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      11-02-2010, 05:13 PM   #1
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Active Autowerk ECU Tune Success!

So as some of you know, I was the first to get the Active Autowerk ECU tune flashed into my '07 Z4MC via the OBD2 port. Let it be known to all that I was just as skeptical as any of you potential buyers out there. Not because I don't trust AA's work, but because this is a relatively new tune and I originally only felt minimal gains at best while trying to be unbiased.
However after I had driven a couple hundred miles and allowed the ECU to adapt, as well as disconnecting the battery overnight to reset the ECU and also resetting throttle adaptation, I began to feel a difference in the low to mid-range increase in acceleration as well as better cold start and smoother part-throttle responses. At this point in time though, I still was not sure if I was fully happy with my money spent. However, since JSW (Jlevi Street Werks) provided me a full money-back guarantee no questions asked, I decided to give the ECU some further testing prior to making any rash decisions.

So I proceeded to do a full track day @ Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca yesterday (Monday). No fault codes, no hiccups, no mess. Nothing but pure bliss. I was EXTREMELY impressed with the power delivery, especially in sport mode I'm going back to Laguna again on Nov. 27th woot!
And I drove with DSC off all day at the track, if anyone wanted to know lol. This car is simply amazing for the market niche it competes in. Hands down, BMW did a superb job with the all-around performance of this car. But then at this point, I was only half convinced. What if it was just by butt dyno or the placebo effect taking hold?
There was only one thing left to do. Put the car back on the dyno and compare the results with my baseline which I did just several weeks ago.

Well after having run the dyno today in mid-70 degree ambient weather, I have to say that for the money, I'm completely satisfied with the tune, especially for the relatively low cost compared to other tunes out there for our cars. I will not be asking JSW for my money back

My baseline dyno (as seen from the baseline thread I started here: http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=433124 ) yielded 266rwhp and 237rwtq at best:




The "after" dyno yielded 293rwhp and 243rwtq at best:


^^
*The thicker more solid lines in the dyno represent present-day "after" runs. The two lighter less solid lines were from the "before" runs.
**The red, green, and dark blue "after" runs were with sport mode on
***The purple and light blue "after" runs were with sport mode off

Note that both dynos were on an otherwise stock car with the exact same DynaPack and the exact same operator. The only relevant information performance-wise for the car and dyno is that:
1) my baseline was done without any muffler cannisters on (was curious about the sound
and
2) my final dyno was with SuperSprint Race muffler cannisters on

Absolutely everything else was stock (except the ECU of course ).



All in all, the Active Autowerk ECU tune was able to yield me a peak 27rwhp increase, and a 6rwtq peak increase. But what those #'s don't tell you is the area under the torque curve that is inreased. If you compare the before and after dyno, you can see that the decline in torque is delayed by a significant amount, which helped to reach those hp gains. More area under the torque curve is always a good thing
I'm not sure how this tune will affect other people's cars, but considering mine was stock, I'd assume that the "adaptive" tune will allow for even more increase in hp and tq.

I'd like to give a shout out to Cal @ JSW for helping me out with this and other mods for my Z4MC. I'd recommend for anyone from NorCal to pay JSW (Jlevi Street Werks) headquarters a visit. They are located in Santa Clara, CA. and are a vendor for Active Autowerks. If you are not local, then you may have to find a vendor closer to you, or you might even have to send your ECU into AA headquarters in Florida.






Last edited by mfanatic325; 05-18-2013 at 01:50 AM..
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      11-02-2010, 05:45 PM   #2
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wow sounds good.
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      11-02-2010, 05:51 PM   #3
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hehe, I guess the butt dyno really is accurate and good for something sometimes
As long as it's an unbiased butt, in a win-win situation. As in my case
I could've just as easily gotten my money back thanks to JSW's guarantee

btw, for anyone who's been to Laguna Seca, what were your lap times? I was only able to run a personal best of 1:54
A club racer's spec miata pulled 1:50's consistently; and the world record set by the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR ran 1:33. I need to seriously improve on my driving skills lol...

BUT! I was on crappy General tires =P
I'm sure I can shave off 4 seconds easily with better tires, get my TCK coilovers installed, dialed in, corner-balanced, and a proper track alignment.
Oh, and I think braking will be key to faster times @ Laguna. I think I'm braking too early lol

Last edited by mfanatic325; 11-02-2010 at 06:51 PM..
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      11-02-2010, 06:37 PM   #4
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Dang! I have to admit, I was expecting the car (which is otherwise stock) to gain around 20 horsepower to the wheels (so like, 25hp at the crank), but 27RWHP gain is pretty huge.

