ISF - AUS custom dyno tuned - DONE!

[Sparky]

So I am pleased to say that I have had a fully ECU written tune on the ISF. Sonny Duran from Autowerks in Beverly Hills completed all this work, for those who have been around tuning cars for a while will recognise him as a big hitter in the Aus / Sydney tuning world. He does a lot of work with AMG and other Euro cars, and everything else obviously as well. Search for his channel "Sonny Duran" on YouTube, its pretty epic. He recently got the Lexus tuning software, and so I booked him in.

 

Here is some background on the car when taken to Sonny:

2009 ISF, Non LSD

HPS intake tube

Secondary cats had already been deleted, and resonator already deleted

Stock manifolds and exhaust otherwise.

 

In this guise the car made 232kw at the wheels, which from my tuning experience is probably about right for a 311kw engine given drivetrain loss, maybe a little under what it should be. I'm not particularly worried about the actual kw that is being achieved, more about gains from mods. As long as there is a definitive gain from mods, the actual number doesn’t particularly matter at the end of the day. Even better would be to measure ¼ mile times, but alas, I can't do that! I know some dynos read higher than others, particularly the stuff coming from America seems to be a bit higher than Aus. But, only the gain really matters, particularly 1/4 mile etc, not the end kw figure.

So, after the baseline tune, Sonny told me that the stock manifolds cut down to 2 inches on the exit from the cats, and have a significant restriction at that point. So he cut the factory flange off, widened to 3 inches, and re-joined to factory mid section. See pictures below. As you can see, this made a huge difference in what can flow through that section of the exhaust.

At this stage, he also slotted in a K&N panel filter into the standard air box. With these two things done, he re-dyno'd the car, and saw 245kw at the wheels, prior to tuning. This is pretty significant, a 13kw increase in power, which is somewhat comparable to an install of headers, for a tenth of the cost. The car sounds "cleaner" and "crisper" now that it did prior, and basically it sounds more aggressive, better. The sound would not be as good as headers, and not as much power as headers, but significant none the less.

At this stage the car was tuned, including removal of torque management, and adjusting of all throttle positions, like half throttle etc etc. It resulted in 255kw at the wheels. Now please, PLEASE, don’t get carried away with dyno numbers, because to me having driven the car, it's just not what it's about with this car. Because, wow. It is truly a changed car.. I was honestly thinking of getting out of the car, and getting into something else with more lazy torque, more effortless power. I felt there was always a huge hole in the bottom end power curve with the ISF, and my dream has always been to fill that gap rather than chase top end 7,000rpm power numbers. Problem solved.

In "Normal" mode it cruises around quietly and sedately, a corporate sled with manners. The difference is all the doughy'ness of the throttle is gone, half throttle actually means half throttle, and it behaves like it always should have. No hesitation, no having to floor it and waiting and waiting for it to wake up to overtake, its progressive now. And then you start getting into it, and its just next level. Sport mode with full manual is a joy to behold. The torque is filled up at the bottom, and it just wants to rev now. It's bloody great basically!

Keep in mind, this is with basically a standard cat back factory exhaust, with a full custom exhaust im sure you would be in the 270kw at the wheels mark, probably more. I know the exhaust is holding the top end power back, but for the cost of the exhaust, im just not fussed. Sonny built a full custom exhaust for another customer, custom mufflers etc, and made as much power as I did without the tune. So a tune on top of that will obviously make more power than what i have. Again, not fussed. For much less than the cost of either headers or a Joe Z exhaust, not even installed, i have transformed the car and achieved this. I bought the car for $45k with 65,000kms, and cant justify spending big dollars on the mods.

But what I have is a car which in my opinion sounds VERY nice, as good as any Borla or Xforce exhaust, but without ANY DRONE. NONE!! I am very sensitive to drone, and hate it, passionately. I feel this exhaust is now absolutely perfect for me, quiet for 90% of the time, but wakes up when it needs to. I am a happy camper. Here's a vid:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTZHSesggqw

All to do from here, is install the USRS and Oil/Air separator from RR Racing, and enjoy. Just need the other members to jump on-board and get the bloody group buy going haha! They are both must haves from research i have done. 

Let me know any questions, I'll do my best to answer. I can't give costing's for this work, as Sonny was using my car to develop the tune, and looked after me, but you should give him a call.

[LTuned]

That’s great news. yes I saw that restriction on the original exhaust manifold,  when I had my PPE headers fitted, it’s good to have the restriction removed.

Thanks for all the photos and information. That’s a good gain.  enjoy.

[2bling]

Great stuff Sonny's big into tuning i know what my SS felt like before and after have you any torque figures 

[Sparky]

37 minutes ago, LTuned said:

That’s great news. yes I saw that restriction on the original exhaust manifold,  when I had my PPE headers fitted, it’s good to have the restriction removed.

Thanks for all the photos and information. That’s a good gain.  enjoy.

I certainly am enjoying it, would 100% recommend it to all ISF owners, even if there was no power gain. Drivability is now sensational!

 

32 minutes ago, 2bling said:

Great stuff Sonny's big into tuning i know what my SS felt like before and after have you any torque figures 

Yeah its the same result, a completely different car afterwards. Torque was 650nm at the wheels, finished at 695nm, but thats peak, there is a big fat gain the whole way.

