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      01-04-2022, 07:39 AM   #23
GixY2K
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marshall@ViscontiTuning View Post
The unlock / cloning service is $4,195. This includes us supplying an ECU. If youre able to supply a usable, unlocked ECU, we can issue you a credit.

Ecutek is $875

Custom Flex Fuel Tuning is $1000 or Custom Pump Gas is $800

Flex Fuel Kit is $650
Marshall,

Thank you for the quick response. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your R&D. I feel you guys are heading in the right direction. However, at this point, unlocking fees seem to be bit steep for me, personally. But I understand and won't be too critical of your pricing.

I do have a little marital humor to share, though.
This is how the conversation would ensue with the Commander in Chief (CINC):

CINC: "What's the $875 for?"
Me: "For the Ecutek unit, just like the Accessport in the GTR"
CINC: "huh, OK"

CINC: "What's the $650 for?"
Me: "The Visconti Flex Fuel Kit, like the one you helped me intalled in Godzilla"
CINC: "huh, cool"

CINC: "Ok, so let me guess. The $1000 is for the e-tuning, like you did with Tim Bailey"
Me: "Yup"

CINC: "How about this $4,195"
Me: "Well, you see, unlike the Nissan ECU, with BMW you have to pay to unlock it"
CINC: "WTF!!!"
Me:

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      01-04-2022, 07:50 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GixY2K View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marshall@ViscontiTuning View Post
The unlock / cloning service is $4,195. This includes us supplying an ECU. If youre able to supply a usable, unlocked ECU, we can issue you a credit.

Ecutek is $875

Custom Flex Fuel Tuning is $1000 or Custom Pump Gas is $800

Flex Fuel Kit is $650
Marshall,

Thank you for the quick response. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your R&D. I feel you guys are heading in the right direction. However, at this point, unlocking fees seem to be bit steep for me, personally. But I understand and won't be too critical of your pricing.

I do have a little marital humor to share, though.
This is how the conversation would ensue with the Commander in Chief (CINC):

CINC: "What's the $875 for?"
Me: "For the Ecutek unit, just like the Accessport in the GTR"
CINC: "huh, OK"

CINC: "What's the $650 for?"
Me: "The Visconti Flex Fuel Kit, like the one you helped me intalled in Godzilla"
CINC: "huh, cool"

CINC: "Ok, so let me guess. The $1000 is for the e-tuning, like you did with Tim Bailey"
Me: "Yup"

CINC: "How about this $4,195"
Me: "Well, you see, unlike the Nissan ECU, with BMW you have to pay to unlock it"
CINC: "WTF!!!"
Me:

The $4195 is including a ECU that's very hard to come by.

If anyone doesn't want to do the cloned route we can tune the original computer - but ecutek, MHD, bm3 don't support this. So no on-the-fly map switching, no real flex fuel , no adjustable burble, no phone flashing, no advanced data logging etc.

Using the original computer is $3500 tuned. You'll need a windows laptop for this process. We can still remote tune and remote update.

John
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      01-04-2022, 08:02 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Visconti View Post
The $4195 is including a ECU that's very hard to come by.

If anyone doesn't want to do the cloned route we can tune the original computer - but ecutek, MHD, bm3 don't support this. So no on-the-fly map switching, no real flex fuel , no adjustable burble, no phone flashing, no advanced data logging etc.

Using the original computer is $3500 tuned. You'll need a windows laptop for this process. We can still remote tune and remote update.

John
Understood. My mistake.

So the cloning process would be ~$1,600 out of the ~$4195. If so, that doesn't sound as bad.
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      01-04-2022, 08:52 AM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GixY2K View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Visconti View Post
The $4195 is including a ECU that's very hard to come by.

If anyone doesn't want to do the cloned route we can tune the original computer - but ecutek, MHD, bm3 don't support this. So no on-the-fly map switching, no real flex fuel , no adjustable burble, no phone flashing, no advanced data logging etc.

Using the original computer is $3500 tuned. You'll need a windows laptop for this process. We can still remote tune and remote update.

John
Understood. My mistake.

So the cloning process would be ~$1,600 out of the ~$4195. If so, that doesn't sound as bad.
No, that's not correct.

