Ecoboost Tuning FAQ

[DrewBronc21]

My current STi which I’m keeping when I get a Bronco makes +100whp and +150ish wtq over stock with full bolt ons including catless downpipe, el headers, 1100cc injectors, upgraded fuel pump, bigger top mount intercooler, external waste gate and Protune E85 Cobb flexfuel kit. very fun car. The STi transmission is known to be bulletproof though and the Bronco manual is unknown With a lower torque rating which is one of my concerns if I choose the manual 2.3 over the 2.7 auto. The 2.7 will make BIG #s. Wish I could buy TWO Broncos, a 2.3 Manual and a 2.7! I’m hoping Cobb makes a tuner for the Bronco as they do for Raptor 3.5, Mustang 2.3, RS 2.3. I’m a Cobb fan for the last 13 years and have a really reputable Subaru tuner. Probably 90% of modded STis run Cobb accesports with off the shelf tunes or protuned.

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[Spooled]

My current STi which I’m keeping when I get a Bronco makes +100whp and +150ish wtq over stock with full bolt ons including catless downpipe, el headers, 1100cc injectors, upgraded fuel pump, bigger top mount intercooler, external waste gate and Protune E85 Cobb flexfuel kit. very fun car. The STi transmission is known to be bulletproof though and the Bronco manual is unknown With a lower torque rating which is one of my concerns if I choose the manual 2.3 over the 2.7 auto. The 2.7 will make BIG #s. Wish I could buy TWO Broncos, a 2.3 Manual and a 2.7! I’m hoping Cobb makes a tuner for the Bronco as they do for Raptor 3.5, Mustang 2.3, RS 2.3. I’m a Cobb fan for the last 13 years and have a really reputable Subaru tuner. Probably 90% of modded STis run Cobb accesports with off the shelf tunes or protuned.

COBB AP's are great.

Main downside for Cobb is the Price. $675 for the AP + $400 add-on for TCM (Transmission) tuning.

You can get a BDX tuner with a OTS+ tune for $400 that will tune the engine and transmission. You can add-on a custom tune for $100 or Flex fuel tune for $125.

https://www.brewcityboost.com/product/custom-bcb-tuning-for-ecoboost-f150-on-bdx/

 

[Dmk08]

Whats the point of tuning a “truck” that cant tow? Are people going to be drag racing Broncos?

 

[DrewBronc21]

Whats the point of tuning a “truck” that cant tow? Are people going to be drag racing Broncos?

Whats the point of tuning a “truck” that cant tow? Are people going to be drag racing Broncos?

Because more power makes it more fun, faster acceleration, better power curve, Top end, sometimes better fuel economy, etc, etc. thought this is kind of obvious? Besides what’s the point of even buying a Bronco or Wrangler at all? Mostly for FUN as they can’t really tow, noisy with softops, limited cargo space.

People will take anything to the drag strip so I fully expect to see Posts about Broncos at the strip. I personally have never been to a drag strip but I will be interested to see how Broncos do.

 

[Dmk08]

Because more power makes it more fun, faster acceleration, better power curve, Top end, sometimes better fuel economy, etc, etc. thought this is kind of obvious? Besides what’s the point of even buying a Bronco or Wrangler at all? Mostly for FUN as they can’t really tow, noisy with softops, limited cargo space.

People will take anything to the drag strip so I fully expect to see Posts about Broncos at the strip. I personally have never been to a drag strip but I will be interested to see how Broncos do.

Just seems like it wouldnt be great for offroading. In my experience turning the boost up will create more lag, more turbo heat, and less consistent power. I have never tuned an EcoBoost tho just BMW i6 turbos.

 

[Spooled]

More often than not, tuning will decrease spool up time due to more aggressive timing curves that can be applied thanks to higher octane. Both engines available have established tuning foundations. 5 Star, Brew City Boost, Unleashed Tuning, MPT, Livernois, etc... all these guys have well established history with the Ecoboost. The company who tunes my 5.0 Coyote is about to release Ranger tuning and has 2 Broncos on reserve already because they know the market is going to be there.

Yeah I doubt many people are going to be drag racing these things, but everyone likes being shoved into their seatbacks. These 10r80 is also a much much better experience with a solid tune on it.

 

[DrewBronc21]

Just seems like it wouldnt be great for offroading. In my experience turning the boost up will create more lag, more turbo heat, and less consistent power. I have never tuned an EcoBoost tho just BMW i6 turbos.