[2bling]

is there any chance of getting the dyno graphs printed on here, before and after as it is all about power under the curve. That is a lot of torque for a 5L motor 

[Sparky]

59 minutes ago, 2bling said:

is there any chance of getting the dyno graphs printed on here, before and after as it is all about power under the curve. That is a lot of torque for a 5L motor 

No probs, ill do the before / after tomoz, with step up dyno from exhaust mods included, but i only have the after one here though right now..

[Sparky]

Here are the dyno sheets

[MR2QIK]

Nice....What did it end up costing if you don't mind my asking? For the tune?

[Sparky]

Hey mate, probably best to give Sonny a call

[Smoothas]

35-50nm of torque gain as well not bad!

[BLK ISF]

On 22/08/2016 at 3:14 PM, Sparky said:

Hey mate, probably best to give Sonny a call

Only just seen this thread now, saw your posts on the US forums :-)

Gave him a call today, seems like a nice no BS guy, not the salesman that some businesses are if you get my drift.

Booked in for next week to see if he get me past 1000HP, jokes.  Like you, not overly fussed with the final number, just the before and after.  Its nice to drive now but lets see if he can tweak it a bit more for me :-)

[2bling]

How long does he need the car for, just for a tune, and has any other tuners tune the isf yet cheers.

[Sparky]

Yeah hes very down the line, has some nice cars in there, wait until you see..

I cant wait to see your review, you will be over the moon with the driv-ability! God it makes such a difference. Im absolutely in love with the car now.

[plankton007]

You think he'll be able to do the IS350?

[2bling]

11 hours ago, Sparky said:

Yeah hes very down the line, has some nice cars in there, wait until you see..

I cant wait to see your review, you will be over the moon with the driv-ability! God it makes such a difference. Im absolutely in love with the car now.

You still didn't answer my question HOW LONG TO TUNE the car as in time ,,AND IS ANYONE ELSE DOING THE TUNE ON ISF yet,, cheers SPARKY. I JUST HAVE TO GET IT DONE and i know before and after on tuned cars, as i have had a few done before,cheers.

[MR2QIK]

1 hour ago, 2bling said:

You still didn't answer my question HOW LONG TO TUNE the car as in time ,,AND IS ANYONE ELSE DOING THE TUNE ON ISF yet,, cheers SPARKY. I JUST HAVE TO GET IT DONE and i know before and after on tuned cars, as i have had a few done before,cheers.

Perhaps you call them & get a definitive answer. If Sparky's was first he did, he may have needed it longer for example.

[Sparky]

14 hours ago, 2bling said:

You still didn't answer my question HOW LONG TO TUNE the car as in time ,,AND IS ANYONE ELSE DOING THE TUNE ON ISF yet,, cheers SPARKY. I JUST HAVE TO GET IT DONE and i know before and after on tuned cars, as i have had a few done before,cheers.

Sorry bud, didn't realize. Should take a full day, but depends on what else you want done. If he had nothing else on might be a few hours of his time, who knows. Have a chat with him.

As far as I know there is no one else, Chris from Lexus chatswood hadn't heard of anyone else doing proper dyno tunes either in Aus, but again I'm not sure.

If in doubt, call Sonny.

 

 

14 hours ago, plankton007 said:

You think he'll be able to do the IS350?

Yeah I do, should give him a buzz :-)

[2bling]

Thanks Sparky have you though about a xforce  cat back they are only $1450 and they sound great no drone, bolt straight up so they say but you would have to open the flange to suit your cats POWER cheers???????? did you check out how many members in the US forum 280000 plus and this forum 8000 and so slow, no offence just a comparison.

[Sparky]

2 hours ago, 2bling said:

Thanks Sparky have you though about a xforce  cat back they are only $1450 and they sound great no drone, bolt straight up so they say but you would have to open the flange to suit your cats POWER cheers???????? did you check out how many members in the US forum 280000 plus and this forum 8000 and so slow, no offence just a comparison.

No probs, yeah I thought about it and I actually like the sound of my setup heaps, and though it may make an extra few kW I can't justify it for the money. I'm stoked with what I have!

Yeah there are a LOT more members in the US, but I made sure I have always posted up my stuff on both. 

[Monyx]

Regarding widening the exiting pipe out of the primary cats - is this something that recommended before, say, changing the rest of the exhaust for an X-Force bolt-on system or does is just too much trouble to try and mate it up the Xforce flanges.

[Sparky]

I would say have an exhaust centre do it at the same time as having the xforce fitted. That way it will be all schmicko!!

[Vaku]

hmmmm......

 

[Peterkay]

Better still, cut the flanges off the primary cats, cut out the honey comb & weld some new 100cell full stainless high flow cats. Of course a little bit of pipe work will be required. 

Xforce then sell o2 sensor spacers to fool the ECU, thus no check light fault. Very easy power upgrade.

[Sparky]

The tune can actually remove the CEL check o2 sensors light as well, so can change the cats or go full catless if needed.

[BLK ISF]

On 31/08/2016 at 9:07 PM, Peterkay said:

Xforce then sell o2 sensor spacers to fool the ECU, thus no check light fault. Very easy power upgrade.

Cheers for that info, never knew that.  Ever since i got my Xforce varex cat back, it was good for a few months and then all of a sudden about once every 1.5months my VCS light comes on, goes into limp mode and i just disconnect the battery for it to go away.  Didnt know they sell the sensor spacers.  Was considering buying a spark plug antifouler which i believe does the same thing and is very cheap