Ok! So I got the TQ mgmt issue solved. At least I think I do. I assume it's what I changed, and not just some weird temperature and moon phase imbalance making it go away now.
The first bump, where the vertical line is in my last image occurs only when I artificially hold it in 3rd at low rpm and WOT to get a full rpm range log. After some experimentation, it just doesn't occur if I am not manually holding it in that gear.
The second blip (the very next one after the line) at around 5K rpm took some experimentation, but I think I've got it nuked. The canned tune had adjusted the virtual torque tables from stock, but just not enough. So first run today... verified TQM was still there at 5K-ish... it was. Bumped the VTT per KingLT1's instructions he had previously provided in a PM. Didn't want to bump them until I had a reason to since canned tune already bumped from stock. Honestly, it was a shot in the dark, didn't know if this was going to fix it, and it was something I hadn't tried yet. So for second pass, I bumped the final row in VTT up by 10% (multiply last row of each section by 1.1), then select whole range of cells (all of them from first row to last row, with cell linking turned on) and interpolate the middle rows.
Made another pass, still there, but it was a little better. Decided to go an additional 15% by the same method. The low 3rd gear thing is still there, but honestly dont care. I am chalking it up to something with unlocking the TC, or a downshift or something... again, doesn't occur unless holding that gear manully. The TQM at the higher rpm was gone, and it runs great! I may have overdone it a bit by going addl 15% on that second update to VTT. I may back that down a bit. But.... then again... it really runs like I want it to now. It holds gears quite a bit longer at part throttle, which not good for fuel economy, but I have always thought the "track mode" was too tame to be a track mode. So now it's using CJPerformance track mode
. So, now if i'm applying steady or increasing throttle, it holds lower gears for longer, just what I want if I'm going to roll out through an intersection and punch it after I'm clear.
At this point, I feel like I've got the tune pretty much nailed down from what I can tell. Runs incredibly strong now. I've done so much incremental tuning, I had thought about going back and applying the original canned tune to compare by seat of pants... but honestly, that tune scares the **** out of me now. Would never run that tune again.
Going to put together a summary of all the changes between the canned tune and current and post it later. Cant wait to get this to a track and see if my perceptions match reality.