LSX LXX V8 Remote tuning service :)

[MACE]

Given the great success we've had with the "untunable" alloytec and SIDI V6 range

Mace VE V6 Tune Review

We now offer a remote tuning service for their bigger brothers

Essentially the tuning procedure involves, people supplying us their list of current mods, desired outcomes (within reason), and VIN number. We send up the programmer/data logger (which requires a PC) with software and email out a base tune.

Once the base tune is flashed the runs are logged, which need to be emailed back to enable us to revise the tune to suit your car specifically. We then email up a revised tune (where needed) at no cost.

So it’s not just a basic generic tune that you end up with which, depending on the number of logs, can work out to be better then a dyno tune given the additional information under real world conditions

At the moment the tunes are on special for $440, plus free loan of the programmer/logger

So whether you have a auto (4 or 6 speed)/manual bolts ons cam or blower the price is the same at the moment.

Given the metering accuracy (hence high tuning quality remotely) these are for only MAF tunes at this point in time.

When I get a chance I've have more of a writeup on some work we're doing at the moment on a LS3 Maloo and an L98

Cheers,
Steve

[Munz]

very reasonable pricing

looks like your gonna be selling mafless in no time at all!!!

[Darren]

Top notch work Steve! A question that sprang into my mind, what sort of timeframe are we talking to let the data logging occur?

Bring it on

[MACE]

very reasonable pricing

looks like your gonna be selling mafless in no time at all!!!

In regards to the MAFless tunes remotely, it is much more involved to get spot on under all driving conditions, especially when it comes to cams heads etc so I can't see that happening for us for a while now.

Sure it may cost a couple of kw top end, but we're not talking about send and forget mail order tunes here either.

The customer in our case, has a much greater input into how their car, under their driving conditions should behave. In a number of respects this can work being better then just a straight dyno custom tune, as more consideration/input is given as to how the car drives under real work conditions, transient response desired shift points etc.

Interesting times ahead for sure

Top notch work Steve! A question that sprang into my mind, what sort of timeframe are we talking to let the data logging occur?

Bring it on

Good question Darren,

In regards to time frames for logs its more or a case by case basis thing. Long story short, we'll take as much time as we need till we get the car running right to ones standards, within reason of course (25X/25X duration cam, idling like a complete stocker comes to mind LOL)

Cheers,
Steve

[MACE]

Another development with the software over the coming months is that we'll have a method for changing the accelerator pedal response, something that is new for LSX controllers. Furthermore, it's likely that the driver can change the map on the fly by selecting competition mode / traction off mode

[Darren]

Steve, if you need any 'testers' by all means flick me an email, I'll be only too glad to put it through its paces. One thing I have always found with the Clubsport the accelerator is that touchy it actually made it rather difficult to transition to another manual, the last manual car was a Datsun 200B so a different beast entirely lol

With that aside let me be the first say to how pleased I am with the end result even before any modifications to the base tune

The car now feels more responsive straight from the word go right through the rev range although more noticeable mid to upper end, gets to the red line much quicker (as if it weren't quick enough previously!) and in general seems much smoother when on the accelerator.

For the record the only mod is cat back which I'm hoping will be changed shortly and liven it up a little more.

I will be putting the car up on the dyno hopefully sometime this week to backup what I have written above (before and after then once again if any tweaks are required) to see how the improvements have gone. I am certainly very eager to make this happen.

In my honest opinion the bang for buck value for money is insane, there are companies out there wanting double to triple the price for exactly the same thing.

[aedeau]

Does the $440 include a gearbox tune for a6 autos? Or is that separate? Do you take into account minor mods? I.e intake, exhaust? I presume if u have a cam that'll be extra?

[MACE]

Steve, if you need any 'testers' by all means flick me an email, I'll be only too glad to put it through its paces. One thing I have always found with the Clubsport the accelerator is that touchy it actually made it rather difficult to transition to another manual, the last manual car was a Datsun 200B so a different beast entirely lol

Will keep this in mind. So you want your Clubby to drive like a Datsun, got it LOL

With that aside let me be the first say to how pleased I am with the end result even before any modifications to the base tune

The car now feels more responsive straight from the word go right through the rev range although more noticeable mid to upper end, gets to the red line much quicker (as if it weren't quick enough previously!) and in general seems much smoother when on the accelerator.

For the record the only mod is cat back which I'm hoping will be changed shortly and liven it up a little more.

I will be putting the car up on the dyno hopefully sometime this week to backup what I have written above (before and after then once again if any tweaks are required) to see how the improvements have gone. I am certainly very eager to make this happen.

In my honest opinion the bang for buck value for money is insane, there are companies out there wanting double to triple the price for exactly the same thing.

