Who have Malone flash here?

[abarthpower]

One of the local guys here in Vancouver had his engine magically blow up after being tuned by them. They're good at VW. Not so much the Fiats.

Ok good to know

[turbodharma]

I just went through a similar search..2 things:

1) Malone is not TUV Approved. I would HIGHLY recommend getting a TUV approved tuner. I know nothing else about Malone, though..

2) DO YOUR RESEARCH outside of any forums!! Try to talk to someone that specializes in the Abarth and has no motive to sell you anything if you can...and take what people say here/other forums with a grain of salt..EVERYONE is out to advertise their own brands and/or are fans of a brand (including myself, of course).


If I were you, then I would select any tune that is TUV approved. I made a huge mistake by not doing this and went with the most famous tuning system out there (hint: It's not 500madness or torktune..I'll let you guess from there). Let me tell you they are very, very good at creating an online presence and BSing forum users as a result. Not to mentions all their fanboys touting how amazing their tuner is. I think they just want to convince themselves..Just my opinion though.

So that being said here comes my recommendation moment and you can do your own research as well..


2 companies with TUV approval that I found and am leaning towards are "Seletron Chipbox" and "Racechip."

Chipbox - https://seletron.com/en/shop/abarth/...118kw-1368ccm/ (US abarth models 2008-onward)

Racechip - https://www.racechip.us/shop/fiat/50...-170lb-ft.html (US abarth models 2007-onward)


This is just an opinion...So I hope no one lashes out on me. After my experience, this is what I have to add to the discussion.. Good luck!

[Saponetta]

Lol, not hard to guess who that is.
Yea people will try to push what they own. Maybe they are trying to convince themselves even. But the most refined chip box isnt gonna approach a good tune. And tork tunes aremt hype. I dont claim to be a fantastic tuner, but as far as people posting on here who arent shop owners, I dont think very many people member here have more time self tuning their abarth than me. Not ones that post at least. I know of maybe 2. So I know a little about what's going on with this ecu. Doverosx is really hip. Message him. What tuners are doing, And what they are working with. Not only do I own 2 openflash setups, I have ecmtitanium which is probably what most of the tuners tuning these cars are using. It's not cheap amd requires 1 or 3 year subscriptions to their database. I have made 12 different files for my car and flashed it probably over 80 times with minor updates and changes. Many many hours of tuning amd datalogging this car.

Trust me when I say at a fundamental level, before a single cell in the mapping is altered, the tork tune is about 100x more complete than anything else. Therr are so many limiters and factory strategys left untouched on other tunes. They dont even have the raw code translated to see them or edit them. They may not even know they exist. Tork has access to and tunes more tables for boost target and wastegate control than the other tuners in america have in total tables to tune for boost, lambda, timing, throttle/torque request, limiters, etc. Etc. Ecmtitanium maybe has 26 or 27 tables total for my ecu version. Openflash has maybe 30. Torks file has more than that in boost control alone. AMD not only does he have more access, he has thousands of hours of dyno time with numerous cars learning how all the tables are interrelated, interpolation, amd effecting each other. Shiv had mapped 1 car when he released his files. I doubt malone has tined a hundred abarths. Ec, well, whatever they have done, they havemt spent that time wisely lol. The ec tuned abarths I've been in cant even accelerate from 20 to 80mph without dropping down to nearly stock power. A member on here recently created 2 threads of his stage 2 ec tune running 16psi, less than stock after 4500rpm. Ec told him the tune is fine and working how it should. That's probably one of the most popular tunes if the not the most on the market!!!!! People litterally do not realise what a good tune for these cars are till they have driven a tork.

And as far as tuv approved, that's not even for american marlet cars lol. It's not even really a sign of quality. It's a sign that the company has the resources to get tuv approved. I could build a intake for the abarth that ismt carb legal. But if I wanted to go thru the process and cost of carb legalization I could. Does that make the intake fundamentally better from any performance objective?

