Remap

[RazRazor]

Was chattn to a few friends at college yday, and one of them said i should look at gettin my IS remapped.

Can someone explain what this will do to the car or can it even be done) and if it can what sort of cost am i looking at?

Cheers

[Noel]

Original ECU can't be remapped, you will need some kind of piggy back....

What engine mods have you done? as it is of little use otherwise...

[RazRazor]

oh okay

Car is standard SE.

I have 124k on the clock, (and its lost a bit power) so just looking at gettin something back, also wantin to see what can be done to improve fuel . ( i know the two go against each other) but just wanna know what can we done to improve me baby in anyway :D

[Noel]

Has it been regularly serviced?

How clean is the air filter?, when were the spark plugs last changed?......

[RazRazor]

car has full service history. Im saving up to get it servced (only just got car a month or so ago), its slightly over due .

Not checked filter, but oil seems fine, sparkplus i dont know

[Mr Morse]

You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted. On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place.

[tdiplc]

You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted. On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place.

This statement is not correct.

Recalibrating the air/fuel ratio and spark advance is benefical to performance by around 6hp and 15 lfs/ft torque on a standard car. The more the engine it is modified, the greater the improvement should be.

This process has nothing to do with "fuel going to the right place". It's a methodology for optimising the ecu calibration.

[dibsLPG]

That sound great that might be the solution to my car’s bug; having my ECU re-calibrated but not sure where and whom to take it to? And what is this ECU piggy back thing and how much, where from?

I think it will help the LPG system has this sometimes cause's the car to think it is running on air and the engine lights blinks for a few sec's, power goes down etc.. Kick it and it fires back up and carries on. only a few time mind you but annoying.

Mate suggested that it might be that this big engine mod (LPG) has not been mapped to the car :duh: any suggestion if that is the case?

Sorry to hijack this threat, but the same ECU re-map / piggy back suggestions might help me out too..

Cheers in advance,

dibslpg

You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted. On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place.

This statement is not correct.

Recalibrating the air/fuel ratio and spark advance is benefical to performance by around 6hp and 15 lfs/ft torque on a standard car. The more the engine it is modified, the greater the improvement should be.

This process has nothing to do with "fuel going to the right place". It's a methodology for optimising the ecu calibration.

[Mr Morse]

You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted. On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place.

This statement is not correct.

Then provide data which shows the performance gains - on a totally standard car like our friend has, together with the cost of the remap and lets see the bucks per bang.

Let's see......6hp (is that fly or wheels?).....mapping around 4 hours at £100/hour (inc VAT) equals....

AN INCREDIBLE 67 £/hp

Top value for money there! :tsktsk:

Edited November 16, 2006 by Mr Morse

[Robin H]

you never stated that the car has to be standard Mr Morse,

yes the car in question there wouldn't be much point in doing it unless you believe that the cost is worth the return in extra mpg's and you do a lot of driving,

but you can't re-mep the standard ecu so you would need a piggy/after market ecu so then it's definitely not worth it imo

so your both right

as you've said no point doing it to a standard, but to a modded N/A set up there is

but we all know Big power N/A tuning isn't worth the cost really when you put it next to FI

[Mr Morse]

Oh...yes

I hadn't even included the cost of a decent piggyback ECU in there. Let's say £250 for the ECU and the numbers become even more disappointing...

£108/bhp

[Bazza]

You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted. On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place.

This statement is not correct.

Then provide data which shows the performance gains - on a totally standard car like our friend has, together with the cost of the remap and lets see the bucks per bang.

Let's see......6hp (is that fly or wheels?).....mapping around 4 hours at £100/hour (inc VAT) equals....

AN INCREDIBLE 67 £/hp

Top value for money there! :tsktsk:

hardly incredible !!

using a supercharger would equal £50/hp

using a turbo charger, ....well who knows, but i would imagine a lot more

exhausts which give marginal gains, if any, have a high %/hp

where do you get 4 hours from ??

a standard cars set up is optimised for everything, low emmisions, high fuel economy etc etc

by remapping to a less economical map, it could easily release more power

[Mr Morse]

The 4 hours is an approximate figure, which will vary from car-to-car of course.

You're not getting ther point though, are you?

Read my previous posts again. I've never said that remapping DOES NOT benefit a turbo'd, S/C'd or highly modified car......just that it's a waste of money on a standard ride for 6bhp gain

[Dave-Ellen]

So we all know you cant recalibrate the OEM ECU.........

Which means a piggy back ECU..unichip works on the IS as does greddy as does HKS

Prob looking at minimum £600 outlay and I mean absolute minimum...

but read what is said carefully...

I quote

"Recalibrating the air/fuel ratio and spark advance is benefical to performance by around 6hp and 15 lfs/ft torque on a standard car. The more the engine it is modified, the greater the improvement should be."

Doesnt say what car does it................

I reckon traders T&C's on here should be amended..............any BHP gains quoted should have DYNO charts (before & after on same car) to substantiate claims....if not then the word estimated should be used before the BHP claim...People can then make an informed choice on what to believe

[tdiplc]

You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted. On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place.

This statement is not correct.

Then provide data which shows the performance gains - on a totally standard car like our friend has, together with the cost of the remap and lets see the bucks per bang.

Let's see......6hp (is that fly or wheels?).....mapping around 4 hours at £100/hour (inc VAT) equals....

AN INCREDIBLE 67 £/hp

Top value for money there! :tsktsk:

It seems like you may be getting confused between cost effectiveness and performance impact.

RazRazor was not asking for a cost comparison between ECU recalibration and forced induction - he was aking if it was possible and how much it will cost.

Your statement "You're wasting your money remapping unless you have a turbo or supercharger fitted" implies that ecu recalibration is not effective without a turbo or supercharger, which is clearly incorrect.

Your statement "On a normally aspirated car the fuel is already going to the right place" is technically irrelevant and therefore pointless and prone to cause confusion.

If for whatever reason an is200 owner does not want forced induction, an ECU upgrade is a valid and worthy critical path for increased performance and economy.

but read what is said carefully...

I quote

"Recalibrating the air/fuel ratio and spark advance is benefical to performance by around 6hp and 15 lfs/ft torque on a standard car. The more the engine it is modified, the greater the improvement should be."

Doesnt say what car does it................

It does when you look at the title of the topic and the car that the topic originator owns.

[RazRazor]

wow i've caused quite a debate! :D

From the sound of things, it dont sound like the best idea!!

All i did want to know, is can it be done, the annswer YES, but not easy.

But thanks to all those who gave input (correct or not) it all helps.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the car's performance within reason then please let me know. I know a bit about cars to see though the day. so not too tech please

[tdiplc]

From the sound of things, it dont sound like the best idea!!

It depends on your interpretation of the meaning of the word "best". The ecu won't give you anywhere near the gains of forced induction (FI), but if you don't want FI but do want increased performance, then an ecu upgrade is worthy of consideration.

All i did want to know, is can it be done, the annswer YES, but not easy.

It is actually a rlatively simple and pain free operation.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the car's performance within reason then please let me know. I know a bit about cars to see though the day. so not too tech please

There are quite a lot of tuning parts available now, and new stuff comes along now and then. LOC has links to traders web sites with some useful info. Good luck with it - let us all know how you get on please :D