ECU Flash Tuning : The Basics

[Drummer]

Ill start by saying I take no credit in the discovery or developement of this tuning method. Gatecrasher, Monochrome and some testers have been working on this a long time. Im not sure if kits are available now or not. This thread is just so people can get a basic understanding of what you need and how it works.

WHAT YOU NEED

98-99 VR4 ECU : right now, the best way is to get one of these 2 ECU`s. They are very hard to find and are expensive. Work is being done to see if other ecu`s can be modded and used, but Im not sure how far along that is.

ADAPTER HARNESS : unless you drive a 98-99 VR4, the ecu will not plug into the factory harness. You need an adapter like a boomslang, with the flash wire installed. This flash wire will connect to the tactrix cable enabling flash capability.

TACTRIX OPENPORT 2.0 CABLE KIT : This adapter plugs into your OBII port on your car, and connect to your USB on your computer. You need this to read/flash the ROM file on your ECU.

LAPTOP : To run the software and connect the tactrix cable to.

ECUFLASH : This software is available from the tactrix site for free. This is the program where you will read your ROM, edit it, and reflash it.

3000gt XML FILE : ECUflash does not come with the ability to read the 3000gt ROM. This file was created by those working on this project. You add this folder and file it contains to the rommetadata/mitsubishi folder in ECUflash file section. Now it can load a 99 3000gt vr4 ROM.

99`3000gt VR4 ROM FILE : Currently the flash we use is the 99vr4 stock, I cant remember the correct revision. Once you have ECUflash installed, and the 3000gt definition file in the correct folder, you can load this file. From here you can change many variable and flash it to your ECU.

** The XML file, as I understand, is still evolving to include more complete descriptions of periphery.

WHAT IT DOES

It eliminates the need for a piggyback. You can scale the injectors. We still use EBC, cause as far as I know, we cannot yet change the stock BCS. You can remove emissions parts under the hood, and turn them off in the flash for no CELs. You can mess with fuel maps, timing and airflow, but that is above my head. There are many more settings also. Best thing is you can get your heavily modded car to run like stock. As well, the sefeguards in the ECU can help protect your engine. Hopefully the boys will come up with a custom ROM service that is worth their while, so a ROM can be made for specific builds.

~D~

[Drummer]

Feel free to as questions or add your experiences here as well.

[NOMIEZVR4]

As far as Ive been told, the obd connector is used to datalog. But to actually flash the ecu, the mitsu connector is used. When the adapter harness is purcahsed, is the mitsu connector included? Because my 95 only has the obd diagnostic plug, not the mitsu connector found on the older 91-93 cars.

[Greg E]

Brett's adaptor harnesses are the only ones I know of that come with the OBD2 and Mitsu reflash connector. I'm not sure on the availability on these harnesses though. I know Von from Morgans Motorsports was going to be in charge of selling them. It's been at least 6 months since I've talked to Brett. Not sure what's going on with him...

V1.0 of my Chromed ECU patch is now available for the 98/99 VR4 ecu. I'll post up details on that later this week.

[Monster Stealth]

Has anyone done the conversion on a 1st gen?

[Greg E]

AaronState has been running a modified Montero ECU in his car for over a year now.

[bboyalan]

I made a small post on your other thread already:

FWIW, people who are making the jump from ES v2.6 or older should be aware that "DataSettings" are now stored by user instead of your "Program Files" directory.

Personally, I save a backup separate from my 3/S file for working with Lancers, etc.

[BlackStealth]

Has anyone done the conversion on a 1st gen?
Yup, did it on my 93. I'm very happy with mine. I originally purchased a boomslang conversion harness, but I wanted the wires longer so I sold that and made my own.

[Greg E]

I made a small post on your other thread already:

FWIW, people who are making the jump from ES v2.6 or older should be aware that "DataSettings" are now stored by user instead of your "Program Files" directory.

Personally, I save a backup separate from my 3/S file for working with Lancers, etc.

That wa one of the reasons I was pushing for people to use the older version. The newer version is still preserved.

The other reason is not everyone is using the newer versions of Windows.

[futurevr4man]

im still waiting to hear some results on some big builds before i try and make the jump. plus all the things you can mess with are intimidating. i expect it to be 1 - 1.5 years before i go balls deep into the tuning aspect of the car and using a flashable ecu

[Drummer]

im still waiting to hear some results on some big builds before i try and make the jump. plus all the things you can mess with are intimidating. i expect it to be 1 - 1.5 years before i go balls deep into the tuning aspect of the car and using a flashable ecu

I would start looking for a 98-99 vr4 ecu now then. you may not get one for a year and a half.

[Drummer]

If you are up too speed with the Chrome ECU files, stock turbo boost control solenoid variables can now be edited within the flash.

[Kx1984]

where can we get the current rom/flash file

[99 vr4]

I have some harnesses available for those that are testing...

[Drummer]

KX1984 pm me your email.

[99 vr4]

As far as Ive been told, the obd connector is used to datalog. But to actually flash the ecu, the mitsu connector is used. When the adapter harness is purcahsed, is the mitsu connector included? Because my 95 only has the obd diagnostic plug, not the mitsu connector found on the older 91-93 cars.