I wouldnt buy a piggyback. Even if y oi ur under factory warranty, its probably faster to flash back to stock than unplug the piggyback harness. I was a dealer tech at Porsche Audi for many many years. Trust me, if the car doesnt have the file currently installed, they are not gonna figure out, nor do they even really care if the car was flashed. Warranty work sucks. Sure.
But your gonna lose.more time trying to figure out if you can deny warranty because the car maybe had a flash at some point than jist knocking it out, sending it, and onto the next one.

[opiateESP]

I just went through a similar search..2 things:

1) Malone is not TUV Approved. I would HIGHLY recommend getting a TUV approved tuner. I know nothing else about Malone, though..

2) DO YOUR RESEARCH outside of any forums!! Try to talk to someone that specializes in the Abarth and has no motive to sell you anything if you can...and take what people say here/other forums with a grain of salt..EVERYONE is out to advertise their own brands and/or are fans of a brand (including myself, of course).


If I were you, then I would select any tune that is TUV approved. I made a huge mistake by not doing this and went with the most famous tuning system out there (hint: It's not 500madness or torktune..I'll let you guess from there). Let me tell you they are very, very good at creating an online presence and BSing forum users as a result. Not to mentions all their fanboys touting how amazing their tuner is. I think they just want to convince themselves..Just my opinion though.

So that being said here comes my recommendation moment and you can do your own research as well..


2 companies with TUV approval that I found and am leaning towards are "Seletron Chipbox" and "Racechip."

Chipbox - https://seletron.com/en/shop/abarth/...118kw-1368ccm/ (US abarth models 2008-onward)

Racechip - https://www.racechip.us/shop/fiat/50...-170lb-ft.html (US abarth models 2007-onward)


This is just an opinion...So I hope no one lashes out on me. After my experience, this is what I have to add to the discussion.. Good luck!

You didn't like that tune you had because it was a canned generic tune bought off the shelf BY the people you bought the tune from.

I love Robert but those signal modifier box devices don't defeat speed over time and on that alone, I would never consider one. Experience has showed me these are a waste of my time. I'm personally too performance oriented for them. This also shows that TUV approval is meaningless though (if they are approved) as a signal modifier tricks the ECU and by definition messes with your cars engine safety features.

This is just the way it is.

... so as for TUV approval... simply put; couldn't care less.

[turbodharma]

You didn't like that tune you had because it was a canned generic tune bought off the shelf BY the people you bought the tune from.

I love Robert but those signal modifier box devices don't defeat speed over time and on that alone, I would never consider one. Experience has showed me these are a waste of my time. I'm personally too performance oriented for them. This also shows that TUV approval is meaningless though (if they are approved) as a signal modifier tricks the ECU and by definition messes with your cars engine safety features.

This is just the way it is.

... so as for TUV approval... simply put; couldn't care less.

so do you tune your ecu at all? if so, what did you use?

[opiateESP]

so do you tune your ecu at all? if so, what did you use?

Tork.

[Abarth15]

I just went through a similar search..2 things:

1) Malone is not TUV Approved. I would HIGHLY recommend getting a TUV approved tuner. I know nothing else about Malone, though..

2) DO YOUR RESEARCH outside of any forums!! Try to talk to someone that specializes in the Abarth and has no motive to sell you anything if you can...and take what people say here/other forums with a grain of salt..EVERYONE is out to advertise their own brands and/or are fans of a brand (including myself, of course).


If I were you, then I would select any tune that is TUV approved. I made a huge mistake by not doing this and went with the most famous tuning system out there (hint: It's not 500madness or torktune..I'll let you guess from there). Let me tell you they are very, very good at creating an online presence and BSing forum users as a result. Not to mentions all their fanboys touting how amazing their tuner is. I think they just want to convince themselves..Just my opinion though.

So that being said here comes my recommendation moment and you can do your own research as well..


2 companies with TUV approval that I found and am leaning towards are "Seletron Chipbox" and "Racechip."

Chipbox - https://seletron.com/en/shop/abarth/...118kw-1368ccm/ (US abarth models 2008-onward)

Racechip - https://www.racechip.us/shop/fiat/50...-170lb-ft.html (US abarth models 2007-onward)


This is just an opinion...So I hope no one lashes out on me. After my experience, this is what I have to add to the discussion.. Good luck!

