LAP3 ECU and TCU Review

[jdiddle]

How does this work in terms of removing bolt ons for maintenance at the dealer so as to not void the warranty? I know the JB4 can just be removed and good, but does that hold here as well?

You're honestly fine leaving the basic bolts on. I left my exhaust and intakes on for all my services.

 

[Motogp69]

You're honestly fine leaving the basic bolts on. I left my exhaust and intakes on for all my services.

I get that, I did the same in my 340i with the catless downpipe and cold air intake, but does this show on the ECU if they check?

 

[jdiddle]

I get that, I did the same in my 340i with the catless downpipe and cold air intake, but does this show on the ECU if they check?

Unless the removal of any cats or anything else throwing a CEL, the ECU won't show anything. That I know of at least

 

[Cashby]

How does this work in terms of removing bolt ons for maintenance at the dealer so as to not void the warranty? I know the JB4 can just be removed and good, but does that hold here as well?

ECU removes in legit 2 minutes. The rest a few hours at most.

 

[Motogp69]

ECU removes in legit 2 minutes. The rest a few hours at most.

So, other than a potential check engine light, no one will know it was ever connected?

 

[Cashby]

So, other than a potential check engine light, no one will know it was ever connected?

The LAP3 ECU swaps out the OEM ECU. There is no way for the dealer to know if you put the stock ECU back in. If you show up with high flow cats and have turbo problems, then most likely will get voided.

I remove all my parts when I go to the dealer.

 

[Motogp69]

Wait, so if you need to go to the dealer you go the level of detail of even removing the down pipes?

 

[Cashby]

Wait, so if you need to go to the dealer you go the level of detail of even removing the down pipes?

Depends what you bring the car in for. I just had my starter replaced which involves lift the motor up. Now, one can say they are not related (starter and downpipes) however another can argue since they sit next to the starter, the heat from the downpipes could have fried the starter.

Better safe than sorry. Ive been wrenching for 25 years so removing the parts is no biggie to me.

 

[Sciottiesco]

I left everything in this time, dealer didn't say anything.

 

[Broden]

CPI is great. opens up for more tuning options. If you plan on running more E content and have E85 available, its a great option.

So is CPI only a benefit when running above E30? Does it help at all if you control run E30?

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[Nightshifter]

Just wondering... at first you were running ~E40 with Stage 2.5 ... was that with the stock fuel system? Do you have an upgraded LPFP and or HPFP? Thanks!

 

[Genny Guy]

Just wondering... at first you were running ~E40 with Stage 2.5 ... was that with the stock fuel system? Do you have an upgraded LPFP and or HPFP? Thanks!

The whole point of cpi is so that you don't have to upgrade the fuel pumps. Myself and others using it, it's the stock fuel system.

 

[Nightshifter]

The whole point of cpi is so that you don't have to upgrade the fuel pumps. Myself and others using it, it's the stock fuel system.

So the stock fuel system can handle E40 then from what I infer from the post...?

 

[Genny Guy]

So the stock fuel system can handle E40 then from what I infer from the post...?

Yes.

The highest I have successfully run without issue is E50. However, there are other members that have run as high as E82. Literally just filling the entire tank with E85, no mixing.

 

[Volfy]

So the stock fuel system can handle E40 then from what I infer from the post...?

I would be a bit cautious. Just because the engine seems to run okay in some G70s under some conditions doe NOT mean it will run fine for all G70s under all conditions. There are two problems with this:

1. Ability for stock fuel pump to deliver the higher flow rate required with increasing ethanol content. It might flow enough at part throttle tooling around town, but punch it WOT at high RPM, where the flow rate demand is highest... maybe not.

2. Ability for the dynamic fuel trim to compensate for the lower stoichiometric AFR with increasing ethanol content. Gasoline's ideal AFR is 14.7:1 but engine typically makes max HP/TQ with lower AFR, at around 12.5-13.3. Stoichiometric AFR for ethanol is 9:1 and again lower for max HP/TQ. Unless target AFR is adjusted according to the E content, you are relying on the dynamic fuel trim to keep lamba feedback on target. If it runs out of range to compensate/adjust, the fuel mixture will veer lean, exhaust gas temp will go up, ECU will likely retard timing, and HP/TQ will suffer. The engine might run, but it won't be optimum. That's not even the worst case scenario.

