I purchased my CBS which was completely stock with 3000miles on it last August. Since then I've done a few things - HRE wheels, ModeCarbon vents and some chrome bits wrapped.

After extensive reading/ videos/ sound clips, I decided to have Weistec tune my ECU & TCU Valvebody upgrade. My last 63 had been tuned by MHP and I loved it. However this time I wanted to go with Weistec.

First I'd like to tell you how my experience with Alex from Weistec was. Absolutely amazing customer service, quick replies, knowledgeable and very professional. My TCU some how got damaged during the shipping process from Tokyo to California, Weistec fixed it for me and hooked me up with expedited shipping back to Tokyo free of charge. It wasn't their fault but they still fixed it for me. Above and beyond customer service!

Then I changed my filters to aFe MagnumFlow pro dry s. ECU/TCU installed and went for a drive yesterday and today.

My driving experience has been change drastically. As a car enthusiast, I notice every detail of my cars. The sound has changed for the better, more back fires when I up shift and cleaner sounding back fires. More pops and gurgles down shifting and overall just sounds more aggressive.

The shifting speed has become so much quicker it's hard to believe. I went and picked up my best bud who has been in my car many many times and his jaw dropped, he noticed right away. The rev matching on down shifts is just pleasure to my ears. With the Valvebody upgrade I have a true 'throttle blip' too.

The power gain is very noticeable, the car seems so much more urgent in the lower power band and so much faster from such a simple upgrade.

I'm sure other tunes are great too but I highly recommend Weistec for anyone who isn't sure which tuner to use. And definetly get the TCU Valvebody upgrade too. It's like night and day! Don't be a cheapskate with your car/baby, you can cheap out on your girlfriend/wife lol. With the filters and ECU tune getting gains of around 50 wheel horsepower is insane! For non-believers check out the Weistec site and see their graphs.

Thanks for reading!

 

great to know about the TCU VB upgrade being a difference maker. Did you have a shop remove the part and ship to weistec for you? My biggest concern is removing a part and shipping it then having it reinstalled. I'd probably be more comfortable with driving all the way down to weistech myself and having them do it on site.

 

Yes I had a shop remove the TCU for me. There are instructions on how to do it on the Weistec web site but I perfered having a proffesional do it.

Can't wait to drive my car again in the morning haha. You won't be disappointed if you have it done.

 

Cool man
Did you have a chance to dyno your car?

 

Nice review. Can't wait, mine is in the shop for the VB/TCU as we speak....

 

Thanks for the review. Looks like the TCU VB upgrade is a must do.... do you notice the quick shifts and rev matching only in M mode or also in S/S+?
I already have the EC V5 tune, ROW boxes and dry filters. Might have to consider this next on my list!

 

Thx

My car windows are being replaced now, so another week before that's done. Hopefully in a couple weeks I can do the 'after' dyno and post the before and after

 

You are gonna love it!

 

I pretty much only drive in 'm' mode but I did test it in s+ for a few mins and definetly noticed the shifting speed dramatically improved aswell.

 

Interesting. I wonder if the Weistec TCU would work with the EC V5 tune, with the Blip-Shift. I reckon it would, since the blip is in the "ECU", but, I wonder if it'd have some weird effect with the TCU being faster and blipping and what-not too.

 

Not sure, but perhaps someone from Weistec will chime in.

From what I understand is the EC v5 is not a true 'blip' since to achieve this you must physically alter your VB which Weistec does. I've heard great things from both companies but this is one of the many reasons why I went with Weistec.

In any case I haven't had a v5 tune so I can't say anything about it. Just sharing my experience with the Weistec ECU & TCU VB upgrade.

 

How involved is it to take out your tcu? I know you had a shop do it. What would I be looking at price wise? They don't have to pull the whole trans do they?

 

Thanks for sharing, definitely useful info here.

 

Check out their web site, they have a step by step PDF how to remove and reinstall. ECU or TCU

Select the tab documentation for TCU instructions.

http://weistec.com/all/c/c-63/2012-2...u-upgrade.html

I'm not sure if there are differences between BS and non BS so you better ask one of their staff members for all the info/questions. I think the CBS comes from factory with rev matching software.

 

Thanks does not look hard at all

 

Removing it is not the hard part. Refilling the transmission fluid is the part that requires special tools and a VERY specific procedure.

 

Yeah I figured but I figured cost wise wouldn't be much more then the cost of a trans service however down time at a shop that's the question as to if they would be cool with

 

Interesting. Looks like I'll look into this when I'm due to do my Transmission Fluid Flush.

How much "faster" would you say? The Black Series already comes with the MCT Dual Clutch right? So, it's already faster than the 722.9 in the PFL?

 

No. The BS MCT trans is no different than the normal one found in the FL cars. It is not a dual clutch.

 

But the Pre FL isn't the MCT, and it's the slower shifting one, right?

IIRC, there were two trannys for the W204?

Pre FL had a slower shift, and FL had a faster shift? Something about rev-matched downshifts or something too?

 

Pre FL cars had a torque converter auto while the FL cars have a wet clutch in place of the torque converter making them shift faster but also causing more jerkiness and odd behavior in stop and go traffic.

 

Ahh. Fair enough!

I wonder if the Weistec TCU VB pushes the TQ Converter Pre FL Auto to essentially FL Shift Speeds, or faster? That would be great IMO.