360 Stradale engine "tcu" for 360 modena

what year is your 360? if it already has the later 360 TCU type then a stradale TCU will offer no benefit in terms of clutch life or setup, it will simply shift more aggresively. these TCUs are the same, the stradale just has a slightly different map.
if you have an early car then upgrading to the later 360 modena TCU will vastly improve things including clutch life and shifting and this can be done for a great deal less than the stradale unit.
the only reason to go to stradale TCU over the later modena TCU is if you want the more aggressive shift.

 

If I am not mistaken, the TCU updates were done for the 2002MY

 

Most people aren't interested in upgrading the TCU to the CS one for clutch life reasons.
Moreover they do it for the extra performance of the shift speed.

I have posted the dates of the TCU revisions before but there where around 4 different software releases and from ~2002 they made the tcu remote upgradeable via the CAN bus so it could be done using the OBD-II rather than replacing the unit itself. Earlier models didn't have a software upgrade so the only option was to desolder the chip...

Worth noting that the title of this thread is misleading, engine "tcu" for 360 Modena doesn't make any sense. The Transmission Control Unit is just that, for controlling the hydraulically actuated manual transmission gearbox. The Engine uses seperate (pair of) ignition computers.

 

What do you mean by 'crappy'? How were you driving it? I ask because I've got similar wear in 1000 miles but I feel I've been driving mine (2001 360 with 'old' TCU) 'normally' (or at least trying).

There's something wrong with mine which I'm getting sorted this weekend - I was just curious to what you meant.

 

sorry to say but depending on the type of driving you do, ie lots of stop start driving, lots of traffic, lots of bumper to bumper, lots of racing between lights, lots of slow speed manouvers, reversing etc then you could burn through a clutch in that spell easily.
the F1 system works great but with that low grade type driving it highlights its inherent weaknesses and your clutch goes quickly. that is if everything is setup well and working properly.

for info, i had a maladjsuted clutch, then a suspension ecu issue that misinformed sensors and caused jerky low gear driving, then a clutch sensor fail and cause pick up issues as it went out. all over a year and this killed a brand new clutch completely in about 800 miles.
not a typical story but these are the things that can happen and my car is looked after fanatically.

auto mode doesnt wear anything any more than regular mode but it is specatularly underwhelming. the button is there, just use it and see what it does for you.

if you really feel like your lack of experience with manual gearchanges is hurting you then perhaps you could buy the cheapest crappiest manual car you can find locally, get out and drive it around until you get a feel for it then sell it on . you could pick up a beater for less than $1k easily and that wont even get you a clutch on the 360.

whats your experience driving cars that rely on revs for performance too? if you say you are dropping two gears to overtake then it sounds like you are perhaps not used to driving this type of engine and perhaps often in the wrong gear, or using more gears and shifts than is needed. it may be that theres so many learning curves going on at once that your clutch is taking the brunt of it all.

ive never seen anything definative on whether regular or sports mode makes any difference to clutch wear so would add this out to say the stradale TCU wont make any difference either. it will change with a more aggressive pattern, so if you want this then that would be the reason for a change out.
the regular stradale mode is similar to sports in the regular cars in terms of shift if that gives you any indication of what to expect.
if you are having learning issues, id expect having the stradale TCU may put a bigger strain on components rather than aleviating them. maybe get used to the car and the F1 system before changing up

 

i followed exactly what you were saying about the downshifts, what i was trying to say was that you may need a fundamental shift in approach to your gear selection with a different designed engine. i did when i changed to porsche and ferrari.
i know your example was illustrative so not an exact description, but if you take the situation where you are in 5th at 2kprm and then needing to get to third to skip past cars, you should be in 3rd at 4krpm or so instead anyways before they merged and thus would be able to deal with the overtake without dropping gears. this isnt to save the clutch but just to let the engine behave how it was intended.
these engines dont like being bogged down and will thank you from keeping them spinning a bit more. until the last few years i was always in turbo cars with bags of torque and no revs and a real different approach. it took a while to get used to driving along revving away but its much better for the car and the drive.
i never think about clutch wear, but i do concern myself with how the car is feeling and its always happier with some revs than chugging along in an extra gear.

 

What exhaust are you running

 

was just wondering since you said the noise was a bit wearing. ive not heard a fabspeed car in person yet.
i use earplugs on long journeys which helps alot, for the rest of the time i just open the windows and enjoy.
is that yours in your avatar? the spyder?
if so then i hope the stereo upgrade is a pair of headphones