so all the ecu flashes so far are more for a 91-93 octane set up? and they are achieving roughly the same boost as the jb4 on a lower octane rating?
Essentially, yes.
Crushing my dreams Todd. Just got JB4. Trust issues as far as damage or what? Beefer has been running JB4 probably the longest on this forum with no issues.
I'm sorry!! No damage. My JB4 has been great for what it is. But I cannot make the same power as an ECU flash as I'm limited to 92 octane pump gas. Sure, I could use WMI but methanol has a nasty effect on engine internals (via oil thinning, also showing similar long term effects as detonation, according to one study), so I don't really trust it, nor do I trust that it will evenly distribute between all cylinders all the time. E85 would work, but I don't have any close by, nor do I want the inconveniences of mixing fuels especially in this state where I can't pump my own gas.
So, I could continue to tweak my JB4 settings and take greater risks to make more power, or I can do it safely with an ECU flash all while keeping the factory safeguards intact, without any sensor spoofing potentially preventing said safeguard from performing adequately when making significantly more power than I am now.
Right now I'm hitting about 15-16 psi and my timing looks pretty good, but any more and I start seeing fluctuations. I can get more boost by having the ECU start with a more stable ignition timing table to keep the cylinder temps down. With either a Tork, PRESSERTech, or Kagan tune I will get above 18 psi consistently, without having to worry about my fuel.
I've been talking to a few guys directly on the
Stinger forum, and they haven't been having much success trying to increase boost on their flashed ECU's with the JB4, unless they're using significantly increased octane, and even then things can get a bit wonky at times (ie ignition timing freaks out and goes all over the place), some have, on the other hand, been able to use IAT spoofing to get slightly more power and consistency. Other than this, it just seems like the JB4's algorithm is a bit more complicated than what many people think (which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective), as in, if you try to change just one thing, many other things will be affected, unintentionally.
So, long story short, for those of us that are octane limited, ECU flashing *can* be better in terms of safety. But that's not to say the JB4 isn't safe to begin with, if you follow Terry's recommendations then you're golden.
Simply put, if you like to tweak things and push the limit, the JB4 is also a useful tool for that. But for me, I think I'm just gonna reel things back in a bit, because if I don't I know I'll end up blowing up my engine because I get addicted to adjusting things and it's only a matter of time before I push it too far, as the JB4 algorithm is more complicated than it seems.
I hope that makes sense. Not bashing it, just saying it may not be the best thing for me.