$3500 is including
-shipping ECU to us
-shipping ECU to Russia
-shipping ECU back to us
-shipping ECU back to you
-Femto flashing license
-enet cable + USB adapter
-Bluetooth logger
-custom tune

$4195
-shipping ECU to us
-shipping ECU to Russia
-shipping ECU back to us
-pre-June computer
-cloning computer
-shipping ECU back to you
(Still requires tuning)

The $4195 service is limited due to available of computers. This is only for Customers who want tuning from us and we will only use EcuTek on these.

John
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      01-04-2022, 02:40 PM   #27
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Where are we with ODBII tuning? Thought it was cracked months and months (and months!) ago?
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      01-04-2022, 02:47 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankiebones View Post
Where are we with ODBII tuning? Thought it was cracked months and months (and months!) ago?
September Femto had OBD Programming enabled, but no end user software.

Early October we got end user software to provide to people - which now allows us to remote tune like we're use it.

This is the $3500 option I was talking about above.

John
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      01-04-2022, 02:50 PM   #29
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I think most people aren't going to see this as a practical option until we can unlock locally or via OBDII. The tuning is not the main problem. It's having to send the ECU to Russia to unlock
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      01-04-2022, 03:36 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McLaren720s View Post
I think most people aren't going to see this as a practical option until we can unlock locally or via OBDII. The tuning is not the main problem. It's having to send the ECU to Russia to unlock
With respect to OP, who put a lot of time and effort into this project, nearly no one will be willing to send an ECU abroad. This is probably true when the world is not experiencing the logistical challenges we currently face but it is doubly true right now.
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      01-04-2022, 03:43 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankiebones View Post
With respect to OP, who put a lot of time and effort into this project, nearly no one will be willing to send an ECU abroad. This is probably true when the world is not experiencing the logistical challenges we currently face but it is doubly true right now.
Fuck I wont even take mine out of the car; Ill bet out those that actually want to ECU tune their cars- hardly any want to ship it even around the USA.
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      01-04-2022, 04:58 PM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic55 View Post
Fuck I wont even take mine out of the car; Ill bet out those that actually want to ECU tune their cars- hardly any want to ship it even around the USA.
Agreed, this whole ship to another country crap is just bonkers. Frankly whoever those guys are in Russia should stop playing around and just license their unlock to all the other tuners. Take a cut from every sale, done!

Apple App Store model! It's not rocket science.

They are going to sit on it and once BM3 or any other stateside tuner figures it out, and they will be left out in the "literal" cold. IMO
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      01-04-2022, 06:42 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forza1976 View Post
Agreed, this whole ship to another country crap is just bonkers. Frankly whoever those guys are in Russia should stop playing around and just license their unlock to all the other tuners. Take a cut from every sale, done!

Apple App Store model! It's not rocket science.

They are going to sit on it and once BM3 or any other stateside tuner figures it out, and they will be left out in the "literal" cold. IMO
This is why we handle for the customers. You only have to ship it to us. Then all the liability is on us. We've hundreds of bench unlocks (customers sending the ECU to us, we shipping back to customer) and have never * knock on wood* had any issue at all.

Luckily the ECUs arent very difficult to remove and essentially anyone can do it. IMO, the only downfall and inconvenience for most is if its their only car. They have to be a few days without a mobile vehicle. Thats the only complaint / issue we've received from anyone after doing a couple hundred units.
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      01-04-2022, 07:42 PM   #34
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Can I just buy a ECU and send it or does mine have to be sent out?
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      01-04-2022, 07:48 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankiebones View Post
With respect to OP, who put a lot of time and effort into this project, nearly no one will be willing to send an ECU abroad. This is probably true when the world is not experiencing the logistical challenges we currently face but it is doubly true right now.
I understand what you're talking about, however it's not true.

We are sending packages to Russia at least once a week, we've done 40+ so far. We really have it all worked out, and have a way to track packages outside of DHL. Worst case scenario if a package gets lost we can order a new ECU for a car, this takes 2-3 days for that to come in.

If you're worried about downtime and money isn't a problem you can always order a second ecu from the dealer - and we send that off to Russia. Then you still can drive your car.

I've done that 3 times so far.