Unless you monitor engine data and can spot these corrections, you may not know what the engine is doing and think it "runs fine".

 

[Genny Guy]

I would be a bit cautious. Just because the engine seems to run okay in some G70s under some conditions doe NOT mean it will run fine for all G70s under all conditions. There are two problems with this:

1. Ability for stock fuel pump to deliver the higher flow rate required with increasing ethanol content. It might flow enough at part throttle tooling around town, but punch it WOT at high RPM, where the flow rate demand is highest... maybe not.

2. Ability for the dynamic fuel trim to compensate for the lower stoichiometric AFR with increasing ethanol content. Gasoline's ideal AFR is 14.7:1 but engine typically makes max HP/TQ with lower AFR, at around 12.5-13.3. Stoichiometric AFR for ethanol is 9:1 and again lower for max HP/TQ. Unless target AFR is adjusted according to the E content, you are relying on the dynamic fuel trim to keep lamba feedback on target. If it runs out of range to compensate/adjust, the fuel mixture will veer lean, exhaust gas temp will go up, ECU will likely retard timing, and HP/TQ will suffer. The engine might run, but it won't be optimum. That's not even the worst case scenario.

Unless you monitor engine data and can spot these corrections, you may not know what the engine is doing and think it "runs fine".

No.

If you run cpi, you will NOT need to upgrade fuel pumps and you can run WOT with higher amounts of ethanol. That is the entire premise of the system and it works.

In order to use cpi, you will need to have a JB4. Which is the same device that will allow you to monitor engine conditions and log what is going on in the engine.

 

[G_Power70]

All I can say is “holly shit”. Why didn’t I do an ECU tune from the start? Just received my LAP3 stage 2.5 ECU and Stage 3 TCU. It is seriously a night and day different car now and I am beyond impressed with these tunes.

Up until recent, I was running JB4 with Charge Pipe Injection and bolt ons. JB4 has served me well and I will continue to use it for my charge pipe injection as well as fine tuning AFR/wastegates if needed down the line. With JB4 I made 471whp and 510wtq and would run consistent mid/high 11 second ¼ mile passes and 3.6-.3.7 0-60’s. Simply put, JB4 is great but I quickly learned how much more a proper ECU tune can do.

After doing a ton of research, talking to multiple Stinger/G70 guys with different ECU tunes, I went with LAP3. There are several reason why I went with them. The biggest reason being communication. David at LAP3 answered every single one of my questions in absolute detail. He would then go into explaining how/why their ECU/TCU are tuned liked they are. They are a phone call away and very quick to reply. I hit up several companies to ask questions. 2 of which I never even received responses from after multiple attempts. After my research, I am glad I didn’t go with them as multiple people were having issues with their tunes and had to keep sending it back for revisions.

LAP3 Stage 2.5 ECU review: (plug and play right off the shelf)

ADAPTATION:

• I was very surprised to see how quickly the ECU adapted. It does adapt based on the fuel/octane content that you are running, and it adapts quickly. More octane nets more timing etc. I run E40-E45 which will lean out AFR however I was surprised to see how spot on my fuel trims and my AFRs were after very small amount of driving.

BOOST:

• There is almost no boost taper with this tune. The tune itself runs lower boost (18-19lbs) but it hold all the way to redline in every gear. I do not get any boost spikes when shifting gears and it is very consistent. I did a lot of research and after seeing people with other ECU tunes with some crazy boost spikes, or boost taper, etc. I didn’t want to take the chance grenading turbos/motor with massive boost spikes. A lot of people are hung up on running more boost, but it isn’t key to making more power or running faster times. LAP3 2.5 ECU has lower boost with a very consistent powerband.

