Dynotronics remote tune - reviews/reports?

Hey guys!

Just wanted to check in to see how the Dynotronics remote tunes have been going. I looked through the old thread, and it seemed like a lot of people were still in the middle of the process, and not a whole lot has been said about the end result. By now, surely most of the bugs have been worked out and people have put some miles on their tunes.

How's it looking?

-Matt

I've been running my second flash for months and all I can say is...what are you waiting for? This car has become so much more fun to drive now that the redline is higher, the throttle actually responds, and the torque curve exists below 4500rpm. I really should get around to logging again and getting the third flash in it, but time and bad weather have been preventing that.

I've looked at the Dynotronics website, what do you need to purchase and what is require to get a Tune?

Mike

racz25 said:

Did you have to bump up your gas to premium?

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Didn't have to, but it's strongly recommended. End up being an extra $4 at the pump every fill up. I can justify that for a bit of extra power.

Rdrcr said:

I've looked at the Dynotronics website, what do you need to purchase and what is require to get a Tune?

Mike

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You need to purchase the tune itself and a Tactrix programmer. Then it's easy once you get the software installed on a laptop. Plug the Tactrix into your car and the laptop, get the base file and send it to DT. Program your car with the first tune file and drive it around with the Tactrix and laptop logging your engine parameters. Send the logs to DT, get another set. Rinse and repeat.

^^^^
Awesome! Thanks!

I'm computer illiterate. Is it difficult to upload the software and log the vehicle?

Mike

I did the whole process with my Mazda3, I dropped .6 off my 1/4mi and gained 2-3mph trap speeds, which equates to 10-15 peak HP, consistent with the dyno runs I did. The best part was the throttle response and low end torque added. This won't be shown on a dyno graph.

I'll find links to videos I made and the whole process when I had that car, I still have my tactrix cable so I'll tune the 2 once I have exhaust done. I have a YouTube video showing the flash process and some use of MazdaEdit. Will post more when I'm on my laptop.

Here is the video regarding how the flash process works, you can also kind of see some stuff in MazdaEdit as how the program is laid out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opR6w7nID54&list=UUdHhUnQoZ4TcdhKCo7zwejw



I did the tune and took it to a 1/4mi drag strip. I ran 2 runs with the tune, then loaded the stock tune and ran a 3rd time. 60ft times were all within 0.1xx of each other IIRC, my first run was kinda crappy as it was my first time ever at a drag strip. In a nutshell I ran a 16.5 @ 84.81 mph with the new tune, and ran a 17.1 @ 82.40 mph with the stock tune.


I'd upload my photobucket pics but photobucket is a giant POS since I started using it about 8 years ago with all the BS syncing crap... so my bandwidth is gone since I haven't renewed the pro subscription. I have several thousand pics I need to move elsewhere which really blows. I need somewhere else new(and free) to host pics since I got my Mazda2.

^^^^
Thanks for the video and how-to.

I'm really interested in the improved throttle response and bump in low-end power. Did the Tune effect the MPG? Does the Tune increase the RPM limit?

Mike

No increase in MPG, slight drop but I was driving like an ass all the time and autox every weekend or two so I rarely had a good chance to test it consistently. I had a terrible ~3mi commute which is poor mileage no matter what. Yes raised rpm limits. This was all for the 2.0l 3 though, no comment on tuning a 2 personally.

flatlander937 said:

I did the whole process with my Mazda3, I dropped .6 off my 1/4mi and gained 2-3mph trap speeds, which equates to 10-15 peak HP, consistent with the dyno runs I did. The best part was the throttle response and low end torque added. This won't be shown on a dyno graph.

I'll find links to videos I made and the whole process when I had that car, I still have my tactrix cable so I'll tune the 2 once I have exhaust done. I have a YouTube video showing the flash process and some use of MazdaEdit. Will post more when I'm on my laptop.

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So how much HP your car produces now?

Andres

I sold it to get the 2.


It gained about 15 ft-lbs tq from 2500-4500rpms which was hugely noticeable. Gained about 7hp peak, roughly 10hp at lower parts of the power band now that I have it in front of me. Dyno runs done right after each other, note that the stock tune was freshly loaded, normally after 50+mi it relearns fuel trims and starts to kill throttle response and richens up and feels crappy. So that dyno was a best case scenario, real life would probably be a bigger difference stock vs tuned IMO.


It was 100% bone stock aside from the motor mount being filled and the tune. Stock from air filter to tailpipe engine-wise.

