What does "Stradale ECUs" on a 360 Spider give?

IMO if the previous owner was ultimately looking for any REAL HP gain, he spent alot of money on nothing.

 

Don't know about ECU but you can use Stradale TCU for quicker F1 shifts.

 

Questionable.
And personally don't see any benifit of replacing the stock ECU's with CS units. The CS units were specifcally mapped to optimize the internal upgrades to the motor.

 

Hi marcmc8867,

Firstly I'd like to say that the 360cs ecu reflash does yield power gains over the modena software.

The internal engine upgrades on the cs helped to optimise flow rates by 2%, the compression ratio with the new pistons only increased CR by 0.1 over the modena and the low friction block was just to optimize things that little bit more for consistency of power output (basically blueprinting) between cars. None of this makes that much of a difference compared to the work done on the ECU a/f maps and the more significant low back pressure exhaust.

With the mods done so far I would say your spyder is probably producing more power than the 360CS because there is +25hp gain from the straight through anti-cat pipes alone!

A few people in the UK have been doing this trick, flashing 360CS ecu software (as well as the faster shifting TCU transmission software) into their Modena's with help from a specialist racing team over here. They do all the Challenge racing and car prep here in the Uk. The actual physical ecu's are identical so you dont need to replace them with CS items, just reflash the software.

They claim this does this yields a very worthwhile power increase but only when combined with a free flow exhaust. The CS the air/fueling maps are more agressive. Air intake restrictions are not that bad on the stock modena system, so even without the 360cs's uprated MAF's, enlarged air resonator box and carbon covers your still getting enough air into the system to yield most of the benefits of the new optimized mapping's at all but the last few hundred revs.

It must be stressed however that just flashing the 360CS ECU software and bolting on a performance backbox is not enough, to gain the full benefit they insist the valve timing must be accurately set up (can take some time!) so you can get the real power gains. They are shocked at the poor job done at most 'timing belt' changes by a typical dealership - poor setup can loose 30hp or more!

A stock Modena engine has approx 385 (Ferrari claim 400 but this is stretching the truth a bit). The capristo gains just under 10hp, the straight pipes +25hp, the mapping in a Modena engine another 10-15hp. Your looking at between +45 to 50hp with the mods he did. That brings you to 385+(45 to 50) = approx 430hp. +5 over the CS. I'll post some dyno prints from them next time I go and take a visit.

With the mods done already you've already saved 20lbs from dumping your cats and your capristo is about 15lbs lighter than the stock muffler. Also, if you've not done so already I'd recommend you install a lightweight battery, an Odessey PC925L, its going to save you another 20lbs and is easy to do.

These mods alone are 25% of the weight savings achieved on the CS - thats before you even junk the seats for carbon items.

Nice mod's, the spider must really sound and go nice!

 

Please do.

 

In the meantime, here's some purely exhaust mods (sports cats instead of straight through pipes) which make a stock modena pickup 409hp (without an ecu mod, intake or vernier valve timing mod in sight!).

--
Supersprint the Italian performance exhaust specialist are finalizing a new exhaust system (full exhaust including optimized headers, high flow cats and back box system) which it has dyno'd with some remarkable results.

Their sales blurb is ;
'Every Supersprint system has been researched, designed and tested to insure additional power and to enhance overall performance. All design is validated by extensive testing which includes hours of dyno testing on Supersprint's Maha 4-wheel chassis dynamometer. In fact no other exhaust manufacturer, race team engine testing department or car manufacturer has the performance evaluating experience of Supersprint'.

I'm sure Tubi & Capristo would disagree with the above on the experience bit

Ferrari 360 - Claimed Performance data (Manufacturer Claimed):
Horsepower : 400 BHP at 8500 rev/min
Torque : 373 Nm at 4750 rev/min

There where some surprises, Ferrari had always insisted that the 360 makes 400 bhp but the dyno painted a different story with real numbers showing a significant power loss.

Ferrari 360 - Actual Performance data (Factory System):
Horsepower : 384.9 BHP at 8650 rev/min
Torque : 376.5 Nm at 5960 rev/min.

