Lemme start by apologizing for the long post...for those of you that are too impatient or don't care about the details, here's the bottom line...
Dyno before TS ECU...238.60hp/233.68ft/lbs
Dyno after TS ECU...238.27/231.91ft/lbs
Both dynos done with the mods listed below with only difference being stock ECU vs Technosquare ECU upgrade.

Now, for those that want to know the whole story...grab a beer first, cuz this is gonna be awhile...I've wanted to get my ECU 'chipped' as soon as I got my G, but after researching what's out there (Technosquare was the only one coming out with one at the time) and taking advice of others here have said, I decided to hold off until I was done with all my other mods first. Feedback from many on this site and FA have pointed me to stick with Technosquare since they tune specifically to your mods and work with a dyno sheet to accurately tune to provide increase in power safely.

Unfortunately, in South Florida there's very few dyno shops available and were all booked for 4-5 weeks before I could get in to do a baseline dyno. I couldn't wait and did most of my mods within a 3 week window and drove around with the stock ECU for a week before finding a Mazda racing shop in Palm Beach that had a Dynojet just sitting there readily available.

By the time I did my dyno, I had been driving around for about 2 weeks after all my mods had been done, so plenty of time for the ECU to have learned and adapted to all the changes it needed to do and I had not done an ECU reset since 2 weeks before. I dyno'd there last week with 238.60hp/233.68torque with all my mods done and was upset that I had never had the chance to get a baseline dyno done since it appears I haven't gained any horsepower at all over stock compared to other dynos posted here (around 230-235hp/225-235ft/lbs stock from other dynosheets posted).

I put it off as the stock ECU was 'tuning down' all the mods and that I wouldn't see the engines full potential until I get the ECU done. I talked it over with Danny at Technosquare and he confirmed this (good sales pitch) and so I went ahead and sent him my ECU on Monday along with a copy of the dyno. He told me that my dyno was looking right online with everyone else that had done similar mods and that I should be able to expect about 250-255hp range with the ECU upgrade. He told me I was also running lean because of my mods and that he would adjust that for me as well to make the engine run safer and less likely to have detonation occur.

I got my ECU back from Technosquare on Wednesday morning (VERY impressive) and put it in and even though Danny said that I wouldn't need to do any of the resets since the ECU automatically resets itself overnight, I did all of the ECU resets indicated on their website anyways. I immediately noticed that first time starting the car after the resets, the tach wasn't jumping all over the place...it was learning and moving around some, but nowhere near as erratic as it was after doing the ECU reset on the stock ECU. Driving around, I immediately noticed that the car was running much more smooth. Feels like the vibrations from the engine are much less and especially the shifting notchiness in the stick was much smoother (I guess timing & a/f changes are to be credited) but overall, no power changes to the 'butt dyno' other than rev limiter now didn't kick in until the tach read about 7500rpm, which was a little scary. Danny said the tachs are often inacurate in most Infiniti & Nissans after modifying the ECUs since it should be kicking in at 7100rpm.

I called up the Mazda shop with the Dyno and asked if I could come in for a dyno and they were available. I couldn't have planned it better as far as the weather goes, almost the exact same weather conditions as last week's dyno and same time of day. Everything was set for a great dyno run and I told the tech to take it to 7000rpm for the first pull. Needless to say I was SHOCKED to see that I had LOST power compared to the dyno done last week with the stock ECU. 238.27hp/231.91ft/lbs. We did another run and it came up almost identical. I called up Danny right away and he was also shocked. I emailed him my dyno charts and now I'm waiting on feedback from him.

Hopefully Danny has something up his sleeve for me for tomorrow...I'll update when I get more info from him. In the meantime, any suggestions anyone has...please post!

I'll scan in my dyno charts now so I can post them.

'03.5 6MT Coupe|Caribbean Blue w/Graphite|Prem. |Nav|Aero|Hardwired V1|Alum Pedals|Injen CAI|Grounding Kit|15% tint|Borla Exhaust|Crawford Plenum|Unorthodox Ultra Racing SS Pulleys

 

Last week's dyno...Stock ECU with mods shown below...

'03.5 6MT Coupe|Caribbean Blue w/Graphite|Prem. |Nav|Aero|Hardwired V1|Alum Pedals|Injen CAI|Grounding Kit|15% tint|Borla Exhaust|Crawford Plenum|Unorthodox Ultra Racing SS Pulleys

171627-Emile's G35 Dyno 1-9-04.jpg

 

Today's Dyno...Technosquare ECU only mod other than those shown below...

'03.5 6MT Coupe|Caribbean Blue w/Graphite|Prem. |Nav|Aero|Hardwired V1|Alum Pedals|Injen CAI|Grounding Kit|15% tint|Borla Exhaust|Crawford Plenum|Unorthodox Ultra Racing SS Pulleys

171629-Emile's G35 Dyno 1-15-04.jpg

 

Before & After Dyno comparison of Technosquare ECU upgrade...

'03.5 6MT Coupe|Caribbean Blue w/Graphite|Prem. |Nav|Aero|Hardwired V1|Alum Pedals|Injen CAI|Grounding Kit|15% tint|Borla Exhaust|Crawford Plenum|Unorthodox Ultra Racing SS Pulleys

171630-Emile's G35 Dyno 1-9-04 vs 1-15-04.jpg

 

I think the 3rd chart is an overlay of the before and after. It is just that the 2 are so close that it just looks like a blurry one.

