Revo ECU Upgraded - I like!
 

Just upgraded the ECU on my 2000 986 S with their free promotional 5 hour test drive. What a difference. The car has awakened. The exhaust node is noticably deeper - even with my stock muffler. The car is far more responsive. There is a noticable power increase - Revo states 10-15 HP and Torque. I then desnorkled it that night and noticed an even deeper exhaust note.

The Test flash sets throttle response to leve 6 out of 10. The tech recommended a level o 8 when I do the actual flash upgrade. This is available on the e-gear cars and is equavilant to the Sport button on the BMW M-cars or Audi RS4. It makes the throttle much more aggressive and responsive especially lower in the rev band. This thing really turns the car into an agile sports car. The actual upgrade is $899.

I would highly recommend the ECU upgrade - This is how the car should have come from the factory.

When you say "e-gear" are you referring to "e-gas?" I assume you are referring to the increase in the speed at which the throttle butterfly actuates? I'm very interested to hear more about this from an actual owner. I realize its tough to get real power out of these cars, but I would REALLY like quicker throttle response.

Patrick

Thanks for the correction... meant to say e-gas. I would suggest you try the 5 hour test drive from Revo - it's free and provides 5 hours of running time (not total time). You'll feel the difference right away. The car is simply more responsive and alive. It begs to be driven hard.

Also plan on doing the Revo flash
 

Yes. My local Porsche Tuner shop told me about that 5 hour trial of the Revo flash. I'd like to try that after I do the FabSpeed Exhaust system and cold air intake so the whole package is tuned together.

so after 5 hours, does the ECU automatically resets back to stock settings?

yes, after the 5 hours of running time, it switches back to stock ECU.

Cool, anyone have a link or website to that company... I wouldnt mind having that done for free

edit: never mind found a place

Stuttgart Performance
1275 S. Logan Ave
Coasta Mesa, CA, USA
Phone: 714 432 8815
www.stuttgartperformance.com

After 5 hours reverts back to stock
 

My Porsche Tuner/Race shop said after the 5 hours everything goes back to stock automatically. They charge $900 for the Flash. I wonder what the difference is between the REVO and the one that FabSpeed sells for $1,495 !

Any idea how this HP translates into 0-60 performance?

Bad news, Re-flashes from Revo cannot be done on boxsters without e-gas, non-e-gas boxsters would have to have a new eprom chip installed in the ECU... cannot be flashed.

Probably a dumb question, but what is the difference between e-gas and non e-gas? ie. what is e-gas? Was this a MY2000 change?

I did a search, but didn't find an explanation, just lots of references to e-gas.

Looking on Revo's website (www.revotechnik.com) they only list Boxsters the ECU upgrade for 2000 and later so I assume e-gas was on boxsters 2000 and later.

E-Gas refers to drive-by-wire, i.e. instead of a cable from the pedal to the throttle butterfly, a potentiometer at the pedal sends a signal to the DME which then tells a stepper motor to move the throttle butterfly.

You can argue pros and cons to each setup, but E-Gas seems to be the preferred method for the Germans in recent years.

I'm guessing a good part of the Revo reflash involves quickening the response and sensitivity of the stepper motor, such that is can open the throttle more quickly. In BMW M cars, when you go from "normal" to "sport" this is one of the many variables that are increased.

Patrick

A couple of weeks ago I got the REVO reflash. Actually I went a step further and got the SPS2 upgrade along with it. I immediately noticed the car pulled a lot quicker with much more power. bmw750 you are right. One of the things that is altered is the throttle response on non turbo cars. When you have the SPS2 module you can set the throttle response, fuel adjustment ratio and you can adjust the timing. Pretty handy if you run higher octane gas. I have not had time to play with the SPS2 yet but it looks like it will be loads of fun. It also has an "Aquire Data" mode which if you have a laptop in your car the SPS2 module will log the engine data to a file for later analysis. Pretty neat. Along with the initial power increase I should also mention that there is a very substantial increase in gas mileage. Normally I almost always run 28MPG when using the cruise control on the highway. I kept track of the mileage when I drove to Hershey last weekend and here are the results. I guess I should also mention that the REVO tech told me they optimize the car for 91 octane. When I get the SPS2 configured for 93 octane I expect to do even better.
Spirited highway driving through western PA Mostly 80-85 MPH 29.82MPG
Laid back cruise control set at 75MPH in mid PA 31.8 MPG
Spirited driving around Harrisburg & Hershey with some highway 24MPG
I was very impressed.

I am planning some runs with a dyno once I get the SPS2 programming down and have a little more time. If there is interest here I'll be happy to post the results.

As mentioned previously by others here this is not a cheap upgrade and I wouldn't recommend it as a first upgrade. There are more cost effective ways to get thrills from your Boxster. I gotta say though this car brings a smile to my face every time I take her out.

What throttle response setting did you set yours to. The test flash set mine to 6. when I purchased it, it set it to 8. The 8 setting is giving me a lot more low end torque.

Mine is set to 8 right now. I have the Select Plus unit so I can play with the settings if I want. I spent the evening playing with it on a dyno adjusting throttle response, timing and air/fuel mixture. No matter what I changed the setting to the results were not evident by more than 2 or 3 HP/Tourque in the dyno. I know what you mean though. With the setting at 8 it feels loads faster at the bottom end. I don't know how to explain it. Overall I would suggest that if you have money to burn with mods, Revo is the way to go. If yo don't have loads of scratch I would stop at the intake/exhaust as that seems to get you to almost the same place. If I had to do it over I think I would put the 1K towards a 3.4 swap. I also would advise everyone to steer clear of TD Performance in Cincinnatti. They are great people and very personable when you are there but they just threw the Select Plus at me and after a month of "I'll call you right back" I had to call REVO USA's HQ. They were extremely helpful and the manager took my call personally, and walked me through the entire software package explaining everything in detail.

Kudos to Revo, super product and service. Up yours TD performance, I hope you don't ruin it for Revo. There is a LOT of room for improvement on TD's part.