What is the go for tuning a stock ecu ? by this say when you take your subaru in for a service .Do they run a lap top on the car ?? no RS232 port ? so what do they do for improving the motors performance .

I under stand aftermarket ecus , just would like to know about stock ecus .

can a stock ecu be * tuned * or just reset ??
Can you make improvements ??

seagull

The stock can only be reset to factory, but you can plug in a scan tool (tan plug by the green code read plugs and black reset plugs) and read curtain functions real time but no adjustments. The later ECUs (03 on I think) you can get a reflash done but this is very $$$$$$.
You can modify the engine for performance to a certain extent, pod filter, larger exhaust, more boost in the turbo engine, and the ECU will relearn at this configuration, but you have to be careful with mixtures and the best idea would be to have a dyno run to confirm that the're still OK. Subaru run quite fat mixtures in their ECUs so there is some room for improvement berfore it becomes an issue.
There are several chips available to improve performance, one of which is the Vos Chip made in Sydney. Adrian Vos works for Heltech and knows his Subaru stuff. I have one for sale but for turbo model only. Not sure whats available for NA engines.
cheers

Hi seagull, check site http://www.wrx.com....This  will help you.JVLRacing

The car I have just converted had its PCM 'tickled' by Sunspares Subaru in Qld, where the engine came from. Haven't had it oin a dyno yet but it seems to start and run okay, but with no 'baseline' to work from, I have no idea how much greater its output is over stock. But I don't think you will be disappointed with the standard performance... and you won't be opening yourself up to any non-factory problems such as rich mixtures, lumpy idle, stalling, excess fuel consumption etc etc that I have seen dozens of time with 'chipped' cars over the last decade...

There is power to be had without ECU changes from free-ing up the intake system: deleting the resonance chambers and the standard restrictive air claner box etc pre-turbo. Also, of course, exhaust. If you can measure restriction in the system it will give you a guide as to where to spend your time changing things. Fast Fours magazine did a series of articles on all this stuff with a Liberty RS in the mid-90s, if you can track them downnn[Edited on 18-7-2005 by VWCOOL ]