Post up those Dyno's!
Glad you're happy with the tune!
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      11-02-2010, 07:19 PM   #5
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Awesome stuff, can't wait for the after dyno graphs
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      11-02-2010, 08:24 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfanatic325 View Post
So as some of you know, I was the second to get the Active Autowerk ECU tune flashed into my '07 Z4MC via the OBD2 port.
Fixed.
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      11-02-2010, 09:07 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
Fixed.
lol reallyyyy? How about first customer-who didn't work with AA on this software-to get the ECU flashed

Anyhow, I finally got the "after" dyno scanned. Will upload right now!

Last edited by mfanatic325; 11-02-2010 at 09:12 PM..
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      11-02-2010, 09:32 PM   #8
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holy crap, that top end keeps climbing?\ what gas were you running? and sorry if this has been touched on before, but is there a 91 map like on the ess tune?

I really wish you ran a base dyno w/ the stock mufflers b/c muffler deletes are known to drop power in the top end.... regardless those numbers are impressive. I can't believe your butt dyno didn't feel the top end...
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      11-02-2010, 09:41 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shift@red View Post
^damn, good numbers. so not only is it cheaper than both the ess and bren tune, it puts down a good amount more power too.
again, AA is legit and this just confirms it for anyone who doubted them.
ESS is one of the top choices because they were the first ones to come out with a tune for our cars, right? Well, I like to be different hah, so I didn't really want to jump on the bandwagon so to speak. Also, I didn't like their high asking price. I asked for a discount and I would get dynos up for them, but they weren't interested
BrenTune, I think would be a GREAT choice if it's done on the dyno.
Same goes for AA, but unfortunately I didn't have the dyno (custom) tune option available to me. So I went with the next best thing =P

Quote:
Originally Posted by krnnerdboy View Post
holy crap, that top end keeps climbing?\ what gas were you running? and sorry if this has been touched on before, but is there a 91 map like on the ess tune?

I really wish you ran a base dyno w/ the stock mufflers b/c muffler deletes are known to drop power in the top end.... regardless those numbers are impressive. I can't believe your butt dyno didn't feel the top end...
I'm running 91 octane. AA probably can cater to higher octanes if you request it though, I'm pretty sure. As for the stock mufflers not being on during my baseline dyno, I've also heard that no mufflers might actually increase #'s. So that's both ways lol (some say more, some say less). I honestly don't think the cans make a difference personally. If it were section 1 or 2 piping and/or headers, then yes, there'd be a difference. As for the butt dyno, it was the low-end and mid-range that I couldn't feel as much. Top end I definitely felt, but was afraid that it was the placebo effect taking hold LOL. Didn't want to run around claiming gains if it hadn't been put down on paper yet =P

Last edited by mfanatic325; 11-02-2010 at 11:52 PM..
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      11-03-2010, 08:36 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfanatic325 View Post
.......As for the stock mufflers not being on during my baseline dyno, I've also heard that no mufflers might actually increase #'s. So that's both ways lol (some say more, some say less). I honestly don't think the cans make a difference personally. If it were section 1 or 2 piping and/or headers, then yes, there'd be a difference. As for the butt dyno, it was the low-end and mid-range that I couldn't feel as much. Top end I definitely felt, but was afraid that it was the placebo effect taking hold LOL. Didn't want to run around claiming gains if it hadn't been put down on paper yet =P
First, thanks for being able to follow through with the pre- and post-tune dynos - not too many people can do that and often if they do, they have made substantial changes besides just the tune and it's hard to compare. So this is really quite nice. And I tend to agree with you about the mufflers. Realistically, the SS Race cans are straight through, aren't they? If so, I can't imagine that it would make much difference either. So there is another 1-2 feet of straight through pipe with them on vs off, has to be negligible.....
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      11-03-2010, 08:46 PM   #11
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Wow! Definitely nice numbers!

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      11-03-2010, 08:48 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfanatic325 View Post
I'm running 91 octane. AA probably can cater to higher octanes if you request it though, I'm pretty sure.
Is that necessary since we've got adaptive ECUs?
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      11-04-2010, 01:25 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onebluemcm View Post
First, thanks for being able to follow through with the pre- and post-tune dynos - not too many people can do that and often if they do, they have made substantial changes besides just the tune and it's hard to compare. So this is really quite nice. And I tend to agree with you about the mufflers. Realistically, the SS Race cans are straight through, aren't they? If so, I can't imagine that it would make much difference either. So there is another 1-2 feet of straight through pipe with them on vs off, has to be negligible.....
You're very welcome
And yes, I really don't think the muffler cans made any difference. The power increase came from the delay in the falling of the torque, which in turn provides more peak hp.