Not sure about off-roading but a tune should greatly reduce lag. look at dyno graphs for Rangers and 2.3 Mustangs. Not just about cranking up boost. The tunes make them way more responsive than stock with full HP and torque coming on at much lower RPMs than stock. Same for my tuned STis which make max torque at less than 4K rpms where stock was like 5500 RPM. Curious what tuning you did to your BMWs that made them laggy and inconsistent. My experience with tuned Subaru’s has been a complete transformation like I got a different, MUCH better performing car in every way.

 

[Dmk08]

Not sure about off-roading but a tune should greatly reduce lag. look at dyno graphs for Rangers and 2.3 Mustangs. Not just about cranking up boost. The tunes make them way more responsive than stock with full HP and torque coming on at much lower RPMs than stock. Same for my tuned STis which make max torque at less than 4K rpms where stock was like 5500 RPM. Curious what tuning you did to your BMWs that made them laggy and inconsistent. My experience with tuned Subaru’s has been a complete transformation like I got a different, MUCH better performing car in every way.

Bootmod3 on a 2016 M3. Virtually no lag stock but tuned there was a bit.

As far as inconsistency it was likely due to them running 5-6# of boost over stock on turbos not designed for it. It was fast as crap don't get me wrong. But I hated the way the power curve felt.

 

[BroncoFanBoy]

If ford offers tunes for your EB engines, how much would you pay? What type of gains would you expect?

 

[Spooled]

The 2.3 tune for the Ranger from Ford Performance is $825. It gives you 40hp and 60tq over stock with a 3 year 36k mile warranty. Pretty good deal for people not looking for all out power gains and want to keep some warranty intact.

 

[DrewBronc21]

If ford offers tunes for your EB engines, how much would you pay? What type of gains would you expect?

the Ford Ranger tune bumps Crank HP to 320 and Torque to 355 and Is $825. Well worth it and warrantied. I think this would make the 2.3 Bronco really responsive, especially with a manual transmission. I could see running that tune for a couple of years and then going more aggressive.

 

[Laminar]

What actually changes with a tune?

Various parameters in the engine and transmission calibrations are modified. In the simplest sense, more fuel equals more power. Ignition timing can be advanced to allow more fuel to enter the cylinder before it is combusted. The further it's advanced, the higher quality fuel you will need.

Ignition timing doesn't dictate fuel entering the cylinder.

Here's what's commonly adjusted in an EcoBoost tune (Forgive me laj.tuxmek, I'm about to poorly butcher your entire job):

1. Boost target.

Boost = air, more air + more fuel = more power. EcoBoosts achieve their boost target in a couple of ways depending on the engine. First is an internal wastegate in the turbo. Once the boost reaches the desired level, the ECU opens the wastegate. The wastegate allows any extra exhaust gas to bypass the turbo and go straight into the exhaust system, preventing the turbo from continuing to spool higher and creating more boost. Second (more recent) is through the drive-by-wire throttle. The ECU reads your pedal input and translates that into a torque "request." The ECU then modulates the throttle plate position to achieve that desired level of torque, closing off a bit once the boost reaches the level it deems safe. Tuners can increase the max boost and adjust how the ECU manages boost going into the engine.

2. Fuel amount

If you're pumping in more air, you need more fuel to go with it, so tuners will ensure the extra airflow has the correct amount of fuel. There is a ratio of fuel to air that creates maximum power. But if you have slightly less fuel than is necessary, the engine will run lean, get hot, and can suffer damage. So factory tunes typically run more fuel than is necessary for max power in order to keep the engine running cooler and safer. Tuners can adjust the air/fuel ratio to increase power at the expense of a little safety margin.

All EcoBoosts use high pressure direct injection. Some (2018-up 2.7 and 3.5) have dual injection, which is where supplementary traditional port injectors are added to the direct injection system. This is mostly to provide a small fuel wash to keep the intake ports and valves clean from carbon buildup that can occur on a purely direct injected engine. But tuners can take advantage of fuel delivery from either system. Traditionally, EcoBoosts have been power limited by the capacity of the direct injection system. An upgraded direct injection fuel pump is a minimum $1500. But with the addition of the port injectors, greater fuel delivery is just an injector swap away, a huge bonus for the dual injected engines.

3. Ignition timing

Suck-squeeze-bang-blow. Sounds like a great Saturday night, but also how a 4 cycle engine works. The intake charge is sucked into the cylinder by the downward motion of the piston (or in the case of these turbocharged engines, it'd actually be blown in once it starts making boost...). The intake valve closes and the piston rises in the cylinder, squeezing the mixture, compacting it, and heating it. At the prescribed moment some number of degrees before the piston reaches the top, the spark plug fires and ignites the mixture. The exploding gases expand and exert an increasing pressure on the piston, pushing it back down the cylinder hole and making power. Then the exhaust port opens and the spent gasses are pushed out as the piston moves back up once more.

