Topic: tuning the a4

[SpeedyDTP247]

i need a place that can fine tune my a4 (i'm running on the lean side a bit). can vast performance do this? do they have a awd dyno to tune the car on or can the car be tuned driving on the road? pes is too far away. i have to have the a4 towed (anyone have a trailer i can use? i think my dad's tahoe can tow this car?) because my dad didnt renew the license tab and it has storage insurance on it.

[jaustin]

if you cant find the trailer you can rent one from u haul

[Castle]

i need a place that can fine tune my a4 (i'm running on the lean side a bit). can vast performance do this? do they have a awd dyno to tune the car on or can the car be tuned driving on the road? pes is too far away. i have to have the a4 towed (anyone have a trailer i can use? i think my dad's tahoe can tow this car?) because my dad didnt renew the license tab and it has storage insurance on it.

What chip are you using to tune your car? 

[SpeedyDTP247]

it currently has a giac chip that pes uses with their sc'er kits. the stock g1 kit runs at 6 psi and i'm running higher then that about 8-9 psi

[Rocket3004]

Piggy?

[SpeedyDTP247]

Piggy?

are you referring to piggysmalls thats a member here?

[Castle]

no, he's refering to Piggy also known as Mike.  Last I heard, Mike was taking some time off working on cars for health reasons.

Paul, you can't tune your car unless you can program a Giac chip.  You're biggest problem is finding someone knowledgeable that can do that.  4 wheel dynos are easy, there is one here in Troy.  BTW, your spending big money to use someones dyno and bring in your own tuner.

[gmwb5]

Mike is able to tune your car. He is an authorized dealer for GIAC. Just give him a call 248-399-2222 and see what he can do for you.

[SpeedyDTP247]

no, he's refering to Piggy also known as Mike.  Last I heard, Mike was taking some time off working on cars for health reasons.

Paul, you can't tune your car unless you can program a Giac chip.  You're biggest problem is finding someone knowledgeable that can do that.  4 wheel dynos are easy, there is one here in Troy.  BTW, your spending big money to use someones dyno and bring in your own tuner.

i know its gonna cost alot of money but its better then running the motor as is and risk of damaging the internals.
here is an adjustable fmu will this help my running a bit on the lean side? i need a wide band to go along with this fmu to monitor it?

[Dark Lightning]

Blah, FMU's by definition suck and should be voided.  You need programmable fuel management, either by someone who can directly tune your chip, a piggyback unit such as an APEXi S-AFC, or with a standalone ECU.

[SpeedyDTP247]

Blah, FMU's by definition suck and should be voided.  You need programmable fuel management, either by someone who can directly tune your chip, a piggyback unit such as an APEXi S-AFC, or with a standalone ECU.

whats a apexi s-afc? standalone ecu like magasquirt?

[Dark Lightning]

APEXi is a Japanese producer of tuner and performance equipment (intake, exhaust, and the like).  The Super Air Flow Converter is a small piggyback device meant to tweak an existing fuel map; they are extremely popular in the sport compact communities and fill a pretty good niche.

Good: cheap, readily available, effective and easy to use.
Bad: require a wideband O2 for proper tuning, but so does every other tuning solution out there. Is also only capable of a % change off the base map and can't create a map from scratch on it's own.

So long as you are CLOSE (and you are) to what you need and only need a 1%-30% change in fuel, the S-AFC is for you.  It's capable of a 50% change from the provided fuel map but there are side effects from altering a working map by that much.

I've tuned a lot of boosted cars and you can accomplish a decent tune on your own with a little help.  Buy a wideband O2 ( http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16240&cat=0&page=1 ), get an O2 bung installed in your exhaust (pre-catalytic convert) for the wideband, buy a piggyback such as an APEXi S-AFC ($200-300), and give me a call.  Once you have this you'll be able to monitor what's going on with your car much more accurately and continuously, and without frequent trips to a dyno.

[Castle]

you should also mention in the bad that piggy back units are really only a bandaid for the tuning problem...there is no better way to go than a stand alone ecu.

[Dark Lightning]

And this is true.  A full standalone (Haltech, AEM EMS, MegaSquirt, etc.) IS the best solution.

However, in the same breath I will say that in this case (from what I understand) we only have to compensate for a few psi variance off of an existing, working, and known-good fuel & timing map.  I think a piggyback here is a good choice for that reason and the sake of a reasonable budget for the desired result.

IF, however, there were to be a change in supercharger, change in compression, change in heads, change in cams, or any other significant alteration to the operation and efficiency of the motor beyond what the ECU & chip were designed for then I would say piggyback fuel management would not be sufficient.  At that point a full standalone would be my recommendation.

[SpeedyDTP247]

well it sounds like i should go with a megasquirt fuel ecu. this why his motor blew? he was running his sc'er setup with a piggyback system but i guess it wasnt enough. i wonder how my motor is cause i've been running more boost then the pes chip was set for, i put on a couple thousand hard miles with the higher boost then what the pes chip was set for.