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| The G-Tech Pro can calculate wheel hp and torque and display the data as a nice dyno sheet using GPS data to derive acceleration. RPM is taken from inducted noise. It is repeatable and way better than a butt dyno! Photo from Urban Racer, we hope Bob won’t mind. |
One of the only popular cars where there is no reflash capability on the market are Toyota products including Lexus and Scion. In that case you must go to a stand alone aftermarket ECU integrated into the vehicle’s systems. Not exactly easy but it can be done. Basically tuning late model cars is not as easy as turning a distributor or crank angle sensor but it is possible and power can be had with most cars.
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| The Innovate OT-2 uses the built in accelerometer in an I-Phone or IPod Touch to create dyno graphs. This device is also repeatable and usable as a tuning tool. |
Don’t assume that if some advance is good, more is better. The best way to figure out your best timing setting is on a chassis dyno. Paying for a Dyno session at your local speed shop can help considerably when you are tuning. If that is too steep for your budget than using an inexpensive but repeatable accelerometer or GPS driven device like the Innovate OT2 or a G-Tech Pro can be used to turn a section of road into a pretty accurate chassis dyno. If you are really cheap, timing your car through the rev range in third gear or something like that will be a good cheap testing aid. You don’t want to do standing starts or runs when you have to shift gears as this adds variability into the testing. You must test scientifically because seat of the pants can be deceiving. Typically you might pick up 2-5 hp by experimenting with better fuel and advancing your timing.
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| This three dimensional map of ignition timing to load shows that there is a bit more to advancing the timing than just spinning the distributor. However is will make sense to you later in our series! |
Of course getting into engine mapping and reflashing is getting out of the realm of beginner tuning and giving a raw beginner the ability to manipulate fuel and spark tables in an ECU is pretty dangerous. However, stick with us and keep reading and learning you will get there!