During the combustion stroke when the air/fuel mixture is ignited and the explosion causes rising cylinder pressure, you want the pressure peak to happen when the piston and rod are geometrically able to exert maximum force on the crankshaft. So you trigger spark at the exact right moment so the pressure peak in the cylinder happens right when you want it. If you get this right, you make more power. Increasing power has the added effect of helping the turbo spool faster, for more boost sooner.

But there are limits to ignition timing. Detonation is one limit. After your spark plug fires, rising cylinder pressures and temperatures can cause your air/fuel mixture to spontaneously ignite somewhere else in the cylinder other than the flame front your spark plug triggered. This causes a rapid spike in cylinder pressure and sounds like a knocking in the engine. This can also lead to preignition, which is where your cylinder ignites itself before the spark plug even fires. This is very bad and in a couple seconds will toast your engine. For turbocharged engines with significantly higher cylinder pressures, it's extra extra bad. As the turbocharger compresses air, it heats it. Some of that heat is taken out by the intercooler, but not all of it, so your air comes into the cylinder already hotter than normal and at a much higher pressure, pushing it closer to the temperature where it will spontaneously ignite.

This risk of damage from too much timing is mitigated in a couple ways. First, the latest Ford ECUs actually have a very sophisticated spark control system. The ECU has knock sensors that monitor each cylinder for the slightest whiff of detonation. It can adjust spark timing on a per-cylinder basis to make sure every cylinder is maximizing the power it can produce while remaining safe. Second is through fuel. Higher octane fuels have a greater resistance to ignition - they won't spontaneously ignite as easily as lower octane fuels. So if you run a higher octane fuel (and your ECU is set up to take advantage of it), you can run more ignition timing. This means more power and better turbo spooling, which also means more power. Win-win.

Tuners can adjust the timing curve, as well as how aggressively the ECU monitors and backs off of timing. Just like fuel, you sacrifice a little bit of safety margin to gain power.

4. Fuel type

Typical standard pump gas is 87 octane. 91 is common for premium, and 93 is slightly more rare, depending on your state. The higher the octane rating, the harder you can push the engine safely. The current holy grail in the tuning world is E85, which has an octane rating of ~108. Running E85 lets you go wild with compression and boost, as it's basically equivalent to race gas. The downside of E85 is that it has a ~30% lower energy content than pure gasoline, so you have to flow 30% more fuel to make the same power.

The fuel systems for EcoBoost engines were designed with some small amount of overhead that tuners can take advantage of with regular fuel. But once you switch to E85, you need 30% more fuel flow just to make the same power as factory. And then if you start cranking up the power, you run out of fuel system very quickly. So most EcoBoost ethanol tunes are limited to E30, which means you have to put a few gallons of 93 in your tank and then a few gallons of E85 each time you fill up. Fine for a race car, PITA for a daily driver. There are a few EcoBoosts running E85 tunes, but not many that I've found.

So depending on the fuel you want to run, your tuner can add more timing and boost to make more power.

5. Valve timing

All EcoBoosts have variable valve timing. The ECU can advance or retard when the camshafts open and close the intake and exhaust valves. This allows the cam to seem gentle and provide a nice, emissions-compliant cruise, but when you get on it, the cam will adjust its position and seem like a much more aggressive profile. Optimizing cam timing helps the engine cruise better, helps the turbo spool faster, and makes more peak power. I honestly don't know how much the aftermarket tuners mess with VVT or if they leave it as-is.

I can talk about hardware modifications too if that'd be helpful.

 

[Spooled]

Great info. I think as I was typing that out I was thinking back on my diesel tuning experience when I would demand higher rail pressure and longer injection duration to get more fuel in the cylinder quickly before it was ignited by the compression.

Your post is going to go over a lot of people's heads unfortunately, but I hope people try to read it and do some of their own research

I have to remind myself there are a lot of people that will be switching over from Wranglers, Tacomas, Xterras, 4Runners, older Broncos, etc... None of these are turbocharged (except for the 2.0 Wrangler but those are pretty new still). These folks have none to very little experience with tuning... They never had an engine worth tuning.

I have edited the OP to refer to your post

 

[AKaye]

Whose going to be the first company to offer a 'crackle and pop' tune for the bronco? Yikes ? lol

 

[BeerForMyHorses]

So I see a lot of positives, but what am I giving up by tuning the engine? If Ford offers it with a warranty, how interested should I be? The manual transmission is a must-have for me, so I'm going with the 2.3L. Let's say this will be my daily driver, with only the occasional weekend off-road adventure.

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