I've just had my TJ2 AWD re-flashed for optimum tune on 95 RON fuel. It's now much stronger in the lower rev range and doesn't need so much throttle opening to get things moving. In addition, I had the auto trans tweaked so that it changes down from 5th to 4th much more readily around the 60 kph mark.

As if this were not good enough on its own, the fuel economy seems to have improved by about 1 L/100km - I got an average of 10.3 L/100 km on the 107 km return trip from home to Penrith (where Hitman is). For an AWD in Sydney traffic, this is great!

Hitman Injection Tuning is run by Matt Leicher, who used to own an Evo and spent thousands of hours decoding the ECU software. Basically, he can now download any Mitsubishi ECU info, from 2001 models onwards, and decode all the fuel, timing and auto trans maps. Matt has been in the tuning business for over 20 years.

My car is the first Magna Matt has re-flashed. For anyone living within easy driving distance of Sydney, Hitman definitely offers an alternative to Steve Knight in Adelaide. Obviously, Steve has had the advantage of inside Mitsubishi knowledge, which Matt has had to obtain by patient detective work over many hours. But he's done it.

Whats he charge??? Got any more details???

tell the bloke to get off his ass and start decoding the tf ecu so i cant waste some more money

tell the bloke to get off his ass and start decoding the tf ecu so i cant waste some more money

Just use a tj 3l ecu? Note that i have nfi how hard it is to do....

Whats he charge??? Got any more details???

Mitsubishi had many variants of their ECUs, even sometimes for the same model. Each variant requires its own decoding before Matt can re-map it. Since mine was the first AWD Magna to be tuned, I was Matt's guinea pig so I paid for the full decoding-plus-flash treatment. This cost $850. If another AWD Magna with the same ECU turns up, it will cost only $600 to $650 to flash, because Matt now has all the maps for it.

Matt has his own 2WD dyno in house, but unless someone insists on dyno figures he prefers real-time testing on the quiet back roads near his shop. This enables him to get the fuel mapping and timing optimised - in my case, for running best on 95 RON. He does have access to a AWD dyno, but that would cost about $250 to $300 per hour.

The standard Magna tune is VERY conservative, timing quite retarded across the whole rev range and with AFR too rich at high revs. Therefore, even in a completely stock engine like mine, really useful gains can be had in re-tuning for 95 RON. According to Matt, there's not a lot extra to be gained tuning a stock engine for 98 RON, mainly because of the low compression ratio. Matt showed me the stock and re-tuned maps and it was amazing how much extra timing could be inserted in the lower rev range.

The big advantage of doing this to a stock engine, apart from the improvement in the way it drives, is that you can easily re-tune after doing any performance mods, including supercharging. The standard ECU, however, can not handle turbo boost control.

The ability to refine auto shift behaviour is also an added bonus. Matt asked me to take the car for a drive, with him watching the laptop display, to confirm that I was happy with the way it seamlessly downshifted from 5th to 4th without the usual stab on the accelerator. It was brilliant - problem fixed!

Have a chat with Matt: he's willing to discuss what you're trying to achieve and has many helpful suggestions.

tell the bloke to get off his ass and start decoding the tf ecu so i cant waste some more money

Matt did say he could possible do ECUs in pre 2001 cars, but he needs to have an example to dowload and look at. I can confirm that in my case it took all of two minutes to completely download my ECU maps to his computer. Within a further 30 minutes, he showed me where the major maps were, and what each one did. After we agreed on a day to bring the car in for reflashing, he spent a total of about six hours thoroughly decoding the maps and working out what to do on the day.

It sucks that you have to pay for his R&D, if he did dyno tuning for $650, it wouldnt be a bad deal provided he did everything properly. The extra $200 is a dealbreaker however, why should you pay when everybody else gets the same tune for $200 cheaper?

That being said, he does sound quite professional, from your posts. I hope somebody else here goes and see's him before I want to haha

It sucks that you have to pay for his R&D, if he did dyno tuning for $650, it wouldnt be a bad deal provided he did everything properly. The extra $200 is a dealbreaker however, why should you pay when everybody else gets the same tune for $200 cheaper?

That being said, he does sound quite professional, from your posts. I hope somebody else here goes and see's him before I want to haha

His main R&D has been done long ago, about 3000 man-hours to crack the basic way that Mitsubishi organised their ECU setup. But, as I said, the exact details of where each map is stored, and in what order, varies with the whims of the Mitsubishi engineering department for every model. There is no grand universal ECU setup common to all Magnas, or Evos, or whatever.

I think the $850 was a bargain, compared with the only alternative in Sydney, which was a quoted $1500 to fit an interceptor - admittedly with dyno involved. Or I could fork out hundreds for a big trip to Adelaide and then pay Steve Knight at least $600.

;1346682']Just use a tj 3l ecu? Note that i have nfi how hard it is to do....

i thought from th onwards they were all 3.5ltr? is it worth wile using a 3.5ltr ecu on a 3ltr?

i thought from th onwards they were all 3.5ltr? is it worth wile using a 3.5ltr ecu on a 3ltr?

