Ok we did some testing today at Imagine Auto with the dyno to see the results of flashing the car. I installed the latest flash client and scott sent me a tuning file for my car with a number of features, 3000 rpm higher redline, O2 sensitivity fixed, and of course fuel maps all the way to 100 octane. We saved my existing flash previously. We ran the car up on the dyno for a couple of runs and established a baseline for my car. We then turned the car off and I attached the battery charger to the car's battery (safety measure) and attached the USB / OBDII cable to the car and to my laptop. Laptop was plugged into power outlet (safety measure). I simply double-clicked on the new file and the software launched and gave me some messages, confirmed some items and with my approval began the flash. About 5-6 minutes later the flash completed, the ignition turned off, laptop and cable disconnected.

Then we started the car up and did a dyno run. Our results were 4hp less than my previous GIAC-based tuning. Ok not bad, but not great so I called Scott. Scott told me that the ECU would now be able to adjust for the conditions it sees all the way up to 100 octane but that with the Porsche DME it adjusts downwards quickly and upwards slowly, he suggested we try some more runs and see what happens as it begins to adapt. We ran the car a 2nd time and gained 2hp so only 2hp down. We then ran a 3rd time and were now even with the GIAC HP results. That was all that they had time for so if additional adjustment takes place it is possible that the results may go up further, but at this point I'm comfortable saying that the results are as good as GIAC when it comes to HP/Torque numbers.

After we were done with the 3rd run I noticed 2 things:
1) The flash had turned the A/C on, and the dyno operator had not turned it off. The initial GIAC baseline runs we did had the A/C off, so there is some possibility that the A/C on was dragging the Softronic numbers down a little.
2) With the raised redline the HP peak has shifted up to around 7100 rpm as opposed to 6900 rpm.

So all in all I'm pleased and the flash passed with flying colors thus far!

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K-Man S

3000 RPM bump up?!?!?!? I assume it's 300

Yes it was 300 on his file , Now I do build engines that red line at 11,000, however this is not one of them.

oops yeah 300...

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Hello everyone,

Sorry for repeating a question I am sure you get everyday, but would you choose this over a GIAC/EVO cold air intake combo? I am looking to push my Cayman S above the 300 HP mark with a budget of around $1300. I have read countless threads, but have not come across any hard evidence of any benefit in any noticable performance with ECU tuning. Of course there are a lot of naysayers out there, but I would hate to spend a lot of money and throw it out the window. Just asking for your opinions on this issue.

Thanks!

Can someone explain what "byte for byte" means? You mean you can flash a program and it's not byte for byte.

titanic,
That's one of the dirty little secrets in the ECU tuning industry. Some tuners will claim to have a "stock" program or return your car to "stock" but in fact they don't. It is simply a different set of settings and their custom programming is still in your ECU. Sometimes this programming leaves blank spaces in your ECU's memory, or values in registers that weren't there from the factory. Sometimes this is harmless sometimes it isn't, but it is not truly the stock Porsche programming. Since Softronic works with Porsche they have access to the programming provided by Porsche. The stock programming offered by Softronic is either of the two ECU versions offered fro the Cayman by Porsche, it is the exact file from Porsche, it is unmodified, it is byte or byte the same as the Porsche file because it is the Porsche file, most other tuners cannot make this claim. If they do, then ask them to verify it, get the Porsche file and their file and do a byte for byte comparison using some software tools and you'll likely find differences.

The point Softronic is trying to drive home is that if you get a "stock" program from another tuner that it isn't really the Porsche stock program, you can put it on a PIWIS and see it isn't from Porsche, it's been modified, whereas the stock program from Softronic IS the Porsche program and will show up as such on the PIWIS. For those concerned about going in for warranty work, or passing inspections, etc. they can return their car to true stock form, get their work/inspection done, then flash back to modified form if they want.

I doubt other tuners even know that there are 2 different Cayman ECU programs from Porsche at this point and what those differences are. The tuned Softronic files are built off the latest files from Porsche, I can tell you that in at least 2 instances of Cayman tuning files from other tuners that we've inspected both of their files originated from older Cayman programming from Porsche.

Hope that helps explain it.

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K-Man S

300HP at the crank or at the wheels? You can't get 300+ at the wheels for only $1300 - try more like $6k, you can get more than 300 at the crank for $1300 though. ECU tuning for a naturally aspirated car will provide anywhere from no gain to maybe 10hp max, it all depends on what else you've done, your fuel used, etc. The only way to know is to dyno your car before and after and compare results for your car.

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