Anyone know if the chipbox one is legit? I know hand held tuners with canned tunes are never the "best" route but its all I really want for this car, I'd just like to get it over 200hp which is what I believe it should have come with from the factory and will if they ever update the cars. I am not looking to spend a ton of money or time at a shop on the dyno or whatnot for this.

[Saponetta]

The chipbox isnt a handheld tuner. It's a piggyback.

Seriously doubt you'll get 200hp with a piggyback. I've never used one really, but for tons of reasons beyond power its not the way to go. I think even the best ones are just manipulating signal to bump fuel pressure while tricking the ecu to run a percentage higher boost. Perhaps they have a programmed trigger offset and reduce the whole timing curve or can actually pull timing relative to boost. Thay would be a question for the maker. But it's not very sophisticated stuff. So your gonna have a factory shaped boost curve. A proper tune, from a vendor able to do one is going to make more torque quicker, and have boost levels idealized thru the operating range as they arent limited to the factory curve. They're also going to be able.to employ more effective boost strategy in first amd second. Not to mention adjusting the torque limiters and stuff. Btw, I'm not sure about the abarth automatic transmission control and how it works. But a piggyback is going to alter the cars estmated torque the ecu calculates amd uses for numerous control strategy. This could include causing the torque converter on an auto to slip more, and influence gear shifts in away so that the transmission ismt rrally thinking how it was designed to.

But robert zecca really likes the chipbox. So I'd gamble it's one of the better ones. He is a smart man and uses it on his racecar and customer cars. I'd imagine he has his own calibration for it. If you were gonna go with a chipbox, I'd probably get it thru him.

[Abarth15]

The chipbox isnt a handheld tuner. It's a piggyback.

Seriously doubt you'll get 200hp with a piggyback. I've never used one really, but for tons of reasons beyond power its not the way to go. I think even the best ones are just manipulating signal to bump fuel pressure while tricking the ecu to run a percentage higher boost. Perhaps they have a programmed trigger offset and reduce the whole timing curve or can actually pull timing relative to boost. Thay would be a question for the maker. But it's not very sophisticated stuff. So your gonna have a factory shaped boost curve. A proper tune, from a vendor able to do one is going to make more torque quicker, and have boost levels idealized thru the operating range as they arent limited to the factory curve. They're also going to be able.to employ more effective boost strategy in first amd second. Not to mention adjusting the torque limiters and stuff. Btw, I'm not sure about the abarth automatic transmission control and how it works. But a piggyback is going to alter the cars estmated torque the ecu calculates amd uses for numerous control strategy. This could include causing the torque converter on an auto to slip more, and influence gear shifts in away so that the transmission ismt rrally thinking how it was designed to.

But robert zecca really likes the chipbox. So I'd gamble it's one of the better ones. He is a smart man and uses it on his racecar and customer cars. I'd imagine he has his own calibration for it. If you were gonna go with a chipbox, I'd probably get it thru him.

Thanks - is 200hp attainable with a real tune? The car only has a K&N, stock airbox

[Saponetta]

I mean, are we talking wheel horsepower? Flywheel rating like the oem use is gonna be a bit higher. Abarth seem to loose about 12% to 15% depending on how they are measured. The dyno type and if it measures wheel or hub all effect the power gets measured and then calculated into horsepower.

Probably not gonna hit 200 on stock car with any tune on 93 octane. Tork is without a doubt the most complete and powerful tune readily available for the abarth and your usually looking at full bolt ons and a custom or well revised tune to go over 200 wheel horsepower with a stock turbo. E85 or meth injection will just make it easier and allow for huge torque gains over 93 and a way better looking dyno graph.
To give yourself the best chance and to keep the power more consistent , I would use a high quality fmic like atm or custom, an air filter outside of engine bay and make sure your using the absolute best, most knockresitent pump fuel in your area if you're using pump gasoline. I've found huge differences between the big name 93 octane with mobil being the best. Quite a bit better than bp and Phillips 66.