John

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic55 View Post
Fuck I wont even take mine out of the car; Ill bet out those that actually want to ECU tune their cars- hardly any want to ship it even around the USA.
We actually handle a lot of bench unlocks for Supra.

People send ECUs to us from all over the world.

We normally do a few hundred a year, shipping something isn't a big deal especially when you send it overnight

Last edited by Visconti; 01-04-2022 at 07:53 PM..
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      01-04-2022, 07:50 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsixtial View Post
Can I just buy a ECU and send it or does mine have to be sent out?
Your ECU needs to go to Russia no matter what.
If you want to clone, you need a PreJune S58 (X3M) ECU.
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      01-04-2022, 08:35 PM   #37
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So, hopefully I understand this correctly, if I plan on keeping my car on pump fuel as a DD, Would I just need the 2nd ECU/EcuTek? This would come out to around $5,000 USD…

What is the total downtime from me pulling my ECU to me inserting the new tuned ECU, I.e. how many days will I not be able to drive my car?

What benefits do I get with having a 2nd ECU? Does this mean that if I wanted to make a warranty claim I could just pop in my original ECU and BWM would have no way to tell I tuned my vehicle even with their new tune detecting update in ISTA?
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      01-04-2022, 08:39 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B58Tuned View Post
So, hopefully I understand this correctly, if I plan on keeping my car on pump fuel as a DD, Would I just need the 2nd ECU/EcuTek? This would come out to around $5,000 USD…

What is the total downtime from me pulling my ECU to me inserting the new tuned ECU, I.e. how many days will I not be able to drive my car?

What benefits do I get with having a 2nd ECU? Does this mean that if I wanted to make a warranty claim I could just pop in my original ECU and BWM would have no way to tell I tuned my vehicle even with their new tune detecting update in ISTA?
Downtime is 10-15 business days, depends on 'customs'.

We've had this process done as quickly as 8 days.

Those that want all the bells and whistles will want a cloned ecu.
-Port Injection
-True Flex Fuel
-On The Fly Map Switching
-Anti Lag
-On The Fly Burble Adjustment
-Advanced Datalogging

There is a limited amount of unlocked S58 ecus we can use, so most will have no choice but to do the $3500 option.

Warranty stuff? umm no
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      01-04-2022, 09:19 PM   #39
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I’m just impressed by how fast Visconti answers each question! If the ecu tunes are as fast as these replies the cars will be in the 8’s!!!!
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      01-04-2022, 10:13 PM   #40
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Talking

I pulled the trigger on this for a few reasons:

1- Not saying anything wrong about JB4, but is not for everyone. I never figured it out how to get rid of the throttle closures, I was told just to put it in comfort mode and be happy.

2- Removing the CEL in diagnostic mode every time is a bit annoying. The VPN "hack" doesn't work anymore.

3- Ecutek - I think this is something new to the BMW community, most people here are used to BM3 and MHD, but only people coming from the GTR, BRZ and recently the MKV community, knows the platform.

It's quite nice:

- Ability to flashing offline (no need for internet)
- Many parameters to log
- Racerom support (multi map switching, flex fuel, burbles config, rolling anti lag, etc)
- Nice pool of tuners
- No CEL
- No speed limit
- Custom gauges

I have Ecutek on the Supra, before that I had BM3 OTS maps, it's night and day difference, granted, it's a custom tune in Ecutek and I think you could get a nice result with BM3 too, but the car feels like stock with more power and if you check the logs, the timing is beautiful, zero knock, etc.

Depends on your tuner, but it can expose the E % level in the dashboard, adjust the burbles aggressiveness in real time, switch maps in real time, the rolling anti lag and the seamlessly integration with the flex fuel kit, it's worth it.

I can't wait to have the custom tune on my base G82, with no throttle closures and proper Competition boost levels

Right now the supra spanks the G82 easily with E50 (high 10s @ 126 mph) but the G82 should be able to do high 9s in the 135 mph range...

Last edited by 0Camus0; 01-04-2022 at 10:35 PM..
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      01-05-2022, 03:03 AM   #41
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Exclamation

Quote:
Originally Posted by McLaren720s View Post
I think most people aren't going to
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankiebones View Post
nearly no one will be willing to send an ECU abroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic55 View Post
hardly any want to ship it even around the USA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by forza1976 View Post
Agreed, this whole ship to another country crap is just bonkers. Frankly whoever those guys are in Russia should stop playing around and just license their unlock to all the other tuners. Take a cut from every sale, done!

