ClubCJ - The CJ Lancer Club

How tunable is the stock ECU on a 2016 CF Lancer in M/T? Wanted to tweak my lancer with some gear and get a tune done and wanted to know if an aftermarket ECU was needed for it.

Before a tune I'm going to port and polish the head. Install kelford stage 1 cams and valve springs. Evo x intake and throttle body accompanied by an AEM cold air intake. Full custom engine back 2.5" SS straight piped exhaust with tubular 4 to 1 headers. Lightweight aluminum flywheel with a better clutch pack.

Kiss your cam sprocket good bye with the aftermarket valve springs

From memory the 2016 onwards ECU is a pain to tune
Mitsubishi went nuts and really.locled them down , you will need an extra dongle to flash it

CAI will suck more got air down the intake and help reduce power

Have a read thru this
https://www.lukey.com.au/pages/exhaust-size
To get right sized exhaust
Everyone thinks bigger is better, however nothing could be further from the truth

bumblebee wrote:Kiss your cam sprocket good bye with the aftermarket valve springs

From memory the 2016 onwards ECU is a pain to tune
Mitsubishi went nuts and really.locled them down , you will need an extra dongle to flash it

CAI will suck more got air down the intake and help reduce power

Have a read thru this
https://www.lukey.com.au/pages/exhaust-size
To get right sized exhaust
Everyone thinks bigger is better, however nothing could be further from the truth

Noted. Looked further and am opting to battery relocate to boot to accomodate a ram air intake. Looking at billet cam gears with MIVEC delete. Hopefully that will minimise weak points.

Your thoughts?

Why on earth do you want to take a huge step backwards and delete the MIVEC for ?

I currently have a Tomei pro cam 250° exhaust cam and with MIVEC I now get 290° degree out of it with OEM valve springs and it revs its head off all day long and comes back for more.
290° is about the max you want for a NA motor

And for valve springs , I don't know why everyone thinks they are so wonderful, here is what happens
As you increase the valve spring tension you also need more force to open them with the cam shaft
This then creates more torque application to the teeth that the metal cam timing chain runs over
This then chews out the sprocket real quick


Ever seen anyone stupid enough to shove an aluminium sprocket on a rear wheel of a motorcycle?
Seem how quick those teeth get Burr over ?
Then the chain slips
On your motor when you get a chain jump just one tooth your in big trouble.

Huge valve springs make sense on a huge race motor that gets pulled down regular however on the street kiss your sprockets on your cams good bye in well under 100,000 kays sometimes even less then half of that

And
If you want to go nuts with big revs , don't forget the bottom half of the motor needs some lovin' also

Fair enough, stock valve springs it is, then.

I'm currently running Evo X OEM inlet cam and Tomei 250° exhaust cam standard spring , zero valve bounce

bumblebee wrote:I'm currently running Evo X OEM inlet cam and Tomei 250° exhaust cam standard spring , zero valve bounce

Mad I'll have a look. The kelford ones I looked at said they'd run on the stock springs but I'll have a gander

Excellent
Stick to cams that use stock spring and your on a winner

Sounds good g thanks for the eye opener

So there's the other question: ECU. If I can't use the stock ECU for a tune what do I use? I've seen videos of guys evo x ecu swapping their stock lancer one but I'm skeptical. Random shit like airbag lights, abs module not responding to the ecu, can't find a boost control solenoid etc.

It may seem like a lot of effort for a lancer, and it is. I keep getting the "Get an evo" talk but where I am they are few and far between. I do like my lancer to death and still have a lot of fun messing around with it and don't mind the effort and attention it needs.

The ECU you have can be used
However
It's a royal pain in the backside
There is additional USB software to be purchased to make it work
To the best of my knowledge there is no aftermarket ECU that's a direct if and play option for the Lancer
You need a tuner to start with to help you out, have a chat to [email protected]

You might be able to swap the ECU out for an earlier model to make tuning easier , however Im not 100% certain it work on 2015 onwards
I have tried an early model ECU on my 2012 and it works , I did it as proof of concept, need some hacking to be done to reprogram the vin etc , however it does work , so this might work for yours to make life easier, however I haven't tried it so I'm unsure.

The Evo X ECU in a lancer only works if you have an Evo X motor or Ralliart motor and associated wiring or are silly enough to shove a turbo in to an NA

Of course everyone will tell you to get a turbo , they have been quite successfully brainwashed
Nothing wrong with a hotted up NA , I will take an NA over a turbo any day of the week
There is guys in Russia with hotted up 4b12 that can outdrag a stock Ralliart so don't think the NA is not able to be driven hard
You can have just as much fun in an NA and usually do it more cheaper then a turbo, especially once you see how much fuel they suck through
I know guys with hotted up Evo and they are lucky to get 200 kays out of a tank of E85, I can get three times better then that just round town on E85 and better then that on the highway and still have just as much fun as they do