I'd be weary of any vendor who claims.different. in the other currently active thread, a vendor has their customer believing his not turbo 500 was able to get a 50% power gain. That's like claiming you can give a basic 430hp corvette 645hp from a tune and an exhaust system. Absolutely ludicrous.

[Abarth15]

I mean, are we talking wheel horsepower? Flywheel rating like the oem use is gonna be a bit higher. Abarth seem to loose about 12% to 15% depending on how they are measured. The dyno type and if it measures wheel or hub all effect the power gets measured and then calculated into horsepower.

Probably not gonna hit 200 on stock car with any tune on 93 octane. Tork is without a doubt the most complete and powerful tune readily available for the abarth and your usually looking at full bolt ons and a custom or well revised tune to go over 200 wheel horsepower with a stock turbo. E85 or meth injection will just make it easier and allow for huge torque gains over 93 and a way better looking dyno graph.
To give yourself the best chance and to keep the power more consistent , I would use a high quality fmic like atm or custom, an air filter outside of engine bay and make sure your using the absolute best, most knockresitent pump fuel in your area if you're using pump gasoline. I've found huge differences between the big name 93 octane with mobil being the best. Quite a bit better than bp and Phillips 66.

I'd be weary of any vendor who claims.different. in the other currently active thread, a vendor has their customer believing his not turbo 500 was able to get a 50% power gain. That's like claiming you can give a basic 430hp corvette 645hp from a tune and an exhaust system. Absolutely ludicrous.

Yeah just by doing some research this afternoon its quite apparent that 200whp isn't easy to hit with these (compared to literally every other turbo car), which makes sense since its just a 1.4 I guess. What can I expect from say a tork tune in this scenario?

[Saponetta]

Yeah just by doing some research this afternoon its quite apparent that 200whp isn't easy to hit with these (compared to literally every other turbo car), which makes sense since its just a 1.4 I guess. What can I expect from say a tork tune in this scenario?

Best to just ask tork yourself. He has made over 200hp on auite a few cars with a stock turbo. I can promise you if you've tried the other popular tunes, and even compared to the stock calibration the tork is just amazing. Not even just the power, the engine feels and sounds so good and it makes power so consistently amd effortlessly. Unless you've tried other vendors files, you cant even appreciate what a great accomplishment his files are. Counting custom tunes, my one car has had probably 15 or 20 turely different tunes and 50+ minor revisions to various ones.

If your worried about warranty, it takes maybe 8 minutes to go back to stock. I could go in to great depth why the tork files are superior, but better just to research or talk to them.yourself.

[turbodharma]

Anyone know if the chipbox one is legit? I know hand held tuners with canned tunes are never the "best" route but its all I really want for this car, I'd just like to get it over 200hp which is what I believe it should have come with from the factory and will if they ever update the cars. I am not looking to spend a ton of money or time at a shop on the dyno or whatnot for this.

on a stock abarth with the chipbox you'll be at 185bhp. +25-28hp is what you can count on. i dont thinkt he k&n filter is really adding anything..maybe 2hp? not sure on that...if it does, then ur at 187bhp..ok, so to get to 200 what you need imo: 4c coil pack, front mounted intercooler (a good quality largest one you can fit in there..bigger is better from my understanding), downpipe, exhaust system...at that point i'm pretty sure you'll be hitting that 200hp mark...

also, i think my fiat used to have the tork tune..and fiat reset my ecu so now its slow again...but i really, really think it was a tork tune (previous owner got it, i bought it as the second owner)..it felt. fkin. mad. i have yet to personally test the chipbox but i think thats what im going to go with next...

saponette knows more about tork for sure lol...maybe without the other hardware tork can get you closer--i dont know...i do know that youll be at 185hp for sure with that chipbox...bhp, whp is going to be less, of course.

[abarthpower]

Finaly i bought tmc piggyback for cheap localy. Wow what a différence. Dyno soon

[abarthpower]

FB_IMG_1566410139158.jpg