26 replies to this topic

[01OBK]

Hey guys
So with the Outback now running properly I'm starting to look into getting it tuned.
How have people with Rev A-C gone about tuning the ecu?
Had a chat with a bloke from Mercury Motorsport here in brisbane and he said he can do a tune using Ecutek but it's possible that it could brick the ecu apparently.
Anyone used piggy back Ecu's?
I do have a Zero/Sports tuned ecu here but I assume it's tuned for 100 octane so will probably ping it's head off on 98. Also done some research and found that most JDM tuning houses lock ecu's after tuning. Can they be unlocked and then returned?

Side note: also got quoted $3000-$3500 for full haltech elite install. Wasnt planning on going that route lol.

[Beckers]

Does your rev c have the Jecs 3 plug ecu ??

[01OBK]

Yeah it's got e jecs ecu I'm pretty sure

[duncanm]

There seem to be two options using the factory ECU, both look pretty reasonable $$ wise.
 
ECULabs: http://www.eculabs.com
Josh had huge results with E85 on his GTB Outback.

A Canadian mob - https://lambdatuning.com/blog/ - who've recently started providing a base tune for the TT with their package.

[Barbbachello]

Haltech elite would be cool but overkill and also i doubt it could control the TT system as "nice" as factory. Best bets are what duncan posted. 

Generally the jap tuned ecus are a different ROM chip rather than what youre thinking as tunable

[01OBK]

Yeah wasn't sure whether the haltech elite would control the twin setup.
Do you have to buy an eculabs licence through a tuner?

[Barbbachello]

Yeah wasn't sure whether the haltech elite would control the twin setup.
Do you have to buy an eculabs licence through a tuner?

ECU labs isnt like ECUTEK. You send the ecu off to france or w/e it is and they send it back and its tunable like the later model ECUS. Great bit of kit. Can do flex fuel and all sorts of stuff

[01OBK]

Eculabs sounds promising.
I wonder if they could do the Zero/Sports ecu, so I can still drive around on the stock one while they're working their magic.
I suppose they just play around with the eprom chips right?

[patrick27s]

Eculabs sounds promising.
I wonder if they could do the Zero/Sports ecu, so I can still drive around on the stock one while they're working their magic.
I suppose they just play around with the eprom chips right?

you can email them, their customer service is pretty good, I had a few questions like this which they were happy to answer for me.

[01OBK]

I've been emailing them and it's looking set to send them the Zero/Sports ecu and get them to modify it to match the part number on the factory one

[Barbbachello]

I'd be running the zero sports ECU and modding the stock one. Should be ok on 98 octane. People have run the modded ECUs in the past with no issues. Then sell the zero sports when the new one comes back

[01OBK]

I'd be running the zero sports ECU and modding the stock one. Should be ok on 98 octane. People have run the modded ECUs in the past with no issues. Then sell the zero sports when the new one comes back

Took your advice
Installed the Zero Sports Ecu and high end gear changes were a bit average, I'm guessing cause it's a manual ecu. Runs so much better than the stock one apart from that.
Threw in a bit of octane booster and it seems to be ok, no pinging from what I can hear.

Sent the stock one on its way to Eculabs this arvo. Should be back in a couple of weeks with the ability for multiple maps and e85

[Barbbachello]

Took your advice
Installed the Zero Sports Ecu and high end gear changes were a bit average, I'm guessing cause it's a manual ecu. Runs so much better than the stock one apart from that.
Threw in a bit of octane booster and it seems to be ok, no pinging from what I can hear.

Sent the stock one on its way to Eculabs this arvo. Should be back in a couple of weeks with the ability for multiple maps and e85

Yeah a manual ECU wouldnt be communicating with the TCU to cut timing during gear changes and so on. 

Should be able to go manual easily on the ECUlabs ecu in the future without having to worry about the ECU side of things though id think

[patrick27s]

Sounds awesome, I’ve had no issues with pinging on my zerospprts ecu, however I went back to stock ecu for lower boost lol. Very keen to see how this goes, looking to do the same thing in a few months when I get some money saved up

[Beckers]

Took your advice
Installed the Zero Sports Ecu and high end gear changes were a bit average, I'm guessing cause it's a manual ecu. Runs so much better than the stock one apart from that.
Threw in a bit of octane booster and it seems to be ok, no pinging from what I can hear.

Sent the stock one on its way to Eculabs this arvo. Should be back in a couple of weeks with the ability for multiple maps and e85

Have you got you Eculabs modified ECU back yet ??

[01OBK]

It's been modified just waiting for pay day to pay the invoice to get it on its way back.

[Beckers]

Great news m8.

I just got my Eculabs ecu working on Friday night.

There was something wrong with the code on mine.

So Emmanuel send me a new eld file that fixed it.

Now its time to tune it and see what it can do.

[01OBK]

Sweet,
How did you change the file on it, is there a plug You can connect to?

[Beckers]

Sweet,
How did you change the file on it, is there a plug You can connect to?

You connect with the obd port, then upload a new map and eld file.

[01OBK]

Good to know.
How did it drive on the base map he put in? Was it close to the factory map or did he adjust it at all?