Anyone had one of these installed? https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/aftermarket/performance-box_13587 Thoughts, opinions?
Looks interesting...wondering if it is detectable once removed? 50 extra hp...nice addition. How much?
In the UK its about £1500 not including install which seems fairly simple. Will look into it properly and revert back.
I always wonder what are the drawbacks of such systems - the same power upgrade as a Pista for a little more than 1% of the price?
So...here's what I don't understand about the "undetectable" claim all these power boosting device companies market. Technology will certainly allow for a recording capability if the manufacturer elected to install it, so are these claims being made because the people making them have first hand knowledge that no such tracking (recording) exists in these cars? I'm only asking out of curiosity, I personally wouldn't install one because I could never be 100% certain (regardless of manufacturer's claims) that damage isn't being done to the engine. If I were keeping the car forever (contrary to my history with performance cars) I might not worry about it, but because I seem to rotate cars every couple/few years, I wouldn't want to risk passing on a compromised engine to someone else. As an aside, I don't actually believe any damage is being done, (I just don't know for sure), especially given Ferrari is likely doing something similar with the increased performance "tuning" they add to their LE versions (i.e. Pista), BUT, at least in those cases it's Ferrari doing the work. If I'm missing something here (entirely possible), please educate me. Jim
For the Pista Ferrari actually changes some internal components of the engine, so that the power increase is not only relying on a tuning of the electronics. Increasing power while keeping all components unchanged may (or may not...) be detrimental to reliability; Ferrari is not doing it but we don't really know why.
Yes, thanks, I knew about the parts changes in the Pista, just wasn't sure what parts were changed, and were those changes the reason for the power increases, or there to support a tune of the electronics. If it's related to a new tuning of the electronics, obviously Ferrari must have determined a need, which further supports my concern for adding these aftermarket parts, but I'm admittedly ignorant when it comes to aftermarket engine tuning. Jim
The best approach is a flash of the ECU but that is generally detectable if done by OBD port and Ferrari can deny warranty work on things they think could have been affected by the tune. The piggyback tunes are usually only adjusting a few ECU inputs to fool the car into increasing boost. Some claim that the car will eventually adapt to the changes and the piggyback will quit having an effect but I never noticed that on my 991tts. I had a FVD piggyback on it for about 5k miles and I measured the power with and without it when it was removed at Cobb prior to putting on an ECU flash tune. The increase was 27 whp from 466 to 493 with an exhaust and 200 cell cats. Without the exhaust the stock power was a few hp lower. I think the piggybacks are not risky but to each his own. Keep in mind here, the car is designed to operate over a wide range of environmental/load conditions and at sea level, if it can be convinced that it's at 8000 ft, then boost will be increased within normal engine tolerances resulting in better performance at sea level but that approach doesn't work everywhere. That is just one way to fool the ECU. Here is a detailed writeup. These systems use a CPU to implement the real-time modifications being made to the ECU input signals affected and are quite sophisticated. The software makes sure all the signals are within the operating range of the vehicle which are quite wide due to the wide range of operation required anyway.
It is most definitely possible to hurt the engine with a piggyback setup by leaning the fuel out inducing some detonation and higher heat in cylinder/piston and still keep the signals within the operating range of the vehicle. If you read the article it evens warns about it. I'm sure there are other pitfalls with increasing induction forces but I have no experience there at all. These units make sense if you made other engine/exhaust mods and need to fine tune (assuming you know what your doing) but none of that makes sense to me on a $300k car really. On my race bike, the OEM sells an ECU reprogrammer and offers different maps or you can customize one yourself. Its great to lean out a tad off idle to get better throttle behavior and also make changes to avoid stalling on throttle chop which would be very unsafe. Also helps a lot if you've done cam, piston or exhaust changes. But that's a race only machine and the piston/rings gets changed once or even twice a season.
I have it. Had it installed with the exhaust. I'd say, marginal improvements (Seat of Pants better) haven't dyno'd. Box is very conservative per my dealer who did the install. They were cool with warranty as long as it doesn't directly lead to damage. It slightly bumps boost and optimizes airflow with exhaust. I'd say if your spending 10K for capristo anyway, go for it, if not, meh.
