Dark Blue Mark

Much as i'd like to have some flash ******* digital displays in the car, I can't find much point to these things for any peformance increase...

Surely if the ECU is controlling things, ie boost and fuelling, its not really sensible to fit a controller, and up the boost past the ECU's target boost? With a standard ECU, you are just assuming the right degree of fuelling is there if you up the boost.

And for the £400 - £500 they cost (except dawes ) you're not far off a Remap, which seems much more a pukka option.

Guess they are good for limiting boost if you get overboost, or want to keep it down on a motorway drive etc?

Any thoughts?

MB

milo

yeah i totally agree that a remap is a better option especially if u have other mods that the standard ecu isn't mapped for.


not necessarily assuming if u have a knocklink etc and u could always adjust the fuelling anyway. the standard ecu is mapped to allow for *some* degree of crappy petrol, poor maintenance etc and also is set to allow for longish engine life.

The_Judge

The whole point of a turbocharger is to help to force air into the engine. As a rule of thumb, the more air you can get in, the more power you're gonna get out (assuming the fueling and ignition's OK, and you take into account things like volumetric efficiency, intake temps, EGTs, detonation, etc, etc...)

A manual boost controller, such as GBE, Dawes, etc, is a cheap (albeit crude) method of increasing the volume of air going into the engine. As long as a boost gauge is used to set it up, the level is set safely below fuel cut, the AFR is OK, and there is no detonation, you should be able to substantially increase the performance of your car for less than £250.

As long as you're sensible, there is a margin of exploitable power there for the taking. However, there is a method of controlling boost without disconnecting the ECU's boost control. I belive Mr Banks pioneered it a couple of years ago, but I've yet to try it. It involves fitting a fuel cut defender, altering the restrictor size between the turbo and the wastegate actuator, and tightening the wastegate rod a couple of turns.

I wouldn't advise assuming anything. An AFR gauge will give you a good idea of how your mixture's doing (although not perfect, unless you use a wideband lambda, but that would push the total price above the cost of a remap...)

If you can afford a tek remap, whether 2 or 3, it's definitely the way to go. As soon as I can afford it, the kit mentioned above will be replaced with a remap.

You could use one for that purpose, but if you set it up correctly (and safely) you can have far more fun by upping the boost. Anyway, there's my tuppence worth...!

Dark Blue Mark

Look, Google suggested something sensible for once!

Judge,

Ta for the info. Im still would be a little worried about upping the boost and relying on the AFR and KL, but I guess thats nearly as good as it gets. I have both of these fitted, and use them all the time.

Unfortunately there's no TEK for STi4's, but looks like there are new options appearing.

Trouble is, decatted, mine hits 1.27 bar peak, which leaves little room to add boost with a controller. Certainly not worth hundreds of pounds for 1 or 3 psi.

MB