Manoli Katakis 
Is the wait over for being able to successfully tune the encrypted ECU of the C8 Corvette, and other GM vehicles like the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing and 2022 Chevrolet Silverado? If you’re paying attention to Trifecta Performance, it would appear that the answer is a “yes.” Compared to the techniques from other aftermarket companies to get the C8 Corvette to cooperate with extra power desired by customers, Trifecta Performance is said to not require a “piggyback” or any kind of interceptor ECU. This is being referred to as a “native” tune.
C8 Corvette Native ECU Tune Claimed By Trifecta
Trifecta’s C8 Corvette ECU tuning announcement goes on to say the following:
“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).”
With that said, Trifecta also noted that native tuning the C8 Corvette ECU won’t solve the limitations of the car’s various hardware, such as half-shafts, transmission clutches, or fuel system, but it will allow for correct torque management events to occur. Moreover, improving the output over GM’s calibration for the 6.2L LT2 V8 engine has proven to be marginal even with native tuning its ECU.
The company says that it adjusted the air/fuel ratio, ignition timing, DI fuel injection timing, DI rail pressure, and variable cam phasing angles. The dyno charts from the adjustment are pictured below. According to Trifecta Performance, The red line is stock calibration, the green like shows a power enrich (PE) ratio to 11.5 across the board. The orange line is with a PE ratio of 13.5, while the blue line represents the variable valve timing (VVT) tables zeroed out, with power dropping off hard in the high RPM range. As you can see, the output of the LT2 was barely improved from stock. As for adding forced induction, however, that’s likely a different story.
We reached out to Trifecta for comment, so we hope to learn more on this breakthrough soon.