TIMING:

• This was the absolute game changer. With JB4 I would get a max of about 15 degrees towards redline. Being that JB4 can’t control timing and the OEM ECU is limited, adding more timing made a huge difference with LAP3. However, adding more timing comes with adding more octane or WMI. The LAP3 ECU will adjust and add more timing based on octane being used. I run E40ish with no water/methanol and I am hitting a max of 20 degrees of timing. The good part is it’s throughout the power band and not just at redline. This alone made the car feel like an absolute monster and a lot of power was gained. (more to come on fuel/timing)

FUEL/WMI/E85:

• After speaking with David at LAP3, we had our concerns with me running the Stage 2.5 ECU without having WMI or running race gas. I run BMS Charge Pipe Injection which allows me to run more ethanol content and not crash the HPFP. No one has tried to run the LAP3 Stage 2.5 ECU without WMI/E30 blend, so I figured I would be the Guinea pig. Well, safe to say that the tune runs flawless with no issues on a E40-E45 blend. Going back to adapting and timing, Plugged the ECU in and went for a drive. I had the standard adaptive timing corrections which were about 2 degrees in every cylinder. Much to my surprised after a little driving, the ECU adapted and I get 0 to 1 degree of timing correction now. This is with having 20 degrees of timing throughout the power band. So, the ECU runs a lot more timing but it does hold up and run safe with a E40+ blend. Needless to say we were both happy and hopefully opens up more options for people wanting to run LAP3 ECU tune without running WMI or race gas constantly.

CONSISTENCY:

• Made this a topic because I feel like the car is sooooo much more consistent. I have done back to back pulls, logs, ¼ mile times etc and the car just performs spot on every single time. Today was 90 degrees out and the car still ran like a champ having higher IAT’s. Now we all know that weather/driving conditions etc. will change how the car acts. That is what is great about this ECU tune. Again, it adapts based on all these much like the OEM ECU making things safer and having much more drivability that is consistent every time.

OFF THE SHELF: Plug and play

• Received the ECU in the mail, plugged it into the car and drove. There isn’t a single thing that I would change about it nor does it need to change. (aka revisions). I know ECU tunes that are available offer “revisions” for X amount of dollars or X amount of time after purchasing. Sure, this makes sense down the line if going to a bigger turbo set up or something much more aggressive. Of course you are going to need a revised tune. I am more talking about the 99.9% of us who just have bolt ons. I have had several people tell me they had to ship their ECU back and forth to the company they got their tune from just to make it run properly with their full bolt on setup. The LAP3 ECU tune doesn’t need any revisions. It is legit just plug and play and done right the first time around.
• No more ISG for Stinger guys. They now have the ISG delete with their ECU tune. No need to wait for “beast mode” or launch control because of ISG. (idle stop and go)

LAP3 Stage 3 TCU review:

• Coming from a LOZIC stage 3 TCU, I was curious how much different the LAP3 would be. The main reason I went with the LAP3 TCU was solely to pair it with their ECU. Right off the bat, the biggest difference I noticed were the downshifts. When I had LOZIC, the 2nd to 1st gear down shift was sooo harsh and would take me by surprise every single time because of how abrupt it was.
• Launch control is a lot more consistent. Doesn’t have to be in stages and builds boost a lot faster (much like brake snip).
• Shifts are firm and quick. I went with stage 3 which might be a bit more aggressive for some but I love how fast/hard it shifts. I will increase your 0-60 and 1/4 mile times.

Ok, you just read a lot. What did all of this net me in terms of “gains”. Well, with full interior (no weight reduction), spare tire in, golf clubs in trunk, full tank of gas and on 20-inch 68lb wheels the car ran 11.3@ 120 MPH and 3.2 0-60 less than 24hrs after installing the tunes. This was with a not so great 60ft at 1.7x. With my track wheels/tires alone and cutting 1.6 60ft I see no problem hitting 11.0-11.1. Then maybe if I take all the crap out of my car (spare tire, golf clubs, seats) ill save another 100-200lbs . I have no doubt that it will break into the 10’s and get a faster 0-60. All without race gas or WMI.

My current mods:

LAP3 stage 2.5 ECU, LAP3 stage 3 TCU , JB4 with BMS Charge Pipe Injection, Fuel-it flex fuel sensor, BMS FMIC, BMS catch can, BMS intakes, SXTH Element High Flow Cat primary downpipes, DC catless secondary downpipes, Muffler delete with vibrant resonators, stock mid pipes, VT Snorkels, BMS trans cooler, BMS rear diff brace, BMS Billet strut bars, HKS plugs, 20" Niche Gammas, Eibach springs.

Some draggy times so far. I banged the rev limiter in 1st gear slowing it down a bit. I will update this thread as I continue to go faster.

