Performance Tune installed.....
 

....WOW!!!!!!

Just got my 2004 Boxster S “50 Years of 550 Spyder Edition” back from Flat 6 Innovations.

I shipped her to Jake Raby and the team to install their performance tune.

I am just blown away by the power increase. I cannot believe how much power was hidden inside this car.

I have to totally recalibrate how I drive her now. This machine is soooo much faster at the end of the straights on my twisty roads, and she is putting down epic wheel spin coming outta 2nd gear corners now.

I wish I had this done five years ago when I bought the car.

If you folks want some easy power, just send your Box to Flat 6 Innovations have them do their magic.

Wow.

Stock engine ?

Yes...
 

Yes.

Stock engine.

Only engine mods are deleted secondary cats and the FVD Brombacher “Sound Version” muffler.

I needed new plugs and coil packs, so Flat 6 installed their “performance” ignition coils that are of their own design on top of stock plugs.

I had always thought performance tunes on a stock engine were a bunch of malarkey. But Flat 6 had always been good to me over the years and while I had the car there for some maintenance parts, water pump, A/O, coolant tank, etc., I went ahead and decided to invest in their tune.

I wish I had had them do that five years ago when I first sent it in for the IMS Solution.

I am just shocked that it really has given me that much more power. I can’t believe it.

Cheers.

10/10ths which tune did you decide to go with?

You must live close to Flat 6.

Any before and after dynos?

No....
 

What would you call “close” to Flat 6?

I shipped my car to them on a flatbed.

I don’t have dyno numbers, sorry.

The tune is actually four different tunes with a hand held controller that plugs into the OBD port. I have:

93 octane performance

91 octane performance

87 octane

Fuel Economy

Those are my four choices.

I use the car as a cross-country vacation car. I drive to Colorado a lot and can only get 91 octane there.

Also, around my home area, 87 octane is all you can get in some places.

I figured this has me covered for how I use the car.

The goal was to get the air/fuel ratios right with my deleted secondary cats.

The “aggressive” tunes maximize power for that given octane fuel. It works.

The midrange bump is impressive.

Cheers.

10/10th you can get 100 octane 1/4 mile south off kipling on Alameda Mobile gas station in Lakewood, Colorado.

4 gallons of 100 octane and the rest in 91 will get you to 93 octane

91 X 14 (Ga) = 1274
100X4 (Ga) = 400 1274 X 400 = 93 Oct

Try this formula. I believe it was posted by H2OSkier a month or so ago.
1. (Octane of fuel #1) X (# of gallons of fuel #1) = X
2. (Octane of fuel #2) X (# of gallons of fuel #2) = Y
3. X + Y = Z
4. Dividing Z by the total number of gallons of both fuels gives you your total octane number.

I'd be curious to see what power you are making. Any plans to dyno?

Propane is 110 octane... hehe

I'm gonna go back to lurking now. :D

No plans to dyno....
 

..She’s just a street car. We use her for fun drives and vacations. I’m sorry. I shipped the car to have maintenance done for reliability and the fuel tuning was simply to get the air/fuel ratio right. The performance aspect was simply a bonus and I requested the ability to change the tune to allow different fuel octane optimization because we travel all over the country in the car and I didn’t want a high performance only option and find myself out in Leadville with only 87 octane available and detonating a hole in a piston. :)

I’m just a working stiff and had already blown my budget on the maintenance items and stretched to find the coin for this tuning. I couldn’t afford to get fancy and have dyno plots printed of HP & Torque curves. As I said, the mission was to get the air/fuel ratio correct with my deleted secondary cats and aftermarket muffler.

I just thought I’d post my surprise and delight at the added power. I was not expecting this big of a butt dyno power boost. The driveability is night and day better and the car is faster and easier to drive faster. They should come like this from the factory. I had no idea the EPA regs forced such a docile factory tune that an aftermarket tune optimized for the proper air/fuel ratio and ignition timing to take full advantage of 93 octane gas could wake up this car to this degree. It’s amazing.

Cheers!

Has the throttle map been adjusted? If so that might account for some of the feeling a bit like a Sprint Booster or Sport Chrono.

