This is for people who have no reason to look at the AWD forum. I've posted there about having my AWD re-flashed at Hitman, who are in Penrith, Sydney. Matt Leicher runs the shop and can re-flash all Mitsubishi ECUs, at least from 2001 year models onwards. As part of the tuning, he can also tweak auto transmission shift points, etc.

An alternative to SKR (Adelaide) for those of us on the East Coast.

So does he download and alter the basic ignition and fuel maps, or is it modified while the car is being driven?

Are you sure he can do all Mitsubishis.?

Finally a tuner in Sydney!!!!! Thanks man, how much does it cost?

Already pursued this. I talked with him a fair bit, I believe his experience on magna tunes is still quite small so would have to get some stock maps to play with.

FYI, my last post up about this got closed off by admin.

Do you think that this guy would be interested in becoming a sponsor of AMC, seems he is not bad at what he does

Also, can someone give me his details, I have a load of files and definitions here he may also be interested in

Do you think that this guy would be interested in becoming a sponsor of AMC, seems he is not bad at what he does

Also, can someone give me his details, I have a load of files and definitions here he may also be interested in

If you could persue this i would be forever greatful, trips to adelaide are not my thing.

Are you sure he can do all Mitsubishis.?

All except the 380, of course... as that doesn't have a Mitsubishi ECU.

can someone give me his details, I have a load of files and definitions here he may also be interested in

His website (http://www.hitman.hm/index2.html). I note he's now closed until early January.

Matt runs Hitman Injection Tuning at 7 Coombs Drive, Penrith. Best contact is either by email (hitman@hitman.hm), which in my experience he will respond to within 24 hrs, or try his mobile 0417 259 391.

He owned an Evo some years ago, and spent thousands of manhours decoding the programs in its ECU. He has been in the tuning business about 20 years and looks to be very busy. Mine was the first Magna that he had actually reflashed, but don't think for a minute that he's "inexperienced".

The procedure started with an initial short visit, where he plugged a laptop into the diagnostic port and in about two minutes downloaded the entire program from the ECU. He then invited me into his office to show me where Mitsubishi tended to place the various maps and in about 30 minutes decoded one of the fuel maps and a timing map. I then booked the car in a few days later and he spent a further 6 hours decoding everything in the ECU. He said that the stock tune was extremely conservative and had very retarded timing across the rev range, even allowing for the fact it was tuned for 91 RON fuel.

I left the car with Matt for a day, during which he re-flashed for optimum tune using 95 RON, plus tweaaked the trans (5 speed tippy) to make the 5th to 4th downshift under part throttle much more eager. Just as an aside, he asked me if I wanted to retain the 210 kph speed limiter. This was a completely academic issue for a road car, but I said remove it anyway, just on principle.

The car, completely stock, runs much better with noticeably more power and seems to be about 1 L / 100km better fuel economy. The trans has lost its annoying habit of clinging on to 5th at low speeds. Matt has achieved everything I set out to in this exercise.

It appears that Mitsubishi used many variants of ECU in their cars, even on some of the same model. Each variant has to be decoded separately. This, plus the subsequent reflash, costs about $850. When Matt has a variant "cracked", and another car with the same variant is to be reflashed, the cost comes down to $600 to $650. Tuning is partly just programmed in after deciding how the maps should be done, but some real-time fine tuning is done on the quiet local roads close to the shop. Matt has an in-house 2WD dyno, and access to a AWD dyno where necessary, but he says mild tunes like mine don't need dyno work. I'd have to agree with him, based on how my car now performs.

Matt's claim to be able to reflash ALL Mitsubishis (from 2001) is based on his current knowledge of how Mitsubishi habitually programmed their ECUs, plus his success in decoding their maps so far. He does need to download your particular ECU to start the process, however, since he simply hasn't had access to all the variants.

Matt is not desperately seeking more work, but he says any AMC member is welcome to drop in or contact him about tuning their car. The stock ECU can be reflashed to suit most mods that you're likely to do to your engine, including supercharging. It cannot, however, handle boost control for turbos.

Yes, we have a man in Sydney who can do this work!

TJ onward ECU's are the ones that are 32 bit right?

In which case, the title of the thread should be changed to 2000 onwards instead of 2001.

TJ onward ECU's are the ones that are 32 bit right?

In which case, the title of the thread should be changed to 2000 onwards instead of 2001.

That could well be the case - Matt was basing his claim on ECUs he has encountered to date. If in doubt, the best bet would be to simply ask him to download your ECU data to confirm he can or cannot re-flash it.

Good to know.

I'll drop him an email early next year, he can have some fun with a Ralliart ECU.

Good to know.

I'll drop him an email early next year, he can have some fun with a Ralliart ECU.

At some point in the past few years, Matt said someone brought a Ralliart Magna into the associated engine mods part of the shop (separate business from Matt, run by his brother-in-law). Purely as a private interest, Matt asked if he could download the Ralliart ECU data, so he has that tucked away in his records now. I have no idea how much he decoded at that time, but depending on how far he got, you may save a bit.

TJ onward ECU's are the ones that are 32 bit right?

