Custom Dyno Tune & ECU Remap by Just Autos
In this post we discuss our custom dyno tune and ECU remap that we had done by Just Autos Mechanical on the Sunshine Coast.
Dyno Tune & ECU Remap
Anyone who drives a 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser knows that stock standard when it comes to engine performance the 70 Series is below average. Even though there is a nice big V8 under the hood, when the 70 Series Land Cruiser comes out of the factory, Toyota left plenty of performance out of this engine. When touring and towing, the 70 Series Land Cruiser feels sluggish especially when towing a trailer up a hill requiring a few gear changes. Stock standard the 70 Series comes with around 145 hp at the wheels and 350 nm of torque. These specs are like any small 4WD on the market which sort of defeats the purpose of having the V8 and that not-so-great fuel economy. The solution here is a custom dyno tune with an ECU remap done properly without the risk of damaging your 4WD. We chose to have this done by Just Autos Mechanical here on the Sunshine Coast as they understand our model of 4WD and have years of experience in custom dyno tunes and ECU remaps with a large, satisfied customer base.
ECU Remap
What is an ECU remap? The ECU is the engine control unit of your 4WD. It is the computer that controls the performance of any 4WDs engine. An ECU does this by reading loads of data from all your 4WDs different sensors and then based on this data and pre-set table settings, it makes many different adjustments to the engine ensuring optimal performance. The ECU monitors and controls air to fuel ratio, idle speed, boost levels, throttle input, temperatures and more. An ECU remap basically adjusts these table settings to get the desired result you are after. Here the technician will plug into the ODB diagnostic port of your 4WD and using software will adjust a bunch of different settings. The outcome of the ECU remap should hopefully lead to more power, more torque, better throttle response, better drivability, and hopefully improved fuel economy.
Custom Dyno Tune
If you are going to go down the route of an ECU remap then you must have it done on a dyno aka dynamometer. The dyno measures torque, power, and other engine vitals. Your 4WD is driven onto the dyno where the technician is then able to replicate driving conditions at different RPMs, speeds, elevations, loads and so on. Power, torque, air to fuel ratio, boost levels and other vital data is recorded by the dyno allowing the technician to then adjust different ECU settings for the desired results. This ensures that when your ECU remap is being done it is specific to your 4WD not just your make and model of 4WD. Every 4WD, even if it is the same brand and model, is usually setup quite differently. That is different size tyres and wheels, loads and other mechanical upgrades. Therefore, having a custom dyno tune is a far better solution as the technician will be able to adjust your ECU specifically to your 4WD. If using a reputable mechanic, the settings will be adjusted to optimal performance while maintaining efficiency and reliability. Rather than downloading a bunch of pre-set settings that might work great on one 4WD but not so great on yours.
Benefits of a Custom Dyno Tune & ECU Remap
The obvious benefits of a custom dyno tune with an ECU remap is power and torque gains, but there are a bunch of other benefits if done right. These include:
- Increases in torque.
- Increases in power.
- Reduction in turbo lag.
- Improved throttle control.
- EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) functions can be turned off stopping exhaust gas from recirculating through your motor.
- Improved fuel economy.
- Overall better drivability.
Increases in Torque & Power
The main reasons you will want a custom dyno tune and ECU remap are for the torque and power gains. As we highlighted above, the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser comes out of the factory with around 145 hp at the wheels and 350 nm of torque. Every 4WD will have different power and torque gains but the 70 Series Land Cruiser is one engine that can have significant gains. The 70 Series can achieve torque gains anywhere from 80% up to 210% depending on what you want to achieve and how big your budget is. The same can be said for power gains that can be anywhere from 50% up to 165%. Remembering that when you start to push for those high numbers the list of modifications required increases significantly. Trying to achieve the lower gains mentioned above only really requires an aftermarket heavy duty clutch, three-inch exhaust, oil catch can (is recommended) and snorkel. Going for those insanely high numbers will require the heavy duty clutch, four-inch exhaust, oil catch can, snorkel, airbox, turbo, intercooler, and injector upgrades.
