We have had the Scion FRS (also known as the Subaru BRZ or the Toyota GT 86) for the last one year. During this time it has clocked over 30000 miles on it. Right from day one it has been a fun car to drive. And the difference is noticeable when you switch to it having driven a different car for few days. The FRS is more direct, the power is always there, thanks to its naturally aspirated engine and it will willingly go sideways at lower speeds. The computers make sure you don't crash as you drift on and off ramps.
Over the last 30000+ miles, time and again, we have the conversation that it could be more fun with a little bit more grunt. Having never tuned a car before we were always reluctant to go that route. We were always so worried about voiding factory warranty until recently when we realized what a hoax the factory warranty is. So we did our research, watched a ton of videos on tuning, read on different types of tunes and parts and what each did to the power of the car and decided that it was time we tuned our FRS.
We approached few local garages to check installation costs. Going by some of the videos on tuning, replacing a manifold looked simple enough, if you have the right tools and a big jack, that is. But we don't have any of that and neither do we have garage space as we live in the city. As for the garages we did a lot of research on the garages themselves, read a lot of reviews and only contacted the top 5. With the installation cost figured out and well in our budget we ordered an Catted Unequal Length Header from JDL and a HKS Resonated Front Pipe.
Apparently the JDL Catted Header is very popular and was backordered. So we had the Front Pipe delivered in a week from Ft86speedfactory but we now had to wait on the Header. So we ordered the OpenFlash Tablet.
The Tablet arrived quickly and we had a laptop running Windows 7 on it in the junk, so we set up the tablet right away.
Stage 1 Tune complete!
First impressions of the stage 1 tune, the car definitely feels different. But you have to be a car nut, petrol head, etc., or Niki Lauda's butt to notice it. The change is definitely there. And it begins right from the throttle response in first gear. The throttle is more linear, smoother and this carries on in all the gears. The acceleration is peppier through all the gears. The power output is slightly linear again. And if you buy this tune, then it's safe to assume you are amongst the small percentage of drivers who know their car well and will definitely appreciate the OpenFlash Tablet.
Since we were bored of waiting on the header, we also went ahead and ordered a Cosworth air filter. The install was fairly simple. The difference was huge!
Stage 1 Tune truly complete!
With the Stage 1 ECU tune and the Cosworth air filter, the jump in power is very noticeable. The car is easily 20% more smoother with just these two fixtures.
We definitely recommend these upgrades.
Over the last 30000+ miles, time and again, we have the conversation that it could be more fun with a little bit more grunt. Having never tuned a car before we were always reluctant to go that route. We were always so worried about voiding factory warranty until recently when we realized what a hoax the factory warranty is. So we did our research, watched a ton of videos on tuning, read on different types of tunes and parts and what each did to the power of the car and decided that it was time we tuned our FRS.
We approached few local garages to check installation costs. Going by some of the videos on tuning, replacing a manifold looked simple enough, if you have the right tools and a big jack, that is. But we don't have any of that and neither do we have garage space as we live in the city. As for the garages we did a lot of research on the garages themselves, read a lot of reviews and only contacted the top 5. With the installation cost figured out and well in our budget we ordered an Catted Unequal Length Header from JDL and a HKS Resonated Front Pipe.
Apparently the JDL Catted Header is very popular and was backordered. So we had the Front Pipe delivered in a week from Ft86speedfactory but we now had to wait on the Header. So we ordered the OpenFlash Tablet.
The Tablet arrived quickly and we had a laptop running Windows 7 on it in the junk, so we set up the tablet right away.
- First download the Openflash manager and let it update. You can also download ECU maps from the various options available on OpenFlashTablet website.
- Then connect the Tablet using the USB cable provided to the laptop and update the Tablet Software.
- We then connected the Tablet to the FRS using the OBD cable. You select Tuning on the table and then Read. This backs up your Stock ECU map to the Tablet.
- You take the Tablet back to the Laptop and it will now show your stock information and based on that you can upload a matching ECU Tune or multiple Tunes.
- You connect the Tablet back to the car, go to Tuning, and Write this time, follow the instructions and voila!
Stage 1 Tune complete!
First impressions of the stage 1 tune, the car definitely feels different. But you have to be a car nut, petrol head, etc., or Niki Lauda's butt to notice it. The change is definitely there. And it begins right from the throttle response in first gear. The throttle is more linear, smoother and this carries on in all the gears. The acceleration is peppier through all the gears. The power output is slightly linear again. And if you buy this tune, then it's safe to assume you are amongst the small percentage of drivers who know their car well and will definitely appreciate the OpenFlash Tablet.
Since we were bored of waiting on the header, we also went ahead and ordered a Cosworth air filter. The install was fairly simple. The difference was huge!
Stage 1 Tune truly complete!
With the Stage 1 ECU tune and the Cosworth air filter, the jump in power is very noticeable. The car is easily 20% more smoother with just these two fixtures.
We definitely recommend these upgrades.
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