Trifecta Performance Details Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing ECU Flashing

Trifecta Performance, a Washington state-based tuning company, announced back in May that it had found a way to tune the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing that was at the top of the range. This turn of events is quite significant, as the new super sedan uses the luxury brand’s Global B electric vehicle architecture, making the ECU flash an impressive feat. Cadillac Society recently sat down with Trifecta to find out how this happened.

First, some background: the introduction of the all-new Global B electronic vehicle communications architecture in 2020 presents a major challenge for Trifecta and other tuning companies, as high-level encryption features are difficult to get around. While this keeps the vehicle safe from potential hackers, it also makes it difficult to modify the ECU for performance.

In talking to Cadillac Society executive editor, Alex Luft, owner of Trifecta Performance, founder and engineering director Vince Geglia explains that one aftermarket solution for ECU flashing vehicles powered by Global B has implemented a piggyback ECU to facilitate performance mode, but some consider this a “gross fix.” “.

“For Global B vehicles, there is only one ECU that can be used at any given time, because when you swap one for another, this whole trust process has to be re-done,” explains Geglia.

“I think the big thing is that some of the more traditional companies in the industry have been offering products that haven’t come out yet,” says Geglia. “And then you have people talking about military-grade encryption, but bit by bit of the truth of those things being true about Global B but not necessarily what people think.”

“So like I said before, the way it works is no different than the other hoops people have to go through to get setup. This ends up being the case for almost all automakers where you have to make some kind of modification to the hardware to enable it. On the setup side, we haven’t seen anything to show that the actual setup differs from [Global B predecessor] Global A, all the same tables, all the same constants that are there. The software itself hasn’t really changed, the challenge you get is how you get those bits into the ECU.”

Geglia didn’t go into detail about what exactly was required to “jump over the hoop”, but said that there was “some level of modification” required to tune the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing.

“We called it an ECM modification, we had to have our hands on it to do something with it,” added Geglia, and went on to explain that customers interested in flashing the ECU of their CT4-V Blackwing would have to remove the computer and send it to Trifecta. for the setup to work. Additionally, Geglia says customers can buy a second ECU and send it to the Trifecta instead, if they want to be able to drive the super sedan for a while. Trifecta’s turnaround time for tuning the ECU is approximately three days.

Previously, the Trifecta tuned a Cadillac ATS-V, producing more than 500 horsepower from the performance sedan. Geglia says Cadillac Society that he expects the same result when tuning the Blackwing CT4-V.

“We are still in the evaluation stage. We announced quite early that we were working on this and the biggest thing was getting past the ECU challenges,” said Geglia. “The engines on the CT4-V Blackwing are almost the same as those on the ATS-V, so the numbers are very similar.”

As a reminder, 2022’s most superior Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.6L V6 engine (production code LF4), producing 472 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual transmission is standard, while a ten-speed automatic is optional. Power is channeled exclusively through the rear wheels.

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