Flashing ECU On The Dyno

[kyleb350]

Has anyone flashed between various tunes while on a dyno? I have plans to compare two different companies' tunes as well as the stock tune and was wondering if anyone has tips to avoid issues as well as minimize the number of runs needed (since it costs more).

My plan is to do the first run on my current tune, flash to stock to do a stock run, then load the other tune to do that one. The unknown here for me is if there is any adaptation needed after flashing which would either force me to take the car off the dyno to acquire mileage or perform more runs ($).

Thanks.

[Taz@Evolve. P]

You will ALWAYS need to allow the car to adapt.

The first run will be weak and get stronger. The power can keep gaining on each run. We keep going until the power stops gaining. Can take many, many runs.

Then you need to allow the car to cool. Only then should you load in the other tune and do the same process.

If you wanted to skew the results its fairly simple. Do a single run and that's your baseline (i.e. extremely low) and then take the very last run after you've tuned it/fitted parts. The gains will be artifially high. You can also do the same the other way around, when it starts to heatsoak you'll lose power and will be artificially low.

So in reality there is no cheap way of doing back to back testing, it'll take plenty of runs, a nice long break, then plenty more... of each variation.

If its tunes your comparing I doubt they'll adapt quick enough to throw one in and the other out. But if you do, whoever gets thrown in first (i.e. after the low baseline, and before heatsoak) will 'win'.

[Sales@Evolve]

You should also reset adaption between the two tunes and also datalog all temperatures.

Testing like this needs to be done very very carefully.

[kyleb350]

Originally Posted by Sal@Evolve

You should also reset adaption between the two tunes and also datalog all temperatures.

Testing like this needs to be done very very carefully.

Thanks Paul & Sal. Any chance the reset adaptation feature will make it into a future version of the Evolve tuning software?

[flipm3]

As both Paul and Sal have already mentioned, this process is actually a little bit more tedious and expensive than one would think.

Having the ability to reset adaptations after flashing the car and to keep the car at optimal temperature is absolutely key. You want to have as much of a controlled environment when comparing two different tunes to have any sort of fair comparison.

I remember seeing you post on that Speedquest Dyno Day. I can tell you right now that their "cooling" fan is absolutely terrible and will not provide anywhere near enough air to prevent your car from heatsoaking, especially if you intend to do many runs. Their little tiny fan might be nice for a single run, haha.

In all seriousness, I had Sal tune to my car on a dyno that had a terrible fan and faulty AFR sensors. For me, it was rather frustrating because I wanted to have a controlled environment and I thought it was a lot easier than I expected.

Sadly, here in Illinois, you won't find many shops that have adequate cooling. Most of them use a single small 1-2ft diameter fans that are only good for drying carpets...

If you want to do some legit testing on a DynoJet, Dean's Performance has slightly better cooling, but I still don't think it's adequate. AMS Performance might have their DynoJet back up and running, so they may be worth a call.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by Paul@Evolve

You will ALWAYS need to allow the car to adapt.

The first run will be weak and get stronger. The power can keep gaining on each run. We keep going until the power stops gaining. Can take many, many runs.

Then you need to allow the car to cool. Only then should you load in the other tune and do the same process.

If you wanted to skew the results its fairly simple. Do a single run and that's your baseline (i.e. extremely low) and then take the very last run after you've tuned it/fitted parts. The gains will be artifially high. You can also do the same the other way around, when it starts to heatsoak you'll lose power and will be artificially low.

So in reality there is no cheap way of doing back to back testing, it'll take plenty of runs, a nice long break, then plenty more... of each variation.

If its tunes your comparing I doubt they'll adapt quick enough to throw one in and the other out. But if you do, whoever gets thrown in first (i.e. after the low baseline, and before heatsoak) will 'win'.

+1. There are so many variables present during a dyno session.

Consistency is the goal (weather, testing procedures, fuel and testing to name a few) during dynoing in order to achieve at the most accurate results.