Would the three step tune like you mentioned still have safety parameters built in? Was keen on visiting some tracks when the weather heats up and did not want to risk having a tune that could risk the engine in between the three tunes.

woot woot said:

Would the three step tune like you mentioned still have safety parameters built in? Was keen on visiting some tracks when the weather heats up and did not want to risk having a tune that could risk the engine in between the three tunes.

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I had something like 14-16 different tunes from beginning to end IIRC. You don't have to worry about it not being "safe." The 2.0L(and also the 1.5 based on a quick search) have knock sensors, so if your engine starts knocking, it will pull 2x as much timing as needed until it stops. It absolutely kills power when this happens. Note that it's pretty normal for even a stock tune to register 1-3 degrees of knock right off of idle, I found this very interesting and I think eliminating this was one of the reasons it felt so much better taking off from a stop on my Mazda3. You'll never really hear engine pinging at this low RPM though. If you ever hear what sounds like a bag of marbles knocking around under hood... that's bad mmmkay?

Also the first tune you get should be a copy of your OEM not-******-with tune... so if you ever get a "bad" tune or have problems and suspect it's tune related, you can flash the original back on. FWIW all of the tuning takes into account ambient temp, coolant temp, etc.. so if it's good in normal weather, warmer shouldn't be a problem, likely just some reduced power as it will pull timing based on how hot the IAT is. It takes all the sensors into account, just like an OEM tune. They fiddle with both open loop and closed loop operation. As you load a new tune, you need to drive the car for about 20 mi for all the parameters to relearn, then you start logging and it helps the process to do EXACTLY what they ask you to. It will be stuff like cruising at Xmph for so many minutes, then some half throttle runs from like 20 to 60 mph, then the hard one to do is a third gear run from 1500rpms to redline(which on my Mazda3 was something like 90mph). I honestly never really had the opportunity to do that too often, so did several 2nd gear runs to redline instead... though this is not as ideal because the engine is not as heavily loaded because of 1) the gearing and 2) the wind resistance. 3rd gear the car won't accellerate as quickly so the data they review has much more resolution by spreading the 1500-redline time out over a longer period of time.

I'd like to buy a dedicated "mini" laptop when I do this to my 2 again... riding along with a massive laptop kind of sucks.

Ahh okay thanks for the info. Was just a bit worried about what would happen. I am keen on the tune to liven up the car, but obviously dont want to ruin the car

woot woot said:

Ahh okay thanks for the info. Was just a bit worried about what would happen. I am keen on the tune to liven up the car, but obviously dont want to ruin the car

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So far we have tune over 100 Mazda 2 remotely around the world with very good results. We are now working on V3.6 of the calibration( so if you have not updated for a while, get back to me) that has some very interesting cam map chages, and some new goodies we found in the code. As always we test everything on our test mule here at the shop, and on our local test track, AS well as on our Spec B race car.

Pricing has also dropped in the last year, so if your on the fence, now is the time to jump on this!

And BTW, I have to make a trip to Florida to pick up one of our long term test cars that got hit by an idiot in a lexus, Soooooo, if yo guys in FL want to do a dyno day, we could set this up at Breathless

Dynotronics1 said:

So far we have tune over 100 Mazda 2 remotely around the world with very good results. We are now working on V3.6 of the calibration( so if you have not updated for a while, get back to me) that has some very interesting cam map chages, and some new goodies we found in the code. As always we test everything on our test mule here at the shop, and on our local test track, AS well as on our Spec B race car.



Pricing has also dropped in the last year, so if your on the fence, now is the time to jump on this!



And BTW, I have to make a trip to Florida to pick up one of our long term test cars that got hit by an idiot in a lexus, Soooooo, if yo guys in FL want to do a dyno day, we could set this up at Breathless

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well since I happen to be in Florida I would be down for that. Just let me know when, where, and price. I need someone who knows my car and will listen to me explaining how to get the car to do what you want. It takes a lot of knowledge of my car to get it to do what is needed.

Now I have a question regarding 'goodies'. Is it possible to have it so traction assist is OFF when the engine starts, and can be turned back on(and off again, etc.) using the button?

Dynotronics1 said:

Soooooo, if yo guys in FL want to do a dyno day, we could set this up at Breathless

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If I was local, I'd be there!

Mike

Great sign me up for it I sent you a PM a few weeks ago did you get it? Or should i contact through direct emails?

Which tactrix programmer do you buy for the 2? I only see ones that say "Mazda 3" on ebay. And can you tweak the tune yourself at all?