@V8Cowboy Had a bit of a road trip today... 75 mi to/from work + roadtrip miles = 312.6 miles, 18.8 mpg with 20~25 minutes of stop & go traffic, 70+ mph at times & some "city" driving. was kind of shocked by that, did not expect it to be that good over 300+ miles.

 

After seeing the "no downshift" issue with the DTCM & current engine setup on a recent road trip, I had an idea on what could be the problem. the thinking was maybe the torque convertor is not releasing which would allow the downshift. So I went back into HPT & adjusted 2 tables for the torque convertor clutch. Adjusted both the TCC apply & release max table entries (2 top ones by -0.20 for each table). This, for whatever reason was enough to get it to downshift at will doing 70+ mph (77 actually was the max speed I could test because of traffic).

Now that this is done & working as expected, I should be able to go back to the JTCM & get that 5th gear downshift to work as expected. I could probably just use the same numbers from the DTCM tune & it will probably work. That however is going to have to wait a bit, still did not get mpg numbers from the work commute which should come next week.

On the list of things to do...
1) Cat Back Exhaust install
2) Take a 2nd air box that I have and open up both ends to allow max flow into the box (divider will remain to reduce turbulence)
3) Retune if needed
4) JTCM install

...and I thought I was close to being done... pfth. These updates wont come until August though so it will be a while.

 

Custom tuning, and "done"??? I don't think it happens that way......

 

I think it was you who told me there is not much to adjust in these jtec ecus... I was very hesitant to take a stab at the trans tuning but it is not bad. I think some of the tables are not labeled correctly, probably fixed in newer versions.

 

Are there any updates available???

 

Yeah there is, have it downloaded but have not installed it yet..

 

Found i had some free time on my hands so i went and modded the 2nd air box i have. Cut both ends with a grinder to make it quick, and it was. Kept the other air box as is for me to go back to it if i choose. Took it out for a 45 minute or so spin over various conditions. As expected, bottom end torque dropped & top end improved. The valve on the 2nd PL tube has been closed, so i opended it up half way and saw the power shift as expected. Then after a bit of driving, opened it up all the way & saw a further shift back on the bottom end.

So now that top end dropped a bit (as expected with the PL mod) and will have to see if there is any SOTP detectable change in the upper end. The torque LOM showed over 20.2 mpg at the end of the trip (40ish miles), time will tell how mpg pans out.

I took pics of the current setup & will post them later

 

Pics of current setup below. The thing that continues to stand out is the more airflow I give it, whether it be with an open air box or the y-pipe, power overall continues to go up, mpg's are staying the same or better. With the ball valve shown below connected to the 2nd 1.5" PL mod, I can shift where the overall power is. With the 2 air boxes I have, the previous one with the oem opening + 2.5" (?) opening seemed to give great mpg's. The one I cut yesterday definitely gives more power and mpg's are in the 17 mpg range.

On the current setup, there was a wow moment on the drive this morning. On the steep hill one of the goals was to be able to hold 60~62 mph going up that hill without a downshift. That changed with the air box i opened up yesterday, to my surprise I'm now actually able to gain speed climbing that hill. It is the longest, steepest in the area.

There has to be a point where there are no more gains, have not found it yet. Only thing left is the cat back exhaust, 3" vs the oem 2.5"

 

Ludo, You made a comment that you thought your PL mod was too big...add one of these in-line with the vacuum line to the canister and close it down to half open & re-test. Have found that with it, I can move the torque peak up/down the rpm range & have it run exactly how I like it (for the mods it has at any given time).

I really like how it has settled performance wise with the opened up air box. Looking at the pic of the back side towards the firewall, it definitely needs to be re-shaped and the plate on the inside needs to be fixed/replaced with one that covers the supports better. There is more to be had there. Probably not SOTP feel but still, it needs to be fixed. Yesterday (approx 150 miles after the airbox mod) i rolled into it hard and am super happy with how it performs. The one fear is the cat back exhaust is going to be a buzz kill lol. It is really hard to keep the foot out of it but am doing so this week to check mpg's. If they dont change/drop from the 16.5-17.5's I'd been seeing I'd be super happy with it as it has way more power then it did when I started. I am out for 3 weeks (Finland with a short visit to Stockholm) starting next week so the cat-back wont go in until I get back... unless... hummm...

 

Hi Steve, we had the same thoughts about the PL, i'm going to make a ball valve inline, just like you, to play with it, and see how it reacts.

I'm planning to make a second one also, a little smaller and also with a ball valve inline, so we can see or feel the difference.

Thanks for reaching out to me, and have a nice holiday in Finland.

Greetz Ludo.