Reduction in Turbo Lag & Improved Throttle Control
As well as the power and torque gains, a custom dyno tune and ECU remap will get rid of the horrible turbo lag you usually get with turbo diesel engines. Turbo lag is the time it takes between pushing the throttle and the torque response you get from your engine. There is nothing worse that hitting the accelerator and nothing happens until the turbo kicks in, it feels terrible to drive and can be dangerous if pulling out onto the road or trying to overtake. An ECU remap will significantly reduce this lag and make your 4WD far better to drive. On top of this you will get far better throttle control and you will not have any more throttle lag. There will be no need for an aftermarket throttle controller. Overall drivability should be far better as well as having much better control of your 4WD.
No More EGR Issues
An ECU remap will also allow the technician to turn off the EGR functions on your diesel engine. EGR is an acronym for exhaust gas recirculation. EGR is an emission control technology on modern vehicles that helps emission reductions from diesel engines. It works by recirculating some of the diesel engine exhaust gases back into the engine intake and reintroducing these gases through a secondary combustion cycle to be reburned. This process breaks these gases down further producing a smaller carbon footprint. This is great for reducing emissions but can cause issues when it clogs up your engine’s inlet manifold. An ECU remap can turn these functions of the EGR off. This should then reduce the need to have an expensive EGR intake clean completed to your engine.
Improved Fuel Economy
Most businesses out there will talk about improved fuel economy with a custom dyno tune and ECU remap. Just be careful with this statement as there is a bit to read between the lines as you might not see any actual change at the fuel pump. This does not mean you have not had fuel economy improvements, remembering that you now have all this extra power. Some 4WDs will see a slight improvement in fuel economy but the big factor here is how you drive your 4WD. After a custom dyno tune and ECU remap you now have all this extra power and better throttle control. As a result, some might find it difficult to take it easy on that nice new throttle feeling. Well at least for the first couple of months that is. But overall, you might not see an actual improvement in your fuel economy to before. If you do not see a change remember that it has improved if you think about the increases in power and torque that you now have in your 4WD. Just be aware that you might not see any difference at the fuel bowser and your back pocket.
Reliability: Use the Best Mechanic
One of the biggest concerns we had with a custom dyno tune and ECU remap was the affect this would have on our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser’s reliability. Having someone play around with the factory ECU settings can be a little disconcerting. What are they going to change? Is there the possibility of blowing up my engine? How will our warranty be affected? Will all this extra power and torque cause other mechanical problems when we are in the middle of nowhere? We asked ourselves all these questions.
Our solution here was simply to use the right business to do the custom dyno tune and ECU remap. It is as simple as that. Do your research and determine which business understands your type of vehicle the best, has a history of doing a great job and has a satisfied customer base that has not run in to any problems later. We spoke with a few businesses that are known to be specialists with the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser. We will not name names here, other than Just Autos as this is who we finally decided to go with. But we were not impressed with some of the discussions we had with some of these other companies. We found that Just Autos were the only ones that listened to what we were trying to achieve. That is, get some small gains for a better towing experience, make touring more comfortable and help us out when we have a few tough obstacles to get through.
Unfortunately, we found that some of the other businesses just wanted to talk massive numbers and push a whole long list of engine upgrades to achieve this. We never wanted to replace our airbox, add a four-inch exhaust, replace injectors and our turbo. We wanted a comfortable touring and towing 4WD, not a drag car. From these discussions we found that we could trust Just Autos to do the right thing by us, they never tried to push any other upgrades or focus on a big number. Instead, they listened to what we wanted, understood what upgrades we had already done to our 4WD and then made their recommendations. These recommendations sounded reasonable and would not cause us any reliability problems.
Warranty Concerns
Another big concern we had with going down a custom ECU remap was the affect that this would have on our new car warranty. In our many discussions with Toyota our main takeaway was that whatever modifications you decide to do to your vehicle will only void your warranty if that modification caused the issue. So basically, if you went from 31-inch to 33-inch tyres and your fuel pump failed, this would be covered under warranty as there is no way that the slightly bigger tyres would have caused this issue.
Be Sensible
With all that though, playing around with the default factory ECU settings can cause mechanical problems. If you want to try and increase your engine performance by 300% then you are probably going to blow something up without a bunch of other engine upgrades and modifications. So here it is a matter of being sensible and going for sensible power gains as well as using a company to perform this that has a track record in completing safe and reliable engine performance upgrades. Stay well away from backyard bandits when it comes to playing around with your 4WDs ECU. We cannot stress this point enough. There are somethings that need to be done by the experts. Spend a few extra dollars and get it done right. However, no matter who you use to do a custom dyno tune and ECU remap, they will all get you to sign a disclaimer that basically provides them no liability in the event something goes wrong. Therefore, you need to use a reputable business that will look to increase your 4WD’s engine performance while maintaining efficiencies and reliability.
