Engine Drivetrain 2nd Gen S Most liked posts in thread: Tuner options

Oh no...

I was told my OEM brain could handle up to 25 psi on a vacuum driven waste gate.

I'm not a huge fan of the canned tunes either. Manic seems a little big for his britches and I'm not sure the installers can accommodate my little poop stain. They are after all, at the mercy of whatever tunes nick sends them... I'm sure OBW will chime in, I think he's running Manic "stage 4" or whatever. Except he's on manual boost control and a pressure driven waste gate...

I just want something that runs for now and am willing to take a trip and fiddle around with the real "custom" tunes later this winter or something.

The car is such a dog right now it stinks. It sure sounds like it's doing something wild but it's not.

I should re name my build thread "blue balled fliver Guap cost"

Maybe I should ditch the go fast idea and throw a giant wing and rims on it :idea: (fart)

 

The funny thing is that the car has not mentioned limp mode this time. I've been in limp mode before and it,is always associated with a little icon in the dash..

Do you think it's alright to drive like this? Without proper a/f mix am I going to destroy o2 sensors or something?

I would have to imagine it reverts to a rich mix to be safe.

It seems obvious the car has not been tuned whatsoever. I don't think I need to buy a data logger to tell me that. Lol.

 

Arric Johnston Jm turbo coopers = jmtc

 

He does good turbo/machine work as far as I can tell, and his refurb turbo prices are the best I could find.

The installer he's using for the tunes is a clown. I'm not sure he has a clue.

I don't mind calling people out on their bs (dyno comp) Especially if they won't deal with me directly.

Here's a link for my snail if you want to scope jmtc

http://www.jmturbocoopers.com/GT-Dominator-Cooper-Turbo-GT28.html

 

I had to laugh when I read this. I could only hope my engine is good after replacing literally everything under the hood... The bottom end has been bored/rebuilt as well..

Name a part. It's been replaced or upgraded.

 

Ok so here's a few interesting tidbits of what I've been told. I'll try to keep from getting too sidetracked. I figured I would make this public because there is literally no information like this online that I could find from someone actually doing the tunes and comparing information from different tuners. If I read this prior to choosing the tuner and building the car maybe my balls wouldn't ache so bad. I'm a natural skeptic and most people on the forums reside too far up manics ass based on their stage 2 experiences to consider or suggest anything otherwise.

I did speak to rmw and he seems like a pretty cool bro with an honest no bs opinion. I like a straight shooter.

Jan says that he has never seen a 47mm run right lmao. He said they are in the testing phase for the stand alone which is not available yet. Everything he said made sense and it seems pretty obvious that the capabilities of the vipec exceed that of the OEM ecu. He did mention seeing several Manic vehicles go boom and concurred that knock sensor functions are either eliminated completely or drastically reduced. He also said that maf based tunes will be more accurate in determining correct load calculations and basically run better/smoother. He said the maf-less speed density tunes may spool quicker shortening the intake path to the turbo and put out slightly more power but not as consistently because the computer is "guessing". Nick from manic and Jzw tuning also prefer maf based tunes. Nick said he has seen 360+ bhp cars on maf based tunes so it's obviously not restrictive, and says he deals with both maf-less and maf based cars so is well versed on the subject. Jan said Americans like tuning to boost pressure and the euro guys like to tune based on load and torque calculations.

Jzw, jmtc, and rmw, all concur that the high silicon Pistons I chose are made of a softer alloy reducing piston noise, enabling knock sensor function to remain the same. The harder forged Pistons they said will sometimes cause the ecu to think detonation is occurring. Nick from manic said the opposite, stating that the softer supertech Pistons actually make more noise and the only quieter forged piston is mahle. That didn't make sense to me but what do I know, I'm just relaying what I was told. He said knock sensor functions are "softened" and wasn't familiar with "emergency fuel cut" thinking that I was speaking of limp mode. He also said jmtc turbos are Chinese which is simply not true. I do know for certain jmtc builds his own turbos himself in Arizona from Borg Warner cores. I do know he uses different internals/waste gate for the higher level turbos, but nick pretty much seemed to think they are total crap lol.