I’m new to all this. I have a 2019 G70 design edition it’s completely stock I’m about to hit 43k . My question is can I run the lap3 on my stock car? Or do I need to get bolt ons first?

 

[Genny Guy]

I’m new to all this. I have a 2019 G70 design edition it’s completely stock I’m about to hit 43k . My question is can I run the lap3 on my stock car? Or do I need to get bolt ons first?

If you go higher than 1.5, you'll need to get wmi or cpi. Outside of that, you won't need anything. All the tunes for these cars are plug and play. The bolt-ons for this platform are mostly aesthetic and auditory.

 

[MSA101]

All I can say is “holly shit”. Why didn’t I do an ECU tune from the start? Just received my LAP3 stage 2.5 ECU and Stage 3 TCU. It is seriously a night and day different car now and I am beyond impressed with these tunes.

Up until recent, I was running JB4 with Charge Pipe Injection and bolt ons. JB4 has served me well and I will continue to use it for my charge pipe injection as well as fine tuning AFR/wastegates if needed down the line. With JB4 I made 471whp and 510wtq and would run consistent mid/high 11 second ¼ mile passes and 3.6-.3.7 0-60’s. Simply put, JB4 is great but I quickly learned how much more a proper ECU tune can do.

After doing a ton of research, talking to multiple Stinger/G70 guys with different ECU tunes, I went with LAP3. There are several reason why I went with them. The biggest reason being communication. David at LAP3 answered every single one of my questions in absolute detail. He would then go into explaining how/why their ECU/TCU are tuned liked they are. They are a phone call away and very quick to reply. I hit up several companies to ask questions. 2 of which I never even received responses from after multiple attempts. After my research, I am glad I didn’t go with them as multiple people were having issues with their tunes and had to keep sending it back for revisions.

LAP3 Stage 2.5 ECU review: (plug and play right off the shelf)

ADAPTATION:

• I was very surprised to see how quickly the ECU adapted. It does adapt based on the fuel/octane content that you are running, and it adapts quickly. More octane nets more timing etc. I run E40-E45 which will lean out AFR however I was surprised to see how spot on my fuel trims and my AFRs were after very small amount of driving.

BOOST:

• There is almost no boost taper with this tune. The tune itself runs lower boost (18-19lbs) but it hold all the way to redline in every gear. I do not get any boost spikes when shifting gears and it is very consistent. I did a lot of research and after seeing people with other ECU tunes with some crazy boost spikes, or boost taper, etc. I didn’t want to take the chance grenading turbos/motor with massive boost spikes. A lot of people are hung up on running more boost, but it isn’t key to making more power or running faster times. LAP3 2.5 ECU has lower boost with a very consistent powerband.

TIMING:

• This was the absolute game changer. With JB4 I would get a max of about 15 degrees towards redline. Being that JB4 can’t control timing and the OEM ECU is limited, adding more timing made a huge difference with LAP3. However, adding more timing comes with adding more octane or WMI. The LAP3 ECU will adjust and add more timing based on octane being used. I run E40ish with no water/methanol and I am hitting a max of 20 degrees of timing. The good part is it’s throughout the power band and not just at redline. This alone made the car feel like an absolute monster and a lot of power was gained. (more to come on fuel/timing)

FUEL/WMI/E85:

• After speaking with David at LAP3, we had our concerns with me running the Stage 2.5 ECU without having WMI or running race gas. I run BMS Charge Pipe Injection which allows me to run more ethanol content and not crash the HPFP. No one has tried to run the LAP3 Stage 2.5 ECU without WMI/E30 blend, so I figured I would be the Guinea pig. Well, safe to say that the tune runs flawless with no issues on a E40-E45 blend. Going back to adapting and timing, Plugged the ECU in and went for a drive. I had the standard adaptive timing corrections which were about 2 degrees in every cylinder. Much to my surprised after a little driving, the ECU adapted and I get 0 to 1 degree of timing correction now. This is with having 20 degrees of timing throughout the power band. So, the ECU runs a lot more timing but it does hold up and run safe with a E40+ blend. Needless to say we were both happy and hopefully opens up more options for people wanting to run LAP3 ECU tune without running WMI or race gas constantly.

