Custom ECU Reflash. Includes 2 hours of road tuning or 1 hour of Dyno tuning.
Author
RussB VIP Member
Registered: April 2003 Location: i has a animated avatar Posts: 6753
Review Date: Fri December 26, 2003
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $550.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Quick spool up
Cons:
None
I had been running my car with a VF34, catless Up-Pipe, and cat back exhaust with an MBC. The car was ok, better than stock, but definitely not up to it's full potential. I had the boys at S-Squared flash my ECU today, and I was very impressed with the results. Nate took his time and made sure to start out conservatively and work upward, gradually increasing boost. He was very informative and answered all my questions about what he was doing, what different changes to the paramaters do to performance, and had me take the car for a few test runs before buttoning everything back up. EGT's, A/F ratios, and Injector Duty Cycle were kept will within safe paramaters.
subgenius Registered User
Registered: May 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 37
Review Date: Wed January 14, 2004
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $525.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Smoother, faster, more torque
Cons:
none
I'm driving a stock 2002 WRX wagon, it's an amazing difference. The car has a lot more power, launches are easier and it seems to be a bit easier to drive (you don't have think about where you are in the power band as much).
This a great service at a very reasonable price, I can't recommend it enough.
blaznasn Registered User
Registered: November 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 437
Review Date: Fri January 30, 2004
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $525.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
no more lag, fast spool, good pull
Cons:
none
great service, great price, very knowledgeable; what else can one ask for. The results speak for themselves.
candyman Registered User
Registered: February 2004 Location: L.A. Posts: 2
Review Date: Wed February 4, 2004
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $525.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Obvious power gains across the board!
Cons:
None.
I recently made the trek up to No.Cal. from LA to have S-Squared reflash my '02 WRX. Except for my suspension mods, my car is complety stock. No engine mods of any kind.
It's a daily driver with long commutes, so reliability and keeping it legal were concernes for me...for now at least... So, trying the dual map Ecutek reflash for starters sounded like the best bang for the buck.
First, let me say that Nate at S-Squared was awesome! He's extremely knowledgable in tuning and roadracing. He gave me a thorough in explanation of my tuning options for my budget and how best to carry them out.
I'm a complete newby when it comes to tweeking my engine myself yet I never felt in over my head talking shop with these guys. I learned quite a lot while I was there. They seem genuinely interested in making sure they understand what their customer wants and how best to deliver the results. They'll propose your options, and keep you from going down an ugly expensive path like I almost did...we won't go there now. :d
AND, more importantly, they didn't try to over-sell me on stuff (or fluff) I didn't really need to acheive the kind of extra power I wanted.
Together we came up with a great streetable tuning path starting with this reflash then we'll install an Exedy lightened flywheel for some quicker torque results and an Exedy organic clutch... Probably some exhuast tweaks too... For now, it'll be somewhat of a sleeper.
So, onto the reflash:
Took about 30-40 mins. From start to final test drive. Did some test runs before starting to establish the car's base-rate output using the Ecutek's dyno simulator program plugged into my ECU via laptop. The dyno sim said I was coming in about 20whp better than most stock wrx's that Nate has seen! He says the sim is fairly close to actual dyno results he's compaired with known stock wrx's that register around 160-165whp. Every once in a while he says they come across a "gifted" one. :d That's always nice to discover!
(note: They're getting a real awd dyno in any day now!!!)
After that, Nate downloaded a good all around power upgrade map and handed the car back to me...
The Test drive: AWESOME! And the ECU was still just starting to learn! Every gear just had "more". It felt "unclogged". Like this is what it was meant to feel like when I drove it off the lot. We did another dyno sim and it was averaging 25 extra whp after 3 equal test runs. Boost comes on smooth and strong in each gear and stays on all the way to redline! THAT was the real noticable difference up front. Plus, all the Suby safeguards are still in place and will shut you down if venture into meltdown range.
The car cold-starts just fine, idles normally, and still runs great as a daily driver. It's just more potent when you ask for it! I'd say I even get better gas milage out of it since the map thins the fuel mixture out just a tad... as long as my foot isnt to the floor!
Spent that weekend in the twisties in Placer County letting my car re-learn. hehehe... Fun!
Got back to LA and it was obvious the ECU finished eeking out some more power.
My well-tuned butt dyno is telling me that 30 extra whp over stock was easily acheived.
Launching is more rapid in 1st. 2nd is insane! 3rd has so much more pull to the end now (excellent for tight canyon runs!), 4th always had suprising power to me, now it's even more, and 5th feels almost what 4th used to feel like! I'm happy. :d
Like I mentioned, S-Squared is getting an all-wheel dyno in any day now, and I intend on trekking back up there soon to get some definitive numbers on what kinda gains this simple reflash did for me.
(Oh, and my secondary map is back to stock)
I highly recommend these guys and I'll be spreading the word about them down here.
There shop is small but impressive and they have a clear objective: Make Subies go fast and handle amazingly!
I think you'll be hearing more about these guys after this upcoming Tuner Shootout in Buttenwillow. Good luck guys, and thanks again! (y)
candyman
pbchief2 VIP Member
Registered: December 2002 Location: Kalifornia Posts: 1792
Review Date: Tue February 17, 2004
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $550.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Good Price, Knowledgeable Staff
Cons:
Ecutek connection to early 2003
Great results I had a new turbo and other accessories put in at the same time.
The power difference is amazing and the car is a whole different beast. I would recommend this over anybody else in both friendlyness and understanding. There was no pressure to buy anything I didnt want. But as the person above said the discussions of possabilities got really expensive when I asked.
pbchief2 VIP Member
Registered: December 2002 Location: Kalifornia Posts: 1792
Review Date: Sat July 17, 2004
Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
Pros:
Goodprice for reflash
Cons:
none
I guess this is a second review of the same product. I went to get a reflash because of upgrades and inreased my whp by 45. It was great, also there is more potential as soon as I upgrade the injectors.
Rivers VIP Member
Registered: February 2005 Location: The Iron Chef of pounding vagshhh Posts: 2407
Review Date: Mon July 25, 2005
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
Pros:
So much power across the board, AWESOME & Knowledgable Staff
Cons:
No dual maps for the 04\'s yet, leaving you wanting more power!
First thing first the staff is AWESOME group of people very informative and know what they were doing.
Nate really knows his stuff and even though he is usually slammed with project cars from other customers he would make time to answer any of my question.
I brought my car in with whole bunch of parts I wanted to install and they were more than happy to do it for me. The turn around was suprising quick about a days work
After everything was installed Nate went about and did his magic with the reflash, but there was problem my ecu wouldn\'t except the reflash but Nate quickly solved the problem with easy.
Now the big moment had finally arrive my car was put on the dyno I was baseline at 160whp and 153tq before the part were installed after 3hrs/12 pulls later my final numbers came out 243whp and 227tq @17PSI
I am extremely happy with gains on my car and will keep going back there
skimonkey30 VIP Member
Registered: November 2003 Location: Ya, Ray Romano gets all the chicks. Posts: 2313
Review Date: Tue August 16, 2005
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $650.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Nate is an awesome tuner
Cons:
none
Had my STI tuned by Nate with a TBE and Intake put on as well. The power gains were awesome I put down 269whp and 275lb/ft of torque. A little low compared to the other sti\'s with the same mods but that is due to an exhaust leak between my downpipe and catback since the dont have the same mounting brackets. Overall very happy.
------------------------------ Thats right Ice........man I am dangerous
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So, trying the dual map Ecutek reflash for starters sounded like the best bang for the buck. 