Most of them were, but there were a few tj's with 3l in them

I think the $850 was a bargain, compared with the only alternative in Sydney, which was a quoted $1500 to fit an interceptor - admittedly with dyno involved. Or I could fork out hundreds for a big trip to Adelaide and then pay Steve Knight at least $600.

Haltech inteceptor would have been slightly more but with the option to do alot more tuning down the track, and of course the ability to remove it when you upgrade to a different vehical :happy:
each to their own

Haltech inteceptor would have been slightly more but with the option to do alot more tuning down the track, and of course the ability to remove it when you upgrade to a different vehical :happy:
each to their own

To be honest, I don't particularly want to do any more engine mods - I just wanted to get the best result from premium fuel. Also, would the Haltech be able to fix the transmission shift issue? Apart from turbo boost control, what sort of mods could not be handled if the stock ECU is an open book?

tell the bloke to get off his ass and start decoding the tf ecu so i cant waste some more money

While it is possible to reflash both the TF & TH, their ECUs use an older 16bit CPU (H8/539F) which is quite finicky to actually flash. TJ onwards use a 32bit CPU (SH7052 or SH7055) which is a lot easier to work with.

If you're prepared to pay for the R&D, or do your own, it is possible. But the R&D will be more expensive than for the TJ onwards, simply because the older hardware is more difficult to work with.

Realistically, for a TF (which has no BEM), you might actually be better off with a freestanding ECU like an Adaptronic, and it might actually be cheaper...

does anyone know of a place around Melbourne that can do this? I have been really curious to see what it all looks like. I have a Pulsar and I can use a Consult cable to connect to my laptop and get readings etc, but I have no idea what is going on inside my TJ AWD Sports :S

hopefully its not like powerchip is it?
Do a google search on powerchip for some LOLs

TJTime (Ben), I suggest we get 5 or more of us to be willing and ready to get a tune from the guy and negotiate a group package.

Also mention we're from AMC and if our cars get tuned well at a reasonable price it's guaranteed to get more business for him.

Apparently, a few Magna owners approached Matt some time ago for a group tune, but they didn't follow through. It's also worth mentioning that Matt shares the shop with his brother-in-law, who runs a full-on performance mods business - practically anything that can be done to an engine has been done there, by the look of it. I saw a lot of custom pipework for turbos and superchargers in various cars being modded.

See Hitman's website at www.hitman.hm. Unlike some tuning shops I've tried to contact, Matt does actually respond to email enquiries within 24 hours.

I like the sound of tweaking the Auto shift points/throttle input. The AWD's labor way too much in hight gears.

Can he make any changes you want to the shift settings? Would be good to get it to kick back earlier or under less throttle up hills.

I like the sound of tweaking the Auto shift points/throttle input. The AWD's labor way too much in hight gears.

Can he make any changes you want to the shift settings? Would be good to get it to kick back earlier or under less throttle up hills.

That's exactly what I had him do to the annoying 5th to 4th kick-down. I had no complaint about any other behaviour in this auto - in many ways it's brilliant. But driving slighly uphill at part throttle, at speeds as low as 50 kph, it grimly clung on to 5th with the engine struggling to get above 1000 rpm. It required either a hefty boot to persuade it to move, which was not always appropriate in traffic, or a manual shift back to 4th.

That problem is now completely fixed! It still goes into 5th under trailing throttle around the usual point, but I just barely touch the accelerator and it smoothly glides into 4th.

So to directly answer your question, yes, anything in the auto shift map can be changed. The 5th to 4th problem was the only thing I wanted changed , but if you had significant power mods in your car you may prefer to have the whole shift point regime altered.

does anyone know of a place around Melbourne that can do this? I have been really curious to see what it all looks like. I have a Pulsar and I can use a Consult cable to connect to my laptop and get readings etc, but I have no idea what is going on inside my TJ AWD Sports :S

If you just want to log from the ECU, Evoscan (http://www.evoscan.com/) with an Openport 1.3D cable (also available from Evoscan) does that nicely.

If you can find someone who tunes Evos by tweaking the stock Evo ECUs (which is what Hitman Tuning can do), then you're in with a chance. However a lot of tuners may only be using the ROM definitions available with ECUFlash and may not have the knowledge to create new definitions.

Thanks WytWun, I was thinking more along the lines of someone like Hitman Tuning. someone that could change the auto shift map and tweak the ECU mapping a bit.

TJTime (Ben), I suggest we get 5 or more of us to be willing and ready to get a tune from the guy and negotiate a group package.

Also mention we're from AMC and if our cars get tuned well at a reasonable price it's guaranteed to get more business for him.

Just bear in mind that the group might all have different variants of ECU, so each one will require separate decoding. However, if someone has a TJ2 2003 model like mine, you could be lucky.