GIAC ECU tuning complete...results

hello, well i took my cayman s into GMG today and they re-flashed the ECU with the GIAC 91 octane program. while I haven't dyno'd the car yet, I can tell a noticible improvement (butt dyno would say 15hp). the car is way more responsive in the low rpms off the line. i was looking for improvement off the line and at mid range, since it seemed like this car is such a dog out of the gate -- until you hit 4000 rpm, then it would kick in. not back for $1000 upgrade. i think the de-snork and my k&n also helped. i think the next mod will be exhaust... still not sure which system will be best. the people at GMG are great to work with, very cool and laid back.

Wow, you can detect a 5% or 15HP improvement? My experience is that only turbo charged cars will be affected significantly by ECU upgrades. One of my sons paid $500 for an APR chip and improved the HP of his '02 Audi TT from 225 to around 275. That's almost a 25% improvement for only $500.

I’m sure that you are happy with your modification but there is something called perceived horsepower . Back in the day my buddy who owned a Porsche independent repair shop would install a ratty exhaust on customer cars which made a very loud noise and invariably they believed they had 15-25 more horsepower until he would show them the holes in the muffler. It was the effect of paying for something with cash or effort and the louder noise that combined to make people believe. It is very similar to the better performance a just washed and waxed car seems to have. He did these a dozen or so times just to prove his point. You really need to do the before and after dyno test under similar conditions to calibrate your “butt dyno”.

I had the GIAC tuning done on my car at Image Auto and it was a noticeable difference in performance. I also had added the EVO intake. I didn't gain but about 7 or 8 hp overall, but gained close to 40 hp in the midrange per back to back dyno runs.

You confused me with that. Please explain the "only gained 8 but gained 40" statement. I am sure you are correct but you lost me.

My base RWHP was 275 and it went to about 282 max hp. But in the lower to miderange rpms it was a huge jump from what it was. The hp and torque came in much early than stock, but was still very liner. I believe my dyno chart is posted around here somewhere. It was last fall. My car is the white Cayman S shown on Image Autos web site.

What if you could flash your Cayman with any available ECU flash (such as different octane ratings, raising the rev limiter, turning on sport mode by default, etc.) as well as the ability to flash the latest Porsche stock ECU program? Would that be of interest to anyone here?

Of course ... What did you have in mind?

Well then stay tuned, I will likely have an announcement for everyone shortly (meaning I'm expecting items to be completed this week) but as a bit of background I'd like to take some of the mystery out of ECU tuning, add more flexibility and put control into the hands of the Cayman owner when the owner wants that control. I also want to see more options in ECU tuning for the Cayman that simply aren't being offered by other companies. When I find things I like, I set to work on making them reality and reality for others who may also be similarly interested. That's about all I can say at the moment.

Why are people so skeptical? You guys feel the difference when pressing Sport Chrono right? Why wouldnt you feel the difference with a ECU reflash, or new exhaust or intake or even all together?

Great anecdote Santa Fe! Do you think we should do a research study on the placebo effect of aftermarket performance modifications? Double blind study comparing perceived vs. actual gains?

Sport Chrono does not get you hp. Non sport chrono equipped cars have the same hp as equipped cars. Feeling "a difference" is not feeling "horsepower".

i loved your idea, so last night i went and drilled holes in every engine part i could reach, i think maybe if i can get the car started again it will be faster than a turbo!! also i liked the washing and waxing idea, i expect about a 20hp gain at the rear wheels when im done. LOL

That would be great Ken. I now run on the track with PSM off since the normal setting is too intrusive. Although I like tracking with the PSM off, it would be great to have the delayed PSM trigger that comes with the sport mode. I asked GIAC about this and was told that they didn't touch the PSM settings (possibly for liability reasons). Would such a flash overwrite the GIAC flash, or could the ECU be separately addressed?

Your GIAC flash could be saved so you could re-install it later. The GIAC flash would be over-written by a new flash that would also include sport mode or whatever other options you desired. I suspect the performance aspect of your new flash to be just as good as any other flash, but of course you could dyno test back to back to see.

And here is the big question! If the ECU really is "programable" is there any way to load it to a dyno and dyno tune it?

Not directly, but you can load up software, dyno it, check results, tweak software, load it, dyno it and check results, rinse and repeat until you have the numbers you are looking for.

^sounds very interesting

You know this reminds me how much I miss my buddy (the Porsche mechanic). He was my age but died 25 years ago. Man I hate he missed all these Porsches and these discussions.

Would be good so long as the price is not crazy and we can go back to factory at the press of a button. Such systems already exist for other cars.

Actually there are ZERO systems that let you go back to factory programming at the touch of a button. There are some that "claim" you will get a factory map, but if you do a byte for byte comparison between what they claim to be factory and the actual factory map there are differences, sometimes significant differences. BTW price will be less than other offerings, also a good thing I assume?

Ok, thats interesting to know. Like most, unless we have accurate info at hand or from other people we can only go on the promo material for such product. I guess this is going to be a small control box that connects to the programming socket?