Recently there has been a lot of confusion on tunes and the difference between auto octane and dedicated tunes and what that means.
Auto octane is something the OEM strategy already does. In fact the ford advertised HP numbers are actually tested on 91 octane e10 fuel that is certified for the emissions testing. These ecus have closed loop timing, the ecu can add and subtract timing through the knock logic. The ecu will always try to keep the ignition timing on the borderline of spark knock that is heavily dependent on the fuel. What that means is when you fill up you ST on 87 octane a few things are going to happen. The ecu is going to see more knock retard and less overall timing, as it learns where the spark needs to be it translates this into something call a Knock Octane Modifier. The KOM is effectively the long term fuel trim of the spark world. Based on the KOM, the ecu will modify the base ignition timing and the boost level. In most cases you will not be making advertised HP numbers on 87 octane.
Our ZFG Racing Auto Octane Tune expands this capability allowing the ecu to add more boost and more ignition timing on higher grade fuels. That is where all the power comes from. That along with our killer trans tuning and few other things is what makes our tunes so fast. Our Auto Octane Tunes are setup for 87-93 octane (and any octane boosters beyond 93) as well as up to 30% ethanol.
So why if the ecu is capable of this great auto octane feature would you shut it off and make a dedicated 91 and 93 octane tunes?
The answer is, we don’t shut it off. ALL of our tunes 91/93/e50/e85 (heck even the 707awhp st and 855whp f150) maintain the auto octane features as a safety. We call our tunes dedicated, but the reality is that if you put the wrong fuel in they are going to turn themselves down. This is a key safety feature of our tunes, and from time to time I get customers asking why their car seems so much slower than it was. It only takes 2 seconds to look at the data log and see the KOM has reduces the octane level and overall power.
So if all of our tunes leave auto octane on, what is the difference and why shouldn’t you just get a 93 tune and run whatever fuel you want?
91/93/e50 tunes have some key differences from auto octane tunes. 91 and 93 have higher upper limits for boost and timing. This means that the difference between the lower end of the tune and the upper end of the is larger than the auto octane tune. The issues becomes that if you are on 93 octane and run it to E and fill up with 87 it takes time to adjust. 91 and 93 are, depending on mods, over 100hp higher than what should be run on 87 octane, especially on long pulls. There is risk that computer wont turn it down fast enough to accommodate the fuel change. The risk is small and this works great as a safety, but if you want the most powerful tunes possible on 91/93 the risk is there and it’s not something everyone should be doing on a daily basis. That’s why we have decided tunes.
E50 has more aggressive starting points for timing, higher upper limits for boost, fueling changes, as well as a bunch of other tweaks. The auto octane safety acts much more aggressively on this tune. If you put 87 octane or even 93 in on an e50 tune the ecu will bring the power potentially all the way down to 0 PSI of boost at wide open throttle, as well as removing a bunch of timing to keep it safe, you’ll also get a CEL for fuel trims. Again this is safety, it's not something you should plan on doing, there is much more risk here that it will not turn down fast enough.
Quick overview of tunes and what fuels you can run in each and the expected power gains on a tune only vehicle near sea level.
Auto octane
87 octane - 0-10whp
89 octane - 20-30whp
91 octane - 30-45whp
93 octane - 35-55whp
E30 (mix of 93 and e85)- 45-70whp
91 octane
91 octane – 50-70whp
93 octane - 60-75whp
E30 (mix of 93 and e85)- 70-90whp
93
93 octane - 60-85whp
E30 (mix of 93 and e85) - 70-100whp
E50
E50 (mix of 91/93 and e85) - 90-140whp
On overall ethanol content can be 40-60% with the note that above 50% the ecu may have to reduce boost slightly as it comes up on the injectors flow safety.
Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk
Auto octane is something the OEM strategy already does. In fact the ford advertised HP numbers are actually tested on 91 octane e10 fuel that is certified for the emissions testing. These ecus have closed loop timing, the ecu can add and subtract timing through the knock logic. The ecu will always try to keep the ignition timing on the borderline of spark knock that is heavily dependent on the fuel. What that means is when you fill up you ST on 87 octane a few things are going to happen. The ecu is going to see more knock retard and less overall timing, as it learns where the spark needs to be it translates this into something call a Knock Octane Modifier. The KOM is effectively the long term fuel trim of the spark world. Based on the KOM, the ecu will modify the base ignition timing and the boost level. In most cases you will not be making advertised HP numbers on 87 octane.
Our ZFG Racing Auto Octane Tune expands this capability allowing the ecu to add more boost and more ignition timing on higher grade fuels. That is where all the power comes from. That along with our killer trans tuning and few other things is what makes our tunes so fast. Our Auto Octane Tunes are setup for 87-93 octane (and any octane boosters beyond 93) as well as up to 30% ethanol.
So why if the ecu is capable of this great auto octane feature would you shut it off and make a dedicated 91 and 93 octane tunes?
The answer is, we don’t shut it off. ALL of our tunes 91/93/e50/e85 (heck even the 707awhp st and 855whp f150) maintain the auto octane features as a safety. We call our tunes dedicated, but the reality is that if you put the wrong fuel in they are going to turn themselves down. This is a key safety feature of our tunes, and from time to time I get customers asking why their car seems so much slower than it was. It only takes 2 seconds to look at the data log and see the KOM has reduces the octane level and overall power.
So if all of our tunes leave auto octane on, what is the difference and why shouldn’t you just get a 93 tune and run whatever fuel you want?
91/93/e50 tunes have some key differences from auto octane tunes. 91 and 93 have higher upper limits for boost and timing. This means that the difference between the lower end of the tune and the upper end of the is larger than the auto octane tune. The issues becomes that if you are on 93 octane and run it to E and fill up with 87 it takes time to adjust. 91 and 93 are, depending on mods, over 100hp higher than what should be run on 87 octane, especially on long pulls. There is risk that computer wont turn it down fast enough to accommodate the fuel change. The risk is small and this works great as a safety, but if you want the most powerful tunes possible on 91/93 the risk is there and it’s not something everyone should be doing on a daily basis. That’s why we have decided tunes.
E50 has more aggressive starting points for timing, higher upper limits for boost, fueling changes, as well as a bunch of other tweaks. The auto octane safety acts much more aggressively on this tune. If you put 87 octane or even 93 in on an e50 tune the ecu will bring the power potentially all the way down to 0 PSI of boost at wide open throttle, as well as removing a bunch of timing to keep it safe, you’ll also get a CEL for fuel trims. Again this is safety, it's not something you should plan on doing, there is much more risk here that it will not turn down fast enough.
Quick overview of tunes and what fuels you can run in each and the expected power gains on a tune only vehicle near sea level.
Auto octane
87 octane - 0-10whp
89 octane - 20-30whp
91 octane - 30-45whp
93 octane - 35-55whp
E30 (mix of 93 and e85)- 45-70whp
91 octane
91 octane – 50-70whp
93 octane - 60-75whp
E30 (mix of 93 and e85)- 70-90whp
93
93 octane - 60-85whp
E30 (mix of 93 and e85) - 70-100whp
E50
E50 (mix of 91/93 and e85) - 90-140whp
On overall ethanol content can be 40-60% with the note that above 50% the ecu may have to reduce boost slightly as it comes up on the injectors flow safety.
Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk
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