Flashing a C4S?
09-13-2018, 01:26 PM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Flashing a C4S?
Hello everyone!
I've been looking to give me C4S a bit more zip. I had not really considered an ECU flash because typically non turbo cars only have minimal gains, but I've been seeing claims of around 40hp or so. I am planning to combine this with the EVOMS intake and hoping to get up around 400bhp.
My question is what companies provide a good quality tune without any issues/CEL's? I'm not very familiar with this topic in the Porsche world.
What companies do you guys prefer?
I've been looking to give me C4S a bit more zip. I had not really considered an ECU flash because typically non turbo cars only have minimal gains, but I've been seeing claims of around 40hp or so. I am planning to combine this with the EVOMS intake and hoping to get up around 400bhp.
My question is what companies provide a good quality tune without any issues/CEL's? I'm not very familiar with this topic in the Porsche world.
What companies do you guys prefer?
09-13-2018, 03:16 PM
#2
Former Sponsor
A good tune for any hardware configuration is worth, on its own, about 12-15hp on these cars. Those 40hp gains come from is pairing the tune with other bolt-on mods, including a good intake, IPD plenum and throttle body, mufflers (mostly sound improvements here), high flow cats, and headers. All of that stuff combined with a tune will put the car near that 400hp mark.
Aside from the power gains, where the tune becomes valuable on a build like that is making the car drive well. These cars will tolerate some bolt-on mods fairly well, with minimal consequences--if you put an intake and mufflers on the car, it will drive smoothly and consistently, though adding a tune will gain you some power. If you add all the above upgrades (plenum, headers, cats, etc.) to the car and run it on the stock ECU, you'll get hesitations throughout the powerband and weak throttle response as the ECU struggles to compensate for the much different breathing characteristics of the engine than what it was programmed to work with. Doing a proper ECU tune, where the programming of the ECU is recalibrated to the behavior of the engine as equipped with all the upgrades, will give you a smooth and consistent powerband with sharp throttle response in all circumstances. This kind of improvement is difficult to quantify for the sake of advertising, but seat of the pants it feels like as much of an improvement as the peak power gains you get and I think is where a lot of the value in tuning a modified car comes from.
Sam
Aside from the power gains, where the tune becomes valuable on a build like that is making the car drive well. These cars will tolerate some bolt-on mods fairly well, with minimal consequences--if you put an intake and mufflers on the car, it will drive smoothly and consistently, though adding a tune will gain you some power. If you add all the above upgrades (plenum, headers, cats, etc.) to the car and run it on the stock ECU, you'll get hesitations throughout the powerband and weak throttle response as the ECU struggles to compensate for the much different breathing characteristics of the engine than what it was programmed to work with. Doing a proper ECU tune, where the programming of the ECU is recalibrated to the behavior of the engine as equipped with all the upgrades, will give you a smooth and consistent powerband with sharp throttle response in all circumstances. This kind of improvement is difficult to quantify for the sake of advertising, but seat of the pants it feels like as much of an improvement as the peak power gains you get and I think is where a lot of the value in tuning a modified car comes from.
Sam
09-13-2018, 03:34 PM
#3
Instructor
I went with Softronic and it is great. I only did it because I got headers and needed the O2 sensor CELs programmed out. Not much noticeable gain other than a lot better throttle response. My 997.2 C4S manual did not have the sport button or Chrono package. If you do have Chrono package with sport button and no other mods then it is a waste of money IMO.
