TRIFECTA Performance Claims to Have Cracked the C8 Corvette’s ECM

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TRIFECTA Performance Claims to Have Cracked the C8 Corvette's ECM

Photo Credits: TRIFECTA Performance


Trifecta Performance, a Washington-based performance shop, is making the bold claims to have gone somewhere where no tuner has ever been…inside the encrypted Engine Control Module (ECM) of the C8 Corvette. The firm published a lengthy blog post early Saturday morning claiming to be the first to native-tune the C8 Corvette.

The 8th generation Corvette and other vehicles that utilize GM’s Global B electrical system for data processing also have the added benefit of being able to receive over-the-air software updates from General Motors. Protecting vehicles from cyberattacks is one of the major reasons for the advanced encryption but that has also locked out tuners and automotive enthusiasts trying to give their cars some added performance.

TRIFECTA Performance Claims to Have Cracked the C8 Corvette's ECM


Tuners like FuelTech USA have successfully utilized a secondary controller that’s piggybacked onto the Corvette and will deliver additional fuel as needed, but TRIFECTA explains why this isn’t an optimal solution: “A piggyback system has the task of persistently lying to the engine control module (ECM) about what’s going on with the engine in order to push the ECM into a behavior that allows the power adder to work correctly.”

In many cases this involves clipping the mass air flow (MAF) sensor value so the ECM doesn’t think the engine is making too much power. Or clipping the manifold pressure (MAP) sensor value so when the manifold goes into boost, it doesn’t set a sensor fault. Essentially a piggyback system has to make the engine look like it’s making no more power than the stock engine does, while allowing it to make, in some cases twice as much power, or even more.

TRIFECTA says that one of the major consequences of a piggybacked system is that the C8 Corvette’s transmission becomes overpowered. The ECM is tasked with providing a temporary torque reduction between shifts which also includes closing the throttle, cutting fuel, and retarding the ignition timing during that shift. “If the ECM is being told by the piggyback that the engine is making 460 lb-ft of torque, but it’s actually making 660 lb-ft of torque, it’s not going to be able to correctly reduce the torque for the gear-to-gear transition, and POOF, there go your transmission clutches.

We’ve seen that exact situation occur with Emelia Hartford’s C8 Corvette and we believe she might be on the third set of clutches as she attempts to solve her shifting issues at the drag strip.

TRIFECTA Performance Claims to Have Cracked the C8 Corvette's ECM


Vince Geglia II, the owner and founder of TRIFECTA Performance says this moment has been coming for a long time. “When I told people we would be tuning the C8, almost without exception, the first question I was asked was, ‘How much power do you think you’ll get?’ My answer? ‘None.'”

After first driving the mid-engine Corvette, Vince predicted there would be little to no power left on the table in the C8 Corvette and for the most part, he has been right. “We adjusted the air to fuel ratio, ignition timing advance, DI injection timing, DI rail pressure, and variable cam phasing angles. We confirmed that our calibration changes were in fact taking effect, but none of them led to measurably significant power gains.”

“We absolutely respect what GM has built here. Aftermarket tuners have a tendency to cast themselves as smarter than the OE engineers as a dubious marketing strategy for their services. GM without question put their best foot forward with the C8, and from a tuner’s perspective, this car deserves nothing less than the humblest approach,” said Vince.

TRIFECTA Performance Claims to Have Cracked the C8 Corvette's ECM


TRIFECTA offers a dyno chart on their blog post showing four different pulls of their C8 Corvette and they illustrate some of the tuning changes that were tested including modifying the PE ratio and the variable valve timing (VVT) calibration.

The post wraps up by going through some of the possibilities for native-tuning the C8 Corvette, especially when it comes to making “power adders” like turbos and superchargers work with the existing ECM.

Native tuning opens up so many possibilities for not only making power adders work but also making them work reliably, with OE level controls and diagnostics. Turbocharger builds can have octane scalar-based airflow limits enabled. Supercharger builds can limit boost based on incoming air temperature. And, instead of figuring out how to evade the OE diagnostics and safeguards, native tuning allows attention to be paid to recalibrating, or even enabling OE diagnostics that are otherwise disabled (e.g. enabling boost control diagnostics on a factory naturally aspirated calibration).

Vince says this is a very exciting moment for the C8 Corvette and they are excited to share in pushing the platform forward. We can imagine their telephone is ringing off the hook as other tuners and enthusiasts look to TRIFECTA’s solution as a new opportunity for those who want to unlock the power of their mid-engine Corvettes. The fact that this happens just as the Corvette Z06 is preparing to hit the market should make the tuner market even more fun for those looking to explore the limits of Corvette’s first flat-plane crank engine.


