If any of you are part of the millions of enthusiasts like myself that live in CA and are tired of of hearing how others throughout the country tuned their cars and removed their emissions equipment, I finally have some good news.

I spoke to Eugene at Enthusiast Auto Care yesterday and it looks like we finally have a performance oriented tune for the G/Z that is CARB compliant (EOD stickers arrived this week): https://vq37tt.com/products/ecutek-e...50007993254166

If you guys are not familiar with Eugene, he is our G/Z/VQ37VHR Mentat (Dune reference). I have followed him since I owned a G35, and there isn't much that he doesn't know about our platform and the amount of time he has put into perfecting this tune is staggering.

High level features include:

• 5–10%+ Power Gains, even on 91 octane fuel (regardless of mods)
  
  • Improved throttle response and midrange torque
    
• Adaptive Multi-Octane Mapping (87–93+ octane)
  
  • One map for all octane, so if you use Octane boost, the tune adapts
    
• Adaptive support for fuel changes and mods
  
• Advanced Fail-Safes for lean AFR and coolant over-temp
  
• Anti theft lockout, so no more kill switches in difficult to reach spots, steering wheel and OBD locks
  
• Custom Torque Modeling Enhancements for Improved 7AT Shift Quality
  
• Fully Adjustable Secondary Traction Control for enhanced grip management
  

If you have questions, he's always open to a call (number on website) and won't send you to an email alias or AI based support system.

I know $1245 bucks isn't cheap, but I see people now on Reddit wanting to spend $1000 on sophisticated kill switch mounting, so for a little more you get years of expertise wrapped into a custom tune that can give you up to 10% more power (results may vary right?) and even make your VHR transmission shift like a VR30 unit. Seems like a great deal IMO.

Note: UpRev has something they call a CARB compliant tune, but it's really just a stock OEM ECU flash for people in CA going through emissions testing.

 

Note that $1245 includes the Bluetooth dongle, key cable and EcuTek license. It's $920 otherwise.

A 10% bump for that price is a no brainer opportunity, particularly from someone established and trustworthy. My experience with Eugene four years ago was excellent. His tuning priorities are all about efficiency, which makes for an all-over better driving experience than other tuners who go for shock and show.

Are you onboard, socket?

 

You know me, I’m all about the journey vs the destination, so I need to noodle a little and look forward to the upgrade to fully appreciate. With that said, after my call with Eugene it pretty much feels like a no brainer.

 

My understanding is that all of Californias licensed smogers machines have a way to detect any ecu that has been tampered with. Regardless of flashing it back to stock. Not true?

 

Correct. Eugene's tune has an EOD number, so it's legit and he will send a decal you can put in the engine bay.

Note that tuning optimizes AFR, fuel and ignition tables, knock sensor sensitivity and timing advance while also improving the torque curve/tables for better shifts via the TCM.

I also ended up with an encrypted fuel cut that I can enable in the Ecutek App when away from the car.

MPG mixed is up to 19-20mpg, and highway is now comfortable at 27mpg. I am guessing on a longer drive I can hit 30mpg now with Cruise Control.

Mods are listed in my signature. Mild...