Severn Tuning's new flash app

[Michael9218]

Cross posting this from my build thread as it deserves a separate thread.

So Josh contacted me the other day to tell me about a new flash app he has that improved flash time from 50 minutes to 50 seconds!

Being game for anything that can improve power, I jumped at the chance when he offered to meet me at a local dyno shop for some additional tuning (though he can tune remote as well).

Being able to flash tunes so quickly, he went about methodically building the new tune starting with intake cam timing, then exhaust cam timing, and then ignition and fuel. The result was well beyond my expectation and quite possibly the highest HP I've heard of for a MAF'd tune on an internally stock S54.

350 rwhp and 267 ft-lbs of torque!

Though our previous dyno tune two years ago posted 336 rwhp, the baseline this morning was 332hp for a peak-to-peak improvement of 18hp, but the max improvement was a whopping 28hp around 7,000 rpm! Torque was also greatly improved throughout the mid-range.

Contact Josh and get you some!

[RossBMWZseries]

Originally Posted by Michael9218

Cross posting this from my build thread as it deserves a separate thread.

So Josh contacted me the other day to tell me about a new flash app he has that improved flash time from 50 minutes to 50 seconds!

Being game for anything that can improve power, I jumped at the chance when he offered to meet me at a local dyno shop for some additional tuning (though he can tune remote as well).

Being able to flash tunes so quickly, he went about methodically building the new tune starting with intake cam timing, then exhaust cam timing, and then ignition and fuel. The result was well beyond my expectation and quite possibly the highest HP I've heard of for a MAF'd tune on an internally stock S54.

350 rwhp and 267 ft-lbs of torque!

Though our previous dyno tune two years ago posted 336 rwhp, the baseline this morning was 332hp for a peak-to-peak improvement of 18hp, but the max improvement was a whopping 28hp around 7,000 rpm! Torque was also greatly improved throughout the mid-range.

Contact Josh and get you some!

Currently tuning my car with Josh

[Vanne]

Awesome!!!

[mmm-five]

Are we seriously saying this is giving over 400hp at the crank...from just a tune...for a stock S54 engine?

That is some serious uplift

[Michael9218]

Yes, with stock internals.
There are bolt on mods to the engine. Exhaust, intake, under drive pulleys, and a dry sump.

[pokeybritches]

Mike's car has a dry sump setup, Eventuri and carbon intake modified to support a MAF, and (most importantly) SS V1 stepped headers with a matching custom exhaust. I optimized the ECU tune to tie the hardware together. VANOS tuning requires a methodical but tedious approach with many dyno runs. I think we're at around 36 total runs with this car.

We had our first session two years ago, and I used the best flash tuning tech available at the time to tune the car. We managed to gain about 10 whp across the entire powerband via expedited tuning. I say "expedited" because it was not feasible to perform the number of dyno runs required to tune VANOS from scratch, so I used a condensed approach that would get us the best results in a short amount of time. Back then, flashing took approximately 50 minutes to complete. It would have taken 3-5 days to get the required data, and conditions would change over the course of several days and skew the results. You can imagine how expensive dyno and tuning time would be if we had not used the existing factory VANOS calibration as a basis from which to build the custom tune.

I’m now able to flash the car in 1-2 minutes with FlashApp and Severn Remote Flash. A high-quality laptop and upgraded cable can flash the ECU in around 50 seconds. The improved flash times allow me to dive into the VANOS tuning using a method built on trend analysis. This technique has proven extremely successful, albeit tedious since it requires 30-40 dyno runs from baseline to final confirmation. Layering 20+ runs on top of each other to find a small power difference from each iteration requires consistent data and the ability to flash the ECU quickly. At the end of the day, an iterative 1-2 hp gain repeated many times will lead to huge improvements.

I’ve attached a series of dyno runs with the intake VANOS locked in various positions. With Mike’s hardware, the engine clearly performs better with certain intake VANOS settings in the midrange, but significantly different values at high rpm. The same applies to the exhaust VANOS. Starting with the factory calibration and shifting it a few degrees in each direction will not give a clear picture of what the engine prefers, especially when a few horsepower is within the tolerance error of the dyno. There’s more to this technique than I can share publicly, especially with regards to confirmation testing. However, I wanted to show why so many dyno runs are required to tune VANOS methodically, and why it’s necessary to do it this way to produce big power gains.

This is a perfect example of how improved flash times go beyond convenience. Flash time can influence tuning methods, which in turn impacts cost and results.

Lastly, shortened flash times cause less wear and tear, since the fuel pump isn’t running at full bore for the better part of an hour while the battery supports a 50+ amp current draw.

[mmm-five]

Excellent work & results.

Almost negates the need for me to fit my supercharger then, if I can get 60hp more from this flash (mine's a UK model)

[beaniegti]

I’ll never be able to understand the huge apparent differences in USA hp and UK hp. If someone with those mods over here got a ‘rolling road’ printout showing 350whp then nobody would believe it. That’s not a criticism or otherwise, just a long standing curiosity.

However, regardless of the numbers, I really like the method and the tech, and to see such gains across the entire rev range is great work-you both must be very satisfied with that result.

Have you, Josh/Severn, done anything with alpha-N for airboxed cars?

[pokeybritches]

We work with alpha-n too. All of our supercharged tunes are alpha-n.

Dynojets are available globally and are fairly consistent. Since they are roller dynos, there are still factors which affect readings such has tire compound (softer = lower readings), strap tension (more tension = higher readings), wheel weight, etc. Some tuners artificially influence the weather station to get higher readings. I do all of my dyno tuning at the customer's shop of choice with their operators rather than with my personal dyno, so there is no bias. I have had the same readings all over the world too.

The artificially high readings you may see in Europe have to do with correction factors that the tuners or the dyno manufacturers apply. You can make a dyno read whatever you want with a correction factor. Dynojets are harder to cheat.