The 360 Modena they tested was 15 BHP down on power compared to the official claims. Ferrari always officially said that a 2% variance in actual power output between engines was possible and this could account for ~8 BHP of losses between one car and another (engine tolerances, balancing, wear, etc.). The power difference was only 0.5% on the 360CS with its essentially blue printed engine.

So, where Ferrari telling porkies or was this test car not up to scratch? Whatever is the case, Supersprints dyno'd gains (with the same car) gave;

Ferrari 360 - Actual Performance data (With Supersprint System):
Horsepower : 409.3 BHP at 8660 rev/min
Torque : 386 Nm at 5770 rev/min.

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And so do I!

 

Chassis dyno only show power at the rear wheels, not at the crank. So the numbers they gave are based on some assumed drive train loss %.

My test of two OEM spec Challenge race cars showed only about 336hp at the wheels. And they ran test pipes with Challenge silencers. With Tubi headers it showed only a 5 hp improvement. If you spend big bucks on engine internals you can squeeze about 20hp more at the wheel. Trust me even with 20hp you won't feel it in the seat of your pants. Data logger and stop watch can tell, but you won't be able to tell the difference.

 

... hence my suggestion that weight reduction should be the number 1 thing to concentrate on. Get rid of all that unnecessary weight and you'll notice it more, especially if you opt for thicker rear anti-roll bar and lowered uprated springs. You'll be entering corners quicker, stabilizing and getting on the power, a technique thats once perfected gains a lot more speed out of the twisties than brute force straight line grunt.

The most shocking think for me is that I heard the US spec 360's weigh some 140lbs more than the Euro cars. Wow, absolutely incredible, I'm sure weight reduction is the best policy here. Get near the weight of a CS and do the suspension things mentioned and you'll be substantially faster and enjoying the car a lot more on the track

PS. Take a look in the United Kingdom section, one of the guys just put a full stradale kit on his spider, looks stunning;

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157941

Here's a quick pic, enjoy
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IMO more internet misinformation.

 

"A few people in the UK have been doing this trick, flashing 360CS ecu software (as well as the faster shifting TCU transmission software) into their Modena's with help from a specialist racing team over here. They do all the Challenge racing and car prep here in the Uk. The actual physical ecu's are identical so you dont need to replace them with CS items, just reflash the software."

Hi 360Trev,

I would love to get in touch with a few people who have done the above and get their long-term reactions to the changes. Can you hook me up with a few?

I noticed from the parts books that the TCU part numbers are different between the 360 and the CS, but in the later models I suppose this could be entirely to designate the software load that is on the flash. The 360 went through multiple TCU changes:
#176552 (non-US) and #185301 (US) replaced by #191701
#191701 good till assembly 44074
#193263 from assembly 44075 to 47114
#195399 from assembly 47115 to 47379
#197533 from assembly 47380 but replaced by #211023
#211023 from assembly 47380
I may have missed one as I saw reference to a #185741 (not for US) but it didn't follow in the rest of the history.

By contrast, the CS only lists #196986. I do not have access to physical TCUs other than the one in my car, so I can't say which ones have different hardware numbers (I'm assuming the supplier to Ferrari has his own numbers on the boxes).

I've been looking at this for a while thinking I might attempt the change next year after my extended warranty runs out (assuming I don't renew to the next phase warranty). The TCU in my car is already the MY2001 model, so I'm already somewhat ahead of the game, but I would like it to be crisper. Having the dealer adjust the PIS value has helped a lot, but it periodically needs readjustment and I feel it could be better. I have to do more study before I take the plunge.


Lou

 

Has anyone actually weighed their US spec car?

I'm not really after opinions, lets face it everyones full of them and every ones different I just want the hard evidence.

Really I would just love to sort out the facts on this one because no one disputes that the 360M's where heavier in US spec. Obviously some cars are going to be a lot heavier based on their specs but it does seem very extreme!
I know the bumpers and door bar had much heavier beefed up impact protection (because of all your SUV's) than in Europe but that shouldnt add so much weight.

Trev

 

No probs, I'll get in touch with them and PM you some emails and telephone numbers.