Apple App Store model! It's not rocket science.

They are going to sit on it and once BM3 or any other stateside tuner figures it out, and they will be left out in the "literal" cold. IMO
Hello, first of all thanks to all the members of this forum for your interest and feedback.
Want to clarify some of the things.
"About the shipping thing"
We live in 21st century, where everything can be shipped to anywhere in the world easily.
Delivery services are smart enough not to loose their customers' packages "just because", so everything is delivered quickly and without the slightest damage.
"About stopping playing around"
We are not "playing around" unlike other "innovators" you can find on these forums. We've found a solution and we are constantly improving it since we want to help community to tune their cars, not just to shout out "we are the first and do what we want". We are always open for cooperation and answering all of the questions quickly and precisely.
We have a reasons not to share/license our solution to anyone.
First, and obvious - copy protection, we just don't want to give opportunity "to figure out" (actually - to copy our solution) for other sw/hw developers. Let them find this by themselves, fair enough, huh?
Second, most important - we want you to still be able to tune your cars in the future, just think how soon there will be a new revision of the software after control units with a 06.2020+ release date are unlocked everywhere and you will be forced to update your car's SW because of silly reason like "brake lamp works incorrectly" (brakes are serious thing, you can't ignore this, right?).

We have been working with Visconti for a long time, and they do everything quickly, flawlessly and with great attention to details.
For the haters - we're answering here with their approval, so we're not hijacking this thread.

PS: Some funny pictures attached. Just check the dates and draw conclusions.
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      01-05-2022, 07:14 AM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by femtoevo View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by McLaren720s View Post
I think most people aren't going to
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankiebones View Post
nearly no one will be willing to send an ECU abroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic55 View Post
hardly any want to ship it even around the USA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by forza1976 View Post
Agreed, this whole ship to another country crap is just bonkers. Frankly whoever those guys are in Russia should stop playing around and just license their unlock to all the other tuners. Take a cut from every sale, done!

Apple App Store model! It's not rocket science.

They are going to sit on it and once BM3 or any other stateside tuner figures it out, and they will be left out in the "literal" cold. IMO
Hello, first of all thanks to all the members of this forum for your interest and feedback.
Want to clarify some of the things.
"About the shipping thing"
We live in 21st century, where everything can be shipped to anywhere in the world easily.
Delivery services are smart enough not to loose their customers' packages "just because", so everything is delivered quickly and without the slightest damage.
"About stopping playing around"
We are not "playing around" unlike other "innovators" you can find on these forums. We've found a solution and we are constantly improving it since we want to help community to tune their cars, not just to shout out "we are the first and do what we want". We are always open for cooperation and answering all of the questions quickly and precisely.
We have a reasons not to share/license our solution to anyone.
First, and obvious - copy protection, we just don't want to give opportunity "to figure out" (actually - to copy our solution) for other sw/hw developers. Let them find this by themselves, fair enough, huh?
Second, most important - we want you to still be able to tune your cars in the future, just think how soon there will be a new revision of the software after control units with a 06.2020+ release date are unlocked everywhere and you will be forced to update your car's SW because of silly reason like "brake lamp works incorrectly" (brakes are serious thing, you can't ignore this, right?).

We have been working with Visconti for a long time, and they do everything quickly, flawlessly and with great attention to details.
For the haters - we're answering here with their approval, so we're not hijacking this thread.

PS: Some funny pictures attached. Just check the dates and draw conclusions.
Thanks for the reply!
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      01-05-2022, 08:35 AM   #43
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I'm not a fan of JB4 piggyback types of tuning; I had purchased one but returned the unopened package for a refund. I'm also not going to the trouble and high $ expenditure of pulling my ecu and sending it out for tuning. BM3 and others will eventually have ecu tuning products to offer and at that time I'll be all over it. In the meantime I'll entertain myself by reading all the "when are they going to come up with ecu tuning" threads.
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      01-05-2022, 09:00 AM   #44
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If we tune our cars via the ecu swap method, can we pop the old ecu back in and take it to the dealer with simple coding or is it more of a "once its done, its done" thing?
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