Hi 10/10ths,

My 550SE is at FSI now for its 3.8L Street Performer+ build. Like you I have secondary cat delete pipes (Fabspeed) along with the Brombacher sound muffler. During my contract discussions with Jake and Jud we decided that the FSI custom dyno performance tune was worth the cost because of my modified exhaust and the 997 air box & plumbing up to the MAF. I’m doing the same four tunes as you along with Jake’s coils and a bunch of other ‘while you’re there’ stuff.

My engine cleared qualification and just entered the build phase. I’m in regular communication with Jonathan (my build coordinator) and I’m receiving pics, videos, docs, etc in the Dropbox FSI set up with me. Scheduled completion is end Dec, with Jake’s break-in service and custom dyno tune to follow. Barring any transport delays due to weather I should have the car back in mid to late Jan. Can’t wait, especially after hearing your success with the tune!

I’ll post an update when I get the car back and can take it out on dry roads.

Butt dyno's ususally mean 10-20% increase in power.

Amazing is all that counts. I typically don't dyno things unless goaded to by people I know. :D

How does the 997 air box work in there? Your car would have come with a 987 box which is mid engine friendly and will support big power

Sorry Jaykay, typo! I meant 987 air box.

Old CarGuy....
 

....That’s awesome!!!!!

I am sooooo jealous.

I just can’t afford the engine build.

I think our cars were side by side at the shop.

We need to get together for a drive.

As far as the question about his air box, all of the 2004 550 Special Edition cars were built at the end of the 986 production run and they actually have the 987 airbox installed in them from the factory.

OldCarGuy, please keep us updated.

We definitely need to meet up for a drive next season. Did you see the pic Jake posted on FB? I’m on the far left.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...431acd7e15.jpg

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes....
 

.....Mine is the one on the far right, completely parked on the grass.

Cheers!

Well at least our 550s were able to meet in person :cheers:

Any idea what the hp and torque will be on the new engine

I am at the beginning of the process, I just submitted a ticket yesterday

Cheers Bart

Wow, 550s seem to need more power :D

Everything needs more power.

Sorry to be so dense but the post intrigued me so I went to the flat six website. I couldn't seem to find the "tune" that was mentioned unless I am misinterpreting. It looks like these are all complete engine rebuilds and pretty detailed at that even on the "Stocker". I assume that your air/fuel ratios and octane "tune" was part of one of the rebuild packages, correct? Thanks

Hi Jgk,

Custom dyno tuning is not included in most FSI builds but it is available as an option for a build. FSI does not offer tuning for any engine that they did not build. The only exception I know of is a forum member that had his IMS Solution installed at FSI. In any case, there are no canned tunes, each car is individually tuned using its own DME download as a base, with specific requests by the customer addressed for their tunes (hp and torque profiles, fuel, other ancillary options) and in consideration of each individual’s other mods (usually intake and/or exhaust).

Amen to that :cheers:

Thank you Fred! I didn't realize that 10/10ths also had his engine rebuilt by Jake as well but that makes perfect sense. Sure am having fun living vicariously through you guys! Take care...

You’re welcome! I don’t know if 10/10s had a complete rebuild but if I’m not mistaken FSI did have hands on his car for the IMS install and tune.

No....
 

.....I did NOT have my engine rebuilt.

When I bought the car in 2015, FSI performed maintenance work in addition to complete engine builds.

They have since stopped performing regular maintenance work and only build engines for customers these days.

Since I am a previous customer, Jake is using me as a “control sample” for lack of a better term, to see how these engines wear out over time.

He was kind enough to allow me to ship my car to his shop for her five year major maintenance.

He and Lake Speed developed a new oil called GP-1 and I had been running his previously developed oil called DT40.

Jake wanted to use me as a test subject for the GP-1 and since I needed new water pump, AOS, et al, I agreed. So he dropped the sump and completely drained out all of the old oil and R&R’d all my old parts. I also needed a new fuel pump and O2 sensors and other bits. Long list of parts.

Anyway, this Boxster is used for our vacations all over North America. I need her to be absolutely reliable. So Jake replaced the crank angle sensor and all the known failure parts for me as preventative maintenance to ensure another five years of trouble free motoring.

I decided that since the car was already at his shop, and since she was getting all these new parts, I might as well have him dyno tune her while she was there. Why not? It’s only money. I can’t afford one of his badass engines like Old Car Guy, but I had enough coin for the tune and tuneup.

So that’s what happened and the car is awesome.

Not as awesome as Old Car Guy’s I’m sure, but good enough for now.

Cheers.