Source:
trifectaperformance.com

Related:
Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter on Allowing Access to the C8 Corvette’s ECU
2020 Corvette Stingary is Capable of Receiving Over-the-Air Updates
[VIDEO] FuelTech Utilizes a Custom ECU for Tuning a 750+ Horsepower Twin-Turbo C8 Corvette

 



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10 COMMENTS

  1. Congrats!!!!
    However, regardless of changes in engine parameters between shifts, isn’t possible that the C8’s DCT is not up to increased TQ increases past a reasonable point? I appreciate that all mechanicals are over engineered, but a ~200 lbs increase in TQ may just be more that the C8’s trans in up to. I also appreciate it’s complicated.

  2. Yep. I can see an OTA firmware update basically resetting the ECM or adding another level of encryption. Especially if what Trifecta has announced can be verified. GM simply cannot afford to have somebody hacking their engine management system. If you want a turbo, you’ll buy the ZR1. And as even Trifcta admits, there’s nothing left on the table anyway.

  3. @Jose. Seeing as it is there C8, they should be allowed to do anything they want to it. I fail to see how that makes them jerks.
    If they have really unlocked the ECU then this will increase the lifetime and desirability of C8’s in general in the eyes of everyone who wants to mod their car.
    In my case, owning a C7 Z06 and having driven a C8 on the track, I would never buy one unless I could reliably mod it. I found it to be underwhelmingly slow compared to my Z06 (not at launch, but in a straight). The C8 Z06 will change that, but this makes me more willing to consider a C8 Stingray if it’s true.

  4. I like the fact that we can go beyond the factory settings of any vehicle to get whatever performance levels we are willing to pay for and take the associated risks. Isn’t that how modding and hot rodding came about many years ago? I have a C7Z06 and took mine to the next level with a Stage III from Vengeance Racing, and I love it! I ended up with after mod wheel numbers of 681/675 for under 14k and could not be happier with the clean build and drivability of an otherwise stock machine. Not bad for a 2016 2LZ that I bought new and have less than 90k in total because I paid 20k under MSRP. 💪🇺🇸

  5. Surprised the Russians didn’t hack it first. I am sure the Chinese have already counterfeited the ECM.

  6. I am with the tuners here. I am glad that we have a solid way to add boost. Yes, the Z06 trans is beefier and has extra fluid and such. However, add the new clutches and fluid and your stingray is a Z06 minus the FPC.
    Im still getting a Z06 for the FPC but I am glad they got this going.

  7. Breaking into the ECU as was done on the 19 zr1 by swapping for a non encrypted ECU, does not gain a person any gains on Global B for the C8

    There are roughly 10 modules in the car that all have the torque tables.

    The car obeys the least commanded torque from any of those 10 (which is usually the ECU which is commanding the gas pedal input, since it is usually less than WOT in most situations…. thus the ECU is the least torque command of the 10 in those NON WOT instances.

    In normal circumstances, 9 of the 10 allow for max torque (call it 470 at most) and that max torque number is different for each rpm, but the car has a max torque table in all 10 modules. (If one of those other 9 see a problem, then they too have the right to decrease peak torque at any and all RPM)

    So, this is why when Trifecta does things to bring the power DOWN with the ECU, the car listens. It obeys the lowest requested torque.

    Inversely, when they try to bring the torque above 470 at peak, and above its oem torque curve, it does NOT listen.

    The other 9 modules are still commanding the stock peak WOT 470 torque numbers and the car listens to those instead. (since they are lower)

    The car always listens to the lowest of the 10 torque inputs.

    Trifecta still has another 9 modules to reprogram… at minumum.

    And that probably means they need to REPLACE 9 more modules… at minimum, since I do not believe they have actually cracked the encruption, just as the 19 zr1 was never cracked, we just replaced the ECU with a non encrypted one.

    Trifecta is welcome to get into more details of what they have done, but being blunt, we already knew the car behaved this way… back before 2020.

    This appears to be a half-baked bogus announcement from trifecta imo, and it is really misleading false info that far too many publications have bought into and perpetuated as truth.

    They have cracked the ECU… but they have not begun to crack global B.

    The c8 is like no other car before it. Even other cars like Caddy do not have as severe of checks and balances in their global B as the c8 has which control peak torque numbers across the RPM range.

    Stay on top of these guys and force them to show you some results when turbos are added to the car. I already know the answer of what happens 😉

    It seems the rest of the world is still in the dark, including Trifecta

  8. Vette Titans,
    Very interesting post, thanks! Would really like to hear from Trifecta with respect to their quantitative data on a C8 forced induction application using the “cracked encryption.” When question arise, always go to the data…

Comments are closed.