Returning to stock before first tune?

Hey Guys,

Still in my research phase before I start trying to work on tuning my car and one thing that came to mind is whether or not it might be a good idea to return my car to stock before working on tuning it myself?

Currently the car I have was "pro" tuned by a local shop for the intake & 3 port boost controller on it, but since its locked into Cobb land I have to ditch that and start over with open source from the base tune. I dont feel overly concerned about the intake and the 3 port but I have read some things that indicate that the 3 port isn't even that ideal to be using with a car this close to stock since you lose some granularity in boost control and the 3 port I believe is designed to run optimally at a higher wastegate frequency?

Anyhow, curious what others opinion are on this and whether it might be beneficial to pull the 3 port and intake off the car for my first crack at tuning it?

You could do it either way, but personally I think starting with a stock vehicle is a great idea. That way the stock calibration you're starting from is designed for the parts configuration you have. You can optimize the system in stock form, then add one mod at a time, observe the changes it causes, and retune for it.

In terms of losing control with a 3 port, or optimal frequency differing, that's not necessarily the case. It would depend on the stock solenoid and ECU you're working with. If you let us know what vehicle you have we could give you a better idea.

2018 subaru STI

Ah yea a typical COBB, GS, Mac 3 port on the stock turbo/gate on that car won't lose you any significant resolution. You will want to update the frequency like you said to take advantage and stabilize wastegate position. COBB has the ability. I don't know if the WG frequency table is present in open source software.