Actually the mitsu connector only supplies the voltage for the flash ROM. Actual programming is still done through the obdii plug.


Brett's adaptor harnesses are the only ones I know of that come with the OBD2 and Mitsu reflash connector. I'm not sure on the availability on these harnesses though. I know Von from Morgans Motorsports was going to be in charge of selling them. It's been at least 6 months since I've talked to Brett. Not sure what's going on with him...

V1.0 of my Chromed ECU patch is now available for the 98/99 VR4 ecu. I'll post up details on that later this week.

My 1g harness has both an obdii plug and a mini jack which connects to the flash cable supplied with the open port... the open port mitsu re-flash is two pieces, a mini plug cable and a mitsu style re-flash connector. Since open port supplied the mini plug cable, I opted to not use the mitsu connect to keep costs down.

My 2g harness uses the built in obdii connector and has a mini jack for flash (see above)

And yes I am selling these directly for now. I have a bunch ready to go.

[iceorphen]

Can you use the flashed ecu in blowthrough? JW if its able to handle sd setup, or would I need to use maft + flashed ecu?

[futurevr4man]

still gotta use maf-t as of right now

[Greg E]

still gotta use maf-t as of right now

MAFT works well with a flash ECU!

[ChargerX3]

Ive been running my 99VR4 ECU for over 6 months now. Works great. Ive even done the EVO MAF swap too. Greg is even coming up with some new advancements that he will spell out in subsequent versions of Chrome. I suggest anyone who wants reliable power to go this route.

[DK77]

Damn I want to get this but I can't afford it right now

[MightyMouse]

Soooo.. Who has a map that they want to hook me up with??
:D
I have a 98 SL ECU -
550CC injectors, 15G turbos, Supra Pump, Stock MAF (will end up with an EVO MAF when I get an adapter..)
That's pretty much all I can think of that's important.

[Greg E]

Stock map works fine. You're going to have to spend some time fine tuning it to your particular setup.

[MightyMouse]

How do I go about disabling the other two O2 Sensors and the 99map sensor?

[wraith]

What do you need to install this on a 1995 Vr4? It does not have a map sensor or 4 O2 sensors. I see that people sell the EVO MAF with conversion harness and the actuall 99 ECU to hybrid conversion harness. Do we need to buy a chromed 99 ECU with the correct injector scaling etc., and all the other differences turned off or modified? I want it all working before I start the fine tuning so all I need to do is change the timing and fuel maps and not have to learn all the other switches/maps. Any insight or help is appreciated.

Thanks

[99 vr4]

What do you need to install this on a 1995 Vr4? It does not have a map sensor or 4 O2 sensors. I see that people sell the EVO MAF with conversion harness and the actuall 99 ECU to hybrid conversion harness. Do we need to buy a chromed 99 ECU with the correct injector scaling etc., and all the other differences turned off or modified? I want it all working before I start the fine tuning so all I need to do is change the timing and fuel maps and not have to learn all the other switches/maps. Any insight or help is appreciated.

Thanks

If your car is stock and you want 100% stock functionality, you will need one of my Clone ECU's or a true 98/99 ECU with adapter harness.

You can use a stock ROM and just flip the periphery bits to turn off the O2 errors and the other emission errors, like MAP and purge.

If you want the Chrome functionality, then of course Chrome is a great option.

If you don't care about 100% stock, there are some bargain basement options out there.

[wraith]

Basically what I want is to be able to run my DR750 car without screwing with it all the time like the AEM. I could just run the stocker with with the MAFT like before but I did that and it was not perfect either. So, I want to put a 99 ECU thats setup for 680cc injectors, plug in an EVO MAF that can hopefully handle 600awhp and run a methanol setup for the octane. My feeling is that the AEM will still do all of this better, but I have yet to see that. I want to drive the car and be able to not worry about the little things in the tune that the stocker does so well. What are the advantages of having the MAP working? What does it do that the older cars dont? Obviously, the 99 ECU will have to be flashed for the injectors, but just like that, how close is it to a proper tune assuming the methanol can take care of the octane needed and the failsafe there is to run wastegate boost when the methanol flow is absent.

Thanks

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

Basically what I want is to be able to run my DR750 car without screwing with it all the time like the AEM. I could just run the stocker with with the MAFT like before but I did that and it was not perfect either. So, I want to put a 99 ECU thats setup for 680cc injectors, plug in an EVO MAF that can hopefully handle 600awhp and run a methanol setup for the octane. My feeling is that the AEM will still do all of this better, but I have yet to see that. I want to drive the car and be able to not worry about the little things in the tune that the stocker does so well. What are the advantages of having the MAP working? What does it do that the older cars dont? Obviously, the 99 ECU will have to be flashed for the injectors, but just like that, how close is it to a proper tune assuming the methanol can take care of the octane needed and the failsafe there is to run wastegate boost when the methanol flow is absent.

Thanks

Wraith you should really read the chromed thread. Most of what you want can already be done. Some of the meth safety features you want should be coming.

The flashed ecu will easily handle your setup. If you have a decent baseline injector latency and size you can have the car running like stock in 5 MINUTES.

Pm me if you want more info, id be glad to help.

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