Getting custom ECU tune at Mase Engineering

Hello all,

First thank you Spiro for the kind words, it was a pleasure meeting you. I am happy to hear you love the new found power and driveability.

To answer some questions and comment on some other items:

The cost for the F430 ECU flash is $1495. You would need to send both ECUs to us in Florida and we usually have a very fast turnaround time, often the same day. I do work with pro race teams in IMSA and World Challenge race series, so during those times I am traveling, the turnaround time can vary a little. I do offer the option to come to our facility here in Jacksonville, FL and will dyno and customize everything in person, but we do realize that's not an option for everyone. I write all of our software calibrations myself. There are many companies that often just buy and resell someone else’s work. I take pride in my company offering services that differ from that. Everything we calibrate is thoroughly tested, usually on our in house dyno.

Most F430’s on 93 octane will gain over 30 whp with our tune. Spiro’s gained well beyond that from the tune. There are many variables in regards to actual gains. There are many tables and lines of code we change in the factory ecu to optimize the calibration, while not sacrificing reliability. We customize the calibration to suit everyone’s setup. (I.E. we can remove the cat protection mode for those cars who are not running catalytic converters, such on race cars. There is no longer a need to run the engines excessively rich to protect the catalytic converter if it’s no longer on the vehicle.) Besides fueling, we maximize the power safely by optimizing the ignition timing/cam angle/throttle/air flow modeling tables/torque limiters. Etc etc on all of our calibrations across many different platforms.

That indeed is my F430 in the back ground of one of the pics posted. It is stock for now, and I don’t intend to modify it much, however I do have plans to change the exhaust manifolds, and in doing so, I’d like to maximize the potential and will be doing some testing and I will publish my findings. The sad part is I haven’t even had the time to enjoy driving the car as much as I would like!

In regards to the dip in power/torque: I’ve done quite a few F430’s now and gathering a lot of data and information I think I have it pretty well understood. The dip in power caused by the agency power/fabspeed headers are due to the design of them. With that being said, I don’t think they are poorly designed (infact I will probably be purchasing a set), however there are many factors involved. I’ve recently done a F430 with the same headers and it did not have a dip in power, this was due to the rest of the exhaust setup. The “magic” words that comes into play here: “resonance tuning”. I will create a separate thread soon regarding this matter, and will include a lot of technical background on this issue, and hope to have a fix for this as well.

If anyone has any further questions, please let me know.

Stay “tuned”


Steve

P.S. I've added a digital copy of Spiro's dyno sheet
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Thanks for the great info!

 

Just to join the party, below is a dyno graph from an F430 Spider I am currently building here. This is a bone stock run on our in-house Dynojet we pulled Monday before starting to pull off the factory system to be upgraded. I will jump back in with new graphs once the products start going on, and make a new thread.
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Major props to you for volunteering this information for a before and after of a product folks have questions about.

It looks like the stock car as the same dip. I wonder if there's some type of variable cam timing happening? I'm not familiar enough with the f430 cylinder head and camshaft design, but it seems common in low displacement high performance engines.

Also, IMO, the dip is insignificant and below the operating range of someone who is interested in acceleration and performance. Shifting at redline will drop you above that RPM mark (perhaps why the factory chose it as a cam phase point)

Sunday drivers shift before that point, performance oriented drivers shift above it and never hit it again. It would only be pulled through once from a standing start in 1st gear (which I doubt even performance oriented drivers do that much)

 

My stock run was smoother, the dip was with the headers just like some others. I really couldn't feel it though. The tune really helped, there is no way I would make these changes without a tune.

BTW, that is a beautiful 430, I love that color with those wheels.

 

Thanks for contributing Travis. Some of us would probably like to see what the addition of the BMC air filters will translate on the dyno with this setup.

 

I've known Mase for a very long time and besides people flying him around the world to write code for custom ecu maps, he has done most of my cars over the years.

I've had him do many of my cars with dyno runs before and after mods. He knows so much about cars from him actually doing the tuning and running the dynos compared to someone's else writing the code for him. That makes a huge difference as that personal experience sets him apart. In fact the first car he tuned for me was over 16-17 years ago lol.

Recently in the past year, he tuned all of these with us mailing him our ecus as he has done them in the past and has them already figured out with us just telling him the mods

1-360 euro Ferrari with sport cats and capristo exhaust,
2-360 stradale with titanium exhaust and test pipes,
3-Maserati gran truisms full exhaust and sport cats,
4-Maserati quadraportte full exhaust

I Trust the guy with any car I have. His the best deal around to if you want some nice custom stuff done. No reselling someone else's tune.

Here's a pic of the ferraris he tuned
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I want to give a huge thank you to Mase Engineering.

Last year, I bought Fabspeed headers, sport cats, mini cats, and header blankets for my F430. I had no need for the sport cats but Travis at Fabspeed said that they make a big difference and really go with the headers. So I spent the extra money and bought them. Well, they throw CELs within 5 miles every time. So, while trying to figure this out, I did a few dyno tests, including when I installed the prototype muffles S-Line exhaust (which is off the charts briliant and anyone considering one should get it).

