Stage 2 tuning for modified cars
Stage 2 is the calibration for a car that has already had hardware changed. A downpipe, a decat, an intake or an intercooler alters what the engine can actually flow, and a map written for a standard car does not take advantage of any of it — Stage 2 is the file that does.
- Written for a car with supporting hardware fitted
- Applied to your own ECU read, not a generic file
- Checksum-corrected and flash-ready
- About a minute, from €49.95
What separates Stage 2 from Stage 1
Stage 1 is a calibration for an otherwise standard vehicle: everything the engine has is what it left the factory with, and the map works within those limits. Stage 2 assumes something has changed — most often on the exhaust side, sometimes on the intake — and adjusts the calibration to the engine as it now is rather than as it was designed.
The distinction is not a power number, it is a set of assumptions. A turbocharged engine with a less restrictive exhaust can hold boost differently and spools differently; the same boost target on the same map produces a different result on the two cars. Running a Stage 1 file on a modified car does not damage it, it simply leaves the modification doing very little.
Stage 3 continues the same logic to heavily modified builds, where the calibration has to be matched to the specific parts fitted rather than to a category.
What counts as supporting hardware
There is no formal standard for what a Stage number means — it varies between tuners, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something. In practice Stage 2 describes a car where the exhaust or intake path has been opened up while the engine internals remain standard.
The list below is what usually brings someone to this page. What matters is telling us what is actually fitted, because the calibration is written for the engine as it is.
- Downpipe, sports cat or decat
- Less restrictive exhaust system
- Uprated intake or air filter
- Uprated intercooler
How it works at StageGen
The calibration is applied to the read from your own control unit, so what comes back is your file with the modification in it — and checksum-corrected, which is what determines whether the unit accepts the write at all.
- Upload the original read from your control unit
- Pick Stage 2, plus any other options for the same file
- Download the checksum-corrected result and flash it with your own tool
Options that go with it
Most Stage 2 orders carry something else in the same file. Combining them in one job means one flash cycle rather than several.
- Pops and bangs crackle map, on petrol builds
- Off-road emissions-equipment changes where the build calls for them
Which control units are covered
The platform covers the control units making up the bulk of the European parc, petrol and diesel. If your read comes from one of these families there is a high chance we already hold matching projects for it.
- Bosch ME7, MED9, MED17, MEVD17
- Bosch MG1 and MD1 (MG1CS001, MG1CS003, MG1CS011, MG1CS111 and related)
- Bosch EDC16, EDC17 (including C74 and C76)
- Siemens/Continental SID, SIMOS, MSD and PCR families
- Delphi DCM, Marelli MJD and IAW, Denso, Temic/ZF transmission units
Reading the file in the first place
Master reads open directly — .bin, .ori, .mpc and the other common formats. A read from a slave tool is encrypted and has to be unlocked first, through the crypt/decrypt service or by linking your device to our master.
- Alientech KESS3 — decode a protected slave read first
- Autotuner — decrypt a slave read first
- MMS Flex — .mmf containers handled the same way
Turnaround and pricing
€49.95, typically back in under a minute, processed automatically around the clock — no ticket queue and no waiting on a tuner to come online.
If the file does not work on the car, open a support ticket and we correct it; where we cannot make it work, the cost goes back to your balance.