Remaps/tuning - what's the catch?

nkata said:
Remap = overclocking for petroheads.............with the same or similar upsides and downsides. :p
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This.

Forcing the turbo to spool harder and produce more boost just erodes your safety margins.

Back int'day when everything was NA, you needed to do quite a lot of work to get +40bhp. What a time to be alive.
 
Nasher said:
It's not as simple as that :/

Look at VAG diesels. Good MPG but the emissions for both Co2 and NOX were off the scale when tested without the cheat. Worse than petrol V8s lol
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I'm not talking about NOx.

Co2 is a byproduct of burning fuel. Burn more, emit more. Burn less, emit less.

This is why Europe went diesel mad - they burn less fuel and release less co2 as a result.
 
I don't know why you wouldn't remap a car... (obviously other than warranty and insurance reasons). All things being equal, it's just a fun thing to do! But then again I'm "wired" that way.

It's like buying a PC and overclocking it - sure it puts more strain, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a bit of extra bang for your buck, and so easy to do, and cheap. Why the heck not! :cool:
 
Perhaps I was not very clear in my post.

I was suggesting, from the op about the "catch". If you want more performance from your car, and you're willing to pay for it, why wouldn't you?

If you're not interested in that sort of thing, of course you're not going to do it. I did suggest warranty and insurance by way of example,


Just because you don't like it, or don't want to do it, or it's not your "thing", doesn't make it any less interesting or valid for other people.
 
Freefaller said:
I don't know why you wouldn't remap a car
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I think if I knew there was a particular weak spot in the drivetrain of whatever car was being remapped, I might be hesitant. But then again, the rear differential on the 1.6 mk1 MX5s are known to occasionally fail without warning, and I still supercharged it, and had no issues :D.
 
Howard said:
I think if I knew there was a particular weak spot in the drivetrain of whatever car was being remapped, I might be hesitant. But then again, the rear differential on the 1.6 mk1 MX5s are known to occasionally fail without warning, and I still supercharged it, and had no issues :D.
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Conrods are a known weak point and I still chose to throw enough boost a mine to make circa 280bhp :eek::D
 
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Thing is - for some people a car is just a tool to get from A-B.

For some it's something to have fun with - if you can exploit it to get more out of it, all warranty/insurance issues aside, you'd do it surely?

Then again I've never owned a car I haven't fettled with - because I enjoy that sort of thing, so I see things differently.
 
Freefaller said:
I don't know why you wouldn't remap a car... (obviously other than warranty and insurance reasons). All things being equal, it's just a fun thing to do! But then again I'm "wired" that way.

It's like buying a PC and overclocking it - sure it puts more strain, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a bit of extra bang for your buck, and so easy to do, and cheap. Why the heck not! :cool:
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One good reason is when you come to sell it no one likes to see 'been remapped bruv'.

That's without going into detail on issues with how turbo diesels are remapped.
 
A tune can add value, but only if it's done by someone reputable (e.g. someone like Cosworth or Mountune, or one of the other well tuners). But then they won't normally do just a remap on it's own and they mainly focus on certain cars.

But yea, a remapped diesel is just going to scare most people off.
 
I suppose it depends on where you buy/sell your cars. Amongst enthusiasts it would be a worthwhile buy as they have already spent the money on a remap.

If you lease a car, or have a company car, and so on, then of course this is not going to be your "thing".
 
Alex_6n2 said:
Back int'day when everything was NA, you needed to do quite a lot of work to get +40bhp. What a time to be alive.
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Indeed, tuning NA engines is very very costly, trying to get more from already highly strung NA engines is even more costly.

The early days of turbos was also easier, changing wastegate springs or a bleed valve etc, all very cheap and a worthwhile hike in power/torque :D

Although remapping is obviously better its not as easy for home based tuners unless you have all the kit, then you need the understanding too.
 
Dialing up a turbo is easy, but then your forcing things. It's not as safe :)

NA engine tuning is more rewarding though and you can't beat a high revving NA for the way the power is delivered (and the noise) :D
 
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Nasher said:
Dialing up a turbo is easy, but then your forcing things. It's not as safe :)
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You don't just throw a hunk at boost at things at hope it's going to okay though.

You add fuel, remove some spark advance then increase the boost and slowly put the timing back in until you either stop making power or start getting knock then remove some additional timing to give you a safety margin for heat and fuel quality variance.

Tuning is fairly simple science, it isn't the dark art some people would lead you to believe
 
Freefaller said:
I suppose it depends on where you buy/sell your cars. Amongst enthusiasts it would be a worthwhile buy as they have already spent the money on a remap.

If you lease a car, or have a company car, and so on, then of course this is not going to be your "thing".
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When I was looking for M3s I was put off by remaps, no rational reason other than you know at the back of your head its going to impact engines life. However now I own one I would like to decat and remap (via Evolve 'stage2') mine but at the back of my mind I know that it will make it harder to sell in the future despite it only being an enthusiast market there is always demand for standard 'unmolested' cars.

So is it worth if when it's fast enough already? Honest answer is, don't know.
 
Nasher said:
It's not as simple as that :/

Look at VAG diesels. Good MPG but the emissions for both Co2 and NOX were off the scale when tested without the cheat. Worse than petrol V8s lol
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Don't get confused by this, emissions tests are on new engines. Old engines with worn parts and injector deposits will also have worse emissions.

CO2 is linked to fuel, fuel in = CO2 out and diesels have lower Co2 per mpg than petrols. NOx etc is controlled by engine management tuning and stuff like EGR.
 
But old engines don't actually get worse on emissions like the government thinks they do (and uses as the excuse to hike tax every year). Not on properly maintained petrol engines anyway.
 
Simon said:
When I was looking for M3s I was put off by remaps, no rational reason other than you know at the back of your head its going to impact engines life. However now I own one I would like to decat and remap (via Evolve 'stage2') mine but at the back of my mind I know that it will make it harder to sell in the future despite it only being an enthusiast market there is always demand for standard 'unmolested' cars.

So is it worth if when it's fast enough already? Honest answer is, don't know.
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I was looking at GTRs and whilst I'm not going to buy one now (am very tempted) I was looking at ones that have had at least litchfield stage 1, if not stage 2. An already fast car - but the tuning makes it better.

I don't buy a car with a view to how it re-sells. I want to buy a car to enjoy and worry about reselling it later.

I totally get that not everyone is like that - but I want to make the car my own, and I like tweaking it.
 
Nasher said:
But old engines don't actually get worse on emissions like the government thinks they do (and uses as the excuse to hike tax every year). Not on properly maintained petrol engines anyway.
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All engines get worse on emissions as injectors foul up both on diesel and DI petrol
 
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