I am no expert on this but to me the minor differences could be attributed to what you suggested, smcallis... run-to-run variance.


'03.5 Silver / Willow Coupe, 6MT, Prem, Nav, Aero Package and Kit

 

Thanks guys for the feedback.

I agree that it's more than just the raw dyno results that have to be taken into effect to judge whether or not the upgrade was worth it, but I did expect (as I believe others here do as well) that getting the ECU upgraded, would 'unleash' the power that the Stock ECU was drawing away from all the mods done to the car with the learning algorithms built into the Stock ECU.

I talked to Danny @ Technosquare about this today and he also cited differences between dynos not done on the same day often show differences and especially on Dynojets more than Bosch Dynos. Also changes done to timing also can affect the a/f curve enough to gain/lower hp/torque figures. When there is a 'lean' condition, the car shows a better power curve on the dyno. When there is a 'rich' condition, the results on the dyno are not as good, but it's safer...no chance of 'detonation' occurring.

The next move he wants me to do is take off one of the sparkplugs and take a real good look at the tip to see if I have any discoloration on it that might indicate whether I have detonation occuring now. He mentioned the thing to look for is sulfuric-ish coloring would indicate a 'rich' condition and that a white-ish coloring would indicate a 'lean' condition. Once I get a detailed picture of that and send it to him, he can see if I would be able to go with a more aggressive program they've developed for leaning out the mixture to give more power, but this could sacrifice the safety of the engine and I'm not sure I'd be willing to do that.

I am interested in seeing if this sparkplug thing indicates something going on. Has anyone else heard of this trick??

Eagle1 or Gurgenpb (or anyone else that has done the TS ECU upgrade)...did you go through the same issues when getting your ECUs done??

'03.5 6MT SC|CB w/Graphite|Prem|Nav|Aero|Hardwired V1|Alum Pedals|Injen CAI|Grounding Kit|15% tint|Borla Cat-back Exhaust|Crawford Plenum|UR Pulleys|TS ECU

 

"6mt is not known for increases with the TS ECU because it is not detuned like the 5 AT"
Can you elaborate on this a little? All of my previous AT cars had very aggressive ECUs compared to the MT versions of the same car.

 

As long as the post has good info, it can never be too long =)

If they've had their dyno calibrated you shouldn't really see any major variances. There are some from run to run, but it shouldn't be much at all, and there are some depending on how the car is strapped down to the dyno and the tire pressure, but that's still not much at all. I've changed elevation before and between two different dynos (one in Tucson and one in Phoenix) my numbers only varied by about 1-2whp throughout the entire powerband, with the same mods. Dynojets are usually very accurate, if they're kept up. With this being the same exact one, any variances would be in the dyno's weather calculations or the way it was strapped down to the dyno, which from the way you described it, shouldn't be much, if any variations at all.

As for the plugs, that's common. Good conditions should leave the plug a light tan color, too rich and it'll be dark, too learn and you'll see white spots on them from detonation. You may also see the tip missing parts, or have weird deformations if there's a lot of bad detonation. But you should have been able to hear it, if it was that bad. There are pics all over the net to help you reference too. I think NGK has some pictures in the FAQ on their site.

Justin McClanahan
Heavily Modified 95 Infiniti G20
Working on a G35 Project Coupe
http://www.EverythingG35.com

 

JustinP10...
You're post sounds exactly like what Technosquare told me. You really know your stuff! You mentioned the Dynojet does show some inaccuracies based on tire pressure and where they have strapped in the car. This could've been the difference maker since the tech couldn't remember exactly where he strapped down the car from behind and I had to patch the drivers' side rear tire when I found a screw in it the day before I sent off my ECU to Technosquare so tire pressure could've been affecting it as well.

Smcallis...
I made sure they had a wideband O2 sensor to be put on the car before I went there for the 1st dyno. They had just received a new one a week before my dyno of the 1st dyno (Stock ECU) and had done about 25 dynos before to ensure it was working as it should. I verified when we did the 2nd dyno (TS ECU) that it was hooked up the same. It's the type that hooks up in the exhaust tailpipe to measure the O2.

I think I will take a look at the sparkplug just out of curiosity to see what I can see, but if I see a slight tan color to it, I think I'll stick with what I have to stay on the safe side of things.

'03.5 6MT SC|CB w/Graphite|Prem|Nav|Aero|Hardwired V1|Alum Pedals|Injen CAI|Grounding Kit|15% tint|Borla Cat-back Exhaust|Crawford Plenum|UR Pulleys|TS ECU

 

His A/F is right on the dyno sheets he posted up. It's tough to tell exactly where it's at, because of the scale. But it looks VERY similar both before and after the TS ECU upg. I hope that they changed the timing maps, cause it looks like the fuel maps didn't change much, if at all =P

And about the plugs vs. the A/F gauge on a dyno. I totally agree. Looking at the plugs can give you a good indication of how the car's running, but it's no where near as accurate as a good A/F gauge hooked up to a dyno.



Justin McClanahan
Heavily Modified 95 Infiniti G20
Working on a G35 Project Coupe
http://www.EverythingG35.com