The car produces plenty of power (405 hp at the wheels with stock cats and exhaust) but under WOT it runs super, super rich. I don't care what anyone says but I have no idea how a 200 cell sport cat is not going to clean the exhaust enough to not throw an efficiency code. More importantly, though, you could see that there's a lot of power and drivability to be gained with a tune.

For months I spoke to everyone about doing a remap to address the overly rich condition not really so that I could use the cats but really just because the car runs incredibly rich.

First of all, some people who advertise expert ECU tuning wouldn't even engage me. These include some of the usual suspects. Secondly, when I dug deep with some of the companies who pride themselves in ECU tuning, it became obvious that they don't do the tuning themselves, at least not with an F430. Basically, I couldn't shake the feeling that people were telling me what I wanted to hear just for the sale, which I hate, and then would just turn the actual job over to some teenage computer whiz in some other country to email a file that may or may not be what I wanted. I want people to tell me the truth, not lie to me just to get me to buy what they're selling. To sum it up, I felt like no one really knew what they F430 ECU tune contained and how it was done. And to combat the CEL issue, some people's solution was simply to disable the diagnostics. All in all, I was very disappointed.

Then I called Steve and Brandon at Mase and I went through my list of questions and concerns. First of all, it's readily apparent that Steve knows exactly what the hell he's doing. When I asked him my questions, I got answers that only come from experience and actually doing the tuning. It was a very pleasant exchange. We talked about my particular set up, my requirements, my preferences, and all of the options. Steve knew exactly what I was saying and had addressed all of my thoughts with great answers borne from experience with other cars he did personally. I agreed to send him my ECUs.

I took out my ECUs in my garage one evening, next day shipped them to Steve and Brandon, they got them, flashed them, and turned them around the same day. I installed them that night and finally got a chance to run the car today.

All I can say is that the car is greatly, greatly improved. Steve said to expect somewhere north of 30 hp with my requirements. It feels like more than that. First, not only is the partial throttle and mid range drivability greatly improved but when I'm at WOT above 5500 rpm, the car is night and day from before. In race mode, it feels like it's fighting for traction in 2nd and 3rd gears (and I have brand new MPSS tires on the car). The car is just a real joy to drive now and is exactly what I wanted.

All I can say is that this was one of the best and most pleasant experiences ever with someone that actually delivers what they say they will. I would not hesitate to send anything to Mase Engineering in the future.

 

Thanks for the info. I have similar mods, and need to get my 430 tuned. Have not been too impressed with the local options, so may have to mail my ECUs to someone who knows what they are doing....

 

I spoke to two companies in your local area so I have a feeling that you and I are on the same page.

Fwiw, I am running stock cats (don't know if I'll ever be able to use these fabspeed cats) with full diagnostics intact. Steve made sure to leave everything fully functioning and undisturbed. He adjusted the fuel mapping and trim only and only to the extent we discussed. As I said, I am very pleased.

 

Are you planning to tune the 360 too?

 

No. My 360 is a completely different story.

It was owned by someone who owned a Challenge and GT3 team and it was dialed in extremely well. It is the fastest 360 I've ever driven and it took a while to figure out why. When I finally tracked down the former owner and asked why it was so fast, he explained that they made some slight engine mods and not only are the ECUs tuned but they're specifically tuned for the slightly different cam timing and some other mods. They did all kinds of things, too, including sending the suspension to Moton, BBK from Brembo, on and on.

Anyways, it doesn't need an ECU tune but if it did, I'd call Steve.

 

Emailed Steve and he responded right away, gonna send him my ECUs for tuning.

 

Me too. Just need to figure out where the ecu's are to remove them.

 

They are behind the seats.

Take out the bolts on those two panels and you will see them. It's pretty straightforward.

 

Mase's directions attached
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Availability on 360? Seems like it's possible based on a previous post. If so, any before/after?

Looking at this and potentially a VR Tune.

 

Yes, I spoke to Steve once trying to fix a recurrent CEL after changing headers, really nice guy and very straight forward, at the end the mini cats from Fabspeed eventually worked after several ECU resets and I am CEL free, but I am really thinking about a tune and/or other mods (sport cats to go with my Tubi and headers) after I pass smog this year, and enjoy two great years of great sound and a tune that will complement such mods.
This is what Steve once sent me
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Would be happy to supply a tune for your 360, we've done many 360's! I've attached a before and after dyno tune for a 360 we did.

If you have more questions, please send me a message!
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Great numbers, particularly on the Dyno Dynamics dyno! What were the mods on this car?

Might be contacting you soon.

 

That's my 360 that Steve did a while back. Steve is the man.

 

That car has Agency Power headers, no cats, and capristo exhaust


Please let me know if I can help in any way!

 

I will be calling you soon !

 

Travis, any progress?