In which case, the title of the thread should be changed to 2000 onwards instead of 2001.

TJ's started production in mid-2000. TH's were producted until then.

So if i got a TH gona have to get a TJ ecu for it?

So if i got a TH gona have to get a TJ ecu for it?

It might pay to check with Hitman first. Matt knows he can do 2001 onwards, but thought going back to 1999, perhaps 1998 was possible - he won't know for sure until he is presented with a pre 2001 ECU.

Should get him to make a sponsor account here.

TJ onward ECU's are the ones that are 32 bit right?

In which case, the title of the thread should be changed to 2000 onwards instead of 2001.

Whether 2000 production TJs use the newer 32bit or older 16bit ECU hardware needs to be confirmed. While I have stated that I believe all the TJs had the 32bit ECUs, that is thus far an educated guess on my part.

The particular MCU used in 32bit automatic trans ECUs (SH7055) was in production in about Q3 1999, while the MCU used in 32bit manual trans ECUs (SH7052) went into production in about Q2 2000.

The Evo 7 (in both manual and auto guises), dating from March 2001, definitely has the 32bit ECUs. It may well be that the Evo 7 milestone is the basis for Hitman's line in the sand at 2001.

While I haven't been able to confirm it definitely, if an early TJ's ECU has a black plastic casing rather than a metal casing, it is much more likely to have a 32bit ECU than a 16bit ECU. Given the timing of MCU introduction, early TJ autos are much more likely to have 32bit ECUs than manuals.

The harness connectors for both manual and automatic ECUs appear to have been carried over from the 16bit to the 32bit eras with no significant wiring changes, so the transition could have been a running production change.

Prior to the 32bit ECU hardware, auto ECUs actually had two 16bit MCUs: 1 each for the engine and transmission....

So,ive got a April; 2000 build TH Sports Tiptronic,its a manual now..:woot:..what ECU and cams am i going to have.....

The TH auto have the metal case ECU, the TH Manual have teh Plastic case ECU BUT are NOT the 32 bit ECU, I have checked them.

All TJ have the 32 bit ECU in them

The TH auto have the metal case ECU, the TH Manual have teh Plastic case ECU BUT are NOT the 32 bit ECU, I have checked them.

All TJ have the 32 bit ECU in them

What about TL-TW? :}

this is really interesting news - i have no intention of modifying our Magna, however getting a tune for premium is tempting. and SA is so damn far from Sydney.
Ken would you say the tune was worthwhile on your AWD? was there any difference to the top-end performance or mostly an increase in low-end torque?

What about TL-TW? :}

Same hardware as TJ, though the reflashing protocol might be slightly different.

The TH auto have the metal case ECU, the TH Manual have teh Plastic case ECU BUT are NOT the 32 bit ECU, I have checked them.

All TJ have the 32 bit ECU in them

Thanks for clearing that up; I've not had any manual ECUs pass through my hands yet.

this is really interesting news - i have no intention of modifying our Magna, however getting a tune for premium is tempting. and SA is so damn far from Sydney.
Ken would you say the tune was worthwhile on your AWD? was there any difference to the top-end performance or mostly an increase in low-end torque?

I think it was certainly worthwhile, Lith, with the most noticable difference being extra grunt in the low to midrange. It's not just my imagination, either - my wife has also commented on the extra performance. It's difficult to comment on the top end, because that's rarely explored very much in suburban driving. I will be able to make more comment after a decent country run.

Like yourself, I am not really interested in more engine mods. I just wanted to get the best I could out of the factory hardare using 95 RON fuel, now that 91 RON is being phased out in 2011. The auto trans tune was an unexpected bonus, and I have't felt the need to do manual changes at all since Matt fixed the notorious 5th to 4th problem. The fuel saving is icing on the cake - what's not to like?

Of course, for the folk who want to go for more serious performance mods, the stock Magna ECU can be re-flashed at each stage from stock to whatever, once Matt has downloaded and decrypted your particular unit.

Yes, Adelaide is a very long drive from Sydney and would be a very costly exercise if the only reason for going there was to get tuned by SKR. Considering that the only alternative in Sydney is an interceptor unit, which with associated tune costs $1500 to $1600, I think Hitman's solution is a genuine bargain.

Got mine reflashed at Hitman today. While it only gained 6kW, the car feels so much nicer to drive. Apparently the stock spark map was conservative enough that Matt was able to add 10 degrees of timing in places without any hint of knocking, and pull a heap of fuel, evening out the AFR to 13:1 across the whole rev range.

Another interesting discovery - the TL uses an Evo 9 ECU.

Another interesting discovery - the TL uses an Evo 9 ECU.

Being pedantic, the above statement is inaccurate as an Evo 9 ECU will only drive 4 injectors and has 3 connectors rather than 4 (the 3 connectors it has match 3 of the 4 connectors that have been on auto ECUs in V6 Magnas since the TF).

The Evo 9 ECU and the TJ onwards auto ECUs contain the same microcontroller chip. Evo 9 and some (but not all!) TL/W ECUs use a different reflashing protocol than the TJ ECUs.

can you re flash a second gen ecu