What Modifications We Needed
As our biggest concerns were reliability and warranty, we wanted to be sensible with the gains achieved. As a result we did not require a large number of modifications.
For our Just Autos custom dyno tune and ECU remap the only additional modification we needed to do was adding an aftermarket heavy duty clutch. We had already added a 3-inch exhaust, snorkel and oil catch can, so none of these modifications were required at the time of having the work done. However, if you are going to do the same to your 4WD then you will need to look at making similar modifications to get the best results out of the dyno tune. But speak to the experts and they will be able to provide you the right advice for your 4WD and the results that you are trying to achieve.
Our Results
When it comes to ECU remaps everyone wants to know the numbers. So here is what Just Autos was able to achieve with our setup from before to after with a heavy duty clutch.
Before ECU Remap
- Max Power – 143 HP (107 kW)
- Max Power RPM – 3,200 to 3,300 RPM
- Max Torque – 350 Nm
- Max Torque RPM – 1,400 RPM
After ECU Remap
- Max Power – 215 HP (160 kW)
- Max Power Gain – 50%
- Max Power RPM – 2,200 to 2,500 RPM
- Max Torque – 750 Nm
- Max Torque Gain – 114%
- Max Torque RPM – 1,850 RPM
From the end results you can see that Just Autos were able to give us a 50% gain in power and more than 110% gain in torque. These gains are impressive. But the most important thing in the end for us is where these maximum gains are achieved with our engine’s RPM. Before the ECU remap our maximum power was achieved between 3,200 and 3,300 RPM. Compare this post remap where our maximum power now sits between 2,200 and 2,500 RPM. This is a huge difference when driving. We now have 50% more power in a far better RPM range that makes driving our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser completely different to before. It is extremely difficult to put in words how much better our 4WD is to drive now. The biggest gains though were our torque increases of 114% to 750 Nm. As with our power gains, we went from maximum torque of 350 Nm at 1,400 RPM to 750 Nm at 1,850 RPM. Again, this provides us an insane amount of low-end torque at a far better RPM; we get the most torque when we need it. This makes an astronomical difference when driving on the road, through thick sand, mud or tackling a rough track.
9 Months On
What do we think after almost 9 months since we had our custom dyno tune and ECU remap done by Just Autos? We are in love. Not much more to say other than that. But seriously, we could not be happier with how our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser drives since we had this done. Our 4WD is a completely different vehicle since the remap.
Completely Different 4WD
Since we have had this done, we have crossed the Simpson Desert, driven many an Outback road as well as many beaches, traversed up quite a few sand dunes (including Big Red, Simpson Desert and Big Sandy, Byfield National Park), tackled the Glass House Mountains mud and of course the daily drive on the bitumen. In all conditions the Cruiser is awesome to drive. Towing has become so much easier and we have even tested this driving up the Toowoomba range. There were no constant gear changes as required before. We have all the power we need now when towing. Overtaking has become so much safer and we do not need a run up to get around a road train safely. The aftermarket clutch has also made our 4WD so much better to drive, gear changes are far easier and smoother. We have no throttle lag anymore and so much more control when driving.
Best Modification We Have Done
Overall, we are extremely happy with the end results that Just Autos were able to achieve. We could not be happier. Dealing with Just Autos was fantastic as we highlighted above, they were the only company that provided us comfort that they would do the right thing by us. There was no talk of big numbers and stupid modifications, rather they listened to what we wanted to achieve and provided the right solution for us. We would highly recommend using Just Autos if you are considering doing a custom dyno tune and ECU remap. It is one modification that you will never regret and by far the best modification we have done.
The total cost of the dyno tune, ECU remap, and NPC 1300 Nm heavy duty clutch was $4,000. The remap cost $1,500 and the NPC clutch was $2,500 fitted. This is not a sponsored post. Just Autos did not provide us anything to write this, we are just a satisfied customer. For more information on Just Autos, you can check out their website here.
If you would like to read any other posts on our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser build you can read them here. To keep up to date on future posts become part of the 4WD Adventurer community here. Follow us on social media for more regular updates.
Thanks for reading legends.