Apparently the major malfunction jmtc is having currently is finding the correct "firmware version" of the ecu to code my tune. Jmtc says they have tunes that run great it's just a matter of finding the right bits or part of the ecu to code or something. This can take multiple attempts, which was not what I wanted to hear. Jmtc suggested a power gate obd2 programmer ($300) so they can email me files which I can load to the car myself using the module. If I have to pay for overnight shipping 20 times until they get it right I guess the power gate would pay for itself...:crazy: When searching for the module I found "Jzw" tuning which sells the power gate part with his tunes. I decided to give him a call for a fourth opinion as I get so many conflicting reports.

Jzw said he is able to custom dyno tune and deals a lot with the Franken turbo setups. He said this will be a better option than loading canned tunes and having to data log if I want it to run right. He seemed to think manic and jmtc will have a hard time matching what he could do without the car on a dyno but he only does maf based tunes which means I will have to re configure my intake again. He agreed the turbo may spool quicker without but is not familiar with speed density tunes yet. Jzw is close enough to where I'm at currently to take the car to him and set it up on the dyno. He said that he does keep all engine emergency safety features intact. This seems like the easiest choice at the moment which I will probably end up doing if jmtc will refund my money and send me a new silicon compressor intake tube for the maf setup. Jzw concurred that sometimes it can take multiple multiple attempts to get the tune loaded correctly and seemed to understand the problem that jmtc is having. He said for that reason he will want me to leave the car with him for 2 days so he can get it done custom style on the dyno. He also said that even if the 45 and 47 mm turbo both max out at the same boost pressure on the stock ecu, that the 47mm will be moving more CFM of air resulting in bigger gains on the same boost pressure... Jzw said the power gate comes with the tune so he can give me several tunes i can load myself including an ethanol E85 tune that he seemed to be all stoked about... In motocross, guys hate ethanol but whatever.

So next course of action is either buying a power gate if jmtc won't refund the tune and load the tunes myself, or taking it to Jzw for a "custom tune" after re installing my maf... It seems the car will run better with the maf anyway but idk, not according to jmtc, who did build his tunes for his own turbo, stating that the 47mm will not reach peak efficiency and spool slower on a maf based tune. Jmtc said he recommends the 45mm turbo for maf based tunes for that reason...

I'm probably leaving some things out but hope that makes sense

 

If I bought that power gate tune through Jzw I could load both maf and maf-less tunes and see who's telling the truth. Lol. An extra $300 for his version tune with the part is chump change at this point. I could use that little thing as a vehicle to load any tune I want if I have the file, and compare them back to back on dyno pulls. The end goal there would be to burst some bubbles.

I'm dangerous with some information whaachouut

 

The side that says rip out the maf claims faster spool time/peak efficiency for a big turbo and more power.

The other side that says leave the maf in says same power and more accurate/consistent results.

Lol I'm more of a Keihin than a Weber guy myself and wish I could just throw different jets and needles at it. Have a peep at the plugs and call it good. That would be sweet. A little more in my realm as well let's say.

I often get frustrated by things I can not comprehend... Apparently the coding is all ones and zeros. Like a special alien morse code or something. I think ze Germans ran it through an enigma machine...

 

I would have no idea what the volumetric efficiency of my engine is. I also do not know how to read compressor maps. What I do know is that everything is ported (head, turbo, manifold), piped, and the cylinders are 77.5mm. The compression is also lowered. That would change the volume metrics in comparison to a stock engine.

I figured the 47mm would do more work but idk, I guess I'll have to compare some 45mm dyno maps to mine..

That's why I'm thinking I'm going to get the maf based custom tune instead of having them guess with a canned tune.