from S&J?

[chadza]

I have a friend who does work on Evo's in his workshop. They primarily focus on engine rebuilds but he can also tune them using an open source tune. I considered it as it was CHEAP, but he has NO experience whatsever with the Subaru TT setup, so it was too risky in my mind.

I also looked into bringing someone in from interstate, but no one was either willing to travel or once again- had any experience on subaru TT's.

At S & J a Type 2 tune is $1775.
$175 is for 1hr worth of Dyno time- which for me was at GWest on Marion Road. The other $1600 is the "licence" to use Ecutek, the "tune" fee and Sean's labour fee.

Its big money whichever way you look at it. So you would be expecting big and SAFE power gains across the board. The more I drive it, the more I am happy with the results. To get the biggest increase out of the tune, try and do any other "stage 1" modifications you are planning to do with the car FIRST. Ie exhaust/cold air intake etc....

[Hotwire]

Who's the EVO workshop you speak of? I've been talking to Steve Knight (SKR) quite a bit when I had my mitsubishi Legnum, but mentioned getting the GT and he said he was willing to tune it for me using ECUFlash - im just wondering how different subaru's are to tune compared to EVO's..... seems like there is a few quirks to the subaru (boost control, open to close loop transition and Knock control) but other than that, timing advance, drive by wire and cam timing control all seem to be the same principles as EVO's

[chadza]

sorry for not replying sooner Hotwire- I must have read this thread whn I was busy and didn't have time to reply.

My 'friend' is more a friend of a friend!! I have been to his workshop on Brighton road but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. I have since found out that they "tune" their engines, on an engine dyno BEFORE the engines are put back into the cars after rebuilding.

Can't help you with the similarities between evo tuning and subies. I imagine tuning an evo would be closer to tuning a GT than a B4- with the TT's.

[west_minist]

Its nice to see more B4 TT's being tuned. When tuned, their sound very nice.

[BigWillieStyles]

I know this thread is a little old, but I was just wondering if this could be done to my Japanese GT-B BH Legacy. Its basically the same as the local B4s.

[west_minist]

Yes. Once you are 2001+.

Some people rid the flat spot by reduce boost on the primary.

Tuning the TT is fun. Not difficult as many would think.

[west_minist]

Hey review here.
http://www.magtrol.com/support/power_calc.html

http://www.xtremeracingtuning.com/forum ... m.php?f=88

http://www.xtremeracingtuning.com/forum ... ?f=88&t=19
290 horsepower (U.K.) = 216.253 [kW] kilowatt

http://www.xtremeracingtuning.com/forum ... f=88&t=263
320 horsepower (U.K.) = 238.624 [kW] kilowatt

http://www.xtremeracingtuning.com/forum ... f=88&t=104
230 horsepower (U.K.) = 171.511 [kW] kilowatt

[west_minist]

Who's the EVO workshop you speak of? I've been talking to Steve Knight (SKR) quite a bit when I had my mitsubishi Legnum, but mentioned getting the GT and he said he was willing to tune it for me using ECUFlash - im just wondering how different subaru's are to tune compared to EVO's..... seems like there is a few quirks to the subaru (boost control, open to close loop transition and Knock control) but other than that, timing advance, drive by wire and cam timing control all seem to be the same principles as EVO's

There are a little different between models due to the setup and compression. The B4 fuel requirements are always high. Maybe because their run over 9.0:1 compression.

You will have no support from ECUFlash for tuning the B4 TT. Sorry!

But once you can tune, its just having patiences and take things in moderation.

Also the turbo distance makes work of difference when you compare the EVO to the Subaru.

[jdm rsk]

I know this thread is a little old, but I was just wondering if this could be done to my Japanese GT-B BH Legacy. Its basically the same as the local B4s.

What year is it? 98-01 jdm. I enquired today and was told the factory ecu cannot be retuned

[ohbev]

But what is safe for the engine how much power at the wheels can u make u make be4 u start hurting the stock engine ?

[ej25tt]

@CHAZDA "Firstly- THIS WILL NOT ELIMINATE THE FLAT SPOT. That is impossible. Its a design of the turbo and exhaust systems in this car that is unable to be "tuned" around. If you want a car with a linear power curve, then a TT B4 is not for you."

this is not actually correct...

With an Ecutek stage 4 tune, this can be eliminated. there are other tunes which can also do this.

Also, for the best results, get a larger crossover pipe done. these are available for $275.oo, in stainless, or $375.oo stainless with ceramic inner coating...

this will allow the exhaust gases from left and right banks to cross vice-versa more freely, allowing the turbos to spool faster, giving better response. add to this a good exhaust, TMIC, and Ecutek 4, and say goodbye to VOD...

expect 220+kwatw (as long as you have forged bottom end or it will not like it!)