Tuning

TUNING WITH A DIFFERENCE

Michael South Engineering offers a wide variety of tuning services for Subaru’s and with an extensive history tuning Rally, track and street cars, is recognised as one of the best and most knowledgable Subaru tuners in Australia.

Our unique approach to tuning has a strong emphasis on the torque produced by the vehicle instead of focusing only on outright power. The result of this ensures your Subaru remains responsive with plenty of usable power for all applications. A vehicles torque can be defined as the engines turning power at a given rpm range.

We most commonly tune open source with the vehicles standard ECU to avoid the costs involved to the client of purchasing an aftermarket ECU. We are also accredited to tune Autronic and Motec ECU’s

THE SPACE UNDER THE CURVE

With every tune we conduct we aim to optimise the space under the curve of the dynograph as much as possible. The surface area under the curve of the graph equates to the usable power of the vehicle. for example, a vehicle producing 300kw between 3700 – 7500rpm will have greater space under the curve than a vehicle producing 350kw from 4700 – 7500rpm.

The additional surface area will typically mean faster corner exit speeds and an increase in low down torque. In street applications it is uncommon to regularly hold the higher rpm range (5000rpm+) so an increase in low down response and reduction in turbo lag greatly benefits the drivability of the vehicle

Subaru’s introduction of dual AVCS (active valve control system) in 2008+ models further extends our ability reduce the latency of turbo spool and combined with the correct cam profile, can significantly increase low down torque. The full potential of Dual AVCS is commonly overlooked or not properly understood by alot of tuners, having spent significant time on R&D with Dual AVCS tuning tables, MSR can deliver significant torque gains across the rpm range where others may fall short

VEHICLES WE TUNE

Pre 2001 Impreza, Liberty, Forester. (please note that these vehicles require the standard ECU to be sent away and “unlocked” prior to tuning)
2001 – 2005 Impreza, Liberty, Forester via standard ECU with Carberry functionality options
2006 – 2007 Impreza, Liberty, Forester Via standard ECU with Aijmod functionality options
2008 – 2014 Impreza, Liberty, Forester via standard ECU with Aijmod functionality options
2014+ STI via Standard ECU with Aijmod functionality options
2014+ WRX, Liberty, Forester via Standard ECU
All Subaru’s with Autronic ECU’s
All Subaru’s with Motec ECU’s

Turbo Subaru’s without any modifications can also highly benefit from tuning. Every vehicle produced is different in small ways however the factory tune is the same for each model. By tailoring a custom tune to a specific vehicle it is possible to not only achieve better response and power but in alot of cases improved fuel economy at the same time!

TUNING ENHANCEMENTS

In recent years the technology and software behind tuning a vehicles standard ECU has grown at a rapid rate. Taking advantage of Carberry and Aijmod ROM’s for the standard ECU, gives us the ability to offer clients functionality previously only found in high end replacement ECU’s. some of the functionality includes:

FLEX FUEL

Configurations to allow for the simultaneous use of 98RON petrol and E85 ethanol. Taking advantage of input from a FLEX Fuel sensor, this option provides a vehicle with the performance capabilities of the higher octane E85 ethanol based fuel combined with the convenience of 98RON pump fuel. When a vehicle is FLEX tuned, any mixture of the 2 fuels can be ran reliably and safely with the ECU scaling tables and inputs to suit the detected ethanol content

LAUNCH CONTROL

Launch control is a user configured rpm limiter designed to assist in placing the vehicle in the ideal rpm range for fast take off’s. This feature is most commonly used for drag racing applications where getting off the line quickly is imperative without the vehicle bogging down or excessively spinning the wheels. We enable user configurable controls so that the rpm range in which the ECU targets can be adjusted with ease

FLAT FOOT SHIFTING

Most commonly used in conjunction with a sequential style transmission, Flat foot shifting (FFS) provides the ability for the driver to change gears without lifting their foot from the accelerator. This minimises gear change times while keeping torque and engine speed high in preparation for the next gear. The amount of engine speed moving into the subsequent gear can also be configured to the user application

ANTI LAG

A system designed primarily for turbo vehicles in race applications. It is achieved by fuel and air igniting in the exhaust manifold to keep the turbo spinning when there is not enough exhaust gas being delivered to do so. This results in a reduction of turbo lag and increases response

CEL TRIGGERS

Both Carberry and Aijmod software can significantly expand the somewhat limited ability of the standard ECU for fault tolerance. CEL (CHECK ENGINE LIGHT) triggers can be built into the ROM in situations where the vehicle is not performing correctly and protect the vehicle from damage. There are many types of triggers that can be added to various components of the car depending on the configuration or style of modifications