The Official OpenFlash ECU Tuning Thread

Hi guys
Perhaps we can use this thread to discuss ECU related topics that people have questions about or may be interested in. While we have successfully restored exhaust burbles to formerly burble-less cars (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/145253804-post358.html), there are still many other ECU tuning customizations that can be done to improve performance and general enjoyment.

Here are some of the things I have applied to my personal 2010 458 Italia. Most of them were also applied to MikeA's 2013 Spider:

-Restored exhaust burbles during over-run
-Remap Race/CT throttle maps for smoother application (more linear/less jerky)
-Remap exhaust bypass valve for louder burbles on over-run in all mods (Rain, Sport, etc,.). This also fixed the annoying on/off switching behavior in Race/CT modes during light throttle applications
-Eliminated catalyst warm-up so that my car didn't wake everyone in the house when it was started first thing in the morning
-Disabled catalyst monitoring so I an run my cat deletes at the track without CEL
-Revised ignition advance and lambda driver targets at cruise to improve fuel economy by 1-1.5mpg.
-Revised high load fuel/timing/VVT mapping for more power
-Increased rev limit to 9300rpm
-Adjusted cylinder filling table to remove torque limits (throttle closing/ignition advance drops) that occurs during transients in colder (higher air density) conditions.
-Adjusted fuel cut delays and torque targets during DCT action to improve upshift response

If anyone has any questions or wants more details on how these changes are done, please let me know and I'll be happy to post screenshots of the ECU tables and how they work. Similarly, if anyone has any suggestions with respect to ECU customization, let me know and I'll see what I can dig up

 

Sure! All the actual ECU flashing/updating is done by the customer through our OpenFlash Tablet (OFT). We will mail the OFT to you along with your ECUs after we receive them from you. The purpose of you sending your ECUs to us is to back-up the ERPOM data and save a copy of your stock calibration. This is mainly precautionary due to the replacement cost of the ECUs.

This is how we open the ECUs: https://youtu.be/LH0tBrWODfc
The attached picture shows how we back-up the EPROM data.

Each ECU (you have 2 of them) takes about 30 minutes to remove. They are located just above you rear wheels behind the plastic liner (picture attached below).

We should be able to turn around your ECU within 24hrs. Once you have your ECU back and installed in your car, just install the OFT by plugging it into the OBD2 port (under the steering wheel) and pressing a few buttons on the screen. The OFT will then automatically generate a few off-the-shelf tuning files (Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3). Stage 1 is for a stock 458. Stage 2 is for cars with exhaust upgrades (but with catalysts). Stage 3 is for cars with exhaust upgrades (with without catalysts). Just pick which tune best matches your car and continue. The OFT will then flash both ECUs in succession. 9 min for each ECU (18 min total). This process can be be done in your garage. But we recommend you do this with a battery trickle charger connected to avoid a low battery voltage condition during this process.

The ECU back-up service and OpenFlash Tablet (along with the 3 off-the-shelf) tune will be priced at $1500 at it's official introduction next Monday, March 20th.

In addition to that, we will also offer a service that will include 6 months of custom tuning support. During this process, I will work directly with the customer (through email) in dialing things in exactly to his needs/preferences. This will involve making tuning revisions and emailing them to the customer to upload to the OFT and then flash to the ECU. Some customers may want very specific changes in certain driving modes which we can provide. More importantly, the customer gets to road test a variety of tune files and they can decide which bits and pieces they like. Loud burbles, quiet burbles, less/more aggressive throttle mapping, cat warm-up disable, louder/quieter exhaust control modes, etc., The OFT also has data logging capabilities to if there is something that a customer can't accurate describe in words, they can simply record vehicle data and email me the data log file for review. The Openflash Tablet can store up to 5 tune files in addition to the stock tune file. So it's perfectly feasible for a customer to load 5 custom tunes and flash any one to the ECUs whenever desired. But obviously once we find the ideal calibration for your preference, you will probably stock with that until your preferences change or until we offer more enhancements.

The price of this service has yet to be determined. But I'm open to suggestions

Listed below are a few videos showing how easy it is to use the OpenFlash Tablet. None of them are specific to the 458 but it works the same way in every platform we support (911, Cayman, Miata, BRZ/GT86, Fiat, VW, BMW, Ducati, KTM, etc,)

https://youtu.be/2bhnMYvn5S4
https://youtu.be/KV-Y1I-IcX8
https://youtu.be/VSXuRatBZDw
https://youtu.be/n4dq4mXFHDA

Please let me know if you have any more questions.
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My pleasure. Looking forward to driving down to see you in a few weeks and working on Eilig's new 458

 

As 458trofeo said, it's probably not a good idea to adjust your tune without a deep understanding of how to tune and engine and the Bosch MED ECU. Our tunes are open for the sake of full disclosure. For a car this expensive, I think the customer has every right to know what exactly is being done to it. The tunes I provide will certainly be safe and fully tested. But if you just have an interest in seeing what changes we make, that is about as far as I would recommend going. Read only

 

Thanks to everyone for all the business! We have been receiving a steady shipment of ECUs every week since our Autoweek review came out (We drive a Ferrari 458 tuned By OpenFlash Performance | Autoweek).

We just received a set from a new customer in Montana. The ECUs had already been tuned by another tuner not too long ago and a couple things caught my eye:

Once the screw to the lid were removed, the lid of the ECU was distorted enough to actually create an air gap. Then I noticed that the previous tuner didn't re-seal the ECU. Instead they relied on the dry OEM sealant which had been sliced with a razor blade. This is not good practice and can eventually lead to moisture damage if for some reason any portion of the original sealant didn't provide an airtight seal or if any of the screws weren't tightened fully. After back-up the ECU data, we re-sealed the ECUs properly and shipped them back to the customer (along with an OpenFlash Tablet of course).

So for those who have had their ECUs flashed or are thinking about getting them flashed, it's a good idea to check with your tuner that they have been/will be sealed up properly before being returned to you.
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Here's another set of 458 ECUs we shipped out a few days ago a customer in Colorado. New sealant applied
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Thanks guys! We are having a great time doing this for forum members. Every customer wants something a little different and we are happy to oblige.

Just yesterday, a customer asked me if, in addition to all our other usually changes, we could adjust his idle speed. He wanted to bump it up a few hundred RPM. It wasn't something I had done before so it wasn't a table that I had defined. After a bit of snooping in the factory calibration, I found two idle control tables. One commands idle speed when in gear (stoped at a light). And the other commands it while in Neutral. X axis is engine temp (in deg C) ad the Y axis is Gear (0 being Neutral).

I will be testing it on my own shop car tomorrow morning. If it works as I expect it to, I'll be emailing the customer a new tune revision with his idle bumped up to 900PRM.
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Yes of course. The car in this demonstration video is a 2012 458 Spider. No difference from the couple as far as far as ECU tuning goes. This Spider never had burbles before we tuned it

https://youtu.be/I319JD79xZE

 

Great... all you need to do is place an order here: OpenFlash Tablet for Ferrari 458 Italia - OpenFlash PerformanceOpenFlash Performance

Then you will get an email with the address to ship your ECUs to. For international orders, we recommend using either FedEx or UPS. Will only take a couple days to get to us. Then we will back up the EPROM Data and ship them back to you along with the OFT. Then install the ECUs and plug the OFT into your diagnostic port (under the steering wheel) and it's all very easy from there. This upcoming week, we are expecting ECUs from Hong Kong, Germany and Italy.