Ah excellent Darren. Thanks for having the faith and trust in us to provide you with this product/service for your beast

Please get those logs back to us when you can such that we can revise the tune for you

Does the $440 include a gearbox tune for a6 autos? Or is that separate? Do you take into account minor mods? I.e intake, exhaust? I presume if u have a cam that'll be extra?

At the moment none of what you’ve mentioned is extra, as it’s a promotional price

If you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Cheers,
Steve

[Darren]

Will keep this in mind. So you want your Clubby to drive like a Datsun, got it LOL

as much as I loved that little car I think it would kill me to get back to one now, I would miss my electrical luxuries a little too much ooo and the power under the right foot.

I'm still amazed the difference it has made even with the base tune, bring on the mods

Ah excellent Darren. Thanks for having the faith and trust in us to provide you with this product/service for your beast

Please get those logs back to us when you can such that we can revise the tune for you

Whoops my mail server must have deleted them, sent them through again this morning. I will try and get a couple of more logs to / from work before getting it up on the dyno, just need to find a battery which will last and a solid state drive for the laptop so it doesn't have a fit and shutdown whilst I'm driving.

Thanks again Steve, love your work

[MACE]

Bring on the other mods indeed

I've got the logs so it's all good

Will keep you posted

Cheers,
Steve

[Darren]

Well yesterday the day I had been waiting for finally arrived (I'm sure the guys at work would have been ready to throttle me counting down the days all week!), thanks to Steve from MACE Engineering and Bill from Towler Performance we got the Clubbie up on the dyno.

The only mod to the car is the 3" Catback, Bill let it rip on the dyno and it produced what I would describe as a rather healthy 270rwkw with the stock tune.

We then went about popping the MACE supplied LSX tune and ran it up on the dyno once again which hit 277.2rwkw. I was surprised to say the least as it feels a hell of a lot more than a 7rwkw gain, a gain is a gain though right anyway read on

During our chats Bill made mention that the intake and headers were really holding it back, he couldn't easily just unbolt the headers so the next best thing was unclipping the airbox leaving it slightly ajar allowing a bit more air in but still going through the cotton filter, up on the dyno again for another run and it hit 285rwkw.

Proof in the pudding right there that the intake sure is holding it back.

To my surprise I came home and the OTR had arrived so now I'm just waiting for some sunlight to get stuck into it.

Dyno sheet attached.

There's more coming this week, headers and cats being fitted and a video thanks to the video crew I had there on the day.

Thanks again Bill, some of those cars you have there are crazy to say the least!

[immortality]

We then went about popping the MACE supplied LSX tune and ran it up on the dyno once again which hit 277.2rwkw. I was surprised to say the least as it feels a hell of a lot more than a 7rwkw gain, a gain is a gain though right anyway read on

During our chats Bill made mention that the intake and headers were really holding it back, he couldn't easily just unbolt the headers so the next best thing was unclipping the airbox leaving it slightly ajar allowing a bit more air in but still going through the cotton filter, up on the dyno again for another run and it hit 285rwkw.

Proof in the pudding right there that the intake sure is holding it back.

To my surprise I came home and the OTR had arrived so now I'm just waiting for some sunlight to get stuck into it.

Not bad Darren considering it was only the base tune and with a little bit of tidying up there is more to be had even before fitting any more mods.

I think i'll have to quote you on the factory air intake next time someone suggests that the factory item is all that is needed

[Darren]

I have a picture of the dyno graph as well if your interested, all of us there at the time was very surprised with that result.

A big fail for the standard intake

[immortality]

I have a picture of the dyno graph as well if your interested, all of us there at the time was very surprised with that result.

A big fail for the standard intake

Yes mate, post it up (please). It's conclusive proof of something we have always known but never really had concrete evidence to back that up.

Cheers

[MACE]

Contrary to popular belief a tune by itself doens't yield a huge gain on these cars, around the 5-10rwkw on a relatively dead standard car, however it can help safely support all sorts of weird and wonderful mods

The intakes on the VE's in general seem to be quite restrictive, so the gain you saw doens't surprise me. When I get a chance I'll post up the 20rwkw gain on another LS3 with just an upgrade to an OTR

Cheers,
Steve

[Darren]

Here we have attached a photo after the airbox was left ajar.

OTR is now on so bring on Friday The sound from that when under load is great although being suburban streets you have to stick to the speed limits.

Its like buying a new car

Being HSV I thought they would have been in a league of their own, clearly none of that performance goes on power given how restrictive the headers back and intake is.

[MACE]

Here we have attached a photo after the airbox was left ajar.

OTR is now on so bring on Friday The sound from that when under load is great although being suburban streets you have to stick to the speed limits.

Its like buying a new car

Being HSV I thought they would have been in a league of their own, clearly none of that performance goes on power given how restrictive the headers back and intake is.

