general tuning options - wellington

[subysnax]

hi everyone, want some advice on tuning options... what it involves, what they do, how much approximately, and all the other opinions everyone must have

ie can you just go to a tuning specialist to flash the engine, what does a dyno do exactly or is this normally part of a proper tune for a suby

excuse the ignorance

[Johnnynz]

Up until recently an aftermarket ECU was your best and from what I know only option. F.F.S Ltd based in Wellington and I think WRC developments in Napier do reflash for most models now.

If you just want a small increase based around a few bolt on mods its probably the way to go as you can get an increase in power with the peace if mind of knowing all the important stuff has been checked.

The dyno essentially measures the cars power and torque in a controlled environment meaning the tuner can accelerate the car in anyway he/she sees fit and stop the testing at anytime while checking things like Airfuel ratio and knock.

A lot of people swear by road tuning with a dyno check after but I have only ever had Dyno tunes, no particular reason its just how my tuner does it.

[lunchie]

 subysnax said:

hi everyone, want some advice on tuning options... what it involves, what they do, how much approximately, and all the other opinions everyone must have

ie can you just go to a tuning specialist to flash the engine, what does a dyno do exactly or is this normally part of a proper tune for a suby

excuse the ignorance

The term "Tuning" can refer to changing or modifying any part of a car, not just the engine. For instance a car with modified suspension and brakes would definitely be called a "tuned car".

There is also the term "tune-up". This usually refers to examining the parts of a car which are likely to need replacing from time to time and where appropriate replacing them, This includes things like engine oil, filters, fuel filter, spark plugs and so on. During a normal engine "tune-up" things like ignition timing and fluid levels would be checked but very seldom would that include any time on a dyno.

Finally the term "flashing" when used to describe the engine is actually kind of misleading. This is because the engine itself is not really altered, instead the ECU that controls the engine is changed or "re-flashed". These changes usually center around things like ignition mapping, fuel pressure, boost pressure and in some cases changes to the valve timing. Most of the time these changes are made by altering the stock ecu while the car is being run on a dyno.

The dyno is used because it allows the tuner to check how these changes effect the engine throughout the whole rev range and through different gears if necessary. You can also reflash an ECU while road tuning it, basically tweaking settings on a laptop while the car is driven on the road or you can even just reflash an ecu with no road or dyno tuning at all.

Most people agree that having a car reflashed or "flashed" while it is on the dyno is the best way as it means the car can be hooked up to things like an air/fuel ratio prong in its exhaust etc. Sometimes tuners will use a dyno to check the tune and then also take it for a road tune to help smooth acceleration during only light throttle but this is normally only needed when you are writing a whole new ecu map (such as when you buy a motec or LINK ecu to replace your own). With a reflash you are only making small changes to the ecu map so in most cases a dyno based reflash is all that is needed.

Finally there are also some people that believe that a road tune can be just as effective as a dyno tune for reflashing but I am not one of them myself as it is much harder to go to 7000 rpm or whatever your rpm limit is on the road than it is on a dyno lol.

P.S if you intend to modify your car in any way related to power I would strongly advise you start with an ecu re-flash and if you intend on getting an aftermarket exhaust put on then try to get that done just before the re-flash. This is simply because changing the intake or exhaust can alter things like the air/fuel ratio and if you have just gone to the trouble of getting your ecu re-flashed to the perfect settings you don\'t want other mods to throw it out of whack. In other words it is best to get them done all at the same time so the ecu can be the last thing changed.

Also many tuning shops offer packages for what is called "stage 1 tuning"

Stage 1 tuning usually covers a new air filter (intake) and a new exhaust and then an ecu reflash. This can be done for between 1500-2500 including high quality parts like HKS or ZeroSports and labour for their fitment and the re-flash. With this stage 1 fitted you could expect an extra 35-50 hp atw and probably 50-80nm more torque across the rev range.

However if you don\'t want to spend that much even just a re-flash of the ecu on the dyno should get you a good 20hp and lots more torque, (you will definitely feel the extra power) and this should cost between 600-1200$

You mentioned you live in wellington? in that case the place I would take it is STM as they have a crazy amount of experience in this sort of thing and offer guarantees to back up all their work.

http://www.speedtechnz.com/

Hope this helps mate and tell us how you get on.

Cheers

Lunchie

[Guest]

Moneys on ecu work here. Stock filter/box will get over 220wkw think people have had them up to 240wkw on here. Exhaust makes a big difference I was 227wkw 3" TB but 2.5" entry to muffler. Night and day difference swapping back to back to a 3" inlet even the wifey noticed.

Loading a car up on the road isnt hard you just need good brakes. Hold revs at 2k then load up brakes and modulate between the two to fill the table row by row. Takes time but once you get the hang of it its pretty quick. I like road tuning as its the exact conditions its driven in. Given you cant get every last drop of power out of it tho.

[Guest]

http://www.clubsub.org.nz/forum/index.php/topic,38218.0.html

[Bugle]

Think seriously about how your car will stop before you make it go faster...

[sl8r]

Just give STM a call and have a chat.

[lunchie]

 sl8r said:

Just give STM a call and have a chat.

This, always this. Have never heard a bad thing about them except maybe that highly quality work is not always the cheapest, but it\'s worth it.