Mazda Talk Forums

So, I've been banned at 124spider.org for just trying to create a summary thread for ECU tunes I know of. The worst thing is I lost my notes from that post I created, but anyways will try to recreate it here.

The backstory is I'm lost with all the options of the ECU tunes available and really looking for a piece of advice. My goals are city driving with regular time attack events and track days. Fuel is always 98 octane (aka 93 US). No performance mods (except for maybe intake planned for nearest future) So, here's what I've learned so far:

1. EC Euro+Drive - $800
+ Three stages in one box
+ Best customer support out of the options available
+ Most popular by far and seems completely safe and well tested
- Allegedly less power and "clunky" throttle compared to other tunes
- Their power numbers look way too unrealistic, showing 200whp with stock turbo
- All the ranting about dynos and badmouthing competitors
- I guess I've been banned on 124spider for mentioning two items above

2. Tork Tune - $800
+ Used in GWR's 124 build
+ Reportedly better throttle management and power curve
- Their website is uninspiring and they make quite underwhelming claims as in "We add right around 30 WHP", but no dynos, no specs of stages etc.
- Unclear how the tune works — is it preloaded or custom made, what about updates and other tunes etc.

3. OpenFlashTablet - $500
+ Same handheld as in EC but $300 cheaper
+ Stage 1 preloaded, any custom tune is $250
+ Open firmware for manual/local customization
+ Logging, which could be useful on track
- Few real users found, no conclusive feedback on power/reliability
- Reportedly support is very bad with long turnaround times
- GWR's build started with it, but then switched to Tork. Wondering why so.

4. Local tune shops (in my case — upsolute.com franchise) - $400 for one flash
+ Flashing price includes dyno tests to verify the change
+ Claim only 16hp gain, which is ridiculous for the price. Unless they mean that resulting 180hp is actually on wheels — then it's fine.
- Next stage is another $400 on top, which makes it cost as an EC device.


I was initially choosing between EC and OFT, but after that ban, which I think is likely connected with EC, I'd rather go with Tork / OFT.
I would really appreciate any feedback of 124 owners on either of the options (or anything I might have missed) — mostly interested in OFT, as the combination of price and updatability potential looks very appealing

WE bought them ALL, here is a summary of our experience.

OpenFlash has left the space, so consider that one gone.

Tried the EuroCompulsion, service is good but tune started a lot further from ideal, Air/Fuel ratios were a mess and yet their device does not have logging function so customer can easily send them logs and get updates. We ended up using the logging function of the OpenFlash tablet to get logs to EC for update. The good news is that EC was very prompt with updated files and got the tune a lot better for our car.

And after all that our Fiat 124 is on the Tork MotorSports tune because that was the nearest to 'right' out of the box, still needed some logs, and with some logs to John for updates this ended up the best driving tune.

Brian

Brian, that's wonderful! Can't say how I'm grateful for this response — exactly the kind of feedback I wanted to hear. Will go with Tork then.

I love the "no-nonsense - facts only" reply from Brian.

I started with the Goodwin cat-back exhaust and Progress springs on my 124. Then it was time to get a tune and was also undecided about which way to go.

I started with the OFT tune. And it was surprisingly good out of the box. Not a huge bump in power but enough to be noticeable and very smooth in the power delivery. You can imagine my disappointment when I enquired about further updates (stages) and they informed me they had no plans to develop anything further for that platform.

So as other mods continued (intake, upgraded intercooler, coils), I decided to go to EC and get their stage 2 tune.
It arrive quickly and the download/install was without drama.
The EC has some more power than the OFT probably due to higher boost peak. But it does not deliver the power as smoothly as the OFT tune did. Judging by the amount of soot of the chrome tips, I would suspect that it runs a little too rich at times, but have not measured this. But better too rich than too lean.

So in the future I will either begin the logging and emailing of files back and forth to EC, or perhaps I will try Tork Motorsport tune in person (once Covid is over and done) and I can hop across the line to John's shop in Washington state).

When I read your post I was surprised to see that you aren't planning for an AFR package. My shop uses AFR data on all of our tunes. We log everything and AFR data is definitely high on the list. I honestly sold the equipment that I used to tune those ECU's when I sold my shop in Florida (We had kTag and several others).
I honestly hate cookie cutter tunes. Though I do admit that sometimes we have done compare files from the stock tune to out of the box tuner changes just to see what they did. I will tell you that your log files will determine what the state of your tune is and will give your tuner the best ammo to further the tune. Run the fuel that you want to run when you tune.
I hope that I'm not too far off-topic here. Just a note from someone who tunes every day. Good luck with your project. I love the old spiders.

It is an odd thing in the Fiat 124 world that there are so many canned tunes and most customers are not checking AFR of the results and getting logs back to the Tuners. I would NEVER fail to AFR log the result with any tune, every tune gets better with logs and updates and it is car by car, no canned tune will be 'right' as installed in our experience.

Brian wrote:It is an odd thing in the Fiat 124 world that there are so many canned tunes and most customers are not checking AFR of the results and getting logs back to the Tuners. I would NEVER fail to AFR log the result with any tune, every tune gets better with logs and updates and it is car by car, no canned tune will be 'right' as installed in our experience.

I could not agree more.