The airbox left ajar mod nice

It just goes to show how restrictive the factory item is, contrary to some people doubting the gains associated with some simple intake mods/kits

Much appreciated for the pic BTW

[Darren]

What a better way to spend the day pondering what lethal weapon I'll have when I collect it

It came and went, Bill ran the car up this morning whilst I was still there and a very healthy ~16rwkw gain just from the OTR itself (previously 277rwkw), he spent most of today putting the extractors and cats on the car, the end result

After-Cats-and-Extractors.jpg

A picture tells a thousand words but I will say the car is absolutely insane!

How can I describe it, its like snapping your neck but snapping it clean off upon acceleration! It really is hard to put it into words but I am over the moon with the results, now to let the bank account balance recover a little and its time for valve springs and roller rockers

Once again a big thanks to Steve from MACE and Bill from Towler Mechanical.

In the next couple of weeks I hope to get back out there with Bill for another run so we can finish off the video for a show and tell.

Steve more logging coming your way, I can't see myself being out of the car too much this weekend....second thoughts forecast for tomorrow....rain...forecast for Sunday....rain.

Cheers

[MACE]

Ah good stuff Darren

Keep logging away, I dare say we'll be able to get a better figure then what we've currently got

In regards to the rockers it will add an approximately 10-15rwkw I'm guessing, one way to find our with your car though

Cheers,
Steve

[MYVESSV8]

Steve, is this promo still on, have just come across it, have ve 06/07 v8
regards alan

[MACE]

Steve, is this promo still on, have just come across it, have ve 06/07 v8
regards alan

Hi Alan,

We still have this on offer at the moment. We can also supply a VCM OTR ontop of the tune for $480 plus postage if that helps

If you have any more please don't hesitate to ask

Cheers,
Steve

[Raptorsc]

Top work here Steve

I have been going through the EXACT process with a Subaru H6 3.0, I ECUFLASH flash in new tune, run ROMRAIDER to log engine info, send details back to tuner in Barbados, within 10 mins new tune is in email and after 1.5hrs and 3 reflashes the difference in every aspect of engine performance has been improved, some of it massively.

The tuner is on the other side of the planet nearly and I am getting a tune like I never have had. I would suggest MACE is really onto a good thing here, so long as the logging is easy etc then customers will love it

I gather the customer needs a LAPTOP, a tank of juice and some time..........

[MACE]

Thanks Tim,

Remote tuning isn't the be all to end all in tuning however it gives people a lot more options, empowering customers in the process, enabling them to have greater input as to how their car runs under their driving conditions

[itsagixa]

Hi Steve,
I have a few questions, these "logs" that you mention....how does it work?
my understanding is that i plug your device into the car and simply drive it...is this right?
how would different driving styles affect the tune..say if im just stuck in a traffic versus a few nice open sprints between lights.
I have a VX S2 SS, do you also stock an OTR to suit and also mate...have you figured out the mafless tune yet?

[MACE]

Hi Steve,
I have a few questions, these "logs" that you mention....how does it work?
my understanding is that i plug your device into the car and simply drive it...is this right?
how would different driving styles affect the tune..say if im just stuck in a traffic versus a few nice open sprints between lights.
I have a VX S2 SS, do you also stock an OTR to suit and also mate...have you figured out the mafless tune yet?

I have a few questions, these "logs" that you mention....how does it work?
The programmer/logger records the the sensors that the ECM and TCM(if auto) see or are using at that point in time and their appropriate values

“my understanding is that i plug your device into the car and simply drive it...is this right?”
Correct, our you can run it down the 1/4 mile or dyno day etc. With these logs, if there are any changes needed to suit your car specifically, we supply you with a revised tune accordingly

“how would different driving styles affect the tune..say if im just stuck in a traffic versus a few nice open sprints between lights.”
Tuning for only full throttle and max load is not that hard, relatively to fine tuning how the car runs under transient conditions (cruising then suddenly backing off or booting it etc.). At into the mix different weather conditions (cold hot warm wet snow etc), it’s not that straight forward to be able to tune perfect on a dyno in one arvo. Most often enough, to get a tractable tune under real world conditions does take time and does require to logs to be recorded under these conditions. For arguments sake, you may not be happy the way it shifts a certain way at a certain speed at a certain hill. With your feedback we can make changes to best accommodate your requirements, remotely etc.

We do stock OTR for these as shown in the link below (which support MAF operation)

OTR COLD AIR INTAKE TO SUIT HOLDEN VT-VZ V8 - Mace Engineering Group

Don’t have any intention of supplying MAFless tunes remotely, as it’s much more involved to get spot (the tune) on under all driving conditions, especially when it comes to cams heads etc

If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Kindest Regards,
Steve