In the past I found some remarkable resources on just about any topic here so I'll shoot my shot.
Does any of you wizards have pdf books or any other treasure box of knowledge regarding ECU mapping and Chiptuning or whatever you want to call it? I'm already an electronics technician and have some knowledge on automotive electronics but want to get into this field in particular. Can't seem to find any course material online tho.
Big thanks for the help, and have a nice day!

Information is deliberately kept secret, because muh money, muh sekrit club (read: money), muh ego. etc.
Tuning even the very popular K-series ECUs(my forte) requires many months or even YEARS of research and RE work, so people who do it are very protective of their knowledge. Even the most FOSStarded hackers will eventually delete all their public infodump posts and throw up a Wix website where you can buy tuned/immo off ECUs from them for $500.

QRD on the process:
0. Pray that your desired platform/ECU isn't ROM-based or so locked down it might as well be (secure boot etc).
1. Find a method to get in the brain and extract the stock firmware. JTAG, SWD, proprietary debug ports, discrete ROM chips on older shit. Build a jig that lets you read/write code.
2. Thoroughly reverse engineer the stock firmware (4-12mo typical for a 2000's firmware)
3. Obtain a test car
4. Tweak the firmware to tune the car (rev limit, VE, immo off, CAN tweaks, spark tables, DTC delete, manual conversion... whathaveyou)
5. Find a method to get your hacked firmware back into the brain without it throwing a huge nigger fit
6. Find a way to flash your custom firmware over OBD2

>>28489019 (OP)


Back in the aughts everyone was using tactrix openport 2.0 to flash ecus, no idea what things are like now though.

>>28489019 (OP)
If you're talking about how to tune there's tons of videos on youtube. If you want to actually understand tuning from the theoretical perspective you need to get literature on VEs, timing, cam specs and valve event.
As 1st reply said most everything is "kept secret" or locked behind $$$ because, well money...so you'll either be paying someone or spending a long time reading, finding what to read, and trial and erroring.

The only way to actually tune successfully yourself is to have dyno access. You can be theoretically perfect and whatnot but what if your engine has a weak(relative to the others compression ranges) 5th cylinder, or the plugs dont like the timing the math says, or the vvt system has flutter at the phaser extremes (very common) and needs 1.5 degree less setting. Or your intake system has stall at 19psi and you're actually losing top end compared to 16.5
Etc.

>>28490027
Thanks for the help, I'll probably just use some shitty chinese KTAG clone until I figure out how to do any of that. I have access to a 1.9 TDI Audi for testing purposes.
>>28490110
I actually wish to understand what makes a good tune good. I am familiar with the workings of an engine and whatnot but cannot make any sense of the data I manage to pull of of ECUs. I was hoping someone has some book or literature about this stuff stashed somewhere.
Will ask around my automotive engineer buddies for something on this matter.

>>28490573
VEs, timing, cam specs and valve event. I told you everything that needs to be known to "make a good tune."

>>28490573
Other anon is full of shit.
Almost every architecture is available. There's nothing secret about ECUs.
There's a shitload of basic guide books if youre starting from scratch. If you have an understanding of carburetors, EFI is much easier to figure out ("enrich under accel" map for injector pulse width = cam size on accelerator pump on the side of a carb float bowl).
I dont have any PDFs but just search for "beginners guide to efi tuning"

>>28490743
Thanks a lot, I managed to find a lot of useful information!

>>28490743
>Almost every architecture is available. There's nothing secret about ECUs.
Lol, reverse engineer my 2002 Camry ECU then, hotshot.
>code baked in ROM, in an undocumented custom ASIC, running an undocumented custom dialect of a 40-year old microcontroller architecture

Learning about tables wont help you if you can't touch the tables without paying some kike $2k for a flasher.

I'll say it one last time. If you don't understand valve timing and volumetric efficiency you don't understand tuning. So go ahead and put 93 octane in the car, push all the spark timing tables +8 degree and pretend it's making more power (it isn't).

>>28491997
Lol.
Thats like trying to repair a lightbulb.
Its disposable trash.
Slapping on a CAI on 880cc injectors won't do anything, with or without a tune. Just stop.

>>28491997
I shall go the poorfag jeet way with a ktag clone. Used 'em before, definitely not the most reliable thing out there but it did get the job done with cloning before.
>>28492058
I apologize if this has been asked before, this is the first time I ever post on this board. I do understand that just randomly touching things won't make it better, that is precisely why I asked for some help.

>>28489019 (OP)
>mapping
cringe