OK I can't take it any more * Ford 1.4 TDCI tuning help*

LOL,

Cheers.

What do you expect? Diesel engines tail off a lot quicker than petrol engines. Compare a RR graph of pretty much any diesel and you will find most of its power between 1.5k and 3k. It wasn't a dig at your car simply it's the characteristics of the type of engine you purchased.
 
Not sure why that's funny. I want more power and a programmable ECU is the best way to get it. Plus I should be able to use motec again on some types of engines.

I could understand you laughing if I spent thousands doing it.

This has to be a wind up.

It's a Ford 1.4TDCI. A 67-70bhp engine. A shopping trolley engine.

You want to stick a MoTec standalone aftermarket ECU, which is usually used for motorsport applications and the top end of the performance market.

It's expensive:

An M4 is circa £900
An M400 is £1900
An M600 is £2100
An M800 is £2300
An M880 is £3900

That excludes fitting, mapping and any R&D.

There won't be a loom for your car that works with the MoTec. Joshy was relatively diplomatic about it, but there won't be. Because how many 1.4TDCI owners will want to stick a MoTec in it? Precisely **** all.

Not to mention that MoTec would probably have a jolly good laugh.

That means you'll have to manually wire in the MoTec (or more likely, pay someone to do it) which would be a massive ballache and/or cost a lot of money (and involve getting laughed at).

Then whoever maps it will have to do it from the ground up. They'll obviously have no previous maps to work from for a base map. Being a MoTec they'll have to do all the fundamental stuff like sorting the idle etc. Which will be expensive.

All this for a 1.4TDCI.


If you can explain to me what this offers you over:

A.) Getting some sort of Diesel tuning remap or rather more sensibly:

B.) Realising that trying to make your car something its not is futile, and you should just sell it and get something more applicable.
 
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Like I said I could use the ECU again if I did go down the fully programmable route. The loom cost would depend on what sensors needed picking up, and on that engine I don't think it would be a great deal. Granted if I wanted all singing data logging model with a host of features to enable me to build a full blown race spec engine in would get very expensive, but all I want is a car in road spec that makes more power.

As for making the car quicker, it seems far from futile TBH. The engine seems to be very willing from what I have read today. If the link above is to be trusted the car should go from,

68 BHP - 100 BHP
160 FT - 240 FT

With a DIY plug in box of tricks.
 
All that can really come of this is postponing your own frustration - even if you do manage to get 100 BHP out of it, the car still won't be fast - it will just be mediocre at best, and getting any more power after that from the engine will become outrageously expensive.

All you will be left with is a car that still winds you up, and a hole in your pocket where the money used to be. An 1100KG (According to Parkers) car with even 115 BHP will be really quite boring again very quickly.
 
You are going to buy a MoTec for a 1.4 TDCI?

Just lol.

We've got a Motec M400 on our Formula Student car, and that cost £2k :o Worth it for us because we're running a 2 stroke bike engine in a 4 stroke cycle, but for a 1.4 Fiesta? No thanks. The amount our ECU cost you could get yourself a nice MK3 Supra or any number of 80's/90's sports cars and still have the Fezza for runs to the shops
 
How about this..... Sell it and buy something else?

You shouldn't loose any money if you do it properly. How about posting the details of the car and people will be able to advise on what you can get for it, what you can change to etc
 
Like I said I could use the ECU again if I did go down the fully programmable route. The loom cost would depend on what sensors needed picking up, and on that engine I don't think it would be a great deal. Granted if I wanted all singing data logging model with a host of features to enable me to build a full blown race spec engine in would get very expensive, but all I want is a car in road spec that makes more power.

So how much exactly do you perceive this will cost.

Gaijin has listed the prices below:


It's expensive:

An M4 is circa £900
An M400 is £1900
An M600 is £2100
An M800 is £2300
An M880 is £3900

That excludes fitting, mapping and any R&D.

So even if you get a discount on the m4, thats still going to be at least £800. Plus live mapping to get an actual map on it by somebody who knows what they are doing, plus fitting etc..

Your going to spending way more than £1000

what on earth is the point in spending 4 figures on a stand alone ECU when you can just get an ECU remap for a couple of hundread £ ?
 
How dare you call my car a turd :p Its not like its north American or anything.

It doesn't matter where your car is made, it is still a turd.

If you want something faster then sell this and buy something else. Throwing on bolt on bits doesn't suddenly make everything better, cars work as systems, not bolt on 'X' and you get 'Y', with 'Y' being more power, 20+ more mpg and x12 16yr old virgins rubbing them up and down your 14 inch hubcaps every saturday night.
 
Your 1.6 is 75 BHP ? Whats the power like over 3500 revs ? The 1.4 starts to get a bit flat at the point ?
The 1.6 is 90bhp (88ps). Its a DOHC 16v engine. I held out to get this engine over the SOHC 8v 1.4 unit. It pulls perfectly well over 5000rpm. As I said, I've never felt its under powered.

Why dont you sell yours, and buy a 1.6 for what - £500 more?

Its got to be a cheaper and better option in every way - insurance, resale, initial outlay, maintenance.
 
As already mentioned by others, if you want to get more out of it - just get rid of it and go for the 1.6 TDCi if you still want to stick to a diesel Ford.

The 1.4 TDCi is terrible engine, as you will already know - sluggish & slow. Heard no end of problems and complaints about them from other people too.

Liam
 
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