Software upgrade

[Ziff]

I have been researching software upgrades and was thinking about EVOMS software upgrade, but for $3,500 it seems too much for too little. I attended a local car show and met a guy claiming he upgraded his 997TT with an additional 50hp with a $999 software upgrade from a guy working out of a little shack behind a repair shop in Burtonsville, MD. The web site is http://www.speedtuningusa.com I called the owner, Ollie yesterday and asked him about the software and an hour later he was removing my ECU, calling some guy in Germany, removed the chip form the ECU mother board, and 30 minutes later, he soldered the chip back on, reinstalled the ECU, and then I drove off. The software is available in two versions, standard, and custom (aka Stage 2). For $200 more than the standard software, I went with the custom. He told me the guys in Germany said to expect 1.2 BAR in boost. I asked for the conversion to PSI and was told around 18 psi. Sure enought, after 5 minutes of driving home, I hit it and the dash digital guage hit 18psi. He also told me that others are charging $2,800 to $3,000+ for the same program. I just smiled and said, oh really? Needless to say, I am thrilled with the car, not that I was unhappy before, but WOW, what a nice boost in performance. It now chirps second gear and builds boost quicker. I am being told that the increase equates to 75 to 80 hp. I just can't believe that I was able to upgrade my Turbo in an hour for equal or more power than the big name tuners for much less than 50% of the cost. I highly recommend this guy, Ollie, to anyone. I learned that he also does work for EPI Tuning. Please e-mail me with any questions. I am thinking of changing the exhaust now, but not so sure it is worth it. Any recommedations from anyone?

Walt

Edited September 8, 2007 by Ziff

[bbywu]

I have been researching software upgrades and was thinking about EVOMS software upgrade, but for $3,500 it seems too much for too little. I attended a local car show and met a guy claiming he upgraded his 997TT with an additional 50hp with a $999 software upgrade from a guy working out of a little shack behind a repair shop in Burtonsville, MD. The web site is http://www.speedtuningusa.com I called the owner, Ollie yesterday and asked him about the software and an hour later he was removing my ECU, calling some guy in Germany, removed the chip form the ECU mother board, and 30 minutes later, he soldered the chip back on, reinstalled the ECU, and then I drove off. The software is available in two versions, standard, and custom (aka Stage 2). For $200 more than the standard software, I went with the custom. He told me the guys in Germany said to expect 1.2 BAR in boost. I asked for the conversion to PSI and was told around 18 psi. Sure enought, after 5 minutes of driving home, I hit it and the dash digital guage hit 18psi. He also told me that others are charging $2,800 to $3,000+ for the same program. I just smiled and said, oh really? Needless to say, I am thrilled with the car, not that I was unhappy before, but WOW, what a nice boost in performance. It now chirps second gear and builds boost quicker. I am being told that the increase equates to 75 to 80 hp. I just can't believe that I was able to upgrade my Turbo in an hour for equal or more power than the big name tuners for much less than 50% of the cost. I highly recommend this guy, Ollie, to anyone. I learned that he also does work for EPI Tuning. Please e-mail me with any questions. I am thinking of changing the exhaust now, but not so sure it is worth it. Any recommedations from anyone?

Walt

You spent over $120K for a sports car, and you're going to cut corners on a ECU upgrade by going to a "guy working out of a little shack?" Please tell me you are joking...

I hope this post is a complete joke. The ECU should never need to be removed and re-soldered to flash new software. Good luck with your warranty when your service rep asks about the burn marks on your ECU board.

[Ziff]

No joke. No burn marks. The flash software is not available. Even EVOMS removes the chip. The point of my post is that there are reputable shops that charge resonable rates when they don't have to spend a fortune on overhead. As a fellow business owner. I respect that.

You may notice that the new GT2 is advertised with 1.3 BAR with no block mods whatsoever, therefore if the internals are all the same, then I should be fine. Not that I was ever worried.

The software comes directly from Germany, GAIC I believe. The owner even called me up afterwards to ask me if I was satisfied. The Porsche dealership doesn't even do that. There were at least 30 ECUs sitting in a stack on his work bench when I arrived. He says most of his business is mail order. Just like EVOMS and everyone else. Price difference is nothing more than low versus high overhead costs being passed on to the customer.

You call that cutting corners, I call it smart shopping. I didn't pay full price for my Turbo either. I bought it at the end of the month when they had 2 sitting on the lot. I didn't get to this point in my thirties to afford a 997 TT by being bad with money. In fact, I manage money for a living.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents on the issue.

[bbywu]

No joke. No burn marks. The flash software is not available. Even EVOMS removes the chip. The point of my post is that there are reputable shops that charge resonable rates when they don't have to spend a fortune on overhead. As a fellow business owner. I respect that.

You may notice that the new GT2 is advertised with 1.3 BAR with no block mods whatsoever, therefore if the internals are all the same, then I should be fine. Not that I was ever worried.

The software comes directly from Germany, GAIC I believe. The owner even called me up afterwards to ask me if I was satisfied. The Porsche dealership doesn't even do that. There were at least 30 ECUs sitting in a stack on his work bench when I arrived. He says most of his business is mail order. Just like EVOMS and everyone else. Price difference is nothing more than low versus high overhead costs being passed on to the customer.

You call that cutting corners, I call it smart shopping. I didn't pay full price for my Turbo either. I bought it at the end of the month when they had 2 sitting on the lot. I didn't get to this point in my thirties to afford a 997 TT by being bad with money. In fact, I manage money for a living.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents on the issue.

No. No. Nope. Not true. Talk to Stephen. http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/showthr...lder&page=2. And that's Stephen Kaspar. Porsche Club of America tech advisor for the 911 Turbo.

As for the GT2...1.3 Bar with no internal changes true. But different VTG turbos. And 1.3 Bar is a spike...it is not a sustained level throughout the RPM band.

If you want to entrust your $150k automobile to your tuner...that is fine. Personally, I'd question anyone who has to solder a chip on the current generation ECUs to modify it.

[bbywu]

http://www.imagineauto.com/997T-01.htm

[Ziff]

http://www.imagineauto.com/997T-01.htm

Ollie confirmed today that the software I have is directly from GIAC. According to GIAC, they did not have a flash program available that allowed all the revisions on the custom chip I purchased, therefore Ollie had to do it the old fashion way. The car runs perfect. The 17lbs I see is a spike, it does not hold at 17lbs, it holds at 15lbs. Regardless, it was well worth it. My friend has a 2007 BMW MZ4 and he too had to have his chip removed. His is an early run model and the flash did not work on his. His car also runs perfect. Most of the cars Ollie does are flashed with no ECU removal. In fact, he sells the flash equipment. The referral was PCA member, like myself, and his 977 TT has Fabspeed exhaust, intake, and Ollie's ECU upgrade. No problems. I would have preferred the flash of course, but I trusted him and his other customer spoke highly of him. I also spoke with TPC racing and they did not seemed concerned with removing the ECU. Doesn't really matter at this point, it's done, I am happy with it.

[SVTHorsnake]

any developments here? Anyone tried this and want to offer a review?

[Ziff]

any developments here? Anyone tried this and want to offer a review?

Well, almost 10,000 miles and 2 years later, still happy, car still runs great. No complaints, I'd do it again, no hesitation.

[Ziff]

Over 4 years later and almost 20,000 miles, car is still perfect. I just bought a 2008 GT2 and the 2007 Turbo is for sale.