Engine Tuning - more power needed

[twentythreedom]

Been thinking about <what a cunt> chipping / remapping my car - Audi A3 2.0TDi. 30hp gain

I do tons of motorway driving so more power would be cool, and there are always massive holes in standard fuel maps for noise & emission tests, so a remap or chip seems wise. Or is it just idiotic?

But my personal experience of engine tuning is more old skool stuff: race exhausts, jets, filter, on jap sportsbikes.

"Loud pipes save lives"

Had 100hp at the back wheel on my '95 ZX-6R

Any advice / stories etc?

 

[blairsh]

Erm...depends what you want to spend but every story i heard about remapping ended with a destroyed engine (and in some cases these were done by people who knew what they were doing with many other uprated bits and pieces). I would always start by going down the air filter/exhaust/intercooler route...not that i do that sort of thing

Just get a new more powerful car would be my advice.

 

[twentythreedom]

I'm thinking just chip / remap - fuck modifying Just to smooth out the fuelling and power curve would be good tbh. And 30hp extra too if poss

 

[peterkro]

JATO bottles, nobody will beat you when the light goes green even if they are strapped around the back of a Beetle.

 

[not-bono-ever]

get SH ecu from scrapyad and get it chipped- then you can sorta plug and play to see how it goes- keeping your normal one if its doesnt work

 

[twentythreedom]

get SH ecu from scrapyad and get it chipped- then you can sorta plug and play to see how it goes- keeping your normal one if its doesnt work

Nice one, that's the sort of idea I was after

 

[mauvais]

Remapping isn't dangerous per se. The factory map is usually compromised in all sorts of ways.

You can get considerable gains on anything with a turbo. However, the increased torque is likely to put strain on your clutch and possibly DMF, and kill them off in fairly short order, so consider whether you're willing to stump up for not just new ones but uprated ones too.

To be honest, your OP doesn't make sense to me though. More power needed for motorways? B-road blasts I could completely understand, but this just suggests there's something a bit off about your driving. I could be completely wrong, but once you're beyond underpowered supermini territory, I don't think motorway driving's a very demanding application.

 

[twentythreedom]

DONT CRITICISE MY DRIVING

It's mainly so I can blast past cunts on the A3 tbh

 

[mauvais]

Meh. Save your money and drop a gear.

 

[twentythreedom]

Meh. Save your money and drop a gear.

Probably the most sensible option tbf

 

[DownwardDog]

Any advice / stories etc?

Two things with chip tuning diesels.. First, know when to stop. I turned my V8 diesel Land Cruiser pickup into an undriveable torque monster that breakfasted on rear diffs by going too far. Second, be aware that every hundred quid you spend on tuning removes a hundred quid from the resale value of the vehicle. So unless you're going to keep it for a long time or it's something special then it's not worth devaluing the A3 (IMO) to make it a bit faster. If it's not fast enough trade it in for something that is.

 

[19sixtysix]

Stripes! Have you tried go faster stripes?

 

[Crispy]

Leave the house 5 minutes earlier

 

[The Boy]

You know there are treatments available for erectile disfunction?

 

[mauvais]

Second, be aware that every hundred quid you spend on tuning removes a hundred quid from the resale value of the vehicle.

How would anyone ever know?

 

[DownwardDog]

How would anyone ever know?

Either the addition of an extra box into the wiring loom or a weird version number/error codes on the firmware of the ECU. Also nobody can ever resist the siren lure of yet more and the chip is just a gateway drug to fucking around with the cold air intake, turbo and exhaust.

 

[mauvais]

Either the addition of an extra box into the wiring loom or a weird version number/error codes on the firmware of the ECU. Also nobody can ever resist the siren lure of yet more and the chip is just a gateway drug to fucking around with the cold air intake, turbo and exhaust.

A 'tuning box' (shite) can be removed again and noone but a franchised dealer is ever going to look at the ECU version. Agreed with the last bit though.

I can't talk though, I'm off to get mine remapped in a week, and I have this sat in my office:

And it's a N/A petrol so you have to wonder about the sanity of it all

Money you spend on mods is money you'll never see again, rare exclusions excepted. My car's theoretically worthless though so I don't really care about that.

 

[DownwardDog]

A 'tuning box' (shite) can be removed again and noone but a franchised dealer is ever going to look at the ECU version. Agreed with the last bit though.

I buy and sell cars quite regularly and lately quite a few ordinary punters have turned up with Canbus/ODB2 readers, etc. It's an excellent negotiating tool and I always do it if I've got the right reader/cable.

 

[mauvais]

I would try and read the OBD-II faults on anything I was buying, but version codes etc is a detail too far.

 

[hash tag]

I don't have the fastest car on the road but I wouldnt remap or chip, I don't think it offers VFM. I would sooner go for something lighter with a bigger engine. This is a bit difficult when you consider I already drive an Alfa!

 

[twentythreedom]

I've decided it's a bad idea, the car has FSH and all work done by Audi, chipping it is probably asking for trouble

 

[mauvais]

I don't have the fastest car on the road but I wouldnt remap or chip, I don't think it offers VFM. I would sooner go for something lighter with a bigger engine. This is a bit difficult when you consider I already drive an Alfa!

Which Alfa?

 

[Wilson]

I've decided it's a bad idea, the car has FSH and all work done by Audi, chipping it is probably asking for trouble

You could simply adjust the power to weight ratio by ripping out all of the interior bar the drivers seat, chucking away the spare tyre, replacing all of the side windows with polycarbonate and taking speed instead of eating food.

 

[Roadkill]

Electronics have taken all the fun out of engine tuning: if this were fifteen or twenty years ago we'd be talking ported heads, fancy manifolds, lumpy cams and twin carburettors that snort and spit petrol.

 

[twentythreedom]

You could simply adjust the power to weight ratio by ripping out all of the interior bar the drivers seat, chucking away the spare tyre, replacing all of the side windows with polycarbonate and taking speed instead of eating food.

I like your thinking. Sounds cheap too

 

[hash tag]

Which Alfa?

Brera. Not pratical, nor fast, now powerful but one of the most stylish cars ever built and fast becoming a classic

 

[mauvais]

Brera. Not pratical, nor fast, now powerful but one of the most stylish cars ever built and fast becoming a classic

Nice car - and makes a fine grand tourer, but unfortunately like its sibling the 159, it's big, fat and heavy, with often less than optimal power to boot. It's a good example of a car that actually would benefit from being tweaked, which Prodrive did officially to some of them, and made it much better.

Especially if you have a diesel, you can get quite a lot more from a remap, but it's more than just headline power too - a lot smoother power curve and much more torque down low.

Same conditions apply though - you'd be off down a road of needing an uprated clutch etc, and if you're happy with the car for what it is, why bother.

 

[hash tag]

your right, a beautiful, classic grand tourer. She really comes alive on the open road. About 140ish tops on 2.2 petrol.
I was told early on, don't remap, not worth it...shes still running well several years later

 

[mauvais]

I was told early on, don't remap, not worth it...shes still running well several years later

Depends where you go

I'm off to see someone on Monday for work on my car - same guy that did this to a 2.2 Brera: http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-159-brera-and-946-spider/358201-alfatune-brera-2-2-jts.html

It is ultimately folly though; quite expensive for what it is, and only worth it if you're going to cling to the car forever. This time my Fiat shares profit is just about paying! (check me out - I'm so Urbans )

 

[hash tag]

You also have an alfa? The guy you refer to did lots more than a remap and unless he did the works himself would have cost a fortune.