General engine tuning tips (VERY General)

[astracoupe]

Originally Posted by HDi fun

From a diesel perspective, anything that isn't turbocharged is a waste of time from a tuning POV. Similarly, anything that isn't using electronically managed direct injection is a pointless tuning proposal.

Get rid of those two ointment bound flies and things get more interesting. My 2001 plated Peugeot 406 2.2HDi has been re-mapped from factory spec 136bhp (and it's pretty good in that tune with 235lbft to play with!) to a whopping 192bhp@4150rpm and 329lbft (yes, that's right, I have NOT confused Nm with lbft) delivered from 2250rpm. This endows the car with mid-range thump that wouldn't disgrace a Boxster or Audi TT with the silly enigne option. NO stopwatch necessary, this is a genuinely rapid car now.

All you anti-diesel folks will bang on about 0-60. Yep, well, I've never put a stopwatch on it in anger but you can do it in well under 8 seconds without going over 3500rpm! In gear is a bit of a giggle too - 50 to 70 in FOURTH in about 2.5 seconds!! 70 to 90 in fifth in under 6!!! Flat out, who cares, the factory spec is said to be good for 129mph.

Go figure for yourselves - and then dial in over 35mpg when driven in anger - at the age of 36 I've half grown up but, boy (or lady) do I lurrve that sheer muscle.

What you MUST do, however is;-

1. declare it to your insurers - although it's probably undetectable, any underwriter will do ANYTHING to avoid paying a claim

2. Keep your servicing right on the nail. By the book or more often with the oil/filter swaps. A re-map is really only using up the reserves the manfacturers built in to cope with neglect. Sometimes I wonder if it's done to make it possible to sell petrol models, though. I recently drove a BMW 328i petrol and it felt so bloody spineless in comparison.


3. Set aside a couple of hundred quid a year extra for tyres - you're gonna enjoy the drive )

Kind Rgds,

Paul.

if you think yours is fast you want to drive a remaped vauxhall astra sporthatch 1.9 cdti blow your pug away and its only a 1900cc

[HDi fun]

I expect it would. I think the 1.9 litre unit is the Fiat / Alfa JTD which, I think, offers 150bhp in stock tune.

A good remap has got to shove this to well over 200bhp, which is going to move an Astra very very nicely indeed.

I recently drove a re-mapped Mondeo 2.2 TDCi - that was pretty impressive too.

My ageing 2.2 does have its limitations - the worst of which is there's so much bloody turbo lag below 2000rpm and then grip problems which manifest as torque-steer when it's really pulling.

In it's defence, it's a very smooth unit with twin balancer shafts and it's also barely audible inside the car.

Have fun and stay safe.

Kind regards,

Paul.

[Pixel]

Never buy a straight diesel :P

[Joe]

Anyone ever hear about remapping a 1.3 diesel punto??

[putno driver]

On the subject of Puntos, mine's a petrol one and needs a lot of pushing to get moving.I have seen items advertised on the net called "vortex generators" sort of mini turbo fans and chip tuning stuff.Are these basically bolt on tuning Modifications that actually work? Comments opinions appreciated .

[pgarner]

vortex generators, electric supercharges ecoteck valves are all a waste of money

the vortex generators do what just about every intake manifold does anyway which is cause a disturbance to the airflow to allow better circulation

the electric superchargers - theres no way the motors could substantially move enough air to make much a difference

ecotek valve if you like induction noise then there alright you get the same sound when you lift off but no difference to performance

the chips on the other hand.

the cheap tuning boxes etc that are on ebay for a tenner dont bother there mainly just resistors that trick your engine into thinking the chokes still on. risk damage damage to engine

reputable companies will offer proper chipping or remaps to the ECU which will give a performance increase without damage to the engine. granted on a NASP engine your only looking at about 5 - 8 bhp

[putno driver]

I got the impression a remap is only going to be of any benefit if the motor has a turbo fitted.
Vortex generators are claimed to give between 7 to 12.5% increase in power. On my car that may make a difference. I think they cost about 30 quid and even a girle can fit one.
Do you know of any that have been independently tested?

[pgarner]

an easy way to look at it

if they claim they can get 7 to 12% lets go middle ground and say 10% ( its easy to work with ) your punto would be looking at around 8 bhp with my bora 18bhp for £30 .now a £230 k&n kit claims that it will give me around 10bhp and they have dyno graphs to back up a £600 full exhaust system wil give me around 10 as well. if it works why doesnt car manufactures add them as standard.

the likes of intake filter exhausts and the engine map are constrained by the manufactures simply because people dont look after their cars, also noise regs and emissions

fitment will be easy itll just be a case of removing intake pipe inserting and a couple of jubilee clips