Quote:
Originally Posted by epbrown View Post
Is that necessary since we've got adaptive ECUs?
I'm not quite sure what you're asking here..? A tune should be for whatever octane you're going to be using. Even though I have 100 octane nearby, I'm not down to spend $8+ / gallon lol...I wish I were rich enough to do that =P

Quote:
Originally Posted by shift@red View Post
Yes the SS race is straight through. Having them on wont make more than a near negligible hp difference. 3-5 hp if that. although, i would still be interested to see.
The real gains come from headers or x pipe.
Yeah, now I'm thinking about doing headers and/or x-pipe, with a drop-in air filter and strap back onto the dyno lolll
But only if I can find these items for cheap. I can do the labor myself. I've done E46 M3 headers two times before, so the Z4M should be a piece of cake with all that empty space in the engine bay ^_^
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      11-04-2010, 01:29 AM   #14
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^ Do it :P
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      11-04-2010, 01:33 AM   #15
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lol I'd need to take my buddy's Ebay headers from his E46 M3 (before he sells the car), and I'd also need to get an SS x-pipe for cheap. I have a B&M drop-in filter coming in soon. That might yield me a couple ponies hopefully.
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      11-04-2010, 07:55 AM   #16
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If these numbers are legit, that is quite impressive. There are tuners out there that have been doing nothing but software who van not come close to these numbers. It is impressive. I would like to see a second dyne on another forum members car before we call it solid. How safe is this tune? Does it allow safety ratios in the f/a ratios? 27rwhp increase is awesome considering no one else can break 20 on a stock config on 93 octane. Hmm. I've had two other tunes on my last z4 so that's the only reason im skeptical.
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      11-04-2010, 09:49 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfanatic325 View Post
But only if I can find these items for cheap. I can do the labor myself. I've done E46 M3 headers two times before, so the Z4M should be a piece of cake with all that empty space in the engine bay ^_^
There are two or three of the X-pipes for sale for a great deal on these forums atm. Fyi
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      11-04-2010, 09:56 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by mousitch View Post
If these numbers are legit, that is quite impressive. There are tuners out there that have been doing nothing but software who van not come close to these numbers. It is impressive. I would like to see a second dyne on another forum members car before we call it solid. How safe is this tune? Does it allow safety ratios in the f/a ratios? 27rwhp increase is awesome considering no one else can break 20 on a stock config on 93 octane. Hmm. I've had two other tunes on my last z4 so that's the only reason im skeptical.
I agree. Not taking anything away from the work that's been done here, but I'd like to see another cars result b4 I jump up and down. I would've also thought a 27rwhp increase would have felt like a mule-kick when u first got the tune. Either way, worth checking a lot further into
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      11-04-2010, 10:33 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfanatic325 View Post
I'm not quite sure what you're asking here..? A tune should be for whatever octane you're going to be using. Even though I have 100 octane nearby, I'm not down to spend $8+ / gallon lol...I wish I were rich enough to do that =P
I weas asking if a 93 octane (what we get in IL) tune would be necessary, since the ECU should be able to adapt for higher and lower octanes on its own.
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      11-04-2010, 10:44 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mousitch View Post
If these numbers are legit, that is quite impressive. There are tuners out there that have been doing nothing but software who van not come close to these numbers. It is impressive. I would like to see a second dyne on another forum members car before we call it solid. How safe is this tune? Does it allow safety ratios in the f/a ratios? 27rwhp increase is awesome considering no one else can break 20 on a stock config on 93 octane. Hmm. I've had two other tunes on my last z4 so that's the only reason im skeptical.
I've read somewhere that there is no 91 octane map on the stock ECU, only 89 and 93. I have no idea why BMW would do this when half of North America uses 91 octane. Regardless, some of the gains might be because the car was taken from an 89 octane BMW map to a 91 octane aftermarket map.
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      11-04-2010, 11:02 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pokeybritches View Post
I've read somewhere that there is no 91 octane map on the stock ECU, only 89 and 93. I have no idea why BMW would do this when half of North America uses 91 octane. Regardless, some of the gains might be because the car was taken from an 89 octane BMW map to a 91 octane aftermarket map.
which is still worth the upgrade alone...I want to see a dyno with less variables, but then again I don't doubt AA's work
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      11-04-2010, 11:08 AM   #22
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just noticed the peak numbers on stock dyno peaked at 7200rpm...factory rated power peaks at 7900 rpm, which is what the after tune dyno shows. This only solidifies my idea that the muffler delete really swayed the factory numbers. Especially if the mufflers were pulled right before the dyno session w/o letting the ecu adapt.

I think 15hp claims would still make it worth it...lets see some new dynos
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