Had my S5 custom tuned by FarnbacherLoles!!
05-23-2008, 07:17 AM
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Had my S5 custom tuned by FarnbacherLoles!!
After doing some research and realizing there wasn't an ECU/software ugrade available in the U.S. for our cars yet, I found FarnbacherLoles via Unitronic. I met with Peter Almeida in their Danbury, CT office responsible for Audi/VW.
He checked with Unitronic and they confirmed a program wasn't written yet but suggested doing a custom tune at a reasonable price as my car was going to be the "test bed".
I did some digging on the web and found that these guys have an incredible reputation in the U.S. and actively compete in the ALMS, GrandAm Rolex and IMSA GT3 series. In addition, a substantial amount of their time is spent tuning customer's cars; most of which are Porsches.
We signed the paperwork and the car spent the last two days at their main Danbury, CT facility which is where their Dyno Dynamics dyno and chief engineer are located. I pulled-up to the facility and was absolutely floored - it is enormous and utterly immaculate. They have quite a few bays and you could literally eat off the floor. There were approximately 20 Porsches in various stages of modification and track prep and other cars included a Sti, Evo, Aston Martin DB9 and a Noble. Car guy heaven!
They first ran a few baseline runs before pulling the code off the ECU to create a Beta tune. Loaded that back into the car and continued to refine it on the dyno (including a "rolling road" simulation) until Kip felt it was perfect.
Picked the car up last night and all I can say it WOW! More power pretty much north of 2,500RPMs through to redline (which was kept stock). Driveability is exactly per the factory car with no hiccups. The car simply feels like it has more displacement.
Based upon custom tuning of RS4s, Kip feels that the car will simply get stronger over the miles as the ECU continues to adapt to my heavy right foot. In addition, they have seen the 4.2L really loosen-up after 10-12,000 miles and make more power. On a final note, they feel camshafts are the key to unlocking more power in the S5/S4 motors and are considering spending some R&D time on this next.
Without further ado, here are is the dyno sheet from my car:
<img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk28/QuattroWerks/dyno1Large.jpg">
Please note that these numbers are measured at the wheels. Stock on this dyno (remember all dynos are different and these dynos typically read much lower than a DynoJet) was 268HP/268TQ and the tuned numbers are 289HP/282TQ. They did do some coast-down measurements and on this dyno, the drivetrain loss is 19.5%. Therefore, estimated increases at the crank are 25.6HP/17.4TQ.
On a final note, please note the baseline numbers from day one were actually lower than what are posted above but they didn't want it to appear that the tuned numbers were artifically high so they took the highest baseline and compared it to the highest tuned run.
FarnbacherLoles will be offering this tune (which is specific to 93 octane and having a cat-back exhaust - I have the Milltek) to anyone interested. They will also be tuning a stock S5 next week so will shortly have a tune for a stock car. Please note that you will need to visit their facility to have the tune uploaded as they aren't currently offering any type of softloader.
Please refer all price questions to Peter Almeida and his contact info can be found below:
Peter Almeida
FarnbacherLoles
Audi Volkswagen Division
89 Triangle Street
Danbury, CT 06810
Phone: 203-628-8612
E-mail: audivw@farnbacherloles.com
This is a good day for all S5 owners (IMHO)!!<ul><li><a href="http://www.farnbacherloles.com/performance/">FarnbacherLoles</a></li></ul>
He checked with Unitronic and they confirmed a program wasn't written yet but suggested doing a custom tune at a reasonable price as my car was going to be the "test bed".
I did some digging on the web and found that these guys have an incredible reputation in the U.S. and actively compete in the ALMS, GrandAm Rolex and IMSA GT3 series. In addition, a substantial amount of their time is spent tuning customer's cars; most of which are Porsches.
We signed the paperwork and the car spent the last two days at their main Danbury, CT facility which is where their Dyno Dynamics dyno and chief engineer are located. I pulled-up to the facility and was absolutely floored - it is enormous and utterly immaculate. They have quite a few bays and you could literally eat off the floor. There were approximately 20 Porsches in various stages of modification and track prep and other cars included a Sti, Evo, Aston Martin DB9 and a Noble. Car guy heaven!
They first ran a few baseline runs before pulling the code off the ECU to create a Beta tune. Loaded that back into the car and continued to refine it on the dyno (including a "rolling road" simulation) until Kip felt it was perfect.
Picked the car up last night and all I can say it WOW! More power pretty much north of 2,500RPMs through to redline (which was kept stock). Driveability is exactly per the factory car with no hiccups. The car simply feels like it has more displacement.
Based upon custom tuning of RS4s, Kip feels that the car will simply get stronger over the miles as the ECU continues to adapt to my heavy right foot. In addition, they have seen the 4.2L really loosen-up after 10-12,000 miles and make more power. On a final note, they feel camshafts are the key to unlocking more power in the S5/S4 motors and are considering spending some R&D time on this next.
Without further ado, here are is the dyno sheet from my car:
<img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk28/QuattroWerks/dyno1Large.jpg">
Please note that these numbers are measured at the wheels. Stock on this dyno (remember all dynos are different and these dynos typically read much lower than a DynoJet) was 268HP/268TQ and the tuned numbers are 289HP/282TQ. They did do some coast-down measurements and on this dyno, the drivetrain loss is 19.5%. Therefore, estimated increases at the crank are 25.6HP/17.4TQ.
On a final note, please note the baseline numbers from day one were actually lower than what are posted above but they didn't want it to appear that the tuned numbers were artifically high so they took the highest baseline and compared it to the highest tuned run.
FarnbacherLoles will be offering this tune (which is specific to 93 octane and having a cat-back exhaust - I have the Milltek) to anyone interested. They will also be tuning a stock S5 next week so will shortly have a tune for a stock car. Please note that you will need to visit their facility to have the tune uploaded as they aren't currently offering any type of softloader.
Please refer all price questions to Peter Almeida and his contact info can be found below:
Peter Almeida
FarnbacherLoles
Audi Volkswagen Division
89 Triangle Street
Danbury, CT 06810
Phone: 203-628-8612
E-mail: audivw@farnbacherloles.com
This is a good day for all S5 owners (IMHO)!!<ul><li><a href="http://www.farnbacherloles.com/performance/">FarnbacherLoles</a></li></ul>
05-23-2008, 07:31 AM
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You need to call or e-mail Peter @ FarnbacherLoles
and keep in mind my car was the "test bed" so my cost may not be indicative of what they intend to sell the tune for.
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05-23-2008, 10:55 AM
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We understand but...
what was the actual price that you paid when everything was said and done? The hesitation is doing those guys a disservice because now we're all thinking you may have paid too much and might not want to share that dollar amount. even a ballpark figure would be fine with most of us i think.