CONSISTENCY:

• Made this a topic because I feel like the car is sooooo much more consistent. I have done back to back pulls, logs, ¼ mile times etc and the car just performs spot on every single time. Today was 90 degrees out and the car still ran like a champ having higher IAT’s. Now we all know that weather/driving conditions etc. will change how the car acts. That is what is great about this ECU tune. Again, it adapts based on all these much like the OEM ECU making things safer and having much more drivability that is consistent every time.

OFF THE SHELF: Plug and play

• Received the ECU in the mail, plugged it into the car and drove. There isn’t a single thing that I would change about it nor does it need to change. (aka revisions). I know ECU tunes that are available offer “revisions” for X amount of dollars or X amount of time after purchasing. Sure, this makes sense down the line if going to a bigger turbo set up or something much more aggressive. Of course you are going to need a revised tune. I am more talking about the 99.9% of us who just have bolt ons. I have had several people tell me they had to ship their ECU back and forth to the company they got their tune from just to make it run properly with their full bolt on setup. The LAP3 ECU tune doesn’t need any revisions. It is legit just plug and play and done right the first time around.
• No more ISG for Stinger guys. They now have the ISG delete with their ECU tune. No need to wait for “beast mode” or launch control because of ISG. (idle stop and go)

LAP3 Stage 3 TCU review:

• Coming from a LOZIC stage 3 TCU, I was curious how much different the LAP3 would be. The main reason I went with the LAP3 TCU was solely to pair it with their ECU. Right off the bat, the biggest difference I noticed were the downshifts. When I had LOZIC, the 2nd to 1st gear down shift was sooo harsh and would take me by surprise every single time because of how abrupt it was.
• Launch control is a lot more consistent. Doesn’t have to be in stages and builds boost a lot faster (much like brake snip).
• Shifts are firm and quick. I went with stage 3 which might be a bit more aggressive for some but I love how fast/hard it shifts. I will increase your 0-60 and 1/4 mile times.

Ok, you just read a lot. What did all of this net me in terms of “gains”. Well, with full interior (no weight reduction), spare tire in, golf clubs in trunk, full tank of gas and on 20-inch 68lb wheels the car ran 11.3@ 120 MPH and 3.2 0-60 less than 24hrs after installing the tunes. This was with a not so great 60ft at 1.7x. With my track wheels/tires alone and cutting 1.6 60ft I see no problem hitting 11.0-11.1. Then maybe if I take all the crap out of my car (spare tire, golf clubs, seats) ill save another 100-200lbs . I have no doubt that it will break into the 10’s and get a faster 0-60. All without race gas or WMI.

My current mods:

LAP3 stage 2.5 ECU, LAP3 stage 3 TCU , JB4 with BMS Charge Pipe Injection, Fuel-it flex fuel sensor, BMS FMIC, BMS catch can, BMS intakes, SXTH Element High Flow Cat primary downpipes, DC catless secondary downpipes, Muffler delete with vibrant resonators, stock mid pipes, VT Snorkels, BMS trans cooler, BMS rear diff brace, BMS Billet strut bars, HKS plugs, 20" Niche Gammas, Eibach springs.

Some draggy times so far. I banged the rev limiter in 1st gear slowing it down a bit. I will update this thread as I continue to go faster.

I have a g70 and was tryna find some way to DM you to ask you, but I was wandering what modification would you reccomend first on a completely stock g70 I have a 2000$ budget and thought to get the 450 whp package from bms and maybe a tcu tune from lozic. I know supporting mods are important but I’m supposed to race a scat pack in about 2 months and don’t have a ton of time and I think the drive train is stout enough to handle it.

 

[Cashby]

I have a g70 and was tryna find some way to DM you to ask you, but I was wandering what modification would you reccomend first on a completely stock g70 I have a 2000$ budget and thought to get the 450 whp package from bms and maybe a tcu tune from lozic. I know supporting mods are important but I’m supposed to race a scat pack in about 2 months and don’t have a ton of time and I think the drive train is stout enough to handle it.

JB4 is a good place to start. I personally don't have that many mods done. Stock exhaust and stock intercooler. I just have ECU/TCU, Intakes, CPI and run on E85.

2000k budget. Grab a used Jb4, intakes and secondary downpipes. Run E30 and it will be plenty of fun. Can probably find all 3 for like 1000 bucks. Then I would get a TCU tune with the extra $$